(If you have already received this as an email from me please let me know and I will remove your name from my other list. Thank You paul@manlymedia.com)

Dear Friends

I would like to thank you for your support and solidarity for the production, distribution and screening of my film ‘You, Me and the SPP: Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule’.  This was a whole new process of collaboration for me working with engaged activists and a supportive and interested audience. Whether you donated to the production, held a fundraiser, pre-ordered a DVD or purchased one when they were complete, hosted a screening or billeted me in one of the 37 communities on my cross Canada tour, forwarded my emails and youtube videos or just contacted me to send a word of encouragement and spur me on, your individual support was instrumental in helping me through this process. Thank You!

The SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership) is officially dead in name (thank goodness, I’m sick of talking about it!) but unfortunately the parts of this agenda that have not already been implemented as part of the SPP are being pushed through in other forms. We face a number of challenges to our public infrastructure, community commons, civil liberties and democratic authority and I would like to thank the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (among a number of organizations) for keeping me informed. The Canadian European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) currently under negotiation is a huge threat to public services in Canada and could open up all municipal and provincial procurement to private European service companies. For more information and actions visit http://canadians.org/trade/issues/EU/index.html

As much as I would like to pull the covers over my head and wish it all would go away, that is not an option and so I will continue working in my own little way towards the kind of world I want to live in and continue to resist the neo-liberal, neo-conservative vision of the future.

During my cross-Canada tour I met many inspiring individuals and learned about a number of local initiatives and actions to combat corporate globalization that I believe are worth documenting and sharing. I have been following some local initiatives in my own community for several years which I also think are worth sharing and worth duplicating across Canada and around the world. With that in mind I am embarking on another project which highlights a number of ways that people in local communities can combat corporate globalization while living happy, healthy and productive lives.

I will send you more information about my new projects in the future but for the moment I would like to acknowledge your past support and solidarity. Thank You! May the New Year and New Decade be a healthy, happy and productive time for you. I wish you all the best.

in solidarity
Paul Manly
paul@manlymedia.com
www.youmespp.com
250 729-1254

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