Here are some Elect Democracy campaign highlights:

• “How Wall Street is Burning Democracy” Report and Legislative Scorecard: We made it easy to find out how much Wall Street gave to Congressional campaigns to check how often Congresspeople voted in line with Wall Street’s lobby position on free trade bills, Wall Street regulation, the bailout, and more. The Huffington Post, Yes! Magazine, Alternet, Nation of Change, Daily Kos, and dozens of other news outlets covering our shocking revelation that Wall Street spends over $1,331 per minute on political influence via lobbying and campaign money.

• RNC/DNC: We brought our legislative scorecard and report to Tampa and Charlotte where we marched on both conventions with our call to get corporate money out of our democracy.

• Stick It to Super PACs: Just days before the most expensive U.S. election of all time we used email, phone, and social media to clog the gears of the ominous Super PACs! GOOD magazine, Upworthy, and others helped us spread the message. Over 1,500 people Stuck It to Super PACs on October 25th! You can still take action here.

• Election Day: do you remember that exact moment when the election was called and we learned that Barack Obama would remain President? I do. What has this election meant to you? Leave a comment on our blog.

• #StopTPP: I joined social, labour and faith based groups on the US/Canada border earlier this month to stop the TransPacific Partnership. To learn more about this ominous, 13 country free trade deal (and our work to stop it), read my blog about the TPPxBorder rally we attended on the U.S.-Canada border.

All that and so much more! A great place to read all about it is our online Media Center which has a vast collection of articles about our work this year.

Next year, we have even more ways to take action. Elect Democracy is taking on the hired hands that call the shots in DC: big shot lobbyists. From challenging Super PAC millions to lobbyist billions, our work is going to be fun, tough, and more important than ever.

We’ll also need your help. Compared to the amount of money flowing from Wall Street to Washington, when you see all we have accomplished, we truly make the most of every penny.

Consider giving a Global Exchange membership to a friend this season and support Elect Democracy.

Again, thank you so much for your action. I look forward to starting 2013 with refreshed energy and refueled strategies.

Happy Holidays!

The following blog is a guest post from Michael T. McPhearson, National Coordinator, United For Peace and Justice:

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Americans demand good paying jobs; corporations and the rich pay their fair share; protection of our social safety net; significant cuts to runaway Pentagon spending; and an end to the War in Afghanistan. We must not let up – we must continue to remind our elected officials who they represent.  Together our voices can make a difference.

The next few weeks are critical as Congress and the President negotiate over the budget. Wall Street CEOs and war hawks have descended on Washington, DC and are all over the news telling Americans we must lower our expectations – that we need to understand that the U.S. simply can’t afford to maintain programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. We can’t let the money and power of CEOs and war hawks influence our election mandate.

Please take action today with United for Peace & Justice petition and call your Congressperson to remind them that America needs jobs, not wars! More information is available at our website, www.jobs-not-wars.org.

TAKE ACTION on and after December 5th:

Thank you for taking action and speaking up!

• United for Peace and Justice
• Veterans For Peace
• Military Families Speak Out

Exactly 13 years after the #N30 actions to shut down the WTO, Global Exchange returns to Seattle with a similar message: #StopTPP!

We all know free trade agreements are politically, economically, and environmentally harmful.

But this weekend at TPPxBorder, hearing people speak to the real consequences of these deals brought my understanding of the dangers of these Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to a very human scale.

Listening to the voices of people who are affected by these FTAs – a pulp mill worker from Everett, WA, who got laid off two years before pension, HIV positive people who won’t be able to afford life-saving medication because of patent laws that protect profits instead of access, a Philippine woman who was forced to leave her family in search of work – these voices remind me that free trade isn’t just an ‘issue’ to discuss or debate. Free trade is about about profits at the expense of people’s health and safely. About trade over ethics. About politics over people and planet.

Free trade ‘agreements’ are anything but consensual.

In fact, the only partnering happening in the TransPacific ‘Partnership’ is is the stitching together of the 1%- corporations and politicians-  whilst the entirety of civil society is excluded and ignored… for now.

That’s why on Saturday December 1, a crowd of hundreds gathered at the U.S.-Canada border to demonstrate our unity and solidarity against the TransPacific Partnership. Representatives from four of the 13 negotiating countries – along with New Zealand by phone – spoke of the risks that the TPP presents to their communities, and the powerful international unity being built to stand up and protect our dignity, our planet, and our human rights.

Jill Mangaliman, Philippine U.S. Solidarity Organization pusoseattle.wordpress.com/

We called this one TPPxBorder: The People’s Round. What I loved about this rally wasn’t only the fiery speakers, the diversity, the music, the unity, the hot coffee, and the ultra-legitimacy of our opposition to this heinous version of the TPP…. what I loved was learning about what an alternative deal would look like- one by and for the people. Listening to speakers and experts articulately describe what fair trade looks like, what it offers communities internationally, reminds me why these fights are so important, and the promise of real, practical, and respectful trade solutions. We have answers – now is the time to join hands and fight for them.

After our rally, and piñata action (in which people managed to overcome ‘blindfolds’ of corporate greenwashing and lobbyist money to finally destroy the TPP piñata and release the affordable jellybean ‘medicines’ and GMO-free popcorn trapped inside!) we headed indoors to a warm meal and strategy sessions to plan future action.

Global Exchange & Witness for Peace co-led a “Social Media to #StopTPP” breakout group to discuss “Twitterstorming”  the corporations secretly negotiating TPP.

The breakout group I co-lead was about how we can use social media to #StopTPP. Our strategy is to call out the corporations negotiating the TPP in secret… and put their secrets in public view on social media channels. This week, our coalition members are calling out two corporate interests a day on their ties to the TPP… would you like to join the Twitterstorm? Just follow @GlobalExchange and @ElectDemocracy on Twitter, then retweet our actions every day this week at 11am and 2pmPST to help spread the word about #StopTPP using the very follower lists that these corporations have built. We can use your help and you can participate from anywhere.

The TransPacific Partnership is on a 1%-gilded beltway and it’s moving fast. But there is time (and enough of us) to stop it. The first thing we all can do is help spread the word. None of us can afford another NAFTA. Help us get the last 250,000 signatures needed this year to reach 1 million on the Avaaz petition against the TPP! And ask your organization to sign the Unity Statement.

VIDEO: Unity Statement at TPPxBorder Rally Dec. 1, 2012

For more information about the TransPacific Partnership and what you can do to stop it, see “10 Reasons to Oppose the TPP.” Thank you for supporting Fair Trade this holiday season, and telling corporations negotiating the TPP in secret exactly what you think of them. Together, we can #StopTPP.

That’s right folks, the sign says “Free Trade, my Ass!”

Arianna DeMario, Elect Democracy Campaign Intern Extraordinaire

The following is a guest post by Arianna DeMario. Arianna is currently supporting the Elect Democracy campaign as an intern/volunteer. Before moving to the States, she worked as a project manager at Citizens For Europe e.V., an NGO based in Berlin, Germany, mainly active in the field of European citizenship and migrants’ political rights in the European Union.

A European Perspective on the 2012 U.S. Election

In my past two months here in the States, I have been asked numerous times how it felt -from a European point of view- to witness the 2012 U.S. electoral campaign and presidential elections from here in the U.S. But actually no European could answer this question without referring first to the initial impact of the previous elections in 2008.

By 2008, after 8 years of Bush era, a big slice of the European public opinion had lost their traditional admiration and interest in American politics and in Americans in general. The American dream, from the point of view of the old continent, was long over, and the U.S. had become for many not much more than a synonym of imperialism justified by the war on terror, social inequality, and environmental unconsciousness.

Then Obama happened. The electoral campaign of 2008 was maybe more passionate for most Europeans than Americans, with people supporting the Democrat candidate and engaging in various ways from Scandinavia to Southern Europe, in some cases moving to the States for some months to work with the Democrats. In July 2008, 200.000 people went crazy in Berlin listening to his speech under the Victory Column. In Europe, Obama had won longer before the elections of November 4th, because he had managed to bring back to Europe the American dream. Some months later, Americans did elect him. And the vote was so strong that everybody on the other side of the Atlantic had to recognise the fact that in spite of all that came out of the Bush era, American citizens had the courage to renew themselves and believe that a better country (and world) was possible.

The truth is, despite the support that Obama gained in Europe, I doubt that Europeans would have had the same courage and elected him, if they were to go to polls. In fact, a few months later we elected the most right-wing and regressive European Parliament ever (EP elections in June 2009).

That year, for the first time after a while, the U.S. gave Europe a lesson of democracy.

Then reality bit back. A couple of years later, Obama had proved not to have the magic wand to solve problems accumulated by years of bad governance, and not to be able to live up to such huge worldwide expectations. Most of his 2008 promises hadn’t turned into facts, the U.S. economy was not exactly blowing, and little had been done to reduce the Wall Street power and redistribute wealth from the 1% to the 99% in the American society.

Disillusion was deep on both sides of the Atlantic, and especially after the mid-term elections of 2010 American politics seemed to be meant to go back to the bad loop once again.

As if it wasn’t enough, the story of the Super PACs entered the game with the 2012 elections. Billions of private funding to the electoral campaign allowed by a ruling of the Federal Court…this would be science fiction in Europe, where most countries don’t even integrate lobbying practices in their political system and reject the idea of group of interests being able to influence the policy making. If all the above-mentioned conditions would have happened in the disenchanted, critical and politically unfaithful Europe, you can be sure that it would have been enough for a significant part of the European electorate to turn away from the previously much beloved candidate and fall into the hands of the first talented populist passing by. Those less impressionable would have nonetheless turned away their vote and either have given it to the other main candidate as a punishment or done what Europeans can do better in times of political disillusion: abstain. But once again, in 2012, a big democracy lesson came from the American citizen: For better or for worse, voting still remains one of the strongest democracy tools in the hands of the people (though a healthy democracy needs much more civic engagement, of course). As long as we don’t have valuable alternatives, there is no point in not making use of it. Of course the American vote, in most cases, was not a vote for the best as 4 years ago, but just a vote for the less worse…but still it showed the courage of American citizens to believe that it’s worth to give democracy one more chance.

The results that Tuesday night shot down much of the billions of dollars spent by some Super PACs to indirectly support the Republican campaign and influence the election results. This showed that the system of the big interests and the big money has an Achilles heel- it still can be beaten by participation. It shows that if people don’t turn away from politics, there is always a chance to shape a future that if it’s not going to be much better, at least is not going to be worse. It showed that if Obama can’t bring the change that he promised in 2008 (be it because of a lack of political will, or be it because of a lack of political power, with the House in the hands of the Republicans), people can do it by choosing not to have their vote sold to the highest bidder…

The day after the election Wall Street opened down: It can be defeated after all, if people don’t give up the exercise of democracy in its various forms. Restiamo uniti per difendere la democrazia!

TAKE ACTION:
What is *your* perspective on the U.S. election? Leave a comment below!

—

Arianna De Mario is currently supporting the Elect Democracy campaign as an intern/volunteer. Before moving to the States,  she worked as a project manager at Citizens For Europe e.V., an NGO based in Berlin, Germany, mainly active in the field of European citizenship and migrants’ political rights in the European Union. She has also worked at DPA, the German Press Agency, and volunteered in several human rights organizations. Arianna holds a MA degree in European Studies from the University of Bath (UK) and the Humboldt University of Berlin, and a BA in languages from the University of Milan, Italy.

Lobbying is a multi-billion dollar industry. While it’s technically true that any constituent can go lobby or try to persuade their legislators, the vast majority of lobbying that is happening in our capitals is funded by -and promotes- corporate interests.

Tens of thousands of corporate lobbyists call the DC area home. Since 2008, Wall Street has spent over $2.2 billion on lobbying, largely in order to weaken and squirm out of financial regulations. Add in the pharmaceutical, HMO, agribusiness, business, oil & energy, and defense/militarism sectors and we’re talking nearly $4 billion since 2011 spent specifically to get corporations unprecedented (and undue) influence over all those folks we just elected into office.

In this year’s election, nearly $6 billion was spent to influence the 120 million votes of the American electorate. Compare that to the $2 billion spent lobbying by the top corporate sectors this year to influence a handful of decision-makers. No matter who gets into office, once the elections are over, corporations spend billions to influence the victor. While the corporate elite gave well-financed electioneering an old college try, now these interests will be lobbying harder than ever to influence the decisions of around 750 hundred key decision-makers (Congress, presidential administrators, and state and federal offices like the EPA, SEC and FDA) to get what they want directly from the people who can give it to them. If you were a greedy businessman, what would you do?

Sheldon Adelson may be lamenting, “I spent $60 million and all I got were these lousy House seats.” But now Adelson can just reroute money into lobbying, pay someone in a suit seven figures to put his feet up on the desk of a Congressperson, and still get a lot of what he wants, or at least less of what he doesn’t.

I don’t get to put my feet up on my Congressperson’s desk. I mean, I could try, but I would probably get in trouble. So why don’t lobbyists? They don’t deserve the proximity of influence and mental bandwidth of our elected leaders that their corporate-funded tactics afford them. Besides, these lobbyists usually aren’t even members of the constituencies that decision-makers were elected to represent!

Corporations are not people, and money is not speech. But the speech of people hired by corporations to do their bidding in Washington needs to be reined in. On the heels of an historical election and shifting political paradigm, we must be prepared in our civic activism to challenge corporate power plays beyond those unleashed by the Citizens United ruling. We must be vigilant in challenging the undue influence of corporate lobbyists. The voters and constituencies who just cleaned out DC expect integrity, and this means that legislators need to say NO to corporate lobbyists spoon-feeding them profit prioritizing policy and analysis… that’s not who they are elected to represent.

Voting truly does matter, but a healthy democracy requires ongoing participation.

If you want to take action to protect democracy now that the election has concluded, consider looking into Global Exchange’s Elect Democracy campaign and follow @ElectDemocracy and @GlobalExchange on Twitter.

See for yourself how much campaign money the last Congress received from Wall Street and their “Wall Street Loyalty Rate” based on how often their votes matched Wall Street’s lobby position. Most importantly, call your Congressperson and remind them that their job is to represent you, not lobbyists, in Congress.

Fact Sources:

• SuperPACs spent $629 million: MapLight.org
• Election cost $4.2 billion: Center for Responsive Politics:  OpenSecrets.org
• Lobbying costs: Center for Responsive Politics for a) $2.2 billion Wall Street in 2012, and b) $4 for top sector lobbying (opensecrets.org)

TAKE ACTION:

• Make the Call! Call your Congressperson and remind them that their job is to represent you, not lobbyists, in Congress.
• Leave a comment with your ideas about how to challenge the undue influence that corporate lobbyists have in DC.

In the results of the election, a lot of truths have been unearthed- the demographics and values of the United States, the power and limits of corporate money to influence elections, and the real significance of votes.

Over $629 million in Super PAC spending didn’t sway U.S. voters as significantly as expected, but in the coming months will the billions spent in corporate lobbying sway Congress?

Lobbying is a multi-billion dollar industry. While it’s technically true that you and I (or any constituent really) can lobby or try to persuade their legislators, most lobbying is funded by -and promotes- corporate interests. Since 2008, Wall Street has spent over $2.2 billion on lobbying, largely in order to weaken and squirm out of financial regulation. Add in the pharmaceutical, HMO, agribusiness, business, oil & energy, and defense/militarism sectors and we’re talking nearly $4 billion spent specifically to get corporations unprecedented (and undue) influence over all those folks we just elected to office.

We need to make sure all the new and re-elected members of Congress know that we elected them to represent us, not Wall Street and its cadre of lobbyists.

Can you take just a few hours in December to make a world of difference on this issue?

You and your representatives will both be back in your hometowns and districts during the month of December. Congress takes a recess, but you can still easily set up a meeting with your Congressperson in their district. Take the time to set up a meeting, put on a nice sweater and go tell your representative that you want them to commit to not being overrun by big bank lobbyists.

Here’s how:

1. Look up your representative: {http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt}
2. Call their office and set up a meeting for when you’re both home just before the holiday break.
3. Do some research- look up how much campaign money your representative received from different companies and look into the DC connections of lobbyists representing those companies.
4. Write this information down in a notepad, along with other questions you’d like to ask. If you need ideas, here are some of our favorites:

• How many lobbyists from Wall Street arrange meetings with you?
• How many lobbyists do you plan to meet with during this term?
• If lobbyists give lots of gifts and throw lavish parties, does it influence your vote on their issues?
• Are some lobbyists in DC perceived as bullies? Is there any way we can help you focus on your job without all these lobbyists trying to influence you all the time?
• Have you ever seen a scorecard that shows campaign contributions before? Do you feel comfortable with how much money you received from Wall Street and your ability to put your constituents first? (If they were in office last year, you can show them Global Exchange’s Legislative Scorecard and measure  their ‘loyalty rate’ to Wall Street’s lobby position on key bills like Dodd-Frank!)
• What would you like to see change in DC in the realm on campaign contributions and lobbying?

5. When you meet, dress neatly and write down the answers!
6. Take a picture with your senator/representative and an Elect Democracy sticker if you can.
7. Email them to Global Exchange since students around the country will be sending in answers. Together, we’ll be able to see who’s willing to make some real commitments to say NO to lobbyists next year!

Boom- you’re done! All in all, it should take less than 3 hours, but it makes a huge difference not only for your Congressperson, but in helping to create a culture where politicians become more wary of the lobbyists and campaign contributions coming from Wall Street and other industries that want to put their profits before a healthy democratic process.

TAKE ACTION: Leave a comment confirming you can meet with your Representative in December!

Today, you have another opportunity to Stick It To Super PACs: vote!

I won’t tell you how you should vote, but I encourage you to defy Super PACs by voting using your values, your research, and analysis you trust, and not being swayed by 30 second misleading attack ads.

People around the world are impacted by the results of U.S. elections, and they don’t get to vote today. You do. So get out there and exercise your rights!

Here are some resources to help:

•    Find your polling place by web or text “Polling Place” to 69866
•    Nonpartisan social ballot analysis
•    Report any voter suppression issues by calling: 1-866-OUR-VOTE or video record any problems using your cell phone with VideoTheVote.org.
•    Remind your friends to vote.

Voting is just the first step to Elect Democracy for a change. No matter what the outcome is on November 7th, we’ll still have a lot of work to do, but together we are in it for the long haul. Thank you. Also, if you haven’t had a chance to Stick It To Super PACs yet, there is still time to take action and share it with your friends!

See you at the polls.

You’re not crazy, it is getting worse.

Political campaigns have always involved a fair amount of mudslinging. But in the 2012 election, the amount of slinging and the quantities of mud have skyrocketed. According to MapLight analysis, twenty-one Super PACs have raised over $433 million to spend influencing the election. Think of it as 433 million more giant barrels of mud drowning our election in corporate political speech.

This is not what a healthy democracy looks like.

So What Exactly Is a Super PAC, anyway?

Super PACs are a new kind of political action committee enabled by the infamous January 2010 Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court and a subsequent federal court case in July 2010.

Formally known as “independent expenditure-only committees,” Super PACs can raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions, certain nonprofits, or individuals, and can then spend unlimited sums to support or oppose political candidates so long as they don’t ‘coordinate’ with the candidate’s campaign. Unlike traditional Political Action Committees, which would donate capped amounts of money to candidates, Super PAC money is simply not funneled to a candidate, enabling the Super PACs to spend unlimited dollars to buy influence over our election.

Record spending enabled through Super PACs most significantly benefits those with the most to spend and the most to gain: the corporate interests willing to spend tens of millions to get candidates in office that allow their greed to go unregulated. According to Campaign Legal Center, only a small top percentage of donors to Super PACs contribute a majority of their total funds. This corporate political speech is overpowering the voices of everybody else in this democracy.

Super PACs are Drowning Out Democracy, so What Can We Do About It?

Thousands of people are organizing to challenge the crisis in which Super PACs have placed our democracy. The solutions proposed range from campaign finance reform bills in Congress to constitutional amendments to local ordinances that prioritize community rights and decision-making. While all exciting, these victories could take years. Defending democracy means sticking with it for the long haul.

In the meantime, let’s get a big, collective “HELL NO!!!” on the record. After all, we are in the final days of the election season, and these are the moments where Super PACs are spending the most (literally tens of thousands of dollars per second) to influence your vote. So, since Super PACs are making democracy hard for us, let’s take a moment and making life hard for them, even if just for one day:

STICK IT TO SUPER PACS!

On October 25th, over a dozen organizations are partnering with Global Exchange to launch www.StickItToSuperPACs.org, a day-long action where you can tell the top-spending Super PACs exactly what you think about them. Visit the site today to Get Stickin’ and join the flood of emails, phone calls, Facebook posts, and Tweets to Super PACs that gives you, the voter, a chance to tell corporate dollars to get out of the way of democracy. Imagine your computer mouse transformed into a proverbial wrench, and then toss it into the gears of Super PACs that are drowning out everything except big-money corporate speech.

It’s not going to solve all our problems, but believe me, when I hit “send” on my letter to the top 5 Super PAC inboxes, I was happy I got to #StickItToSuperPACs today.  Sometimes it’s the little ways we take action to demand elections, not auctions, that will create momentum to usher in long term change down the line, so join me and get stickin’!

TAKE ACTION:

• Stick It To Super PACs: Visit our web page to call, email, post, and/or tweet your dissent straight to the Top 5 Super PACs.

Elect Democracy, a Global Exchange campaign, is a nonpartisan effort to expose and challenge the impact of corporate money in politics. The campaign focuses on the impact of political campaign contributions and lobbying from Wall Street and its impacts for civil society.

Follow @GlobalExchange @ElectDemocracy and @HillaryLehr for updates.

——————-

Democracy is an embodiment of  the #PowerofWe. With campaign season in full swing, we are all too familiar with the presence of corporate money in this year’s election. From billionaire-funded Super PACs to record campaign contributions from corporate interests on Wall Street, we are all thirsty for some democracy for a change.

To that end, here are some fresh ideas for reclaiming democracy by and for #we the people:

1) Stick it to Super PACs: Just because corporate-speech is flooding this election season doesn’t mean we can’t make some noise about it! Join a great day of action to Stick it to Super-PACs by filling email inboxes, phone lines, and social media feeds with our demand for real democracy, not corporate auctions. Global Exchange and a crew of other organizations on October 25. Take just a moment and join for our email list so we can keep you posted, or follow @ElectDemocracy on Twitter. If the Supreme Court won’t protect democracy, we will!

2) Put out the Fire: All that Wall Street campaign and lobbying money is burning our democracy… Using Global Exchange’s legislative scorecard, you can find out how much money your Congressperson received as well as how often their vote on certain bills was ‘loyal’ to Wall Street’s lobby position. Look up your legislators’ record, then put out the fire: call and remind Congress their job is to represent you, not Wall Street.

3) Don’t Get the Post-Election Blues… Organize!: It’s easy to feel blue about the gap between today’s elections and a healthy, thriving democracy. But don’t get caught on the bleachers post-election: start/keep organizing people power locally! Need a spark? Register to host a screening of the powerful money-in-politics documentary film Heist: Who Stole the American Dream- and How We Can Get It Back. If you register a screening in your community by October 22, you can be part of Global Exchange’s national week of screenings- we’ll help you plan every step of the way!

4) Follow the Money, and Tweet It: The brilliant money-in-politics research group MapLight released a fantastic new app called PolitiCash 2012 that allows you to see the most recent data about the top individuals and corporations throwing their money into influencing the outcome of the election. You may be surprised at what you find. Most usefully, PolitiCash 2012 allows users to Tweet their findings (and CC the candidates automatically) with the press of a button… download your app today.

5) Keep it Local: When we look at powerful shifts in history, we see that change is achieved by people in the same location building strong bonds and solidarity, standing together for what’s right, and extending systems of support. It’s crucial to keep nurturing strong communities, supporting those who are standing up (whether it’s resisting foreclosure or renegade gardening), and taking care of ourselves too. The outcome of the election, the corporate money influencing it, and the lobbyists of Wall Street will affect our lives and our communities, yes. But the stronger our bonds and awareness of one another, the greater chance we will have to stand up for justice where it counts. Thank you for everything you are already doing!

TAKE ACTION:
How else can the #PowerOfWe Elect Democracy for a change?? Leave a comment below with your idea, or share your experience of trying out one of our five suggestions.

While many may refer to November 6th as a finish line, let’s switch the metaphor: November 6th is the starting point.

In the long distance haul to Elect Democracy for a change, let’s not waste a moment on the bleachers after the election.

Get a head start on post-election democracy by hosting a documentary film screening November 12-18. Join people around the country to screen a new documentary film called Heist: Who Stole the American Dream, and How We Can Get it Back.

 A lot is at stake in this election. Yet no matter who claims the White House and Congressional seats, if we’re going to challenge Wall Street Sugar Daddies calling the shots in DC, we have our work cut out for us.

Host a film screening of the critically-acclaimed documentary Heist to do three crucial things:

1. Gather with your community after this expensive, post-truth election and channel your frustration and desire for change.
2. Learn and locate the extreme political power that the corporate 1% has amassed over decades. (Remember, this election certainly isn’t the be-all end-all of challenging our big corporate problem.)
3. Set the stage to talk about defining, reclaiming, and protecting real democracy. Move past post-election blues and stay active working with us to take action locally to hold Congress accountable to people.

Can you help build power and hope beyond the election? We need you. Sign up today to host a screening of Heist: Who Stole the American Dream and How We Can Get it Back. Here at Global Exchange, we’ll help you plan everything, every step of the way.

Here’s what some film critics had to say about Heist:

“… HEIST is well timed as a one-stop summary of reasons for ordinary Americans to be furious at our financial systems. Its last third turns from compiling past outrages to encouraging activism, making this snappy, solid docu an ideal candidate for savvy distribs to jump on immediately. With grassroots marketing, pic could ride the wave of burgeoning Occupy Wall Street-related protests as a ready-made primer.”
—Dennis Harvey, Variety

“Perhaps the best film yet about the roots of today’s economic conditions in the U.S., domination of public policy by corporate interests, and grassroots resistance that has emerged in the past few years.”
—TheWorkSite.org

TAKE ACTION:
Watch the Heist film trailer and sign up to host a screening by October 22!