Presented at First Unitarian Church in Shadyside, come find out why Wal-Mart needs to be held accountable for unjust practices that impoverish workers and threaten ommunities.
The controversial new film, by director and producer Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed and Uncovered: the War on Iraq), debuts in Pittsburgh in November as part of Wal-Mart Premiere Week, an unprecedented grassroots effort that will see over 3,000 screenings
across the nation from November 13-19, 2005.
This free public event is being hosted here in Pittsburgh by UUs United for Faith in Action. The screening will take place at 7 p.m. on November 18 at First Unitarian Church in Shadyside. Immediately following the film, there will be a brief presentation by two local groups and a discussion about the effect Wal-Mart is having on Pittsburgh and the nation.
The film takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight against a Goliath. From a small business owner in Missouri to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the story of an assault on families and American values.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
Clearly this film maker has an ax to grind. The American Spectaor did a great analysis of the film.
... activists like Greenwald have a way of reaching conclusions first and fitting evidence around them afterwards. Unwittingly, they raise a larger issue: Why does Wal-Mart get under the skin of its critics, especially those presuming to speak for "the people?"
But it's the third source of opposition -- the kind Greenwald delights in inciting -- that reveals much about the ratcheted-up campaign against the company. Such opponents see Wal-Mart most of all as a symbol. And what Wal-Mart symbolizes is the lowbrow, tacky character of American life. ...
Because Wal-Mart is Red State America writ large, its inquisitors project fears and resentments onto the company. They focus on exploitation, real or imagined, it inflicts on its workers. Omitted from consideration is the possibility that Wal-Mart has done some good -- like making available a large array of quality merchandise and services at low prices, in the process raising living standards.
But anyone familiar with the logic of corporate surrender knows the Left will declare these moves "a good start," and nothing more -- far more progress, of course, will be needed. Years from now, Wal-Mart will discover to its chagrin that it still can't win. That's because in the end, its foes are less interested in making a large corporation accountable to the public than they are in scolding the public as well as the company -- about 80 percent of all Americans, after all, shop there at least once a year.
"Elitists don't count pennies at [Wal-Mart-owned] Sam's Club," Esquire financial columnist Ken Kurson wrote last year. That's sound advice for ostensible champions of the common folk. But Wal-Mart's enemies aren't likely to adopt it anytime soon.
Post a Comment