Community Organizing for Deep Democracy - CANCELLED

Offered: Friday October 10, 4pm – Sunday October 12, 3:30pm

Instructors: Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap and David Cobb (see bios below)

Cost: $250–$400 sliding scale, depending on your income (includes meals and lodging at OAEC) - see below for detailed sliding scale information

OAEC is pleased to host this weekend workshop organized by Democracy Unlimited , an organization based in Humboldt County, CA, dedicated to building democracy and challenging corporate rule at the local level. This retreat will offer tangible strategies for participants to effectively organize in their own communities to reclaim the constitutional promise of a sovereign citizenry. Presentations and discussion will focus on the history of people’s struggles for democratic self-governance in the U.S., and analysis of how corporations, courts and legislators have manipulated law and culture to empower corporations with the constitutional rights intended for natural persons. We will focus on legal and educational strategies to more successfully organize for local democracy in our communities.

WHO: You are invited to join us for an empowering weekend retreat: “Community Organizing for Deep Democracy.” These events will be tailored to meet the needs of the participants based on pre-event feedback. This event is open to participants from all over the country.

WHAT: These full weekend workshops will help participants effectively organize in their own communities to reclaim citizen sovereignty and will offer tangible strategies for actions that we can collectively take to get our democracy back from corporations. These three-day intensive workshops will challenge the deep assumptions that we all hold about what it means to live in a democracy and what the proper role of the corporation is. We will draw on history as well as current events to illustrate the changing role of the corporation over time and how seriously our past people’s struggles have taken the concept of democracy.

Deep Democracy Retreats are right for you if you are:
An activist, leader, organizer, or trainer engaged in issues of economic, environmental or social justice in your community; An educator, activist, organizer, or trainer seeking to improve your understanding of the history of corporate power and more effective strategies for resistance. By the end of the weekend workshop participants will have a background on how corporate leaders and current judicial interpretations of the law are preventing us from defining our own communities. Emphasis of this weekend will be on giving participants the history, analysis, networks, and legal and educational strategies to more successfully organize for local democracy in their communities.

COST: Event cost is $250-$400 on a sliding scale. You determine what you can pay based on your income and current financial situation. Below is a suggested model to follow - if you can donate more to help others who need scholarships please do so.

If your income is...under $15,000 -- you pay... $250
If your income is...$15,001-$25,000 -- you pay... $275
If your income is...$25,001-$35,000 -- you pay... $300
If your income is...$35,001-$45,000 -- you pay... $325
If your income is...$45,001-$55,000 -- you pay...$350
If your income is...over $55,000 -- you pay...$400 (and we welcome additional donations to cover scholarships for others).

Are you being sent to the training by your employer? If so, don't use your income to determine the fee -- use the annual budget of the organization. For example, if the organization's annual budget is $38,000, your employer would pay $325 to send you to the retreat.

For more information visit www.duhc.org or contact Democracy Unlimited: info@duhc.org or (707) 269-0984. The Retreat is limited to 20 participants - so register early!

Materials, including a detailed agenda for the Retreat and a background reading packet, will be made available to all registrants prior to the training to help participants prepare for the Retreat.

Community Organizing for Deep Democracy Retreat Presenters:

· Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap is DUHC's Executive Director. In 2004 she was elected to serve on the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water Board, becoming one of the youngest elected officials in California. She has served on the smartMeme STORY board, the leadership team of WILPF's Challenge Corporate Power/Assert the People's Rights campaign, and the Housing Advisory Board of the City of Eureka. She is currently Project Co-coordinator for the Humboldt Exchange Community Currency Project and a principal for the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy and a Fellow with Liberty Tree: the Foundation for the Democratic Revolution.

· David Cobb was the Green Party nominee for President of the United States in 2004. He served as the General Counsel for the Green Party until declaring his candidacy in 2003. His entire legal career is dedicated to challenging illegitimate corporate power and to creating democracy. In 2002 he ran for state Attorney General in Texas on a platform to use the office to revoke the charters of corporations that break the law and challenge corporate ability to manipulate the legal system at the expense of the people. David is a member of the DUHC Steering Committee and principal for the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy and is a Fellow with Liberty Tree: the Foundation for the Democratic Revolution. He has also worked intimately with the Center for Voting and Democracy and ReclaimDemocracy.org.