The Supreme Court decisions Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby granted corporations a degree of personhood that shocked many. But the Supreme Court’s been handing down such rulings – riding on the 14th Amendment, the one protecting former slaves – since the Industrial Revolution.
Writer Joel Bakan and directors Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott asked: If corporations are people, what kind of people are they? They “analyzed” corporate behavior using the World Health Organization’s ICD-10 and the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV, compilations and manuals of mental disorders. Their 2003 documentary The Corporation concludes that they are psychopaths because they engage in “repeated lying and conning for profit” and have “reckless disregard for the safety of others.”
Their subjects in selected case histories: Monsanto, IBM, Coca-Cola, Nike, et al. Interviews with Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman and others back up their claims. It’s a chilling case against corporations and their capitalistic zeal, and a call to arms for protest and regulation.
Susan Hubbard of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom brings the film back for a two-part screening and discussion.
“I hope people will get active in the idea of a Constitutional Amendment that says corporations are not people,” Hubbard says. “Several organizations have different strategies, bills have been introduced, and several states, including California, have endorsed the idea. I think it’s a movement that’s gone under the media radar but is definitely happening out there.”
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