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| demo:democracy [2025/12/17 19:34] – asimong | demo:democracy [2025/12/22 23:34] (current) – dave |
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| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| It might be difficult to avoid [Amazon](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/reasons-not-buy-amazon/), [Ü](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/beware-the-sharing-economy-back-door-for-a-more-rapacious-form-of-capitalism/)[ber](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/beware-the-sharing-economy-back-door-for-a-more-rapacious-form-of-capitalism/), Microsoft and the like, but really, that’s the most important first task. If they keep getting bigger, they’ll make it harder and harder to introduce alternatives in the future. We have to find those alternatives now – all of us. | It might be difficult to avoid [Amazon](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/reasons-not-buy-amazon/), [Uber](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/beware-the-sharing-economy-back-door-for-a-more-rapacious-form-of-capitalism/), Microsoft and the like, but really, that’s the most important first task. If they keep getting bigger, they’ll make it harder and harder to introduce alternatives in the future. We have to find those alternatives now – all of us. |
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| [This is a story](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/what-post-covid-communities-could-look-like-if-enough-of-us-want-it/) of how communities might operate in a democratic, non-corporate world. | [This is a story](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/what-post-covid-communities-could-look-like-if-enough-of-us-want-it/) of how communities might operate in a democratic, non-corporate world. |
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| As [David Harvey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harvey) explains, Neoliberalism isn’t an ideology – it’s a project to concentrate power. And he locates that power in the state/bank nexus. He’s right – look what happened when it seemed that the neoliberal project was going to fall over in 2008/9. Many on the left and right said ‘let the banks die’. George Bush (obviously) had no idea what to do. It needed Ben Bernanke (Federal Reserve) and Hank Paulson (Treasury Secretary and ex-CEO of Goldman Sachs) – two men who have never been elected to anything - to step up and say ‘this is how it’s going to be - ordinary taxpayers all over the world are going to give their hard-earned money to bail out the banks’. And that’s exactly what happened. They rescued the neoliberal project, and no-one could stop them. Least of all presidents or prime ministers. | As [David Harvey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harvey) explains, Neoliberalism isn’t an ideology – it’s a project to concentrate power. And he locates that power in the state/bank nexus. He’s right – look what happened when it seemed that the neoliberal project was going to fall over in 2008/9. Many on the left and right said ‘let the banks die’. George Bush (obviously) had no idea what to do. It needed Ben Bernanke (Federal Reserve) and Hank Paulson (Treasury Secretary and ex-CEO of Goldman Sachs) – two men who have never been elected to anything - to step up and say ‘this is how it’s going to be - ordinary taxpayers all over the world are going to give their hard-earned money to bail out the banks’. And that’s exactly what happened. They rescued the neoliberal project, and no-one could stop them. Least of all presidents or prime ministers. |
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| ### 3. learn more about it and talk to more people. | ### 3. learn more about it and talk to more people. |
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| Corporate tentacles reach your High Street (local branches), your homes (TV and internet advertising), your finances (mortgage and credit card debt) and your minds (branding). They suck money out of individuals and communities to ensure that they continue to have the most money (and therefore power). And they make you feel grateful for it, because 'they bring jobs and choice' (although small businesses provide more jobs, and the 'choice' they provide doesn't include real democracy). | Corporate tentacles reach your High Street (local branches), your homes (TV and internet advertising), your finances (mortgage and credit card debt) and your minds (branding). They suck money out of individuals and communities to ensure that they continue to have the most money (and therefore power). And they make you feel grateful for it, because 'they bring jobs and choice' (although small businesses provide more jobs, and the 'choice' they provide doesn't include real democracy). |
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| We don’t believe that the necessary change can come through voting, or through overthrowing anything, but by ‘[transcending](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/transcender-manifesto-dil-green/)’ - building a [new economy](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/lowimpact-topic/new-economy/) from our [communities](/comy/community). | We don’t believe that the necessary change can come through voting, or through overthrowing anything, but by ‘[transcending](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/transcender-manifesto-dil-green/)’ - building a new economy from our [communities](/comy/community). |
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| See also '[40 ways that corporate power trumps political power](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/infoarticle/40-ways-that-corporate-power-trumps-political-power/).' | |
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| ## Further resources | ## Further resources |
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| | - [Center for Corporate Policy](http://www.corporatepolicy.org/) - working to curb corporate abuses and make corporations publicly accountable |
| | - [Center for Science in the Public Interest](https://www.cspi.org/) - monitoring corporate influence in science |
| | - [Corporate Europe Observatory](https://www.corporateeurope.org/en) - exposing the power of corporate lobbying in the EU |
| | - [Corporate Watch](https://corporatewatch.org/) - not-for-profit researching the social and environmental effects of corporate power |
| | - [CorpWatch](https://www.corpwatch.org/) - provide accurate, timely and easily accessible articles, reports and data on violations by multinational corporations to activists, media, the general public and policy makers |
| | - [Open Secrets](https://www.opensecrets.org/) - US site exposing money's influence on US elections and public policy |
| | - [Reclaim Democracy](https://reclaimdemocracy.org/) - resource for individual activists, groups, reporters, legislators, and the public |
| | - [Think Tank Watch](https://thinktank-watch.blogspot.com/) - informing about corporate think tanks |
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| ## Specialist curators of this topic | ## Specialist curators of this topic |
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