Over the past year our Governing Under the Influence project asked presidential hopefuls in Iowa and New Hampshire questions that helped steer the conversations toward exposing corporate influence on politics.
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a massive trade and investment agreement that will endanger our environmental protections, deepen inequality, and hand more power to multinational corporations. Fortunately, we still have a chance to stop it! The agreement has to be ratified by member countries, including the U.S. Congress.
TAKE ACTION! SPEAK UP! Click here to email your members of Congress today and ask them to vote against the TPP.
(Source: youtube.com)
A few picks from AFSC staff this week:
We Created Dylann Roof via Huffington Post
“So who should we blame for Dylann Roof? We should blame ourselves.Dylann Roof grew up in a society that subtly upholds racist ideals, breeds toxic masculinity, and continues to debate whether guns kill people, or people kill people. Collectively, we created that society, and we’re simultaneously obsessed with and terrified of addressing racism in a real way.”
Corruption Bird Dogs Accuse Candidates of ‘Governing Under The Influence’ via Mintpress
Governing Under the Influence is a Quaker-led campaign to ensure that all candidates get asked tough questions on all stops through two of the busiest campaign states.
Columbia becomes first U.S. university to divest from prisons via CNN
Columbia University has become the first college in the United States to divest from private prison companies, following a student activist campaign.
Some picks from AFSC staff this week:
Dark Money Under Fire as Election 2016 Heats Up via Common Dreams
While Democratic candidates are lining up to denounce the huge influence that dark money is having on politics in the U.S., a new report says that 2016 presidential candidates are relying on such secret contributions “like never before.”
Ella Taught Me: Shattering the Myth of the Leaderless Movement via Colorlines
Who gets to tell the story? This is a question implicit in the work I do as a historian. But the question I have been wrestling with lately is more immediate: Who gets to shape the narrative, define the history-makers, and capture the words and images of the current black-led, anti-state violence movement evolving in the United States right now?
U.S. Deports Tens Of Thousands Each Year For Minor Drug Crimes, Human Rights Watch Says via Huffington Post
Tens of thousands of people are deported each year for minor drug offenses, even if they served their time long ago, because of draconian U.S. drug laws, according to a report released Tuesday by the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch.
Some picks from AFSC staff this week:
Prison Labor’s New Frontier: Artisinal Foods via Fortune Magazine
It ain’t just license plates anymore. Inmates are making a surprising array of products for small businesses. You can even find some in your local Whole Foods.
Newark Immigration 2015: Municipal IDs For Undocumented Immigrants Granted In New Jersey City via International Business Times
Immigration advocates are applauding Newark, New Jersey, for being the latest major U.S. city to launch a municipal identification program that will be open to all residents. Mayor Ras Baraka signed City Council-approved legislation Monday that made Newark the largest and only city in the state to offer ID cards to all residents, regardless of their immigration status.
Poll Finds Republicans And Democrats Actually Agree That Campaign Finance Is A Disaster via ThinkProgress
While money flowing into U.S. elections has become increasingly unregulated and the 2016 election is slated to surpass spending records, a recent poll found that a majority of Americans of both parties support measures to restrict the influence of wealthy donors in politics.
Week of April 20, 2015
A few selections from AFSC staff members:
- Private Prison Lobbyists Pay Millions To Keep Immigrants Locked Up via International Business Times
“In 2010, the Department of Homeland Security adopted a bed quota that required Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain about 34,000 individuals on any given day. The quota certainly did not benefit immigrants – but it did prove to be extraordinarily lucrative for the private prison companies that picked up the new business.” - Millions Spent Lobbying By Private Prison Corporations To Keep A Quota Of Arrested Immigrants via ThinkProgress
“Private prison corporations spent $11 million over six years to lobby Congress to keep immigrants in detention centers, a new report released Wednesday found.” - Citizens Stand For Economic Equality With #BlackWorkMatters And The #FightFor15 via HuffPost Black Voices
“ #BlackLivesMatters is a hashtag that has taken the Internet by storm and symbolizes a movement around the validation and protection of black lives around the globe. However, while the campaign includes the fight against many issues plaguing the African American community, one particular civil rights focus took the main stage on Wednesday: #BlackWorkMatters.“
THE TREATMENT INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
It’s not just prisons that corporations profit off of!
We just released this new report that shows the ways in which corporations are profiting not just from managing prisons, but other also other “treatment” related services–prison medical care, forensic mental hospitals, halfway houses and home arrests–which pose a tremendous threat for states seeking to reform their criminal sentencing practices.
This unique hand-illustrated 11x17 infographic is an excellent resource for educating on the role of corporate influence on public policy. Download, print and share with your community! afsc.org/whoprofits
