Occupy Durham Committee to End Corporate Personhood

January 26, 2012 Minutes

The committee applauded the recent Occupy the Courts event and the passage of a great resolution supporting an end to corporate personhood by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.

The CECP has begun the work of circulating a petition to get signatures in support of a letter to the Durham City Council encouraging that body to endorse the concept of an amendment to the US Constitution that would end corporate personhood and reverse the Citizens United decision. We will expand the effort to include new locations for gathering signatures such as the Durham Farmers Market. In addition, we are close to starting an on-line petition drive. Organizational endorsements include: Peoples Alliance, League of Women Voters, Common Cause, Democracy NC, and Durham Democratic Women.

The CECP also met with other Occupy Durham committees, which are addressing health care issues and foreclosure/evictions. The committees agreed to coordinate a presentation to Durham Congregations in Action (on February 21) and to prepare some outreach materials that could be used by any of the Occupy committees to explain the work of each of the Occupy committees. CECP also learned of another Occupy event where we should have a presence; On Feb. 18, the Really Free Market will take place and this is a chance to get support for our petition.

January 9, 2012 Meeting Summary

Final wordsmithing edits are being done on (1) a draft letter to Durham City Council, (2) the accompanying draft resolution to end corporate personhood and reverse Citizens United, and (3) a letter to organizations asking them to sign on to the letter to the city council. The hard copy petition for individual signatures is finalized and the target date for getting signatures on the city council letter and the petition is March 31. We also are close to setting up an electronic version of the petition. Occupy Durham has officially endorsed our strategy and proposed actions, and we’ll send OD copies of our final documents and petitions.

Occupy Chapel Hill and others are planning a January 20 Occupy the Courts event. There will probably be an action in Raleigh. M. is interested in helping plan that event. The rest of the committee will attend if interested and able and will facilitate carpooling from Durham.

We need to contact Triangle MTA and national MTA to see if they want to put in an order for bumper stickers. We need to raise around $400 to get 1,000 stickers. Various folks on the committee indicated they would chip in. We will apply to Occupy Durham for $50 stipend (to be repaid with proceeds of the sales).
[Update: We've ordered 500 stickers at $290 plus shipping.]