Past Events

Here's a selection of some of ESPA's 'recent past' events, stored here for archival & self-reporting purposes.

May 17 noon-6pm: ESPA's 5th Annual Fair Trade Fair & Film Festival as part of National Fair Trade Week.
Location: Strathcona Baptist Church (gymnasium), 8318-104 St. (right across from Gazebo Park/Farmer's Market)
Admission: $5 includes THREE excellent films and a copy of Co-op America's 2008 Guide to Fair Trade.

Our 5th annual event as part of TransFair Canada's National Fair Trade Weeks includes an afternoon marketplace with artists, NGOs, unions and vendors selling Fair Trade-certified, sweatshop-free or otherwise ethically-produced clothing, textiles, fashion accessories; soccer and volleyballs; chocolate, coffee, tea, sugar; plenty of arts & crafts; mouth-watering Eritrean (vegetarian) dishes and salads, good vibes, good karma, short videos, an exhibit "Celebrate People's History" Visual Resistance & "Street Art Workers Collective" Poster Exhibit and...

Feature Films

1:00pm: Banana Split: The banana is the cheapest fruit you can buy in Canada at any time of the year and Canadians eat approximately 3 billion bananas a year. In Canadian supermarkets bananas account for over 10% of total sales in the produce section and 1% of total sales. All this despite the fact that the nearest plantation is 5000 kilometres away and the banana is the most perishable fruit on our store shelves. Banana Split takes the viewer on a journey that begins with the hustle and bustle of a fruit market in Thunder Bay, Ontario and ends up with an examination of the daily challenges of life in Honduras. In addition to being a popular fruit in Canada, bananas are used as a staple food in more than 100 tropical and sub-tropical countries. In the developing world, bananas rank behind rice, wheat and corn as the most important staple food crops. Filmed in Canada, the United States, Honduras and France, Banana Split explores the North/South split between Canadian consumers and the people whose lives revolve around the "curvaceous fruit from the herbaceous plant."
AWARDS: WINNER Best Feature Length Documentary, 2005 Latin America Environmental Media Festival; Canadian International Development Agency's Deborah Fletcher Award of Excellence in Filmmaking on International Development 2004; Official Selection: 2003 omedia - International Environmental Film Festival; Travelling World Community Film Festival.
SEE WEBSITE:http://www.shebafilms.com/films/banana_split.html

2:30pm:"China Blue" takes us inside a blue-jeans factory, where Jasmine and her friends are trying to survive a harsh working environment. But when the factory owner agrees to a deal with his Western client that forces his teenage workers to work around the clock, a confrontation becomes inevitable. Shot clandestinely in China, under difficult conditions, this is a deep-access account of what both China and the international retail companies don't want us to see how the clothes we buy are actually made. "Tacit fury."
*AWARDS: WINNER DOEN/Amnesty International Human Rights Award, IDFA (Amsterdam); Best Documentary, International Independent Film Festival of Mar del Plata (Argentina); NOMINATED: Joris Ivens Award, IDFA (Amsterdam); Best Documentary, Hawaii International Film Festival; Official Selection at 37 film festivals in 24 countries.
SEE WEBSITE: http://www.teddybearfilms.com/chinablue

4:30pm: Global Banquet: The Politics of Food exposes globalization's profoundly damaging effect on our food system in terms that are understandable to the non-specialist. It debunks several underlying myths about global hunger (that hunger results from scarcity; that small countries don?t know how to feed themselves; and that only market-driven, chemically-based, industrial agriculture can feed the world). This film reveals how agribusiness squeezes out small farmers and how trade liberalization undercuts subsistence farming in the U.S. as well as in the developing world. It demonstrates how food security is linked to social development and how women, in particular, are affected by that. It links factory farming and the alteration and patenting of life forms to degradation of the natural environment. Through interviews with farmers, policy analysts, and international activists, The Global Banquet examines the ethical questions at the heart of the globalization debate. Beyond that, it shows how farmers, laborers, environmentalists, animal-rights activists, church groups, and students worldwide are mobilizing to address the situation.
*AWARDS: James Goldstone Award for Excellence in Filmmaking (Vermont International Film Festival), Cine Golden Eagle Award, U.S. International Film & Video Festival Award for Creative Excellence.
SEE WEBSITE: http://www.olddogdocumentaries.com/vid_gb.html

March 1 - April 26: Exhibit: Political Cartoons by Ingrid Rice
New Location: Happy Harbor Comics v.III, 10326-81 Ave. For more info visit the North of Nowhere Expo site (link at left) and click on the 'visual installations' link. See photos of Ingrid's work and the Just Seeds Visual Resistance political print exhibit on our facebook page.

April 19:"5-Ring Circus"
Location: Muddy Waters - 8211-111 Street
Covering the environmental and human rights consequences surrounding the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and other Made-in-Alberta eco-vids (to commemorate Earth Day): "Five Ring Circus" exposes a dark side to the Vancouver Olympics which has not been revealed before, and shows how this three week event is changing Vancouver forever. In 2003 the citizens of Vancouver were promised that the Olympics would transform their city into a world class city. Instead what they got was rising rents, evictions, an ecological disaster, surveillance cameras, erosion of civil liberties, an illegal cleanup operation and spiraling out of control costs.
Find out what mayors, activists and residents think of the 2010 Olympic games. With two years to go before the games, this documentary examines how the commitments to environmental, social and economic sustainability have not been kept and how the preparations for the games are affecting diverse communities. Is Vancouver getting into the spirit of the Olympics? While many residents are excited to welcome the world, others are loudly resisting the drastic changes happening in their communities. SEE WEBSITE: http://www.thefiveringcircus.com

** PANEL DISCUSSION April 6 @ 4pm: "My Name is Rachel Corrie", following the afternoon matinee. The panel is being represented by Prof. Emeritus Baha Abu-Laban, Vanesa Ali from Palestinian rights group HumanServe, Netta Phillet of the Jewish/Arab Women's Peace Group, Karen Farkas of the Edmonton Jewish Federation, and moderated by Ann McDougall of the U of A Middle Eastern & African Studies Program. Discussion will focus on the controversy surrounding the play, including issues of freedom of expression and criminalization of dissent. Panel members literally represent 'both sides of the fence' in the Gaza/Israeli conflict, and the aim of the panel is to create meaningful dialogue, discussion and conflict resolution. We expect a very eye-opening and intense discussion.

March 31 @ 8PM: "Encounter Point", a remarkable film about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict resolution movement, presented in conjunction with "Rachel Corrie".
LOCATION: Catalyst Theatre, 8529 Gateway Blvd.
Admission: $8 suggested donation (sliding scale)
VIEW LONG TRAILER (7 min):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiZ7vlRf8aI

March 28-April 12*: "My Name is Rachel Corrie" (theatre production)
LOCATION: Catalyst Theatre, 8529 Gateway Blvd.
ADMISSION: See TixOnTheSquare (420-1757 or www.tixonthesquare.ca)
“My Name Is Rachel Corrie” chronicles the human, social, and political evolution in the life and controversial death of the American peace activist crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza. Though she never actually wrote a play, Corrie has been described as “the most talked about playwright in America today.” Since her death, Corrie has become a potent symbol for both sides of the conflict. The battle over the play and its meaning is still causing great uproar in the theater world. Originally produced to great acclaim by the Royal Court Theater and based on Corrie’s prolific writings, diaries, letters and e-mails edited by the acclaimed actor Alan Rickman and the Guardian journalist Katharine Viner, this powerful one-woman play offers a unique perspective into the horrors and humanity of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Not to be missed!
Produced by Theatre Yes - www.theatre-yes.ca
* All shows 8pm; Sunday Matinees at 2pm March 30 & April 6. No shows Monday.
ESPA is co-organizing a Panel Discussion for April 6

March 22 (New Location: Muddy Waters, 8211 111 St.): "No End in Sight" (to commemorate the 5th Anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq). FYI, "No End" received the 2007 Special Jury Prize at Sundance, was awarded Best Documentary, Los Angeles Film Critics, and also an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary. See the Facebook event page at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=8926956858
VIEW TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MdU09oD-OU

March 8: "Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies & Global Economics" (to commemorate Int'l Women's Day)
VIEW CLIP: http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=32736

Feb. 23 @ 8pm: Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad
(A Little Bit of So Much Truth)
LOCATION: NAKED CYBER CAFE, 10354 Jasper Ave.
ADMISSION: $8 suggested donation (pay what you can)
In the summer of 2006, a broad-based, non-violent, popular uprising exploded in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Some compared it to the Paris Commune, while others called it the first Latin American revolution of the 21st century. But it was the people’s use of the media that truly made history in Oaxaca. A 90-minute documentary, A Little Bit of So Much Truth captures the unprecedented media phenomenon that emerged when tens of thousands of school teachers, housewives, indigenous communities, health workers, farmers, and students took 14 radio stations and one TV station into their own hands, using them to organize, mobilize, and ultimately defend their grassroots struggle for social, cultural, and economic justice. This is truly a remarkable film. Film will be followed by a discussion about the people of Oaxaca and what you can do to support their struggle. * Produced, Directed, Written, and Edited by Jill Irene Freidberg (2007, USA & Mexico, Spanish with English subtitles).
VIEW CLIP: http://www.corrugate.org/downloads/channel9.mov

The North of Nowhere Expo (Sept. 16-30, 2007)
Click the NoN link on the left to see all of the films and visual exhibitions presented at the 2007 expo. (Check back in spring of 2008 for details about the 2008 Expo!)

2 Films July 12: "SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability" & "Art From the Streets"! (Metro Cinema, Edmonton)
Metro Cinema is pleased to host a pair of screenings presented by the ESPA; proceeds will go to support the Our Voice street newspaper to assist low-income and homeless people in Edmonton.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Times: 7pm: SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability
          9pm: Art From the Streets
         (full synopses below)
Location: Metro Cinema (Zeidler Hall, Citadel Theatre Complex)
          9828-101A Avenue
Admission: $8 General Admission
         (Free to ESPA & Metro members, and to low-income/homeless)
For more info call (780) 434-9236, or visit http://www.metrocinema.org

FILM BIOS:
**********

SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability
Director Bonnie Sherr Klein
A National Film Board of Canada Production
(Canada, 2006, 72 min)
Visit the film website

Art, activism and disability are the starting point for what unfolds as a funny and intimate portrait of five surprising individuals. Director Bonnie Sherr Klein (Not a Love Story, and Speaking Our Peace) has been a pioneer of women's cinema and an inspiration to a generation of filmmakers around the world. SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability marks Klein's return to a career interrupted by a catastrophic stroke in 1987. Always the activist, she now turns the lens on the world of disability culture, and ultimately, the transformative power of art.

Joining Klein are a group of artists with diverse (dis)abilities. Humourist David Roche is taking his one man show, The Church of 80% Sincerity, to New York's off-Broadway. Poet and scholar Catherine Frazee is navigating a jam-packed schedule of teaching and speaking engagements. Dancer, choreographer and impresario Geoff McMurchy is organizing KickstART, an international festival of disability art. Sculptor and writer Persimmon Blackbridge is creating mixed media portraits from "meaningful junk".

Klein gathers these artists for a pyjama party where they take a subversive look at Hollywood stereotypes of people with disabilities: The Monster, The Saint, The Psycho, the Poor Little Crippled Girl, etc. The artists decide to turn the tables, making a pact to meet a year later at the KicksART Festival with the intent of creating their own images of disability.

The film tracks this motley gang of five from the BC Gulf Islands, to Nova Scotia and south to San Francisco while they create and then present their multi-faceted self-representations. As we get to know each of these remarkable people driven by a passion for art and transformation, the everyday complexities and unexpected richness of life with a disability are exposed. Packed with humour and raw energy, SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability is a revelation.

WINNER: Bronze Plaque - Category: Arts, Columbus International Film and Video Festival

********
Art From the Streets
Layton Blaylock
(USA, 2006, 73 min)
Visit the film website

Art from the Streets is a feature length documentary about an innovative Texas-based program for homeless artists by the same name. This all-volunteer program was established in 1991 with the idea of providing a safe and nurturing environment for homeless people to produce art. They accomplish this mission by sponsoring twice weekly art ³classes² and an annual show to sell their work.

The film tells this story by tracking five of the artists over the course of a year. Pat Bailey has been living in her car after losing her accounting job of 11 years. Despite holding a degree in history and serving in the army, John Curran lives in a homeless camp. Howard Cook has been selling his art at the show for 10 years, earning enough to rent his own apartment for months at a time. Penney Hunt has been living on the streets since she was 12. Only in his twenties, John Monbelly sells his art on street corners to scrape by. Though the money helps, the Art From The Streets program rewards these homeless people with a self-confidence that allows them to survive the streets and maybe get off them for good.

Viewers will visit homeless camps, learn the daily challenges of street life, and witness the strengths of human character. You will also experience the 2-day show and sale where the artists¹ work is sold and where they interact with people that they rarely have a chance to encounter in such a positive way.

Blaylock started working as a cinematographer in the 80¹s and has shot a wide variety of projects including work on over 25 films, many corporate films, and hundreds of commercials. In the 90¹s he began work as a director. Art from the Streets is his first feature.

WINNER: Best Documentary Bend Film Festival; Best Documentary Feature South Padre Island Film Festival; People's Choice Award Honorable Mention Bay Street Film Festival

ESPA thanks our sponsors for their support! Metro Cinema, with additional support from the City of Edmonton, the Edmonton Arts Council and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

The Yes Men are Coming! The Yes Men are Coming!

The ESPA is giddy with pleasure to announce a special LIVE appearance of the "The Yes Men"!

Monday JUNE 18, 2007 @ 7:00pm (doors open 6:30pm, show starts 7pm)
Location: Cosmopolitan Music Society, 8426 Gateway Blvd. (103 St.)
Admission: $15 at the door (sorry, no advance tix)
* Seating is extremely limited.
General Info: 434-9236 / contact@edmontonsmallpress.org

The Yes Men are globe-trotting theatre activists, famous for swapping Barbie/GI Joe voiceboxes and mocking the WTO on global television. The Yes Men have gained worldwide notoriety for impersonating and lampooning the World Trade Organization, the Bush Administration, and other governing bodies. They appear on television, at trade conferences and in other fora around the world. They are honest people hoaxing big time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them.

On their first-ever visit to Edmonton, The Yes Men will give a jaw-dropping two hour performance telling true stories that are stranger than fiction, and show hot-off-the-press video clips from their latest stunts.

Who Are the Yes Men?

The story began in 1999, just before the big protests in Seattle. Mike Bonanno (the BLO mastermind who switched the voice boxes of Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls and returned them to store shelves), and Andy Bichlbaum, (who made a splash by programming smooching, speedo-clad men into 80,000 copies of an action video game) set up a parody of the WTO website at the domain GATT.org. Some people mistook it for the real thing and invited them to speak on CNBC, at conferences, schools, and other forums as the WTO. Andy and Mike donned thrift store suits and set out to shock unwitting audiences with darkly comic satire that highlights the worst aspects of global free trade. Since then the Yes Men have impersonated some of the world's most powerful criminals - including Halliburton and DOW - in order to correct their identities.

The shocking satires they delivered to audiences of so-called ³experts² while representing WTO policy is the subject of the Yes Men¹s live presentation. The Yes Men will explain the bizarre circumstances by which their website was confused for the WTO¹s and how this confusion resulted in invitations to speak as the WTO. The storytelling will be enhanced by multimedia - including previously unreleased footage from their recent exploits as well their classic pranks.

Woven into the story will be a history lesson - an explanation of how the first world, through organizations like the WTO, continues to exploit the third world, maintaining a modern version of the colonial relationships upon which our current economies are based.

See more about the Yes Men at: http://www.theyesmen.org/

Presented by the Edmonton Small Press Association (ESPA) and sponsored in part by the Alberta Public Interest Research Group and On Spec Magazine. ESPA thanks the City of Edmonton, Edmonton Arts Council & the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for operational funding.

ROYAL BISON ARTS & CRAFTS FAIR
May 26-27 from 10am - 5pm
Cosmopolitan Music Society, 8426 Gateway Blvd.
For more info click HERE

Fair Trade Fair 2007 Poster

ESPA'S 4TH ANNUAL FAIR TRADE FAIR & FILM FEST
Saturday, May 19 from 12-6pm
TransAlta Arts Barns (Fringe Theatre Adventures), 10330 84 Ave.

Fair Trade Works! Ten years of Changing Lives: Because Fair Trade does work and gives results - it is a practical tool for decreasing poverty in developing countries, respecting the rights of workers, producers and communities in the South, sustaining the environment, and creating ethical consumers in the North. Find out how Fair Trade is making a difference globally, and join us in "Making Poverty History"...

FEATURING: An all-day Fair Trade & Info-Fair represented by dozens of independent artisans, non-profit organizations and ethical businesses who work towards increasing awareness about the Fair Trade movement and economic equality - see a full list of this year's vendors and our fantastic lunch menu below the film bios!

Plus Three Extraordinary Films:

12:30 pm: BLACK GOLD
2:30 pm: MAQUILAPOLIS (City of Factories)
4:00 pm: WORKINGMAN'S DEATH

Admission: Free admission to Fair; $5-$8 suggested donation for Films (sliding scale); free admission to low-income.

BLACK GOLD asks us "to wake up and smell the coffee," to face the unjust conditions under which our favorite drink is produced and to decide what we can do about it. The film traces the tangled trail from the two billion cups of coffee consumed each day back to the 70,000 Ethiopian coffee farmers who produce the beans. "Black Gold is a moving and eye-opening look into the 80-billion-dollar global coffee industry, where the spoils of overpriced lattes and cappuccinos are sparsely shared with the farmers who make it all possible." - Sundance Film Festival

MAQUILAPOLIS: Workers in Tijuana¹s multinational factories confront labour violations, environmental devastation and urban chaos. Carmen Duran lives with her kids in a house she made of abandoned garage doors. Her town, in the far northwestern corner of Mexico, is called Maquilapolis, or City of Factories. She works for a global corporation like millions of other women < in her case Sanyo < for $68 a week. In a world preying on women, it takes the women themselves to fight back. They use video cameras to document how globalization has transformed their city and to share their hopes for the future. "A portrait of the perils of globalization that admirably seeks new forms of expression... a stirring work that'll provoke genuine outrage." - The New York Times

WORKINGMAN'S DEATH: Today's manual laborers are no longer celebrated with hymns of praise. They must be content with encouraging one another that backbreaking work is better than no work at all... In the Ukraine, a group of men spend long days crawling through cramped shafts of illegal coal mines. Sulfur gatherers in Indonesia brave the smoky heat of an active volcano and the treacherous trip back down. Blood, fire and stench are routine for workers at a crowded open-air slaughterhouse in Nigeria. Pakistani men use little more than their bare hands to dismantle an abandoned oil tanker for scrap metal. Steelworkers in China fear they could be a dying breed... Five portraits of heavy manual labor, increasingly less visible in our technological 21st Century. "It's a blistering examination of the extremes to which honest workers will go to earn their daily bread... Frightening, stomach turning and deeply moving..." - Hollywood Reporter.

* This event is sponsored in part by the Alberta Workers' Health Centre, Steelworkers Local 1-207, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union Of Canada Local 777 (CEP), On Spec Magazine & VUE Weekly. ESPA thanks the City of Edmonton, the Edmonton Arts Council and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for operational support.

List of Vendors:
Acorn Studios (geekware from recycled electronic waste) http://www.acornstudios.ca/
Alberta Workers' Health Centre http://www.workershealthcentre.ca/
Casa Corazon http://www.casacorazon.ca/
Cooperativa de Madres Solteras de El Salvador
Earth's General Store http://www.earthsgeneralstore.ca/
Ecuadorian Aymara Nuca Llacta
Edmonton Friends of the North Environmental Society
Edmonton Small Press Association http://www.edmontonsmallpress.org/
Headcase Hats
Indo Home Decor (Indonesian woodcarvings)
Just Shirts Clothing Worker Co-op http://www.justshirts.ca/
Latin Balle Pee/The Child Is Innocent http://www.thechildisinnocent.ca/
Make Poverty History http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/
On Spec Magazine http://www.onspec.ca/
Oxfam Canada - Edmonton Chapter http://www.oxfam.ca/
Pisa (handcrafted coconut handbags and purses)
Quakers/Religious Society of Friends (FT sports balls) http://www.edmontonquakers.org/
Rainbow Bridge Communications/Made-in-Alberta http://www.madeinalberta.ca/
Raise My Voice (Photography) http://www.raisemyvoice.com/
Students Against Global Apathy www.ualberta.ca/~saga
Ten Thousand Villages http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/
thoughtcrime ink http://www.thoughtcrimeink.com/
TransFair Canada http://www.transfair.ca/
United Steelworkers Local 1-207 http://www.steel207.ca/
Walk for Darfur http://www.walkfordarfur.ca/
White Brahma Creations (precious stone and crystal jewellery)

Lunch Menu (1-5pm):
Eritrean Vegetarian Plate:
Ater Kik Wot - spiced lentils & split peas
Gomen Wot - spiced spinach
Atekilt Aletcha Wot - spiced cabbage, carrots & potatoes
Samosas
Hummous & Pita
Greek Salad
Fresh Fruit
Fair Trade Certified coffee, tea, hot chocolate
* Please bring your own mug

For more info see:
http://www.transfair.ca/
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/

MAY ESPA BOARD/GENERAL MEETING:
Wednesday, MAY 16 at 6:30pm
Location: Room #9, 6th Floor, Stanley A. Milner Library
Please email us or call 434-9236 a week in advance if you'd like to attend.

Check out our 2005 North of Nowhere Expo site HERE

March 17 National Day of Action to End the War
Saturday, March 17
Times & Locations: Gather 12:30 pm @ Corbett Hall, U of A (Whyte Ave. & 112 St. - outdoors so dress warm!)
Admission: FREE

* Bring signage, noisemakers, banners, percussive instruments!

The March will proceed down Whyte Ave. and arrive at the TransAlta Arts Barns (83 Ave. & 104 St.) at approx. 1-1:30pm, followed by an indoor rally, speakers and an info fair with tables representing Oxfam, Amnesty Int'l, Council of Canadians, Edmonton Haiti Solidarity, Edmonton Small Press Association, the War Resisters Support Campaign and more.

* Please bring your own coffee mug for Fair Trade tea, hot chocolate and coffee (fresh-roasted locally by Earth's General Store!)

Organized by the ESPA and the Edmonton Coalition Against War & Racism (ECAWAR) http://www.ecawar.org/.
Also see: Canadian Peace Alliance (National Coordinators): http://www.acp-cpa.ca/

AFTERNOON FILMS:
Let Them Stay: U.S. War Resisters in Canada
~ and ~
A Letter to the Prime Minister (Jo Wilding's Diary from Iraq)
Saturday, March 17 @ approx. 4pm (* note time change!)
Location: TransAlta Arts Barns Lobby (83 Ave. & 104 St.)
Admission: By Donation (pay-what-you-can/free to low-income)
Presented by ESPA with support from ECAWAR, The Fringe and Division 1
More Info: See short Film Synopses below e-poster…

March 17 Handbill

Short Film Synopses:

Let Them Stay: Voices of US War Resisters in Canada
Directed by Alex Lisman, Narrated by Shirley Douglas, Canada (28 min)
"Let Them Stay" features exclusive one-on-one interviews with U.S. war resisters in Canada, documenting their life-changing experiences in Iraq and the hidden realities of U.S. military recruitment and warfare. It also documents the War Resisters Support Campaign, a pan-Canadian coalition of labour, faith and peace groups, Vietnam war resisters, and individuals who are working with these war resisters to put pressure on the current federal government to let them stay. Produced with financial support from Labour Temple and Peacefund Canada. The War Resisters Support Campaign is a broad-based coalition of community, faith, labour and other organizations and individuals that have come together to support U.S. soldiers seeking asylum in Canada because they refuse to fight in the illegal war in Iraq.

~ followed by ~

A Letter to the Prime Minister (Jo Wilding's Diary from Iraq)
Directed by Julia Guest, UK (71 min)
Offering a singular take on the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, this film follows Jo Wilding on her remarkable journey in solidarity with the people of Iraq, before and during the 2003 Invasion. Narrated as a letter to Tony Blair & using original diary extracts, the film traces the non-violent resistance to foreign policy in the region. Jo serves as witness to the destruction of the lives of ordinary people and their subsequent neglect by Occupation forces, but she also acts, forming the Boomchucka Circus to work with school children and refugees, even travelling to Falluja in April 2004 to stand alongside the civilians trapped and targeted by US forces when even Al Jazeera had pulled out.

Also on March 17:
WAR RESISTERS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN CD RELEASE: HIP-HOP EVENT

Time & Location: 8:00 pm @ TransAlta Arts Barns (83 Ave. & 104 St.)
* This is a licensed event - I.D. required!

Admission: $5 suggested donation (free to low-income)

FEATURING: Evening film screening of "Let Them Stay" (synopsis above)
Mohammad Ali Aumeer aka M.C. Third Word (Toronto)
iD (Edmonton)
Khiry Tafari (Edmonton)
and Spoken Word Poets TBA

This is a CD launch party for Mohammad Ali Aumeer's debut album, "Such A Long Journey", a benefit for the War Resisters Support Campaign. The WRSC is a campaign that has been active since 2004, and calls on the Canadian government to demonstrate its commitment to international law and the treaties to which it is a signatory, by making provision for US war objectors to have sanctuary in this country.

For more info see:
War Resisters Support Campaign
Hear Mohammad Ali Aumeer
Hear iD
Hear Khiry Tafari

* This event is sponsored by the Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG)

We'll also be participating in the International Human Peace Sign project! The internationally recognized symbol of peace which became hugely popular in the 1960s is having an ongoing resurgence. Throughout the world, as part of the ongoing efforts of The Humanist Movement promoting non-violence, the 'Human Peace Sign' has emerged. Beginning in Budapest, Hungary, the symbolic act is being held in cities across the planet. On March 17, 2007 marking the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq, cities will unite, each forming their own human peace signs. Here in Edmonton, marchers meeting at Corbett Hall will form a giant peace sign to mark our participation. For more info see humanpeacesign.org and www.web.net/~humanist/peacesign - thanks to Earth's General Store for coordinating!

Edmonton's March 17 events are organized by the Edmonton Coalition Against War & Racism (ECAWAR), the Edmonton Small Press Association (ESPA) and the Edmonton War Resisters Support Committee. Combined we thank the following for their support: the Fringe for hosting us, MKT Systems and an anonymous donor for tech support, Black Cat Press for print media support, Earth's General Store for fair trade beverages, and the Alberta Federation of Labour and the City of Edmonton for logistical support.

See you on March 17!

FILM SCREENING: Bougainville Sky
Monday, Feb. 5 @ 7pm
Location: Stanley A. Milner Library Theatre (lower level),
7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Admission: By Donation ($8 suggested or pay-what-you-can; free to low-income)

Short Synopsis: Bougainville Sky
(Directed by Nick Agafonoff, 75 min. Australia, 2006)
When war on the remote Papua New Guinea Island of Bougainville ended, the combatants invited the international community to send in a peace-keeping force on one condition: they come unarmed. The invitation was accepted, and young Australian songwriter Iain Campbell Smith found himself amongst those working for the world's first ever unarmed international peace-keeping operation.
Film screening followed by a Q & A session and live performance
by featured songwriter/peacekeeper Iain Campbell Smith.
Presented by the ESPA in cooperation with the Edmonton Coalition Against War & Racism (ECAWAR) http://www.ecawar.org/. More info: http://www.iaincampbellsmith.com/

UPCOMING TABLING: U of A International Week NGO Fair
Feb. 1 & 2 from 10am to 4pm
Location: Tory Atrium (Tory Building), University of Alberta
Come by and check out ESPA's booth at Iweek!

The ESPA, Earth's General Store & TransFair Canada present:
National Fair Trade Weeks' 2006
Fair Trade Film Fest
Sat., May 6, 2006 · Noon - 6:00pm
Edmonton Room (Lower Level)
Stanley Milner Library, Downtown Edmonton
(7 Sir Winston Churchill Square)
~ feature-length films include ~
"Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price", "Stolen Childhoods", and "Buyer Be Fair".
We'll also be presenting other film shorts, a labour history poster exhibit (up all month in the theatre foyer), and an info-fair and ethical marketplace featuring booths by the ESPA, Students Against Global Apathy (SAGA), Oxfam (Edmonton Chapter), and more. Call us if you'd like to table (space is limited).
Admission by Donation (Free to Low-Income)
(Full Films & Bios Below E-Poster)

Full Films & Bios:

12:00 pm (Noon)
Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price
Producer/Director: Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films
(USA, 2005, 98 min.)
Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price is a feature length documentary that uncovers a retail giant's assault on families and American values. The film dives into the deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities struggling to fight a goliath. A working mother is forced to turn to public assistance to provide healthcare for her two small children. A Missouri family loses its business after Wal-Mart is given over $2 million to open its doors down the road. A mayor struggles to equip his first responders after Wal-Mart pulls out and relocates just outside the city limits. A community in California unites, takes on the giant, and wins! http://www.walmartmovie.com

1:45 pm
Fair Trade Labelling Organizations International
Max Havelaar Foundation
(Swiss, 2002, 14 min. - English language & subtitles)
A great introduction to fair trade and the Max Havelaar Foundation, named after the 1860 novel character who inspired the concept of global fair trade labeling and certification initiatives. Profiles consumers in Belgium and banana producers in the Dominican Republic, Recipient of the King Baudouin International Development Prize 2002.

2:00 pm
Stolen Childhoods
Directed by Len Morris (USA, 2003, 85 min.)
Stolen Childhoods is the first feature documentary on global child labor ever produced. The film features stories of child laborers around the world, told in their own words. Children are shown working in dumps, quarries, brick kilns. One boy has been pressed into forced labor on a fishing platform in the Sea of Sumatra, a fifteen-year-old runaway describes being forced into prostitution on the streets of Mexico City, while a nine-year-old girl picks coffee in Kenya to help her family survive.

The film places these children's stories in the broader context of the worldwide struggle against child labor. Stolen Childhoods provides an understanding of the causes of child labor, what it costs the global community, how it contributes to global insecurity and what it will take to eliminate it.

Shot in eight countries (Brazil, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal and the United States), the film includes slave and bonded labor footage never seen before. It has framing interviews with U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (the leading legislative advocate for global action to eliminate child labor) and human rights advocates for children: Bruce Harris, Pharis Harvey, Inderjit Khurana, Wangari Maathai and Kailash Satyarthi.

The film shows best practice programs that remove children from work and put them in school, so that they have a chance to develop as children and also have a chance of making a reasonable living when they grow up. Stolen Childhoods challenges the viewer to help break the cycle of poverty for the 246 million children laboring at the bottom of the global economy. http://www.StolenChildhoods.org

3:30 pm
After Cancun: Free Trade or Fair Trade
Directed by Jeremy Wright (Canada, 2004, 30 min.)
After Cancun features Maude Barlow, Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, giving a full 'behind the scenes' account of why the Trade Talks collapsed at Cancun, and contrasted in the video with the views of Pierre Pettigrew, the then Minister for Trade. The fundamental differences between "Free" Trade" and "Fair Trade" are discussed with examples drawn from the Cancun Fair Trade Fair, and features Chantal Havard, Transfair Canada; Jeff de Jong, Cocoa Camino; and Nicole McGrath, Peridar.

4:00 pm
Buyer Be Fair: The Promise of Product Certification
Directed by John de Graaf (USA, 2005, 60 min.)
The Seattle World Trade Organization meetings and other trade gatherings have st irred powerful sentiment against globalization, but world trade is a juggernaut that will not be stopped. Is there a way to make free trade FAIR? How can retailers and consumers use their purchasing power and market choice to make the world better for people and the environment? What is the promise of product certification and labeling? And how do consumers decide whether the labels can be believed? Taking viewers to Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States and Canada, this exquisitely photographed film explores how consumers and businesses can use the market to promote social justice and environmental sustainability through product labeling, with a focus on Fair Trade coffee and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood. Narrated by Scott Simon, National Public Radio.

"Buyer Be Fair will have a huge impact. It's moving, it's gorgeous, it's engaging, and the viewer feels empowered, not preached to." Frances Moore Lappé, author of "Diet for a Small Planet" and "Democracy's Edge".

http://www.buyerbefair.org http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/bbf.html

~ Films completed at 5:00 pm ~
~ InfoFair & Marketplace remains open until 6:00 pm ~
Info: 434-9236

For more info about NFTW & EGS see: www.TransFair.ca and www.EarthsGeneralStore.ca

Fri/Sat, Nov. 4-5
GLOBAL VISIONS FESTIVAL - Marketplace Tabling
(Friday 6 pm - Midnight & Saturday Noon - 9 pm)
@ Telus Centre (111 St. & 87 Ave.)
Find our tables to do some early, interesting & ethical xmas shopping
(& support independent artists while you're at it)!

Wed, Nov. 30
ESPA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) & 2005/2006 BOARD ELECTIONS
OPEN TO PUBLIC - ALL INVITED TO ATTEND
7:30 pm @ Stanley A. Milner Library, 6th Floor, Room #7
Join us to cap off the past year and discuss projected activities and exhibitions for the new year.
Snacks & refreshments will be provided; kids welcome.
* RSVP by Nov. 21 if you plan on attending, or would like to run for
a position on the Board of Directors (call us for more info - see contact info below)

Fri., Dec. 2 starting @ 7 pm
The ESPA presents 2 great documentaries to commemorate
the National Day of Action Against Climate Change:
BHOPAL: "THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE" & "SCARED SACRED"
both produced by the National Film Board of Canada
Both @ Stanley A. Milner Library, Centennial Room (Theatre Foyer)
Admission by donation (free to low-income)
Stick around to check out related information booths

SYNOPSES:
7:00 pm: BHOPAL: THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE
Running time: 53 minutes
This weekend marks the 21st Anniversary of the Union Carbide leak in Bhopal, India
- the greatest industrial disaster in human history. Find out why corporations need to be
held responsible for their environmental actions.

8:15 pm: SCARED SACRED
Running time: 104 minutes
In a world teetering on the edge of self-destruction, award-winning filmmaker Velcrow
Ripper sets out on a unique pilgrimage. Visiting the "Ground Zeros" of the planet,
he asks if it's possible to find hope in the darkest moments of human history.

Ripper travels to the minefields of Cambodia; war-torn Afghanistan; the toxic wasteland of Bhopal;
post-9/11 New York; Bosnia; Hiroshima; Israel and Palestine. This unflinching documentary captures his
five-year odyssey to discover if humanity can transform the "scared" into the "sacred."
Confronting horror and heartbreak around the world, Ripper meets those who
have suffered first-hand. And in each place, he unearths unforgettable stories of survival,
ritual, resilience and recovery.

Deep in the jungles of Cambodia, Ripper meets Aki Ra, a child soldier forced to lay
landmines for the Khmer Rouge. Today Aki wanders his ravaged country with a simple
wooden stick, decommissioning thousands of mines each year. In the shattered land of
Afghanistan, Ripper searches for a Sufi musician who was banned from performing or
even listening to music, by the reign of fundamentalism.
The musician discovered a way out: he filled his house with songbirds.

ScaredSacred brings together these powerful stories and more, deftly weaving together
haunting and luminous footage with words, memories, and an evocative soundscape.
Featuring an engaging, first-person narrative, this film is an exquisite portrait of a search
for meaning in times of turmoil.

For more info about the National Day of Action Against Climate Change see:
Climate Action Network
http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/

"Small Act, Big Impact!"
Fair Trade Fair
(May 2005)
in Cooperation with
TransFair Canada

TransAwareness Week (May 2005) in Cooperation with Egale Canada

From Left: Day of Action to End the War (March 19, 2005); Sugary Evil Indymedia Extravaganza (Nov. 17, 2004); Bush Go Home Rally & Street Theatre (Nov. 30, 2004) art by Alex Dukal; Bush Watch! (Nov. 2, 2004) art by Chuck Beers, One World Beat Global Music Fest & DOA (March 20, 2004), "Small Change, Big Difference!" Fair Trade Fair (May 12, 2004); Going Postal Mail Art Expo (2003) art by Greg Oakes.

Next year we endeavour to expand our website to include more info on other past exhibitions such as our Going Postal Mail Art Expo (2003), Subtitles: Art of the Underground (2001), and other historical documentation of events/activities of the society.