This week, the director of "Uncovered: The War on Iraq" and "Outfoxed" released his latest film, "Wal-Mart: the High Cost of Low Prices." It's a powerful exposé on the toll the Wal-Mart behemoth has taken on workers and communities across the country, and how we can help turn the tide.
Wal-Mart is going into attack mode. The company has literally created a war room, staffed with political consultants who are working day and night to undermine the movie and spread pro-Wal-Mart propaganda.1 But it's not working: thanks to the questions raised by the film, national media are tuning in to Wal-Mart's high cost to American families—and last week the movie was featured on page 1 of the New York Times.2
Next week, a coalition of hundreds of unions, churches, small business associations and citizens' groups3 are taking this fight to thousands of living rooms around the country, holding viewing parties to watch the movie and get organized. They've invited us to join them.
Can you host a Wal-Mart movie screening party next Tuesday, November 15th? Sign up today:
http://www.walmartmovie.com/host.php
We'll make sure you get the movie before the 15th if you order by Tuesday, November 8th.
If you can't host a party, you can still buy an advance copy of the new film and send a important message to Wal-Mart: they can spin, but they can't hide. Order your copy online at:http://www.walmartmovie.com/watch.php
These viewing parties are all part of the national "Wal-Mart Week of Action." This week is a great opportunity for MoveOn members to work directly with the members of our partner groups. If you choose to make your screening party public, it will be added to the central pool and local folks from the Service Employees International Union, (SEIU), the Independent Business Association, or any of our hundreds of other partners will be invited to join you.
Once you sign up, you'll receive a special screening packet with everything you need and some easy next steps that your group can take to become part of the solution.
In its debut week the Wal-Mart movie was featured on The Today Show,4 on the front page of the New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A-" rating.5 Salon wrote this glowing review:
"What makes the movie so powerful is the totality of the portrait, both in its details and its sweep. Most of these people are entirely unexceptional Americans from the working class or lower-middle class, believers in flag and country and God and capitalism, not left-wing activists or academics with some theoretical critique. Most of them believed in Wal-Mart, too, and were genuinely horrified to learn that its low prices depended on enforced poverty, whether theirs or somebody else's."6
MoveOn is sponsoring screenings of the film on Tuesday, November 15th, but you can also choose to host another day that week if it works better for you. Please sign up today:
http://www.walmartmovie.com/host.php
After Katrina, we committed to work together to help rebuild a middle class America. It's critical to examine why so many hard working families are watching the American Dream slip away. Wal-Mart, the world's largest corporation and nation's largest employer, is a major piece of that puzzle.
Wal-Mart is owned by the nation's wealthiest family,7 but its average salary is below the poverty line8—leaving over half of it's full time employees without health care or dependent on Medicaid.9 It drives down labor standards at home and around the world.10 It has destroyed countless small businesses in thousands of communities.11 And it does it all by absorbing billions of dollars in corporate welfare every year.12
We hope you'll be able to join the national Wal-Mart Week of Action and host a screening Tuesday, November 15th (or another day that week that works better for you). When you sign up to host, you'll get an advance copy of the movie, and later an action packet to help your group plan some easy next steps.
Please sign up to host right now at:
http://www.walmartmovie.com/host.php
And if you can't host a screening, you're still invited to purchase an advance personal copy of the new film at:http://www.walmartmovie.com/watch.php
Thanks for all that you do,
–Ben, Wes, Joan, Micayla and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team Friday, November 4th, 2005
p.s. Here's a note from Director Robert Greenwald to MoveOn members:
"Dear MoveOn Members,One year of intense 24/7 work on this film by the Brave New Films team has turned up very emotional, personal stories of how policy affects people. And with your lead, the film will be a tool for initiating and furthering the fight around economic justice and fairness and the American way of life.
So with great appreciation and excitement, we at Brave New Films present "WAL-MART, the high cost of low price," available to all of you to view and most importantly, to go out into the world armed with the facts and stories it contains. The film has more folks who identify as Republicans then Democrats, and I was very surprised to discover how the Wal-Mart and corporate greed issue cut across any narrow partisan boxes. We have a chance with your help to reach lots of people who might not agree with us on other issues, but on how Wal-Mart is destroying their families, jobs, communities.....they are with us.
Everyplace there is a TV screen and dvd player, can become a screening room for debate, discussion, and change. I look forward to joining with you as we go on the offense and use the film to get a debate going about how the American Dream is being torn apart by a multi-national corporation that only lives by the rule of greed.
With the greatest thanks and excitement,
–Robert Greenwald and the Brave New Films team"
Sources:
1. "A New Weapon for Wal-Mart: A War Room," The New York Times, November 1st, 2005http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/01/business/01walmart.ready.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1131113232-tfvsWUm71jh8iRyFGKS0Fg3.
2. "A New Weapon for Wal-Mart: A War Room," The New York Times, November 1st, 2005http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1108
3. For a list of coalition partners and supporters of the Wal-Mart movie, see:http://www.walmartmovie.com/screenings.htm
4. Veiw the Today Show clip here:http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1109
5. "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices," Entertainment Weekly, November 4th 2005http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/movie/0,6115,1125297_1_0_,00.html
6. "Beyond the Multiplex," Salon.com, November 3rd, 2005http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2005/11/03/btm/
7. "The Forbes 400 Richest Americans," Forbes Magazine, September 24th, 2004http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6082174/
8. "Trouble in Wal-Mart's America" The Washington Post, October 26th, 2005http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1110
9. "Low Prices at a High Cost: Who Really Pays for Wal-Mart Workers' Health Care?" Wal-Mart Watchhttp://walmartwatch.com/home/pages/healthcare#background
10. National Labor Committeehttp://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/he-yi/he-yi.shtml
11. "Wal-Mart Conference on Wal-Mart Draws Critics of Pay, Benifits," Bloomberg News Service, November 4th, 2005http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1111
12. "Wal-Mart subsidies top $1B," Kansas City Business Journal," May 26th, 2004http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1112
13. "Workers Win Fair Wages as Bush Backs off Davis-Bacon Suspension," AFL-CIO, October 26th, 2005 http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/jobs/ns10262005.cfm
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posted by Joshua P. Angell  @ 6.11.05

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