The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, National Field Organizing Director, info@movetoamend.org, (707) 269-0984

Activists Challenging Corporate Personhood to Converge on Oakland for Democracy Conference

Oakland, Calif.

Move to Amend, the national campaign to abolish Corporate Personhood, will convene a Regional Grassroots Democracy Convergence in Northern California later this month. The weekend event, which will feature educational workshops and networking activities for democracy activists, is co-sponsored by the Sierra Club, Coffee Party USA, Alliance for Democracy, Democracy Unlimited, and the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy, and others.

Move to Amend NorCal! Regional Democracy Convergence is one of a series of seven Move to Amend regional gatherings taking place across the U.S. in 2012. The event is set to run from July 27-29 at the Oakland Peace Center in Oakland, CA. The conference will offer workshops on movement building, organizing skills, strategy development, and capacity building. Session topics include "The State of the Global & US Democracy Movement" and "Building a Multi-Racial Democracy Movement for Social Justice and Constitutional Renewal," among others.

"We're very excited about this convergence and the new organizing opportunities it has the potential to open," said Move to Amend National Field Organizing Director Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap. "The movement against corporate rule has grown exponentially in the last year. To continue to be effective and win real victories in the future it is vital that we engage in both skill-building and community building - that's what the convergence is all about."

Sopoci-Belknap is one of a dozen dynamic presenters that will be featured at the Convergence. Others include Executive Director of the Center for Media Justice, Malkia Cyril; Executive Director of People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER), Alicia Garza; social justice attorney Richard Hobbs; and Move to Amend Spokesperson David Cobb.

More information about the convergence, including workshop descriptions, presenter bios, accommodation recommendations, and transportation options, is available on the Move to Amend website: https://movetoamend.org/events/oakland-ca-move-amend-nor-cal-regional-c.... Registration fees are on a sliding scale ($40 suggested minimum) and can be paid online. A limited amount of host housing is available with Move to Amend activists in the Bay Area.

Move to Amend is a rapidly growing national grassroots coalition organizing to pass a constitutional amendment to state that Constitutional rights belong to human beings only, not to corporations and other artificial entities, and that campaign spending is not a form of protected speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated.

MovetoAmend.org is a coalition supported by hundreds of organizations and tens of thousands of individuals dedicated to ending the illegitimate legal doctrines that prevent the American people from governing ourselves.