Other Resources

Click on graphic above to check out our Educator Resource Page.

Creating Democracy Workshop

An introductory, participatory workshop on how to change laws and assert citizen authority and power. Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. Cost of the workshop is $10.00 per person. Download pdf brochure. If you group is interested in hosting a workshop, e-mail gcoleridge@afsc.org

Ohio History Quiz
Excerpted from Citizens over Corporations: A Brief History of Democracy in Ohio and Challenges to Freedom in the Future
By Greg Coleridge
Those who rule based on the dominant culture, regardless of country or political persuasion, have always written the “mainstream” version of history. By definition, this means people, ideas and actions fundamentally challenging the dominant culture are barely mentioned, if so rarely analyzed, distorted or omitted altogether. It’s the responsibility of those not part of the dominant culture (always has been, always will be) to (re)claim the people, ideas and actions from the past – to be inspired, to learn the lessons and to assess what may be useful in the present. Ohio’s history is not just a description of its past Presidents, where and when its wartime battles took place, or which Ohioans flew into space. Another part, its hidden part, is the story of the successes, struggles and failures of the many people who sought to establish a state where they could make the basic decisions affecting their own lives free from external control. It’s also the story of the few who imposed control over Ohio’s majority of people and resources using the business corporation as their primary vehicle. These stories are enormously relevant today. The questions and answers below are excerpted from Citizens over Corporations: A Brief History of Democracy in Ohio and Challenges to Freedom in the Future, available from the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee [330-928-2301].

Corporations and Democracy

5/4/08: Citizens or Corporations: Who's in Charge

Greg Coleridge speaking

11:30am - 12:15pm

Euclid Ave Christian Church

3663 Mayfield Rd

Cleveland, Oh 44121

216-382-5344

2008 CANDIDATE SURVEY (pdf)

The Ohio primary is one month away. AFSC has developed a survey for all
Congressional Candidates,

a 10 QUESTION SURVEY ON DEMOCRACY AND CORPORATE RIGHTS
Directed to Candidates for US Representative from Ohio

Please print it out and send or deliver it to your Congressional candidates
and ask them to fill it out and return it to us by February 29. We will post
all responses on our website and RealDemocracy blog.

"Quaker activist works for peace, social change" Monday, January 07, 2008 Mark Naymik Plain Dealer Politics Writer

"Transparency is vital to the election process" Published on Tuesday, January 01, 2008
The Plain Dealer

TESTIMONY PROVIDED TO CUYAHOGA COUNTY (OHIO) BOARD OF ELECTIONS
Monday, December 17, 2007    
Cleveland, Ohio
 
My name is Greg Coleridge. I’m with the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee and on the national board of the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy – 2 organizations that have for many years researched and educated on the relationship between democracy and corporations.
 
The real issue before us today one of authority – one of maintaining public authority to ensure that public officials and institutions are in complete control in the collection, counting and reporting of public votes during public elections in the democratic selection of public officials.
 
Voting machine technology is private. It’s trademarked. It’s private property.

Corporations manufacture the machines.
Corporations program the machines.
Corporations service the machines.
Corporations “trouble-shoot” any problems with the machines.
Corporations possess the proprietary “keys” to the machines.
Corporations have the bottom-line authority over the machines.
In short, vote counting has become privatized or, more specifically, corporatized.
 
In the Project EVEREST report issued last Friday, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner states on page 73 under the General Conclusions and Background section, 3rd paragraph:
 
“It has been said that elections belong to the people. Excessive dependence on any voting machine company to operate the state’s elections, when that company’s voting system is subject to trade secret or propriety information claims, result in a loss of transparency that should exist to assure election officials and the public that a fair and accurate process has been implemented for democratic self-governance.”
 
Exactly.
 
She concludes that same paragraph by saying:
 
“The information available to the scientists who performed the assessments of this study is some of the most comprehensive information available to date for any such study. This was not accomplished without the assistance and cooperation of the voting machine companies whose equipment and software were studied”
 
This is precisely the problem – having to rely on or depend upon the assistance and cooperation of voting machine corporations.
 
This is not public. This is not democratic. This is the main problem. Public “oversight,” public “monitoring,” public “advising,” public “watchdogging,” or any other word to describe the passive and deferential role the public has under the current vote-counting framework is unacceptable. It’s undemocratic.
 
Issues of Touch Screen vs Optical Scan is akin to choosing between paper or plastic at the check-out line and calling it a real decision to save the environment – while SUVs and smoke stacks are destroying the Earth’s ozone. Obviously we need verified voting with a paper ballot but the choice as presented is a secondary concern.
 
The real issue is public authority. The  real issue is whether or not the public, via Boards of Elections, can actually be in control of the voting machine technology, proprietary program “keys,” servicing and counting.  In other words, can public entities be actively in charge rather than passively watching what’s going on. There’s a profound difference.

Public entities need to take over and totally control this technology. Public elections are too important to have private for-profit business corporations in charge. Vote counting needs to be open, transparent, and verifiable.
 
The real choice is not paper or plastic. It’s authority. Citizen authority or corporate authority. May this body be wise enough to make the right choice.

 

 

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11/7/07 Cleveland Free Times article "I Sell, Therefore I Am" by Greg Coleridge

10/7/07 Plain Dealer Article "Blackwater USA killings expose impotence of Iraqi government" by Greg Coleridge

September 21, 2007 - "Controlling Blackwater and other Corporations" (pdf) - Submitted to the Cleveland Plain Dealer by Greg Coleridge

September 13, 2007 - "Honor Democracy in Iraq" (pdf) - Submitted to the Akron Beacon Journal by Greg Coleridge

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Upcoming Events (For more events CLICK HERE)

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Cleveland Corporations, Law & Democracy Study Group Click on this link to find out about study group dates, times, and topics.

(March 2008 version)

View and Download "This is What Democracy [In Ohio] Looks Like" (pdf)

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CorpOrNation

WATCH ENTIRE MOVIE

(Click on Links Below):

Part 1 of 5

Part 2 of 5

Part 3 of 5

Part 4 of 5

Part 5 of 5

Video Documentary produced by the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee in 2003

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Citizens Over Corporations
A Brief History of
Democracy in Ohio
and Challenges to Freedom
in the Future
Second Edition Third Printing
By Greg Coleridge