Washington

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Jul 25, 2015

The Spokesman-Review: Workers Bill of Rights proposal qualifies for Spokane ballot

The Spokesman-Review: Workers Bill of Rights proposal qualifies for Spokane ballot

Spokane, WA, residents successfully place a Worker Bill of Rights initiative on the November ballot. The city council is working to place advisory questions on the ballot as well, to deter voters from supporting the measure.

Read More | Community Wires

May 12, 2015

Dissident Voice: The Future is in the Past: Economics 101 for Spokane

Dissident Voice: The Future is in the Past: Economics 101 for Spokane

An in-depth look at Spokane, WA, its economy, and what sustainable and just would mean to the almost 40,000 people living in poverty. This includes Envision Spokane’s Worker Bill of Rights, aimed for the November 2015 ballot.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

May 12, 2015

Dissident Voice: The Future is in the Past: Economics 101 for Spokane

Dissident Voice: The Future is in the Past: Economics 101 for Spokane

An in-depth look at Spokane, WA, its economy, and what sustainable and just would mean to the almost 40,000 people living in poverty. This includes Envision Spokane’s Worker Bill of Rights, aimed for the November 2015 ballot.

Read More | Uncategorized

Mar 25, 2015

The Spokesman-Review: Envision Spokane initiative would add workers’ rights to city charter

The Spokesman-Review: Envision Spokane initiative would add workers’ rights to city charter

Envision Spokane – a community, rights-based organization in Spokane, WA – is advancing a Worker’s Bill of Rights for the November 2015 ballot that would protect workers’ rights to a living wage, equal pay for equal work regardless of gender or race, and other rights for workers.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 20, 2015

Inlander: Envision Spokane files new Worker Bill of Rights initiative

Inlander: Envision Spokane files new Worker Bill of Rights initiative

Envision Spokane advances a CELDF-drafted Worker’s Bill of Rights to protect workers’ rights to a living wage, and three other key provisions.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Feb 14, 2015

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Decision

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Decision

In the face of corporations and government joining together to suppress the democratic rights of the people of Spokane, WA, to vote on a Community Bill of Rights, last week the Washington Court of Appeals overturned an earlier ruling and ordered the initiative be placed back on the ballot for a vote of the people.

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Feb 4, 2015

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Decision

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Decision

In the face of corporations and government joining together to suppress the democratic rights of the people of Spokane, WA, to vote on a Community Bill of Rights, last week the Washington Court of Appeals overturned an earlier ruling and ordered the initiative be placed back on the ballot for a vote of the people.

Read More | Uncategorized

Feb 3, 2015

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Appellate Court Decision

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Appellate Court Decision

In the face of corporations and government joining together to suppress the democratic rights of the people of Spokane, WA, to vote on a Community Bill of Rights, last week the Washington Court of Appeals overturned an earlier ruling and ordered the initiative be placed back on the ballot for a vote of the people.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs

Jan 30, 2015

The Spokesman-Review: Court orders initiative vote

The Spokesman-Review: Court orders initiative vote

The Washington State Appellate Court ruled in favor of a Community Rights initiative that had been kept off the ballot by local corporate and government interests, finding that the right of initiative by the people is protected.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 25, 2015

Truthout: ALEC Forces the Question: Will Labor Really Go Local?

Truthout: ALEC Forces the Question: Will Labor Really Go Local?

While ALEC and other pro-corporate entities attempt to decrease worker rights,CELDF partners in Colorado and Spokane, WA, begin working on Community Bills of Rights to protect workers’ rights, building on the “floor” of rights established at the state and federal levels.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 25, 2015

Truthout: ALEC Forces the Question: Will Labor Really Go Local?

Truthout: ALEC Forces the Question: Will Labor Really Go Local?

While ALEC and other pro-corporate entities attempt to decrease worker rights,CELDF partners in Colorado and Spokane, WA, begin working on Community Bills of Rights to protect workers’ rights, building on the “floor” of rights established at the state and federal levels.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Sep 1, 2014

Spokane

Spokane

In 2007, after a series of Democracy Schools held in Spokane, Washington, a group of citizens led by local school teacher Brad Read built a coalition to support a Community Bill of Rights for City residents.

Read More | Community Wires

Feb 28, 2014

The Western Front: Frontline – Support a Community Bill of Rights

The Western Front: Frontline – Support a Community Bill of Rights

Western University students in Bellingham, WA, call on their peers to launch a Community Bill of Rights initiative in Bellingham.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Oct 30, 2013

CELDF’s Northwest Community Rights Organizer Kai Huschke speaks on Washington’s Initiative I-517, on the ballot 11/5. Click here to listen.

CELDF’s Northwest Community Rights Organizer Kai Huschke speaks on Washington’s Initiative I-517, on the ballot 11/5. Click here to listen.

Initiative 517 is an initiative on initiatives, designed to make it easier to qualify initiatives for the ballot. I-517 would expand the time allotted to gather signatures for initiatives, as well as increase the areas where gatherers can go. It would also make it a crime to interfere, inhibit or restrict gatherers and require a public vote on any local initiative that qualifies — even if there is a legal challenge.

Read More | Uncategorized

Oct 24, 2013

Live Debate On I-517: The Initiative On Initiatives

Live Debate On I-517: The Initiative On Initiatives

Steve Scher talks with both sides of the initiative in a live debate: Kai Huschke, an organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, and Representative Marko Liias from Washington’s 21st district.

Read More | Uncategorized

Oct 8, 2013

Read the Dirt: When The State Pushes Back

Read the Dirt: When The State Pushes Back

Editor Simon Davis-Cohen interviews CELDF’s Pacific Northwest Community Organizer Kai Huschke about our structure of law and governance that functions to deny communities’ rights when they interfere with corporate “rights,” as seen today in both Washington State and Oregon.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 30, 2013

The Pacific Northwest Inlander: Judgment Day

The Pacific Northwest Inlander: Judgment Day

Corporate and government interests in Spokane, WA, succeed in blocking citizens’ initiatives that would establish Community Rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jul 8, 2013

July 2013 CELDF Update

July 2013 CELDF Update

Updates and news from CELDF communities across the country.

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Aug 20, 2012

Bellingham Community Rights vs. Corporate Rights

Bellingham Community Rights vs. Corporate Rights

Why support Bellingham, WA’s Community Bill of Rights? Suzanne Ravet, a member of Coal-Free Bellingham, gives her account. Read more here from Northwest Citizen.

Read More | Uncategorized

Aug 7, 2012

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

SPOKANE: In late July, citizens from Washington communities gathered in Spokane to launch the Washington Community Rights Network (WCRN). Network members released The Spokane Declaration, calling upon communities across the state to join together in a movement to elevate the rights of people, their communities, and nature above the claimed rights of corporations….The creation of the Washington Community Rights Network comes out of active community campaigns on both sides of the Cascades.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 7, 2012

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network to Advocate for Community Rights.

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Jul 30, 2012

Spokane’s Move to Amend, Occupy Spokane, Envision Spokane, and CELDF Join Together to Advance Elections Ordinance Banning Corporate Involvement in Elections and Government While Stripping Corporate “Rights”

Spokane’s Move to Amend, Occupy Spokane, Envision Spokane, and CELDF Join Together to Advance Elections Ordinance Banning Corporate Involvement in Elections and Government While Stripping Corporate “Rights”

Drafted by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) and Envision
Spokane, the organizations Occupy Spokane and Spokane Move to Amend (SMAC) are
currently qualifying the initiative for the November 2013 ballot. The project represents the
first common initiative of the organizations in the country.

Read More | Uncategorized

Sep 28, 2011

Envision Spokane: Worker Rights, Not Corporate Employer Rights

Envision Spokane: Worker Rights, Not Corporate Employer Rights

Cross the threshold into a private workplace and POOF!, your constitutional rights disappear. It’s true. Gone go your First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights, but not so for corporate employers.

Read More | Uncategorized

Sep 28, 2011

Envision Spokane: River Rights, Not Corporate Polluter Rights

Envision Spokane: River Rights, Not Corporate Polluter Rights

Prop. 1 would establish the highest protections for the River and Aquifer – recognizing their rights to exist; it then provides for us – as Spokane residents – the ability to enforce those rights.

Read More | Uncategorized

Sep 28, 2011

Envision Spokane: Neighborhood Rights, Not Corporate Developer Rights

Envision Spokane: Neighborhood Rights, Not Corporate Developer Rights

Today, corporate developers have more rights than our neighborhoods. Prop. 1 would require developers to obtain neighborhood approval for zoning changes involving significant development. It means residents, not developers, would have the final say.

Read More | Uncategorized

Sep 28, 2011

Envision Spokane: Community Rights, not Corporate Rights

Envision Spokane: Community Rights, not Corporate Rights

It is time to reign in corporation so that they serve people, not the other way around. In Spokane, corporations are given the same legal rights as naturally born people even though there is nothing natural about them. Combine corporate legal rights with enormous corporate wealth and all of us naturally born people lose our ability to create communities that reflect our values.

Read More | Uncategorized

Aug 31, 2011

Why Local Communities Need to Assert Their Inalienable Rights to Self-Government

Why Local Communities Need to Assert Their Inalienable Rights to Self-Government

This is not just about newly unlimited corporate campaign contributions; it is about direct corporate decision-making in our communities.

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Aug 16, 2011

Envision Spokane Successfully Qualifies Initiative to the Ballot

Envision Spokane Successfully Qualifies Initiative to the Ballot

Envision Spokane’s Brad Read on the “Community Bill of Rights” Initiative.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jan 25, 2011

Democracy Matters Radio

Democracy Matters Radio

Net Neutrality – Corporate Control of the Internet. And drilling Ohio. This week on Democracy Matters Radio.

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Jan 10, 2011

Democracy Matters

Democracy Matters

Bailing out corporations, but not communities – a federal double standard? And Mora County, NM – community rights vs. fracking. This week on Democracy Matters Radio.

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Jan 4, 2011

Democracy Matters

Democracy Matters

Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields headlines our “Best of 2010” interviews on Democracy Matters

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Dec 21, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

When is a Repeal not a Repeal – A look at Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and other acts of Congress, and a sneak peak at Democracy School … Listen to CELDF on the Radio – “Democracy Matters” Podcast

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Dec 20, 2010

Democracy Matters

Democracy Matters

Derrick Jensen headlines our “Best of 2010” interviews on this special holiday week edition of Democracy Matters

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Dec 6, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” Podcast for the week of Dec 6: Featuring Part I of our interview with Professor Christopher Stone, author of “Should Trees Have Standing?” on Rights of Nature

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Dec 1, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” Podcast for Dec. 1: Energy – when will we stop conducting activism – such as advocating for “responsible drilling” – when we know it destroys communities; and Envision Spokane president Brad Read

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Nov 21, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” Podcast for Thanksgiving Week: The mythology of Thanksgiving and an interview with CELDF Organizer Chad Nicholson

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Nov 17, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” Podcast for Nov. 17 – with Part II of our interview with Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields on the city’s ordinance banning corporations from natural gas drilling

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Nov 10, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” Podcast for Nov. 10 – with Part I of our interview with Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields on his measure to ban corporations from natural gas drilling

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Nov 4, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for November 4, 2010 – with our election round-up and an interview with Ben Price on Pittsburgh’s proposed ordinance banning corporations from natural gas drilling

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Oct 28, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for October 28, 2010 – with our interview with Yes! Magazine’s executive editor Sarah van Gelder

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Oct 21, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for October 21, 2010 – with our interview with John Stauber

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Oct 14, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for October 14, 2010 – with Part II of our interview with Derrick Jensen

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Oct 7, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for September 30, 2010 – with Part I of our interview with Derrick Jensen

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Sep 30, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for September 30, 2010 – Raw Milk and the FDA, the Tea Party – new party or just the new “right” of the Republican Party, and Bill Twist on Rights of Nature.

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Sep 23, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for September 23, 2010

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Sep 16, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for September 16, 2010

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Sep 9, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for September 9, 2010

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Sep 2, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for September 2, 2010

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Aug 26, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for August 26, 2010

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Aug 19, 2010

CELDF on the Radio

CELDF on the Radio

“Democracy Matters” New Podcast for August 19, 2010

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