Corporations have brought many benefits to modern society, including technological innovation, products and services necessary for daily life, and high-paying jobs that have created a decent standard of living for hundreds of millions of people. Nevertheless, the vast majority of people believe that corporations have too much power. For example, 72% of those polled by Business Week in September 2000 agreed that, "Business has gained too much power over too many aspects of American life ." And this was before many of us had even heard of Enron. This is an organizing manual for those people who believe that corporations have too much power and who want to take constructive action in response.

Today we are facing an astounding array of problems, many of which are rooted in the abusive behavior and unchallenged power of giant multinational corporations. The economy does not sufficiently support working people (thirty percent of American working people earn poverty level wages ), the ecosystems that make life on earth possible are gravely endangered (the extinction rate is estimated by leading scientists to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times greater than the natural rate ), industrial polluters threaten our health (according to their own data, U.S. industries released over 7 billion pounds of toxic emissions in 2000 alone, or over 20 pounds per person living in the U.S. ), and the gap between the rich and the poor continues to expand (the richest one percent of Americans receive as much after-tax income as the bottom thirty-eight percent combined .)

Corporations dominate virtually every sector of the economy and nearly all of society. Their influence is felt everywhere, including our schools and universities , religious institutions , entertainment outlets , the halls of government and other public spaces , and virtually every other area of our lives . They determine the news we read (and sometimes don't) , the conditions of our working environment , our health care options , the quality of the food we eat , the safety of our drinking water and air, and the sustainability of the planet's ecosystems .

We know that the unrivaled power of corporations is at the root of many of these complex problems. But what do we do? Where do we begin?

Why Organize?
For decades, compartmentalized reform movements have been fighting to create a more just world issue by issue, but the problems keep getting worse. Clearly we need new strategies that address the underlying problems.

History teaches us that the power of an informed and organized citizenry can be vast and formidable. All around the world, for centuries, groups of dedicated citizens have proven that by organizing, people can have strength in numbers and that together, our voices can be louder than that of the richest corporation or the most powerful government. In the last century in the United States alone, citizens have asserted their constitutional rights in successful fights for unions, racial desegregation, women's right to vote, young people's right to vote, and international peace.

People living in every type of community -- suburbs, cities, and every size town in between -- exercise their collective strength every day, advocating for a more just and sustainable world. Whether it's fighting against polluted drinking water, demanding proper textbooks and materials in public schools, keeping superhighways from destroying our neighborhoods, or supporting local businesses, citizens are active participants in democracy everyday.

The struggle between those who have power and those who have little is timeless. In today's world there are two distinct types of power, people and money. Our movements tend not to have much money but generally represent the interests of the majority of people. The challenge facing us today is to find ways to utilize our rights and powers as citizens, along with a little bit of money, to counterbalance the dominance of giant corporations. You don't have to be Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. to be an activist who creates lasting change, but you do need to be dedicated, persistent and willing to stand up for what you think is right.

In the first section we will provide an overview of the impacts and causes of corporate use and abuse of power and highlight some suggested reforms. The second section focuses on the skills you will need to build a group that can effectively promote concrete and systemic solutions. These are by no means an exhaustive review, which is why we have provided a list of other resources at the end of the handbook to aid in your organizing. This guide will be updated as our movement grows and our collective understanding evolves.

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Last Updated February 2003