Citizens Intent on Reforming Corporate Accountability (CIRCA)

Local or National Organizations

Ohio Commitee on Corporations, Law, and Democracy is a group concerned about the decline in our ability to govern ourselves, in part due to thepower and constitutionally-protected rights of corporations.  There are a number of articles at the ohiodemocracy.org Web site. One of those is a directory of existing and alternative institutions taking the place of corporations.

The Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker social action organization. On their web site, you can find links for Corporations and Democracy. Their Economic Justice & Empowerment  program has developed a 4 hour workshop "Creating Democracy", a participatory workshop on how to change laws and assert citizen authority and power. The workshop costs only $10.

"This is not anti-corporate work.  This is the work of healing our body politic, of coming to the defense of the common good."
--Virginia Rasmussen, POCLAD and Women's International League for Peace Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD) brings together organizers, researchers, writers and former elected officials to engage in an ongoing discussion of the role of corporations and to contest the authority of corporations to supercede the power of citizens and elected governments. You can read more about POCLAD at the  POCLAD page on our site, or you can go to the POCLAD web site.

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) launched a campaign to abolish Corporate Personhood in 2001. You can find a link to this program on the WILPF web site.

Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) provides legal services to organizations and communities to protect their quality of life and natural environment. On the CELDF Web site, you can find out about their Democracy Schools, model legal briefs, and ordinances.

ReclaimDemocracy is dedicated to restoring democratic authority over corporations, reviving grassroots democracy, and revoking the power of money and corporations to control government and civic society. You can find links to Corporate Personhood on the Reclaim Democracy Web site.

Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community (UUJEC) works with Unitarian Universalist congregations around the country to support justice actions that challenge corporate dominance.  More info on the UUJEC Web site.

PeopleFirst!Maine is promoting legislation in the Maine legislature that will add 28 words to the corporate charter law that now requires corporate directors "to serve the best interests of the corporation". The 28 words to be added to that are "but not at the expense of the environment, human rights, public health or safety, welfare of the communities in which the corporation operates or dignity of its employees". You can find information on legislation and events on PeopleFirst!Maine Web site.

The Alliance for Democracy is working to end corporate rule and restore true democracy. On the Alliance for Democracy Web site you can find information on their campaigns and links to other resources.

Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County (Eureka, California) at www.duhc.org is working against corporate rule in Humboldt County to serve as a model for other communities. You can read about a proposed county ordinance to prohibit corporate contributions to elections at www.VoteLocalControl.org.

CorpWatch provides news articles and research to promote corporate accountability. You can see more about their campaigns and issues on the CorpWatch Web site.

End Corporate Rule, formerly Reclaim Democracy/End Corporate Rule, is an organization in Newport Beach, CA working to pass resolutions in cities and towns to end corporate rule.  You can find more information at their web site.

Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution at libertytreefdr.org is an organization that is working to fulfill the promise of democracy. They are working for democratic elections, fighting against the corporitization of education and for the democratization of education, and working to democratize municipalities.

California Center for Community Democracy at www.californiademocracy.org uses what they call rights based organizing to assert people's rights against the dominance of corporate rights.

The Center for Democracy and the Constitution at www.constitution411.org is building an organization in Massachusetts based on the model of POCLAD and CELDF.

The National Lawyers Guild has a Committee on Corporations, the Constitution, and Human Rights. You can view their Mission Statement online.

You can also see a number of resolutions and ordinances on this page, as well as other organizations and causes related to Corporate Personhood on this page.