Community Corner

Occupy Newark Joins Fight Against 'Corporate Personhood' [VIDEO]

Small group of protesters part of nationwide movement Move to Amend

 

Nearly two dozens protesters trekked through downtown Newark Friday in solidarity with Move to Amend, a nationwide movement against what organizers call "corporate personhood."

Thousands across the nation held demonstrations on the eve of the two-year anniversary of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that banned limits on corporate spending on political campaigns. The Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, many say, weakens democracy by allowing corporate money to influence political elections.

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"The phrase (corporate personhood) comes about because the corporations have all the rights of people but not the responsibilities," said Yarrow Willman-Cole, who organized a small group of protesters for Move to Amend in Newark.

The demonstrators, mostly members of Occupy Newark, as well as People's Organization for Progress and the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, targeted Friday Prudential Financial and the Prudential Arena, the city's "symbols of corporation," said Willman-Cole.

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Outside Prudential's two locations on Broad Street and Mulberry Street, protesters waved signs that read, "I'll believe corporations are people when they can't get a job" and chanted "Pay your rent!" to the beat of a snare drum during their brief rallies.

"Yes, we do make contributions to candidates, but also beyond that, what we mostly do is participate in a political system … by educating lawmakers on specific issues that we think are important to our clients," said Bob DeFillippo, spokesperson for Prudential Financial, in response to Friday's protest.

The Newark demonstration, which began at 4:30 p.m., was largely influenced by the day of action in San Francisco earlier in the day, Willman-Cole said. Eleven people were arrested in the West Coast rally for blocking the entrance to Wells Fargo Bank's corporate headquarters, according to reports. Some protesters even chained themselves to fences in protest of corporations and financial institutions.

But in Newark, the hour-long demonstration, which stopped at city hall before swinging by the federal courthouse on Walnut Street, was less radical; the group eventually retreated back to the Occupy Newark encampment at Military Park to warm up and enjoy a dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

"This movement has encouraged me that people are starting to wake up in this country and around the world (to ask about) who's really in control of society, where the wealth that's produced by the working class is really going," said Rick Foard, a longtime Newark resident and attorney at Essex-Newark Legal Services.

Move to Amend's daylong Occupy the Courts protests, held at hundreds of federal courthouses across the nation – including the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. – also had a small turnout in Trenton. No more than 12 people rallied outside the federal courthouse in New Jersey's capital, according Michael Schroeder, spokesman for the state's U.S. Marshals Service.

The small in size at first, Occupy Newark, has grown to 13 multi-person tents and even recently netted a $10,000 donation from Occupy Wall Street, according to Tobias A. Fox, one of many organizers of the movement. That money will be used toward supplies like new tents, sleeping bags and heaters, he said.

"To me, it's about getting everyone together," said Tino Fuentes, of the many activist groups that have collaborated with Occupy Newark. "There's strength in numbers."


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