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How to Overthrow Corporate Rule in 5 Not-so-easy Steps

Resources and information on fighting corporate power, democratizing our government and freeing people’s time.

Many people are spending a lot of their time volunteering to stop specific environmental threats, to address a specific labor issue, or to stop various other corporate abuses to our communities. The number of problems seems endless. Isn’t there a faster way to save the world?

This page is devoted to those who are interested in getting to the root of society’s problems. How nice would it be if our government wasn’t answering to their corporate masters, but to community concerns? How much easier would our efforts be if people weren’t so overworked and had more time to volunteer? Wouldn’t it be great to have the media reporting critically on serious community issues rather than pandering to the the interests of their wealthy owners and advertisers?

These are the reforms that make other reforms possible.

  1. Take away their money:
    • Stop privatization / Re-socialize systems
      • Privatized systems mean that corporations get to profit from providing important social services which could be provided by (hopefully democratically-controlled) public bodies. Get involved in efforts to stop privitization of schools, municipal water/sewer systems, trash collection or other social services. Better yet, get involved in efforts to put services like health care or electric power under public control.
      • White Paper on Privatization
      • Polaris Institute
      • Public Services International Research Unit
    • Boycott / protest big corporations
      • Withdraw your support from large corporations by consuming less and supporting local, small businesses when possible.
    • Corporate Dirt Archives (learn what’s wrong with specific corporations)
    • Fight corporate “wealthfare”
      • Get corporations off the public dole and work to stop subsidy abuse by opposing things like public funding for private stadiums, excessive and unneeded highway projects and other tax breaks, subsidies and bailouts which are not in the public interest. Welfare is for people, not corporations!
      • Corporate Welfare Information Center
  2. Electoral Democracy
    • A more comprehensive list of election reform resources can now be found on our electoral reform page.
    • Instant Runoff Voting
      • Don’t let the government make you pick the “lesser of two evils” when you vote. With instant runoff voting, you can vote your conscience without fear by picking your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices (and so on). Start by putting this electoral process into practice on the local level – in your town, county or state.
      • Center for Voting and Democracy
      • Instant Run-Off.com
      • Try out IRV here
    • Public financing of elections
    • Ballot access / 3rd parties
    • Initiative and Referendum
    • Democratize media
      • The majority of all media in the U.S. is now owned by only six mega-corporations. Join movements to democratize media. Democracy is impossible without being able to hear voices of dissent.
      • Media Reform Information Center
    • Democratize your university
      • Colleges and universities are increasingly being controlled by corporate interests for their own gain. Work with others to pry education out of the corporate grip.
  3. Structural attacks:
    • Local ordinances which attack corporate rights
    • Getting corporations out of our grade schools
      • Throughout the U.S., local school boards are the easiest public office to run for and win. Take over your local school board if necessary and work to get corporate influence out of public schools.
    • Fighting global corporatization
      • Think globally, act locally! Build community awareness of “free trade” agreements and hold your congressperson and senators accountable for their votes. Pass “WTO-free zone” resolutions and other local expressions of opposition to trade agreements which would trump the rights of local and state governments to protect citizens from corporate abuses. If you can, act globally as well by gathering people to go with you to rallies and protests against major global corporatization conferences.
      • Global Trade Watch
      • Global Exchange
      • Independent Media Centers
  4. Human/worker rights:
    • 30 hour work week
      • 30 hours work for 40 hours pay! Thanks to union organizing in years past, we now have the weekend, 8 hour work-days and 40 hour work weeks. In 1933, the 30 hour work week nearly became law when both the U.S. Senate and House passed it only to have it vetoed by President Roosevelt (who later regretted doing so). Sharing the work reduces unemployment and gives working people more personal time, which can free people up for move civic engagement.
      • Take Back Your Time
      • Downsizing vs. Timesizing
      • The Free Time / Free People Project
      • “The End of Work” book by Jeremy Rifkin (Notes from the book)
    • Universal health care
      • Make the 30 hour work week possible by making health care a right (covering all people through one “single-payer” governmental system), not a privilege (where just certain working people are covered through multiple bureaucratic insurance corporations) and removing the incentive for corporations to avoid hiring full time workers.
      • Health Care NOW!
      • Physicians for a National Health Program
  5. Redesign Corporations:

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