When I look at the results of
my efforts so far I feel like I have been on a treadmill, all activity with
little of consequence. There are only 300 some signatures on the petition to
the NGOs and weeks sometimes go by without seeing any new ones. There are only
seven signatures on the petition to our nation's leaders; that is light years
away from the millions of signatures needed to jolt those who head up our three
branches of government. There is only a handful of bloggers adding their sites
to The Democracy Coalition. Most of the NGOs I contacted have not shown me the
courtesy of a reply even after several follow ups from me.
I will illustrate what I am up
against with profiles of two of the contacted NGOs, one that declined my
proposal, the other having not responded even after half a dozen follow ups
from me. I will also give my assessment of the two NGOs' achievements.
The profiles are drawn from the two NGOs' websites and most recent
annual reports. My assessments are subjective, using a homemade "scale"
for indicating achievement of four successive levels of outcomes; immediate,
proximate, penultimate, and ultimate. Immediate outcomes denote enabling
accomplishments such as capacity building as well as small wins on pieces of
small or narrow issues. Wins on slightly bigger issues denote proximal
outcomes. A penultimate outcome means achieving one of several major strategic
objectives such as overturning the U.S. Supreme Court's fraudulent ruling on
corporate personhood. As for the fourth level, there is only one ultimate
outcome, that of ending the entire corpocracy by eliminating all of its
political, legislative, judicial, and economic features. In neither of the
first two levels are any of these features eliminated.
My assessment is as superficial
as it is subjective. The reason why is simple. For anyone who is aware of America's
growing ruination and its causes, the assessment ought to be self evident.
Neither one NGO singly nor the whole lot of NGOs has achieved the last two
levels of outcomes. The corpocracy remains omnipresent, omnipotent and as
destructive as ever. It should also be self evident that in order just to exist
an NGO has had to achieve some immediate outcomes. So I only had to scan the
two NGO's websites and annual reports looking for any signs of proximate
outcomes.
Profile of an NGO that Declined
My Proposal: The Center for Constitutional Rights
After three e-mail attempts the
Center for Constitutional Rights, www.ccr-ny.org
, finally wrote thanking me for the proposal, but then said "While
very interesting, we will not be able to participate."
The Center, a non-profit legal
and educational organization was founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented
civil rights movements in the South. The Center is "dedicated to advancing
and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
The focal issues the Center
concentrates on are "illegal detentions and Guantanamo;"
"surveillance and attacks on dissent;" "criminal justice and
mass incarceration;" "corporate human rights abuse;"
"government abuse of power;" "racial, gender and economic
justice;" and "international law and accountability."
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