Purpose: To wrap up the preceding 13 classes by emphasizing local responses to corporate power available to your community and providing an opportunity for putting what we have learned into action. 

 

Materials: Solutions, Talking Points complete, Talking Points abbreviated, Survey

Paradigm: We have studied the history and problems of corporate power, and we have explored the solutions. Now, it is time for action.

 

Context: Our friend and cohort Jan Edwards, who worked to pass the first corporate personhood resolution in Point Arena, California in 2000, often reminds us of the old phrase, “Ready, Aim, Fire.” If we only get to the first two stages, continually saying “ready, ready, aim, aim, ready, aim, ready,” we will never solve problems. At some point we have to take action. The concluding class is an opportunity to move in that direction by exploring any unexamined local solutions, discussing the solutions we have studied, and discuss local community actions that can impact the problems of corporate power and help build a local, sustainable, cooperative, vibrant community in the future. It is also a time to practice acting personally as a responsible citizen to educate and advocate for the democratic solutions you feel most deeply about. Finally, it is also a time to reflect on your experience with the class, what you liked, what could be improved.

 

Activities:  This class is a time to cover all of the important points that did not get covered in the first 13 classes. If there is someone in the class who is involved with creating a local solution but has not already discussed their work, this is the time to invite him or her to make a presentation about that solution to the class. It can also be a time for the class as a whole to identify local initiatives they can take as a group to further build the resilience of the local community and counter the depredations of corporate power. You can also review all the solutions that have been brought up in the readings

This is also a time for everyone to put themselves out into the public space and practice a short speech on a topic of their choosing connected to this class. Here is short video at https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/1248069313393/refining-the-elevator-pitch.html on making elevator speeches that you may have sent to everyone, but if only a few people watched it, you can show it in class. Here is another video that is a great example of an elevator speech on ending plutocracy. Here is a template for organizing an elevator speech. Students can then make their elevator speeches. It is important to be supportive while discussing and critiquing the talks.

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People can use the information from their elevator speech to have a role playing discussion with someone sitting near them. Have their partner be a fictional opponent, like Old Uncle Bob who spent his life as a corporate executive and thinks that corporations should rule the world and that governments are just getting in the way of corporations making life better for everyone. Or people could role-play with a potential ally like a young cousin Ned who is just figuring the world out, or an old Aunt Alice, who was or is a hippie and activist but who spent most of her life as a middle-class housewife far from the world of money and power, though probably deeply involved with community. The partner should start the conversation so the speaker has to adjust to a real world situation.  Then switch roles.

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By now you are probably coming to the end of the class. One of the final things to do is to pass out the survey. Our advisor and mentor, Lillian Carttright, who has been involved in academia on many levels for many years, recommends doing this sort of survey to give the participants time to reflect on what the class has meant for them and to give the facilitators some pointers on how the class might change and improve in the future. If there is time, have people fill them out in class. If there is not time, have them send them to you. Finally, give everyone a big thank you and ask if anyone has any parting words.

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It can also be fun to organize a party for all of the participants. We do this once a year in the middle of the summer. We invite all the people from the most recent class plus everyone else who ever took any of our classes. Here is a sample invitation. Have Fun! That is one of the most important parts of doing this work.  Let us know how it works out.