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Leverage Points and Tipping Points: Deconstructing Political Influence
with Patrick McKercher
Patrick McKercher will begin with a brief historical overview of how the 1% and corporations gained their influence, offer an interactive tour of the map of the “Death Star,” then strategize with us how to use what it reveals for maximum leverage.
When scientists and the world were increasingly certain about global warming — including our driving it – why were Americans less and less concerned? As the fossil fuel industry was revealed as the leading climate denier, McKercher, using data visualization software to map the web of information and money flows, saw the infamous Powell Memo (the right-wing gameplan to defend corporations from the People’s will) at the heart of the industry’s gambit. At the end of a long chain, the Koch brothers (who brought much more money and created “the incubator” which recruits, trains and supports college students to be conservative activists, then generously funds the infrastructure to keep them employed for a lifetime) carried the torch.
However, the good news is that once we understand how the system works we can look for leverage points, where small pushes can create tipping points.
Dr. Patrick McKercher teaches for the Writing Program at UC Santa Cruz at the Environmental College. He participated in Occupy San Jose, and currently is involved with Move To Amend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dLAQr8p2wI&list=PL02F8ECC3CDB39BB1&index=2&feature=plpp_video
Q&A and Announcements will follow.