Tom gave a great introduction to many of the issues facing communities that are fighting corporations last night. Today, Gail brought some first hand experience of her dealings with corporations in her town.
Did you know that New Hampshire has a provision written it’s constitution that states citizen responsibility and duty bound, when confronted by a law that doesn’t work, to revolt against it and replace it with a law that does work. That’s just one of the things that Gail and Tom learned as they set out to protect their town from a Nestle bottling plant. Thankfully the New Hampshire constitution made it easier for the communities to work the issues than in Pennsylvania but its still not over.
While sitting through Tom’s first seminar last night and now sitting in this one, I can’t help but be reminded of the Erin Brokovitch starring Julia Roberts. Its because the actions taken by many corporations and politicians are so distrustful and deceiving that this all seems like a movie. I’m sitting here and listening to Tom and Gail share example after example of how they were being pushed around. Gail even gave an example of how they needed to incorporate a provision in the ordinance that they passed to not allow selectmen to overturn the ordinance because the in the previous version they did just that. They held a closed door meeting with out any members of the community present, and they nullified the ordinance that the community passed. The selectmen didn’t post the nullification or tell anyone about it so the community slept easy thinking the ordinance was still on the books.
If you read this post in time, Tom and Gail will be at a Democracy School on 244 Congress Street tomorrow Monday October 20, 2008 from 09:00 – 14:00. The value of going to the democracy school is priceless, but the cost to get in is $35.00. If its anything like the two lectures Tom has given to the Bioneers, its money well spent.
The Portland Daily Citizen 