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Thomas Linzey became a lawyer with the aim of helping defend the poor against the rich, and spent many years working on environmental defence cases in US before concluding that a new approach was needed. As he explains in episode 651 the US legal system, from its very beginning was never about protecting the right of the majority but was always about protecting the property of its framers, the superrich. He is now executive director and co-founder of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and serves as chief legal counsel. He is active in the giving of democracy schools to educate communities about self-organising and ways to resist despoilation by corporations such as waste disposal or factory farms. He has spoken on the show about the gradual process by which corporations usurped the rights of the US citizenry and how they now wield the constitution against them. CELDF is inspiring US municipalities to bring their own ordinances which pup the wishes of people ahead of the supposed rights of corporations (for example, by allowing them to prohibit hog farms or Walmarts in their locality). Linzey envisions a possible 'revolution from below' as the increasing disillusionment of local people accompanies increased determination not to tolerate the oppression by corporations and big government. See Also
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