| Powerful Ideas, Practical Actions |
February 2012 |
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In this newsletter, a preview of the new issue of YES!
We Can End Corporate Rule
9 Best Strategies to Put People Back in Charge
Corporate power is behind the politics of climate denial, Wall Street bailouts, union busting, and media consolidation, to name just a few. And policies advocated by the 1 percent are bankrupting the middle class. But real people have power, too.
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Strategy #5—Support independent media and keep the Internet free
The People’s Media
AT&T spared no expense in 2011 when it sought government approval of its $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile. The merger would have created a duopoly, leaving AT&T and Verizon in control of nearly 80 percent of the wireless market.
AT&T would then have been able to set higher prices, at a cost to people on modest incomes who depend on their cell phones to connect with work, family, and the details of modern life.
Knowing there would be opposition to this deal, AT&T began doling out money in Washington, D.C. The company spent $16 million on lobbying during the first nine months of 2011 in its drive to pass the merger, dished out $2 million in campaign contributions to both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, and spent $40 million on advertisements promoting the deal.
So it wasn’t surprising to see many Wall Street analysts predict that the merger would sail to approval.
But the establishment was wrong. Despite AT&T’s massive political influence, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit in August to block the merger. Days before Thanksgiving, the FCC announced its opposition. By Christmas, the deal was dead.
How did a giant corporation like AT&T fail to win approval of its merger?
READ MORE …
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2/15: Support Your Media Day
Spread the word!
On Feb. 15, thousands of people around the country will donate to their favorite independent media. YES! will be competing for prizes. And, we’ll be having exclusive interviews. Help us win!
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:: SHARE WITH YOUR NETWORKS
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Farmers Go Wild
by Abby Quillen
Going beyond organic, a new generation of farmers is nurturing nature as well as crops.
Practitioners of wild farming, also called conservation-based agriculture, seek to reverse industrial agriculture’s devastating effects on wildlife by adopting farming methods that support nature. They envision a landscape where farms meld into the environment and mimic the natural processes that surround them … Most wild farmers employ organic practices, like nontoxic pest management, composting, and crop rotation, all of which encourage biodiversity.
However, farming with the wild goes a step beyond organic and looks at how farms can support nature and wildlife at the larger ecosystem or watershed level.
READ MORE…
Farming With the Wild
Enhancing Biodiversity on Farms and Ranches
Author Daniel Imhoff’s 2003 photographic journey through rural areas of the United States provides a glimpse of how farms and ranches are integrating with wildlands—instead of destroying them.
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$12 SUBSCRIPTION
Get a year of YES! Magazine for just $12.
+ A BONUS ISSUE :: 63% OFF
NONPROFIT. INDEPENDENT. SUBSCRIBER-SUPPORTED.
SUPPORT YOUR MEDIA DAY
Follow our livestream. Donate on Feb. 15. Mark your calendars.
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Urban Homesteading
Reviewed by Oliver Lazenby
Heirloom skills for sustainable living.
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We Are Wisconsin
Reviewed by Josh Eidelson
The Wisconsin uprising in the words of the activists, writers, and everyday Wisconsinites who made it happen.
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:: MORE Book Reviews
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