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 Editorial: Corporate abuses have to be tamed 12/12/00 - by Judy Wicks - Philadelphia Daily News As a Philadelphia business owner concerned with social responsibility in business, I support the nonviolent demonstrators who exercised their First Amendment rights during the Republican National Convention this summer. Along with many of my peers in the business community, I agreed with the demonstrators voicing their concerns over the increasing influence of corporations in public life. While we do not condone property destruction or intentional violence, we endorse this movement as an important voice for change. We, too, are outraged by the hijacking of our democracy by big money. We, too, are alarmed by increasing economic disparity. We, too, feel threatened by the wanton abuse of our natural resources. The interests of the nation's largest corporations have drowned out the voices of ordinary citizens concerned about education, health care, the environment and the growing prison industry, which incarcerates over 2 million of our citizens. This is why thousands of people dedicated to democracy came to demonstrate in Philadelphia this summer. People of conscience, including many young people, who peacefully took to the streets in Seattle, Washington, Philadelphia and Los Angeles represent a hopeful turning of the tide away from increasing materialism and militarism, and toward values of equality, generosity and justice. Unfortunately, minor incidents of destruction and violence by a small minority of protesters have overshadowed this message, and media reports have too often marginalized the importance of this movement to our future. Young activists who promote nonviolent social change should be encouraged and appreciated for their tireless commitment to a peaceful movement for a just and sustainable world. It is baffling and infuriating that these very people who have devoted their lives to persuading and training others to make change without violence are being treated as criminals. Along with dozens of progressive business leaders across the country, I join these youthful demonstrators in opposing the undemocratic concentration of wealth and power in our country and offer to them our commitment to building an inclusive and just global economy that supports rather than sacrifices the human and environmental resources on which all economic activity is based. By uniting across divisions of race and class, we can finally bring into being the "revolution of values" that Martin Luther King began in the '60s and change both business and government into institutions that truly serve the needs of all people. Judy Wicks is the owner of the White Dog Cafe. |
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