Published Articles, Lectures & Interviews

Over the years, I have written dozens of articles for numerous print and online publications, and given many speeches and interviews, some of which are described below. If you don't want to miss any of my upcoming written or spoken work, I encourage you to click HERE to read my latest blog entries, and I'd also LOVE you to sign up for my Community Rights Update e-newsletter so you don't miss any of the major developments in our fast growing movement! (Simply click on "Sign up for Updates" in the column to the left.)

Permission is granted to all who wish to reprint any of these pieces for not-for-profit uses, in whole or in part. Please send two copies to the author: Paul Cienfuegos, POB 86605, Portland, OR 97286. All for-profit uses MUST receive prior approval from the author. Thank you!

List of Published Articles, Speeches, and Interviews (from newest to oldest)

Warning: I've let this page get WAY out of date, so please be patient over the first few months of 2016 as I attempt to bring it fully current.

 

 

* I gave the Keynote Speech at the 6th Annual Symposium of the 'Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities' and "The Environment and Sustainability Program' at the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health on March 18, 2016. Speech Title: "Why Do Large Corporations Get to Decide What We the People Eat?".

* I was interviewed by Merry & Burl via skype for their online interview archive on March 18, 2015.

 

* I gave a speech in Minneapolis on February 23, 2015, which was nationally broadcast in May 2015 on David Barsamian's 'Alternative Radio' show. It was titled, "We the People Standing Together to Protect Our Climate: Lessons from the Community Rights Movement". You can read it HERE.

* I was interviewed by Terry O'Connor on WDRT in Viroqua, Wisconsin, in May 2013. It's 28 minutes long. Listen HERE.

* I was interviewed by Stephanie Potter on KBOO Radio in Portland, Oregon, on June 6, 2012. It's about 54 minutes long. You can listen to it HERE.

* I was interviewed by Jim Lockhart on his cable access TV show 'A Growing Concern' in Portland, Oregon on February 24, 2012. You can watch it here via Youtube.

* I was interviewed by Alex Huppenthal on his Orcas Island-based cable access TV show (audio only) on March 30, 2012. It's about 45 minutes. We were in a coffeehouse, so apologies for the background noises.

* "When the Transition Movement & the Community Rights Movement Start Collaborating, Watch Out!"

(Text of my 35-minute speech presented to the Transition PDX group in Portland, Oregon, on January 18, 2012. Please share it widely with other Transition groups across the U.S. and beyond. An audio link to this speech will appear here soon.)

 * 30 minute interview on Portland Community TV show "Populist Dialogues" in Portland, Oregon

(I was interviewed on December 11, 2011 by David Delk, coordinator of the local Alliance for Democracy chapter. You can watch the interview HERE.)

* We Need Much Bolder Thinking and Action to Wrest Our Country Back From Corporate Rule

(Text of my hour-long speech delivered in Eugene, OR on May 16th, 2011.

This speech was broadcast internationally in October 2011 by AlternativeRadio.org, using a different title of "We The People". You can purchase a CD or mp3 of this talk HERE.

DVD's will be available for sale via 100fires.com shortly.)

* 60 minute interview on KOWS FM Radio in Occidental, California

(I was interviewed on September 27, 2010 by Ken Rose, on his weekly show, "What Now". You can download and listen to it by going to PantedMonkey.org, then go to "Season Two", 9/27/10, and click on my name. There are literally hundreds of hour-long interviews there worth listening to.)

* Are We The People? Striving for a Future Where Our Actions Match the Crises/Opportunities We Face

(Audio file of my 54-minute speech delivered at the Village Building Convergence in Portland, OR, on June 3rd, 2010

Watch the speech in its entirety

Watch the speech in 8 short segments on YouTube)

* Is a Truly Sustainable Society Achievable as Long as Corporate "Rights" Trump the Rights of People?

(Audio file of my hour-long speech + Q&A delivered at the Unitarian Church in downtown Portland on February 26th, 2010, and broadcast internationally on hundreds of radio stations via AlternativeRadio.org.)

Here's what one blogger wrote about the talk on the Kansas City Food Circle Blog.

"[Paul] began by giving the most clear and succinct explanations of energy security, climate disruption, and economic disparities we ever heard. And if that wasn't enough, he further explained the historical step-by-step ascendancy of "corporate personhood", all entirely endowed by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, culminating last January with Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Cienfuegos' conclusion is that we can achieve a sustainable society, but only if we abandon our fragmented single-issue organizing, and challenge corporate constitutional "rights" head on. His data and logic are impeccable, and his organizing principles are compelling. A must-not-miss talk."

* Article titled "Questioning the Corporation"

In Cascadia Weekly, Bellingham, WA, December 9, 2009

* Corporate Constitutional "Rights" vs the Rights of Nature and People

(Audio file of most of my brief talk on a panel with Mari Margil - Associate Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund - at the Econvergence Conference in Portland, OR, on October 2nd, 2009)

* 30 minute Interview on KBOO FM Radio

(This interview on June 11, 2009, followed my talk at the Village Building Convergence in Portland, OR, which was titled "Thinking Like Citizens, Acting Like Citizens")

* Letter to the Editor of the North Coast Journal (Arcata, California)

(published October 2006)

* The Organic Foods Movement - Led by Heinz Corporation or We the People? The Time to Choose is Now

(In October 2004, I was invited to give the keynote address at the 28th annual conference of the Provender Alliance, the association of the Pacific Northwest's natural products industry. This was the title of my talk.)

* Since everyone lives somewhere, there's no better place to begin to challenge corporate media than in one's own community…..

(published in Sentient Times in December 2003)

* Towards a county-wide uprising of citizens asserting our authority to govern ourselves by wresting control of land use decision-making away from Maxxam Corporation and putting it in the hands of the people where it rightfully belongs…

(a draft document from the Steering Committee of the 'Democratic Logging Project' in Humboldt County, California in 2003)

* Taking Our Language Back From Corporate Culture

(unpublished, April 2001)

* Paradigm Shift: Challenging Corporate Authority - Dozens of New Strategies are Sprouting Up Across the US and Canada - Some of Them Dating Back to Previous Centuries - That Challenge Illegitimate Corporate Authority and Privilege

(written in Spring 2000, and reprinted in more than a dozen print and online journals. I am currently working on an updated edition of this groundbreaking survey.)

* The "Arcata Advisory Initiative on Democracy and Corporations": A Watershed Event in the History of Arcata - Changing the World, One Conversation at a Time

(published in a number of activist journals nationwide and online in 1999)

* A People Awakening to the Nature of Corporate Culture

(published in Access Magazine, April 1999)

* Maxxam Corporation is a Subordinate Creation of We The People - Let's Start Treating It That Way

(published in •••••, February 1999)

* Reclaiming Our Historic Authority: How "We the People" Once Defined and Controlled Corporations…

(published in Access magazine in 1999)

* Dismantling Corporate Rule: The Next Step in “The Great Turning”

(published in the newsletter of the Institute for Deep Ecology in 1998)

* How Corporate Rule Makes Consumers Of Us All

(Keynote speech delivered at "Reclaiming the Holidays: A Buy Nothing Day Conference" on November 27th, 1998 at the First Unitarian Church in Portland, OR)

* Reframing the USDA Organics Proposal as a Symptom of Corporate Rule

(speech given at the Planetarium in Vancouver, Canada, and at three forums across Humboldt County - in Spring 1998)

* Is the Opposition to USDA's New Organic Food Standards on the Wrong Track?

(published in Access Magazine, March 1998)

* Corporate Acts We Could Stop Today - If We Were Educated, Organized, and Building Mass Movement

(published in Access Magazine, November 1997)

* Some reflections on 20 years of activism, and an invitation…

(published in Access Magazine, September 1997)

* Why Forest Workers and Environmentalists Are Natural Allies

(published in Access Magazine, August 1997)

* Clearcuts and Landslides: Who Benefits and Who Pays?

(published in Access Magazine, July 1997)

* Who's in Charge at the Workplace - We The People or Our Creations?

(published in a 1997 issue of  At Work  journal)

In addition, I have given the following speeches:

* about the clearcutting of the Headwaters Forest as a symptom of corporate rule - at two Headwaters rallies in Humboldt County in 1998

* about citizens rising up to challenge corporate rule - at two forums in Seattle during the WTO meetings in Fall 1999, and at numerous summits and conferences on globalization in Portland, Oregon over a number of years

* about Arcata's Measure F campaign - at the national convention of the Alliance for Democracy in Boulder, Colorado, in Spring 1999

* about how local communities can and must rise up to challenge corporate rule - at the Summit on World Economic Sustainability in Kentfield, California in •••••••