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A AA A 
LLIANCELLIANCELLIANCELLIANCE
 
FORFORFORFOR
 DDDD
EMOCRACY EMOCRACY EMOCRACY EMOCRACY 
 
2009 in review 
fD office manager Barbara Clancy and family demonstrate at a healthcare summit in VermontIn the studio with “Corporationsand Democracy,” a bi-monthly radio show hosted by AfD’ers inCalifornia
It might feel like 2009 was the year of the alert,
especially the single payer health care email alert—and yes, we sent out a lot of them, but while single payer was a big part of our work over the past year, it wasnot the only item on the agenda. State-level campaigns took on waterprivatization, globalization, and democratization of energy, while chapters werebusy with outreach, organizing and networking against corporate rule in a varietyof forms. Read on for a wrap-up of this year’s work, and a look ahead at 2010.
WINTER…WINTER…WINTER…WINTER…
The Alliance for Democracy joined the Leadership Conference for GuaranteedHealth Care, a national coalition of organizations promoting
single payer healthcare and passage of HR 676
, the single payer bill authored by Rep. JohnConyers (D-MI). Our blog became a go-to source for information on the benefitsof a single payer system, as well as updates on actions in DC and nationwide.Both national council and “rank and file” members stepped up their work on state-level single payer initiatives too.In Massachusetts, the North Bridge Alliance Chapter joined the Mass-Care Coalition, to work for single payer there, and members in several towns began screening the documentary “Health, Money, and Fear” on communityaccess cable stations through AfD’s “Other Voices” media project. AfD co-chair Lou Hammann was active inPennsylvania’s single payer movement, and Peter Mott, a doctor as well as AfD secretary, wrote the brochure“Health Care Truths and Myths” for the Interfaith Health Care Coalition of the Greater Rochester Community of Churches. AfD and Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP) posted the brochure online and shared it withother groups. And our “Congressional Visit How-To Kit” was posted to our blog (afd-e-news.blogspot.com) as partof a push to get members to promote single payer health care over the February Congressional recess. We alsocalled on members to support “White Coats to the White House,” a push to get members of Physicians for a National Health Plan invited to a White House Summit on Health Care. Thanks to a flood of calls and emails, Rep.John Conyers, author of HR 676, and PNHP president Dr. Oliver Fein received 11th hour invitations.
Project Censored
pegged the Security and Prosperity Partnership at #2 on their annual list of “Top 25 CensoredStories.” AfD is one of the few progressive US groups working with Canadian and Mexican organizations to focusattention on SPP’s potential privatization of resources and transportation, and militarization of the border. See theAfD website for background information and updates.The winter issue of Justice Rising focused on
“Money for People Not Corporate Profit,”
a timely topic as unem- ployment, hunger and homelessness began a steady rise in the wake of the Wall Street bailout. This issue, availableat the AfD website, featured articles by Luke Allen, Ruth Caplan, John Cobb Jr., Chuck Collins, Herman Daly, JanEdwards, Naomi Klein, David Korten, Bill Meyers, Emily Posner, and Jim Tarbell. Jim and Ruth were co-editors.The
Portland (OR) AfD Chapter
successfully co-sponsored and co-organizedan
Economic Town Hall
on the economic crisis attended by over 800 people.Delivering the keynote talks were Marty Hart-Landsberg, economic professor atLewis and Clark College and Veronica Dujan, sociology professor at PortlandState University. Those talks were followed by about a dozen workshops,including including one on building democracy led by AfD Portland PresidentDavid Delk.In February, David Korten was a guest on “Corporations and Democracy,” aradio show hosted by
Mendocino and Ukiah Valley AfD
members and broadcast on local public radio station KZYX & Z FM.
 
 
Oregon AfD members march for peace
Ruth Caplan, campaign coordinator for AfD's
Defending Water for Life campaign
and the co-chair of theCorporate Globalization/Positive Alternatives Campaign was interviewed for 
“Tapped,”
a new feature-lengthdocumentary on the social and ecological harms of the bottled water industry. In Maine, campaign organizer EmilyPosner worked with a new community group, POWWR (Protecting our Water and Wildlife Resources), to get Nestlé off state and town land in the towns of Shapleigh and Newfield. Victories came later in the year as thecompany removed test wells from a local state wildlife preserve, and Shapleigh residents decisively voted down a Nestlé proposal to test, pump and sell local water. For more information on what’s going on with Maine’s water,see the campaign website at www.defendingwaterinmaine.org.
SPRING…SPRING…SPRING…SPRING…
The
Portland (OR) AfD Chapter
was one of many groups rallyingin Salem OR in March for an end to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, aswell as an end to the overseas deployment of the Oregon NationalGuard. Later that month, the chapter hosted a talk by Andrew Nikiforuk, the author of 
Tar Sands, Dirty Oil and the Future of aContinent 
. He spoke on Canada's emerging role as the US's largestforeign oil supplier—of mostly tar sand oil—and the environmentaland economic impacts of its production as we approach “peak oil.”Portland also helped organize a panel on health care reform with Dr.Mike Huntington, of Physicians for a National Health Program, andRep. Earl Blumenauer, whose record of support for single payer wasdismal enough to earn him a visit later in the spring by chapter activists, who participated in a 22-minute “die in” at his districtoffice.
Southern New England AfD members
, as well as members of other local progressive organizations, met at theWalker Center in Newton for a day-long conference on “Maintaining Democracy: Undermining the CorporateAgenda from the Bottom Up,” organized by national council member Ruth Weizenbaum. Presenters discussed building community and regional democratic initiatives around the environment, peace, media and health care, andhow we can re-tool governance to increase the potential for community involvement. Participants in the AfD“Other Voices” media campaign were honored and two local radio hosts, Stan Robinson of WZBC's “Truth andJustice Radio” and John Grebe of “Sounds of Dissent” shared their perspectives on alternatives to the corporatemedia and what the trivialization of corporate news coverage means for democracy.
Alliance for Democracy co-chair Nancy Price
organized member outreach to California AfD’ers in support of two bills, AB 1242, the Human Right to Water Act, and AB 301, which would require bottled water corporations toreport the source and amount of water they extract from communities and whether this water is privately or publiclyowned.
The Human Right to Water Act
, for which AfD was a co-sponsor, would have amended the Water Codeto ensure every human being had “the right to clean and accessible water on an equitable basis.” This would notonly have helped ensure state and federal funding would go to projects that protected and expanded access to clean,safe drinking water, but it would also tie California in with the global movement to make clean water a humanright. Email blasts to California members urged actions including calls and faxes to committee chairs and to Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger on behalf of the bill. Despite overwhelming support for the bill from AfD and other organizations, Schwarzenegger returned the bill unsigned, effectively vetoing it. The organizations involved in itslegislative passage have vowed to press on with the fight for water justice.The Alliance’'s San Fernando Valley Chapter worked to support the
California Fair Elections Act
, doing outreachand tabling to state Democratic clubs and at farmers markets and community events. A June 2010 referendum willallow voters to decide whether to publicly fund the race for California Secretary of State, with, hopefully, other state and local races receiving public funding in the future. By year’s end, the chapter decided to formally disband,continue AfD membership on an individual basis, and work entirely on the upcoming referendum. Look for updateson the AfD blog and in the “Allied Actions” section of our e-news.
 
 
In late April,
Defending Water in Maine
organizer Emily Posner joined a trio of activists addressing a rally in thestate capital, Augusta, on behalf of a bill, LD 1028, “An Act to Enhance Municipal Home Rule Statutes,” intendedto support Maine towns when they adopt and enforce ordinances taking on “settled law” by denying corporationscourt-conferred personhood rights.
Hundredfold Farm
, a low-impact cohousing project, was featured in a National Public Radio broadcast as part of their Earth Day coverage. AfD co-chair Lou Hammann is one of the founders of this unique community, which has become the “go-to” group in its area for environmental and sustainability issues, due to its unique green housingdesign and use of an artificial wetland to purify wastewater onsite (see www.hundredfoldfarm.org).
Justice Rising’s
spring issue focused on Deglobalization/Relocalization, with articles by co-editors Jim Tarbell andRuth Caplan, as well as pieces by Mark Anielski, Maia Campoamo, CR Lawn, Dave Lewit and Ellen Brown.
SUMMER…SUMMER…SUMMER…SUMMER…
When local government turned down a developer's proposal to build a large commercial development inMendocino County, the developer fought to have the decision overturned by initiative petition vote. The“Corporations and Democracy” radio show looked at
the growing trend of corporate-funded initiativecampaigns
and the sometimes questionable tactics these campaigns use to get signatures—a complaint voiced bymany county residents. Hosts Steve Scalmanini and Annie Esposito were joined by Joel Foster of www.stopballotfraud.org. A show airing later in the summer featured author 
Chris Hedges
on spectacle anddemocracy, as well as excellent comments by the call-in audience. Thanks to Steve, mp3 files of some of the showsare now available online at www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/html/eng/2589-AA.shtml.
“Tapped”
premiered at the Maine International Film Festivalin Waterville, with more than 250 attendees, and a rally beforethe screening featuring thousands of throwaway plastic bottlesand local activists speaking out on the need to protect water locally and internationally. When AfD’s Ruth Caplan was seenmaking some hard-hitting comments in the film, the audiencecheered.
Defending Water in Maine
organizer Emily Posner also spoke at the rally, and with the support of AfD membersand Maine neighbors was able to take apprentices from asummer program for young Somali immigrant farmers to thescreening as well. 
Portland (OR) AfD hosted a talk by Les Leopold
, author of 
The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of  Fantasy Finance Destroyed our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity and What We Can Do About It 
(you can see the talk online at http://blip.tv/file/2346884). The chapter also started work with the Portland City Council on a resolutioncalling for clean up and no additional waste storage at the Hanford nuclear site.AfD Secretary Dr. Peter Mott authored an op-ed on
why so many progressives who worked hard on the Obamacampaign are now so opposed to his health care plan
. You can read it by following the link at the Alliance web page, www.thealliancefordemocracy.org.During her stay at the Blue Mountain Environmental Retreat Center, AfD co-chair Nancy Price started work on acurriculum based on AfD’s Tapestry of the Commons project (www.tapestryofthecommons.org) targeted tochildren and young adults in grades four through 12.Members voted to approve a bylaw change allowing regional and local conventions in place of a central, singlenational convention. The council agreed to try this new procedure for biennial meetings.
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