Report from Fairfield Community Rights Coalition:
(as reported to Deb Dee by Fred Rosenberg 6/3/15)
Contacts: Fred Rosenberg 642-919-7470/ fred@osagecomputing.com
Tom Krystofiak krysto@natel.net
Thomas Linzey came to Fairfield about two years ago and spoke to a standing room only crowd of about 200-e00 people. (available online, google at MUM Thomas Linzey), He fired up the crowd, and about 40 people followed up for several months. They divided into 3 groups which did different analyses. Attendance dropped off after some time, but a smaller group kept meeting (middle phase) until a new leader (Tom Krystofiak sp?)emerged who inspired more folks about 8 months ago. Since then, 17 people have been meeting two hours every week and have drafted an ordinance (with CELDF help) for Fairfield. It consists of two parts:
- Community Bill of Rights – describing community rights in a wonderfully inspiring way.
- Insert your community’s “pain point” here – ie, what issue does the community feel is hurting people/the environment.that want to make illegal
In FF they chose CAFO’s (large hog confinement operations) as their “pain point” as these are a real issue in Jefferson County – several very large CAFOS have sprung up, and keep moving in. The FF group is running into two issues at the moment.:
- Legal-ese: how to draft the document in such a way that corporations cannot fanagle their way out of the ordinance (eg, what is the definition of a corporation). They are working with CELDF lawyers on this.
- Educating the public: There is a gap between what the ordinance wants to do and what the County Supervisors and residents of county want to do. The Supervisors are not on board (one is). They are curious as to how we in Iowa City have worked with our County Supervisors to get them on board. .
Second, they are working on ways to best educate the public… specifically, the farmers and rural folk. Jefferson County has a large rural population with high poverty/hunger rates. Working to educate themselves on the culture of the county. Many folks wouldn’t want this in their back yard but are laissez faire about it otherwise.
In addtion to Tom Lindzey, the group highly recommend Paul Cienfuegos from the Northwest as a consultant. He is very articulate and inspiring and does numerous workshops on pertinent tops (see below) – could come to speak with the Grannies/ maybe combine with FF.
Here is a link re: Paul Cienfuegos from Fred::
- Paul Cienfuegos interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Prylnj4NQ8 (part 1 of at least 4–each one is short.)B. Paul’s Workshops and Talks
Paul leads a diverse variety of workshops and other offerings – and not just about challenging corporate rule. He also have many decades of experience leading workshops which help people come to terms with their difficult feelings about the current state of our world, from despair and rage to grief and numbness. As well as teaching active listening skills to activists.