As news coverage surrounds anti-globalization protests in Seattle, Quebec, Prague, and Genoa the corporate media addresses the violence of the problems and the solutions that many activists have developed over the years since the World Trade Organization, the World Bank,and the G8 with corporate sponsorship has taken over the American consciousness.

At this global scale the people of the world are revolting, protesting and held out of corporate meetings that threaten to usurp governmental agencies that protect the environment and sometimes the people.

From the global scale we can witness the national scale where American business leaders are thought of as Fortune 500 corporations; publicly owned entities that dismiss their employees for shareholder benefits, move their factories to Mexico, Indonesia or Guatemala to exploit workers, leaving American towns in disarray and advertise their products with no respect to the pristine.

At this national level we see big box chain stores bringing their cheaper products from workers who cannot unionize, organize or even obtain rights to education, health and the democratic freedoms that have been pursued over generations of American Civil Rights activists. We have companies claiming to be American, yet avoiding the very laws that secure the rights of children to learn.

Throughout each scale the national, the global and the local the premise of control is eminent. Who controls the media, the government, the police, or the land? Who controls the mind of the people is even a question that is avoided by the most corporate media.

In 1998, before Seattle became associated with the World Trade Organization protests, the Boulder Independent Business Alliance was formed to address the local impact of such issues and to raise awareness of the benefits local business provides to the economic sustainability. With two founders, David Bolduc of The Boulder Bookstore, and Jeff Milchen, of ReclaimDemocracy.org, an Alliance was formed to build upon the success of grassroots organizing and include member businesses that would unite to align with one another to keep chains from over running the business interest in Boulder.

While BIBA holds a unique niche in terms of a business membership arena, the designation of "independent alliance" is the key to determining what services and benefits develop. While the Chamber's of Commerce in most cities serve as the center of business, often times, Chambers' promote "any and all business" without regard to the needs of independents or the competition that they face when a Bed, Bath and Beyond store moves into the mall.

In this respect BIBA was formed to focus on the needs of independent business in Boulder County.

Within the three years that BIBA existed an unexpected outcome occurred.

We gained national attention! With inquiries from communities around America and the world people became interested in the model and templates that we had developed. In response to the national interest that we received we launched the American Independent Business Alliance or AMIBA (pronounced like amoeba) to help people outside of Boulder county align with what we have done.

As we move forward in this era of Free Trade Agreements the mission and importance of independent business alliances grow. By recognizing the symbiotic interdependence of business owners, entrepreneurs, and local economies will there be a sustained momentum of a conscious paradigm to think globally and act locally. The more media empires that unite to determine what the public knows and the messages that are delivered the more we will lose the message of a diversity that exists down the block from our homes, families, and children.