Pierce Delahunt is a teacher of social emotional learning and the intersections of politics and the economy. Based in the California Bay Area, he has supported Corporate Accountability’s work for almost a decade. We sat down with Pierce to discuss how his analysis of power and class have evolved over time, why he believes challenging privatization is so critical to building a better world for people, and how he is moving through this political moment. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and flow.
What concerns you the most about corporate power?
Wow—it’s hard to come up with just one concern. Corporations are the emblem of exploitation, capitalism, and colonialism. These massive entities cross international lines, drain the working class of their time and labor, and are destroying the biosphere with impunity.
Over the years, I’ve learned and thought a lot about the role that corporations play in shaping our economy, government, and the systems that are meant to horde power and wealth for a small group of people at the expense of everyone else.
These are lessons I didn’t learn in school. History curriculums focus on recounting big historical events in a disparate way, without digging into the full story about how these different moments and rulers related to each other. I know now that this was on purpose: there is a reason why people in power don’t want us to see the origins of the unjust world that we’re living in now.
What first got you interested in Corporate Accountability?
I made a connection with a staff member who invited me to join the Giving Circle, where we raised funds for the organization and allies across the globe, and learned more about corporate campaigning. The work aligned with my values and my desire to reject corporate power and authoritarianism.
And from the beginning, I especially appreciated Corporate Accountability’s campaigns that challenge privatization. I believe the world that we need to live in is one where our most essential services and resources are managed as a public good and are available to everyone. Protecting people’s water systems from corporate control is a crucial part of that.
What has been most memorable to you during your time with the organization over the years?
One year, I attended McDonald’s shareholders’ meeting outside of Chicago with Corporate Accountability. It was both depressing and transformative to witness executives at the helm of one of the most harmful corporations in the world patting themselves on the back for reaping profits from their underpaid workers, unhealthy food, and harm to animals and the land.
It helped solidify my understanding of the modern corporation as an imperialist force that will seek profit at the expense of everything—people’s health, lives, and the planet.
How are you moving forward in this very challenging political moment?
It varies—sometimes getting through the day feels like a long slog, with a lot of doomscrolling on my phone. There are some days where I recognize that I need to rest and recharge. And other days where I am ready to show up.
I try to stay grounded in community. As a teacher, that means engaging my students in material that I find to be very important right now: skills for non-violent communication and the inter-workings of politics and the economy.
It’s important for me to make sure that I’m not rolling over and giving in to despair, and that I am doing everything I can do to counter the terrifying ways that corporations, governments, and people in power are trying to control us. Beyond teaching, sometimes that looks like attending a protest, participating in mutual aid, or supporting organizing in another way—like Corporate Accountability’s work!
