Envisioning Local Democracy

Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 to Wednesday, July 22, 2020
What does democracy mean if not self-government?
Who bears the brunt of progress?
“Sacrifice Zones are those areas that have been offered up for exploitation in the name of profit, progress and technological advancement.”
-Chris Hedges, award winning journalist
All across our country localities have resisted the placement of hazardous and industrial waste, the pollution of beloved rivers and ground, extractive practices like mining and hydraulic fracturing and much more. Nearly always, however, local peoples’ interests lose to corporate power. Nonetheless, resistance persists and is gaining momentum.
200 communities around the country are enacting local ordinances and constitutions to resist and liberate their communities from state preemption and corporate harm. There are sacrifice communities all over our country that have attempted to seek redress from EPA, from particular states or from our judicial branch, to no avail. This growing movement is asserting self-governance and community rights, securing the inalienable rights of people, communities and nature, in hopes to revolutionize and activate a more authentic democracy.
This crew will learn from front-line communities in sacrifice zones in our home region, and also those living in Pennsylvania, Ohio and South Dakota about the pioneering ways people are continuing to fight, and connecting to a bigger goal of enacting local democracy.
We will explore concepts such as environmental justice, indigenous environmental justice, racial justice, theories of power, change and governance.
This crew will host dialogues in schools and at community events and film festivals in order to broaden the work to enact a more true democracy.
COST: $1700
Please be in touch about any concerns of cost and/or logistics!
We are human-scale and willingly adapt to individual needs!