Corporate Invading and Escaping

Last year while in Washington DC to take part Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Yugoslavia in educational events and public actions and elsewhere. This list doesn't include the connected to the meetings of the International countless nations the US has supported over the Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, I passed last 40 years with training, , intelligence the US Department of Commerce. Above the and foreign aid to buy US weapons. main entrance chiseled in granite were these words: Corporate commercial and US are codependent on one another. Transnationals "Commerce defies every wind, overrides every need military power to provide security of tempest, invades every zone." moving into new markets and protect foreign investments while the US military needs US- The word “invades” caught my attention then based transnationals to justify projecting power and has been in my mind often since the and control abroad -- invoking such terms as September 11 tragedies. When something is protecting “national security” and/or “our “invaded,” it’s violated, attacked, assaulted. interests.” There is no choice or voice by the invaded group. There is no sense of democracy or self- To many people in many nations at the receiving governance. The operative principles, instead, end of this double barrel form of economic and are force and power. , feeling invaded, violated, assaulted, voiceless, choiceless and powerless is Isn’t this how most US citizens felt seeing our not a new condition. It’s the norm. They have own territory “invaded” by terrorists destroying felt it. Their parents and grandparents have felt buildings and killing innocent civilians? We felt it. Their children have felt it. violated, assaulted, voiceless, choiceless, powerless. Victims of invasions often seek to “get even” in some way. This seems to be the attitude of much To much of the world, US corporate-dominated of the public at the moment. Why should anyone world commerce has subscribed to the be surprised that other people in other nations inscription on the Department of Commerce share similar feelings? building. Nations of the world have been subjected to a US-dominated multi-pronged This picture of corporate commercial invasion of their industrial bases, farms, abroad is still not complete without shedding consumer goods, overall economic policies and light on its domestic equivalent. Invading abroad political systems. has gone hand-in-hand with escaping at home.

Leading the charge have been US-based US-based corporations have spent 150 years in transnational corporations and various US this country working to escape any and all forms dominated mechanisms they have used to shield of public definition and control. They have or pave their way. These include international sought to gain “liberty” and “freedom” from We financial institutions like the World Bank and the People at the state level. International Monetary Fund (IMF); international trade regimes like the World Trade During the early period of US history, many Organization (WTO); and bilateral or state laws and constitutions controlled multilateral so-called trade agreements like corporations through awarding, conditioning and NAFTA and the proposed Free Trade revoking charters. Corporate charters were Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). privileges, not rights. They granted corporations the privilege to exist for specific purposes and This direct and indirect economic invasion is not limited time-periods. Profits were limited. the whole story. Corporate commercial invasion Liabilities of stockholders, owners or managers of foreign economies, cultures and governments were in some cases limited. Corporations were has been complemented by threats and actual often prohibited from all types of direct or military invasions. The dollar and gun have indirect political influence. worked in tandem. Following the Civil , many corporations Throughout our history, the US military has amassed great wealth (which corporations do invaded countless nations in Central America, following all -- the same will be true in the the Middle East, Southeast Asia and elsewhere. war in Afghanistan). They sought to translate In 1962 Secretary of State Dean Rusk presented their new economic power into greater political to a congressional committee a list of over 150 power. Various forms of escaping accomplished American military interventions abroad since the much of this: beginning of the nation. The list has grown over the last four decades to include military assaults - From the state level to the federal level. It was on Cambodia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, El Salvador, much more difficult for ordinary citizens to wield much influence on federal legislators or travel to Washington DC compared to corporate corporate culture of overproduction and interests. overconsumption.

- From legislatures to courts. It was much easier - Create cooperative, all-inclusive community to stack a few courts with corporate-friendly institutions to provide food, health care, judges or bribe a few judges (who at the federal employment, currency, housing, energy, level aren't even elected but appointed for life) clothing, media, entertainment, etc. than to try to influence an entire group of legislators. - Convince ourselves and others who work against one corporate harm at a time to shift - From legislatures to “regulatory agencies.” goals, strategies and tactics to contest the These agencies provided a convenient shield constitutionalized property, personhood, contract between the public and accountable legislators and commerce authority of corporations (the to corporate interests to promote their agendas rule of thumb should be: “Is this changing a basic ground rule and not simply relieving a Escaping public control of US corporations in single harm?) the US was also codependent with another force. That force has not been primarily the - Challenge and replace public officials who policeman's gun or baton. It’s been the law give away public authority (including “Fast book. Track” negotiating power) to business and charitable corporations Corporate attorneys with their colleagues on federal courts have perverted the law at every - Change state constitutions, corporation codes, level. They have won legal decisions making corporate charters and international so-called corporations legal “persons” with due process, “Trade Agreements” to define corporations as equal protection, free speech, search and seizure public, subordinate entities and other protections from the government and the public. This has enabled the corporate - Contest the exercise of illegitimate corporate invasion of the body politic in our own nation -- authority in city councils, state legislatures and of our health care, workplace, environment, the US Congress and instead, becoming education, news, food, entertainment and involved ourselves in creating, implementing politics -- to continue with constancy and and evaluating rules of government on behalf of rapidity. people and the planet.

Escaping local and state controls still has not - Charge courts, which act to shield been good enough for corporate agents. There corporations and privilege as irresponsible and remains, after all, national laws and regulations unaccountable and work with others to that, while in many cases are weak and strategically overturn decisions that threaten unenforced, nevertheless inhibit the ability to authentic self-governance. maximize profits, externalize costs and limit all liability. Thus, corporations have attempted to Only in these ways can we hope to have escape national controls for international arenas authentic democratic voices and choices in basic -- where factories can be built with few labor decisions governing our lives. and environmental constraints, where rules for institutions like the WTO can be designed by corporations from the start, and where regulatory entities can be created that provide maximum Greg Coleridge, Director, Northeast Ohio protection to (yet the appearance of public American Friends Service Committee, 2101 Front control over) corporations. Corporate escaping St., #111, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221 of domestic control and invading the commerce Email: [email protected] and cultures of other nations go hand in hand.

Is it any wonder why so many people in our own communities, states and nation feel so voiceless, choiceless and powerless?

So what can we do? “Getting even” through violence is no more a solution to corporate harms than war is to . We must:

- Come to learn the story in your community, state and nation of democracy and threats by corporations, legislators, judges, and regulators to all-inclusive self-governance.

- Claim as our main social identity that of “citizen” instead of “consumer” and act October, 2001 accordingly to challenge every aspect of the