Mobilizing Momentum

By Katherine Dodds

The vision for the Campaign 4 Corporate Harm Reduction (C4CHR) began in the aftermath of The Corporation’s successful theatrical launch. We were in the privileged position of having had enough funding (by documentary standards) to really engage the grassroots over the year following the film’s debut. At the time, myself and my tiny core team of two (Christine Daniels and Colette Gunson) liaised with literally hundreds of organizations and thousands of volunteers as the film made it’s way across North American theatres. It wasn’t too hard to make a case against “The Man” (AKA homo corporatus) and though the filmmakers tried to include relevant women, the interviewees were mostly male ('cuz that’s corporate culture).

So no wonder women-focused groups helped promote the film from early on! Inter Pares, our partner for this e’Zine issue, was a supporter in those early days. We also had enormous support from many individuals, and some key volunteers really took on the project – like Kirsten Lambertsen who was part of several organizations like SF Personhood, Reclaim Democracy, and Women’s International League of Peace and Freeedom (WILPF). Through WILPF who has an impressive network of supporters, Kirsten organized tabling and volunteers across the US. Many other organizations and individuals joined us too. It was during this moment that I grasped what a potential force the film could be to provide a common ground for rallying, while also offering very different people a way into the content. It didn’t just mobilize activists, it mobilized soccer moms, sales agents for Interface (carpets), and even a few skeptics.

The mobilizing force of citizens is truly a wonderful thing

Ever since the funding for the launch dried up, we’ve been committed to maintaining this network we began and building more alliances. In its development phase we are working to fundraise to give us the resources to do this organizing work on a more full time basis (you may have realized that even our e’Zines come out infrequently). So we are able to leverage small marketing contracts to keep the broader network viable and vibrant. We want to do so much more!

In the short term, our hope is to use our e’Zines to profile initiatives that are trying to make an impact on the corporate form, and to provide a basis for meaningful co-promotion that will allow us to find the resources to launch our Framework for Action. It is our intention to join forces with other like-minded groups in order to strategize and act to reduce corporate harm. And each of our smaller campaigns is playing it’s own part in reducing corporate harm. Like giving your mother a gift that honours women’s activism through a donation to a peace and justice group instead of the Mother's Day-Industrial Complex (Lol)!