Paul Cienfuegos gave a speech in Portland, Oregon in November which resonated with me. He spoke about how marginalized communities are fighting the corporations who are attempting to use the laws to take away their rights to environmental justice. The corporations use the law to make it seemingly impossible for a community to resist the building of a new industrial farm in their town, or a new pipeline installed, or any other land rights issue. Federal law trumps state law which trumps local law, and small towns are left defenseless to capitalist developers. But there is one hope left in the rule books, the right to self-governance. Many small towns across the country have worked together to create ordinances against unwanted corporate use of their land and they have defended these ordinances. They have excercised their right to govern themselves and remove themselves from the rule-base of the U.S. government which would strip them of their rights. Instead these communities have stripped the corporations of their government-given rights and they have successfully prevented their land from being adulterated for profit. Paul has communicated a message of hope that regardless of what corporations try to convince us they have the rights to do, WE all have the power to determine what is right for our own community, because WE live there and our health depends on the health of our community. -Brandon Alborg
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