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LLIANCE

FOR

EMOCRACY

2008 in review

Map of SPP transportation corridor routesthrough Canada, the US and Mexico.

Protesters in Portland, Maine opposethe Violent Radicalization and Home-grown Terrorism Prevention Act

WINTER, 2008

The newest section of our website highlighted the

Security andProsperity Partnership

of North America

(SPP) and we began outreachto members and supporters urging them to oppose this pro-globalizationgiveaway. Nancy Price, Ruth Caplan and David Delk completed a seriesof fliers on various aspects of the SPP. A highlight of our work was the publication of two articles by Nancy Price and Ruth Caplan in the

Progressive Populist

. Later,

this Fall

, David Delk collaborated with theEconomic Justice Action Group of the Portland (OR) First UnitarianChurch to produce a 12-page brochure on the SPP highlighting the cross- border Canada-US Pacific Northwest Economic Region and the WestCoast SPP Corridor. All these SPP materials and articles may be read and printed out for tabling at www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/sppThe Boston/Cambridge Alliance and North Bridge AfD worked with severallocal groups to host a forum on the SPP and the Colombia FTA featuring speakers from Canada, Mexico andColombia. These chapters also hosted a visit by Canadian activist Janet Eaton, during which she met with statelegislators in support of a bill to create a state commission to advise lawmakers on the local impacts of internationaltrade agreements, and spoke on the SPP at the Boston Public Library. Our Portland, Oregon and South Puget Sound(WA) Chapters also hosted these same speakers who were touring the US speaking on the SPP.Our

Defending Water for Life Campaign

scored a victory as voters in Barnstead and Nottingham, NewHampshire approved new protections for the Rights of Nature at their Town Meetings that complement the water ordinances passed earlier in each town. These new ordinances protect ecosystems and provide broad enforcement provisions to hold local government and corporate officials liable whenthose rights are abused.

Civil liberties

were the focus of a postcard campaign organized by thePortland, Oregon Chapter. They pressured their senators to oppose the

Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act

,distributing postcards at an anti-war rally attended by about 5,000 people.Meanwhile, Maine activists, including AfD members, protested the same bill at a rally in Portland, Maine.In early March, the Mendocino, California Chapter hosted Frances MooreLappé who spoke on “doing” democracy as outlined in her new book,

Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity & Courage in a World Gone Mad.

Shortly after, Lappé also joined AfD and now AfD is listed as a“Democracy Maker” at the “Democracy’s Edge” section of Lappé’s Small Planet Institute website.

SPRING, 2008

In April, Granny D spoke at Gettysburg College (PA), site of AfD’s 2002 convention, in a talk organized byAfD’ers Pat and Lou Hammann. “I first met some of you eight years ago,” she noted. “We were all so worriedabout losing our democracy that we were willing to walk across the country [for campaign finance reform] and goto jail. You meet the nicest people in the Washington jail, by the way. That’s where I met [AfD council members]Lou and Patricia Hammann” [who took part with Ronnie Dugger and others in AfD’s Democracy Brigades].In May, AfD took its message to the media as the second

SPP

article was published in the

Progressive Populist

.Entitled, "What Corporate Takeover Means for the Heartland." It focused on the six massive transportation

Portland chapter membersoppose LNG terminalconstructionResidents head in to a meeting ofthe Kennebunk/Kennebunkport/Wells water district to oppose sale ofwater rights to Nestlé subsidiaryPoland Springs.

corridors—rail, truck highways, and pipelines—planned to carry imported goodsfrom deepwater ports in Mexico, factory farm products from the Midwest, andwater and fuel from Canada. Meanwhile Ruth Caplan discussed the SPP on aFree Speech Radio story on international responses to the project.Local

water actions

included Portland, Oregon AfD’ers who hosted MaudeBarlow, Chair-person of the Council of Canadians and author of the new book,

Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and Coming Battle for the Right toWater

, who spoke on movement building to make certain that water is viewed asa human right and not a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder for private profit. Portland, Oregon members also protested proposed construction of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminals on the Columbia River.The National Council signed onto a letter to the Justice Department protestingchanges to the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005—specifically a change to require collection of DNA from anyonedetained by the federal government, including protesters exercising their First Amendment rights.

SUMMER 2008:

Members of the San Fernando Valley chapter tabled for

single-payer health care and campaign finance reform

at the Los Angeles Social Forum.In Indianapolis, InAfD co-sponsored a day-long workshop on “Rebuilding Democracy” with speaker Tom Linzeyof the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. The workshop explored the implications of a

“Rights of Nature”

ordinance, reframing the problem of pollution and unwanted development from a matter of enforcingexisting regulations to that of exercising community rights and asserting principles of real democracy for, of and bythe people. The workshop closed with a brainstorming session to begin the strategic process for action, focusing onissues in Indiana and what participants could do about them.Summer was an exceptionally busy time for the

Defending Water for Life Campaign

, with actions and victorieson both coasts. We launched a

Defending Water for Life

website focusing on water wars in Oregon at www.afd- pdx.org and scroll down to Defending Water for Life – Oregon. Oregonians are facing down water privatizationand tapping of the water commons for bottling in the Tualatin Valley, near Portland, and in Butte Falls, further south near Medford, respectively. Meanwhile, in Enumclaw, Washington, City Council member Liz Reynolds led a push to oppose Nestlé’s efforts to establish a water bottling plant there. Seattle Chapter coordinator Rebecca Wolfe,Defending Water for Life Campaign chair Ruth Caplan, and Co-chair Nancy Price, western states coordinator for the campaign, supplied Liz with information and advice. They are nowassisting community members in the nearby town of Orting where Nestléwants to tap into nearby springs and build a bottling plant next to a publicschool. A Defending Water in Washington website will be launched soon.In July, water wars in Maine came to a boil as the Defending Water for Life Campaign organized against the sale of water to Nestlé out of a protected aquifer. Campaign organizer Emily Posner and coordinator RuthCaplan met with local organizers in south coastal Maine and helped turnout community opposition to this deal so that at the meeting of theKennebunk/Kennebunkport/Wells Water District the District Manager decided to suspend discussions with Nestlé. Meetings and rallies werecovered extensively in local media and nationally by PBS’s Newshour.In late July, we contacted members urging them to call the media and their legislators in support of

impeachment

investigations and hearings as Rep.John Conyers and the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on“Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations.”

Jim Tarbell reporting

The Mendocino, California Chapter co-sponsored a gathering of local progressive and migrant community groupsfeaturing food and performances by local musicians. The event was a chance to mix across cultural lines and scope-out common concerns. Meanwhile, the Ukiah, California Chapter tabled at SolFest, a weekend celebration for renewable energy and sustainable living, and the Portland, Oregon Chapter continued to organize against theconstruction of Liquid Natural Gas terminals on the Columbia River.

FALL, 2008

Jim Tarbell covered the scenes inside and outside the

Democratic and RepublicanNational Conventions

posting his observations at afdjusticerising.blogspot.com.He focused on the corporate presence at both the DNC and RNC and the alternative points of view offered by advocacy groups and protesters outside both venues. TheRepublican National Convention was particularly marked by repression andharassment of protesters; former AfD council member Ted Dooley is representingtwo of the arrested protestors.We urged California members to support good legislation, including AB 583, the

California Fair Election Act

, which was signed into law by Governor ArnoldSchwarzenegger, after several years when similar bills did not make it to his desk.This bill establishes a “pilot” public funding program for specific statewide offices.Jo Seidita, long-time Alliance member and former member of our national council, along with support of the SanFernando Valley Chapter, helped found the CA Clean Money Campaign, and currently is Chairwoman of theBoard. Will Forthman, also long-time member of the SFV Chapters, is Secretary-Treasurer of the Clean MoneyCampaign. SFV Chapter members have been at the forefront of education and outreach in the greater Los Angelesarea on this issue and we congratulate them all for this victory! Ohio election investigator Richard Hayes Philips spoke on

election protection

, sponsored by the Portland, OregonAlliance for Democracy. And, on election night, members of the Boston/Cambridge and North Bridge Chaptersassisted the Election Defense Alliance with exit polling in New HampshireAnother victory for the

Defending Water for Life’s

Maine campaign came this fall as residents of Shapleigh,Maine, overwhelmingly voted to halt all activities of Nestlé’s local subsidiary, Poland Spring. They approved a180-day moratorium on water extraction activities until the town approves a comprehensive water protectionordinance and rejected a bid by Nestlé to drill test wells in March 2009 when water tables are high. Voters still needto protect local state-owned land from groundwater exploitation, however.On the west coast, the Defending Water for Life campaign produced a 4-page tabloid newspaper entitled “Water Democracy in California: Community Rights Not Corporate Control” to bring to highlight the many communitystruggles for water democracy and justice across the state. The tabloid is posted at the new AfD website -www.defendingwaterincalifornia.org and progress on the community struggles will be up-dated on google mapsalong with other water news from across the state. “Water Democracy in California” was written by Nancy Price,assisted by Ruth Caplan, in collaboration with staff of the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, a coalition of 60 groups in California working for social and environmental justice.As the tanking economy caught up with its perpetrators on Wall Street, AfD joined with many progressive groupsto demand a bailout that would protect the well-being of Main Street and all Americans—not just financial-industryfatcats. Members and friends shared their Letters-to-Editors, articles, and outrage, as once again Congress rode tothe rescue of their deep-pocketed campaign contributors. We featured this crisis at the top of AfD’s homepage andurged members to call Congress to oppose the bailout and call instead for a redevelopment bank and investment inclean energy, healthcare, and education.

Chapters were busy through the fall as well.

In October, Seattle Alliance for Democracy members joined 100 protesters and a coalition of local groups on the Capitol steps in Olympia to rally against LNG in Washington state.