POCLAD Message: ‘Fish Discover Water Last: Richard L. Grossman on corporations, democracy and us’
‘Fish Discover Water Last: Richard L. Grossman on corporations, democracy and us’
For those who don't know, Richard was the co-founder of POCLAD. Please consider ordering one or more copies of this fine work.
Wendell’s Human Error Publishing and resident Anna Gyorgy have joined forces to publish a short but powerful book featuring work of the late historian-activist Richard Grossman, entitled
“Fish Discover Water Last: Richard L. Grossman on corporations, democracy and us.”
Grossman’s career in public policy and activism spanned four decades, starting with the first anti-nuclear state referendum in California in the early 1970s, to writing and expertise on jobs and energy – showing ‘green jobs’ offering extensive employment. His later work on toxics and industrial pollution in communities led to keen awareness of the role of corporations in causing environmental harms. The last decades of his life were focused on examining corporate rule and the lack of democracy. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader called Grossman "the preeminent historian of corporations."
“Richard’s years of study, action and public education on corporations made him well-known in certain circles,” explained editor Gyorgy, “but since his passing less attention has been paid to his penetrating – and often provocative – analysis.”
“Spawning Salmon” on the cover of “Fish” is by Buckland, MA fine art mosaic artist Cynthia Fisher. See her work at: http://bigbangmosaics.com/index.html
The back cover features a portrait by Robert Shetterly, part of his series of original portraits of inspired American citizens, at: https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org
The book is available for $15.00. Please order through your local bookstore.
For more information, including bulk purchases at discounted prices, see https://www.fishdiscoverwaterlast.net/
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Note - the original of this article had the wrong starting time for the Oct. 24 event, it is 3-4 pm; I have corrected it here.)
Copyright © 2021 Greenfield Recorder 10/14/2021
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Greg Coleridge (he/him)
Outreach Director, Move to Amend Coalition
http://MoveToAmend.org
(216) 255-2184 (cell - in Ohio)
(916) 318-8040 (office - in Sacramento, CA)
End Corporate Rule. Legalize Democracy. Move to Amend.
Book review: ‘Fish Discover Water Last: Richard L. Grossman on corporations, democracy and us’
By TINKY WEISBLAT
For the Recorder, Greenfield Recorder, October 14, 2021
Fish, it is said, discover water last. That is, they don’t always realize that the transparent environment in which they swim and live and die exists.
Richard Grossman (19432011) was an environmental and economic activist who likened the experience of fish in water to that of Americans going about their daily lives without awareness of the corporate power and culture that permeate our society and government.
According to author and editor Anna Gyorgy of Wendell, Grossman was planning a book that would outline his theories at the time of his death a decade ago. That book was never written so Gyorgy gathered a number of Grossman’s talks into a short volume that outlines much of his philosophy.
“Fish Discover Water Last: Richard L. Grossman on corporations, democracy, and us” (Human Error Publishing) discusses the history of corporations. It argues that the United States has never been a true democracy because much of its governing structure has prioritized the needs of powerful corporations over average people.
Writing about one of the Supreme Court’s wide-ranging rulings that enshrined the rights of corporations, Grossman says, “When did we ever have that kind of language for the rabble, for the denied? ...
“We need to look at what’s going here not as a corporation here, a corporation there, that does something bad or isn’t so good. We’re talking about a corporate system.”
He carefully distinguishes between movements in the past that have sought to improve Americans’ lot through change within the system — such as the Progressive Era, the New Deal and the Great Society — and those that have argued that the system itself is incapable of true change.
His best example of the latter is the abolitionists. They “basically concluded that they could not envision the goal of emancipation and equality, of a country without slavery, under the existing constitution, set of laws, and culture. So they set out to change that,” he explains. Like many social critics, Grossman is better at describing the problems he sees in our corporate culture than he is at prescribing a solution. He knows that. He is not entirely pessimistic, however.
The answer to our ills, he argues, lies in getting citizens together to envision and work for change on a grand scale, using our individual minds and our collective hearts.
“The goal is engaging more and more people in these conversations,” he posits. “The goal is helping each other to un-colonize our minds. Our goal is to help each other to think, so that we can see what it is we are immersed in.” “Fish Discover Water Last” will be launched on Sunday, Oct. 24, at 3 p.m. on the grounds of the Wendell Free Library. Editor Gyorgy and publisher Paul Richmond will be on hand for a reading and discussion of the book. Book sales that day will benefit the Friends of the Wendell Free Library.
This event will take place behind the library at the stone circle. Refreshments will be served. Attendees are asked to bring masks and lawn chairs. In case of rain, visit fishdiscoverwaterlast.net.
Tinky Weisblat is the awardwinning author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook,” “Pulling Taffy,” and “Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb.” Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.
“The goal is helping each other to un-colonize our minds.”
RICHARD L. GROSSMAN
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By What Authority is published by the POCLAD. The title is English for quo warranto, a legal phrase that questions illegitimate exercise of privilege and power. We the people and our federal and state officials have long been giving giant business corporations illegitimate authority. Today, a minority directing giant corporations and backed by police, courts, and the military, define our culture, govern our nation, and plunder the earth. By What Authority reflects an unabashed assertion of the right of the sovereign people to govern themselves.
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