This year marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in what is now the United States. With it came the launch of an armed revolution against distant fascist leaders and a struggle between reformers and reactionaries who would ultimately lead the budding nation further down the path of imperialism, slavery, land theft, and elite domination.

Today, the U.S. government is using the 250th anniversary as an opportunity to peddle facile propaganda in service of nationalistic fascism. As a law firm which has been educating communities about the truth of U.S. “freedoms” for thirty years, we’re here to set the record straight.

Welcome to CELDF’s America 250: A Revolutionary Perspective: an ongoing series this year.

If you’re new here, this is Truth and Reckoning, a newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth.

For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance.

In this episode

Continuing CELDF’s America 250: A Revolutionary Perspective series, CELDF’s Executive Director Kai Huschke and Education Director Ben Price discuss the disconnect between the aspirations of revolutionary American colonists who demanded freedom from top-down governance and what they did to try to realize those goals before the Federalist counter-revolution.

Hushke and Price find close comparisons between Declaration’s grievances justifying secession from the British empire and today’s failures of governance. 250 years ago, the British policies toward its colonies gave deference to privileged persons, living and corporate, over settler subjects of the empire. The anti-corporate stance of the American rebels will seem very familiar to Americans living now, 250 years later.

Links and Resources

* A250 series

* CELDF YouTube channel

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

You can find the show on:

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About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Get full access to Truth and Reckoning at celdf.substack.com/subscribe