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Last year I posted a quick link to the results of the 2007 Corporate Hall of Shame. This year, before the polls had even opened, Corporate Accountability International’s Press Officer from Boston had me hooked up by email with press materials, answers to questions, and even a few shout-outs to some of her favorite locally-owned Bowling Green restaurants (Shake Rag Reed’s and Bread and Bagels to be exact.)

Of course I love it when people in Boston praise Bowling Green restaurants, but I really love a good chance to spotlight corporate injustices when the aim is to create change. CAI treats corporate abuse, community health, individual health, and the environment as interwoven issues, as they cannot be separated without harm to the entire system. And so online events like the Hall of Shame are in fact part of a larger agenda. This is fortunately not just pointing fingers for its own sake, it’s educational. When you vote, and I know you will, take a look at the range of companies and the range of reasons they are there - global warming, war-profiteering, predatory lending, discrimination.

A list of their current campaign areas are:

• The Water Industry
• The Tobacco Industry
• Food & Agribusiness Industry
• Oil Industry

Within each of these areas are various projects in motion, addressing areas of corporate irresponsibility (such a nice way of putting it, sometimes) and flat out abuse. An example of a creative and active campaign is “Think Outside the Bottle”, an aggressive effort to address the bottled water problem. (If you are surprised to discover there are negative issues surrounding bottled water, head over to the Think Outside the Bottle site to get caught up to speed or read through the Learn More page.)

So, in addition to a pretty full agenda at Corporate Accountability International, there is still the fun (and educational!) 2008 Hall of Shamepoll for our personal enlightenment and put in our two cents. I’ll be passing on the results here again. Hopefully a few of the votes will have come from our faithful readers here! Voting ends on July 4th. Last Day to Vote in Corporate Hall of Shame Poll is in 85 days

In the end, however, I hope the point will not be lost on we voters. There is a larger issue at hand, as there generally is behind these kinds of piecemeal campaigns. There is a lack of education and empowerment in those that are affected (the historically oppressed, the underpaid,the unequally exposed, the exploited, the civilian casualties, etc.) as well as a terrible lack of transparency in those that abuse. We can vote in corporate abuse polls until we are all blue in the face, but when we become aware of the details of the abuse, we can stop treating the symptoms and start on the cause. I believe the discovery and exploration of liberatory education and a revitalized perspective on human rights is key to really addressing and eradicating corporate abuse.

I look forward to some day when the viewpoints and language of people like Paulo Freire finally proliferate through the perspectives and language of the world’s decision makers and information collectors, bloggers, families, chat rooms, and of course, corporations. When was the last time you heard the words “living green” and “liberation” used in the same context? Why are we happy to volunteer for an evening to pick up trash at the river, but can’t seem to keep landfills out of minority and low income neighborhoods? Corporate Accountability International, I believe probably asks these questions and sees the correlation between civil rights and environmental justice.

Maybe next year we’ll have a Corporate Hall of Sustainability. Nominees will have a stellar record for promoting the health and welfare of its entire supply chain. They will have done so much to become environmentally friendly that they are officially deemed Environmentally Beneficial. Everything they touch seems to get cleaner, healthier, longer lasting and more affordable by the day. They are measurably decreasing the gap between the rich and the poor. They hold their business peers up to the same standards they hold themselves and cease to do business with socially irresponsible organizations. They do not manufacture items that are affordable because they are basically junk. Waste is not an option.

I’ll vote in that poll, too.

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