This article by James M. Price appeared on the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy's (POCLAD) website, January 29th, 2019. Populism is a term frequently used in ways that foster confusion and controversy. It is sometimes thrown about in a disparaging manner, in conjunction with other words like demagoguery, to create fear about an idea [...]
This article by Winona LaDuke was published on In Forum, January 24th, 2019. Manoomin (wild rice) now has legal rights. At the close of 2018, the White Earth band of Ojibwe recognized the “Rights of Manoomin” as a part of tribal regulatory authority. The resolution states, “it has become necessary to provide a legal basis [...]
“The solution is not about ownership, but about stewardship.” – Markie Miller This article by Sue Lincoln appear in the Bayou Brief on, January 23rd, 2019. In the summer of 2017, the Dead Zone – an area of low oxygen that develops annually in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana’s coast – was the largest [...]
This story about a big corporation's disregard for a well-established religious community's rights was written and published recently by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). Early on the misty morning of October 1, Williams/Transco workmen clad in neon vests removed the cross. It had been standing sentinel at the apex of a heart-shaped labyrinth, [...]
This story about the late Dr. Ray Beiersdorfer, a community rights organizer and geology professor at Youngstown State University in Ohio, was written and recently published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). “Who is this guy?” CELDF organizer Tish O’Dell asked herself, when she first met Dr. Ray Beiersdorfer. “I never saw anyone like [...]
This story about the courageous citizens and local government officials of Grant Township was written and published by The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). Should a liquor distributor be allowed to sue a “dry county” over lost profits? Should a tobacco company be allowed to sue a municipality over profits lost due to a [...]
This public testimony by Greg Pace was published on The Columbus Community Bill of Rights Facebook page, December 11th, 2018. Chairman Blessing and committee members, Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today, regarding House Joint Resolution 19. I have spent the past four years in three attempts to get our city law [...]
This story about Carol Van Strum and her work with others fighting pesticide spraying in Lincoln County, Oregon was publish by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) on December 6th, 2018. -- It’s been 35 years since Carol Van Strum first published “A Bitter Fog,” the Christopher Award winning book telling the story of [...]
Donald Trump wants to destroy the 14th Amendment's guarantee of birthright citizenship. But before he sought to eliminate it outright, his elite predecessors mangled, misread, and misused the amendment in the service of capital. This article by Manisha Sinha appeared in JACOBIN magazine, December 4th, 2018. Donald Trump’s unconstitutional threat to decree an end to [...]
This story about Monica Christofili was published on the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund's website on, November 29, 2018. Pregnancy nightmares: they’re “a thing” guidebooks and obstetricians don’t often discuss. Yet for Monica Christofili of Newmarket, where CELDF began assisting community members to advance Community Rights in the summer of 2017, her sleeping and waking [...]
