CAPACITY EVENT LAUNCHES DVD AND COMMUNITY-BASED GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGNS

For immediate release 
October 3, 2010

REX WEYLER TO LEAD 16 CITY PROVINCIAL TOUR TO PROTECT PUBLIC POWER AND BC’S NATURAL RESOURCES 

VANCOUVER – At a packed event in Vancouver last night, BC Citizens for Public Power (BCCPP), an energy watchdog group, premiered their new documentary film and training tool — PEOPLE POWER: Building Social Movements to Protect Public Power in Canada.  Over the next three months, BCCPP spokesperson Rex Weyler — ecologist, activist and co-founder of Greenpeace International — will tour the province with the documentary, using it as a training tool for communities campaigning against the privatization of hydropower and the destruction of BC’s rivers to produce so-called “green energy.”

“Nothing about the privatization of electric power has benefited BC citizens,” says Weyler. “The scheme was intended all along to enrich a few insiders and drain resources from the public. It has eroded our local self-reliance, bankrupted our public utility, transferred our resource wealth from BC citizens to private and foreign interests, increased our electricity rates, and destroyed pristine wilderness and wild watersheds.” In 16 communities across BC, Weyler will screen the video and speak alongside local environmental leaders about the threats to BC’s wilderness and wildlife under the provincial government’s existing energy policy. Weyler and PEOPLE POWER filmmaker Damien Gillis hope that the documentary will provide support and information to citizens across the province who are standing up against private power.

"As a filmmaker and environmental activist, I'm a real believer in the power of video and social media to inform and empower,” says Gillis. “With PEOPLE POWER, we’re teaching others how to use these tools to build broad-based, self-sustaining community networks of grassroots activism.”

Michelle Laurie, president of the BCCPP Board of Directors, points out that tonight’s launch marked the beginning of the third and final stage of a two-year project.  “In 2008, we came together for the provincial MORE POWER TO YOU conference, a gathering of public power activists and community leaders. Participants asked the BCCPP to focus on coordinating the efforts of small local movements, and over the past two years we’ve worked hard to do just that. First, we launched BC Guardians, an online network for public power activists across the province, then we created the PEOPLE POWER documentary, and next we’ll take the show on the road with a province-wide tour. The BCCPP is extremely grateful to Damien and Rex and everyone who’s worked so hard on this project.” 

The PEOPLE POWER documentary includes:
-An introduction to the public vs. private power issue;
-A review of traditional approaches to citizen campaigning;
-An exploration of new media techniques and their application to public education and grassroots campaigning;
-A reflection on the moral, ethical, and legal obligation of respectful inclusion of First Nations;
-Strategies to counter opposition messaging campaigns, including “astroturf” groups and “eco-celebrities; and       
-A call to action for citizens to engage their communities with email lists, petitions, media exposure, social networking strategies, citizen journalism and more.  

In addition to the BC tour, the DVD will also be distributed across Canada. 

-30- 

For more information: Michelle Laurie, Chair, BCCPP Board of Directors, 604-312-2185

BC Citizens for Public Power, a provincial non-profit organization established in 2002, promotes and advocates for a publicly owned and integrated system of power production, transmission, and distribution to provide British Columbians with affordable, clean, reliable, and renewable energy.