Introduction to the series: Corporations on Trial

People & Power's Juliana Ruhfus on the use and abuse of corporate power

In a special nine-part series People & Power (an Al Jazeera program) charts the rapidly growing number of lawsuits being brought against multi-national corporations.

War crimes, conspiracy, corruption and payments to terrorists are just some of the serious charges that have forced some of the world's largest companies to hire high-profile defence lawyers to defend their name in cases often brought by plaintiffs who are barely literate.

Corporations on Trial reveals a growing anxiety about the power and influence of big business.

Today many multinational corporations have annual revenues greater than some countries' national budgets; governments are increasingly held to ransom by their economic power.

Around the world, ordinary people are asking how many more times their interests should be sacrificed for corporate greed and shareholder profit.

Asking how, in other words, can the world's multinationals be kept in check.

Part II, "Dumping Ground" - to be published next on Axis of Logic

Source: Al Jazeera