Paul Cienfuegos has been leading this workshop workshop intensive since 1998 across the US and Canada. His desire is to focus the workshop towards the specific needs of YOUR community.
We the People are more powerful than we dare to believe. For almost two centuries now, since large corporations started to win Constitutional so-called “rights” in 1819, We the People have been slowly forgetting who We are. And forgetting that the American revolutionaries who founded our nation designed corporations as a subordinate legal fiction, chartered to serve a specific public need and to cause no harm. How far we have strayed from that reality! But it doesn’t have to be that way.
If we relearn our history, if we understand again that corporations were designed to serve us, not to rule us, in this “democratic republic”, then we can reclaim our sovereignty. Once we understand this, the sky’s the limit. We can rein in corporate constitutional “rights” as have more than 200 communities in nine states. We can get back to governing ourselves, collectively determining what a majority of us wants, in this nation founded on the principle of majority rule.
What would this look like at the municipal or county level? What do the majority of local residents want regarding water and air quality, land use, cell phone towers, food safety, big box and chain stores, forest health, etc? And is your local government prepared to stand tall with that majority when push comes to shove?
Since 1999, 200 communities in nine states have passed legally groundbreaking locally-enforceable Community Rights laws which…
* strip corporations of their so-called constitutional “rights”,
* ban specific harmful corporate activities, and
* enshrine the right of a community to govern itself and to protect the health and welfare of its residents – human and otherwise.
These laws have banned fracking and oil drilling, water withdrawal for bottling, toxic sludge dumping on farmland, corporate-managed infrastructure, unsustainable energy development, and more. 95% of these laws have never been challenged in court.
Paul would be honored to lead this transformative workshop in your community. The workshop includes a series of history and strategy presentations, as well as numerous opportunities for focused discussions and small and large group exercises to assist participants in:
* understanding the history and root causes of the rise of corporate constitutional so-called “rights”, and corporate usurpation of our democratic authority to govern ourselves
* examining the local impacts of corporate “rights”, how citizens are currently challenging corporations locally, and how these efforts could be reframed to be more effective
* decolonizing our minds and our language from the firm grip of corporate culture
* taking time to express and feel our sorrow, anger, despair, etc about living in a society drenched in corporate culture
* learning the art of ‘democratic conversation’
* crafting strategies to recover our democracy from corporate rule – with a specific focus on launching a local Community Rights ordinance campaign in YOUR community
“We the People” must exercise our RIGHT to pass laws that protect our community’s health and welfare. Let’s get organized!
This is a workshop lasting a full weekend (including Friday evening). Paul can handle as many as 30 and as few as 10 people per workshop. 15 to 25 is ideal. No previous experience or knowledge is necessary to attend.
To discover what previous workshop participants have to say about Paul’s groundbreaking weekend workshop, click HERE.