Occupy Phoenixville to Host Film Screening

Editor's Note: The following was submitted on behalf of Occupy Phoenixville. 

Saturday, Jan. 21, will be the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United vs. FEC, a controversial decision which opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on elections.

Occupy Phoenixville will be calling attention to that decision and its implications by screening and discussing the award-winning documentary, The Corporation.

In the Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, that corporations are by legal definition “persons” and that the government cannot keep corporations from spending unlimited money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections.

As a result of the Supreme Court ruling, independent super PACs are free to spend unlimited resources on campaign attack ads without disclosing the source of that money.

One of the rallying cries of the Occupy movement has been “corporations are not people” and “speech is not money.” The New York City General Assembly of the Occupy Wall Street movement has officially called for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision, calling for an Occupy the Courts protest movement at all federal courthouses on Friday, Jan. 20.

Find out more about the Move to Amend, and about the dangers of unrestrained corporate influence, at the screening of The Corporation, 6 p.m. at the Schuylkill Friends Meetinghouse located at 37 North Whitehorse Road, Phoenixville.

A $5 donation per person is encouraged which will go toward the expenses of offering the film to the public. Participants are encouraged to bring non-alcoholic beverages, snacks or desserts to share during the discussion period. Parking is available at Schuylkill Friends Meetinghouse and along North Whitehorse Road during the film screening

The CORPORATION can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MMx53V8M8s.