Tonight, on the idiot box

I don't normally suggest that you spend valuable time out of the grave in front of that life-draining box in your recroom, but this CBC documentary seems like it may be the exception to the rule. I just wish it came out sooner so we could have driven people to watch it prior to our own little WalMart battle here in Windsor. From the CBC Newsworld website...

WAL-MART NATION
Tuesday November 13 at 10pm ET/PT and Saturday November 17 at 11pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld.

Wal-Mart Nation is an hour long, documentary journey through the complex and fascinating world of the international anti-Wal-Mart movement.

Wal-Mart's emergence as a global corporate force has triggered an unprecedented political backlash. Wal-Mart has single-handedly galvanized a progressive, grass roots and labour coalition of activists determined to roll back the tide of corporate power and domination. This is a generation baptized by the anti-globalization protests. This is the Wal-Mart Nation. These are their stories.

Carolyn is an unlikely anti-Wal-Mart activist. The former Miss America (1992) is a beauty queen turned feminist activist. She's also a Reagan Republican and anti-abortion crusader. Sapp founded Wal-Mart Versus Women as a vehicle to pu blicize the largest civil rights class action suit in US history.

Anna Liu is a 23 year old, Chinese Canadian union activist determined to unionize Canadian Wal-Mart workers. Despite her militancy, Anna tells us that before attending university she scarcely knew what a union was. We follow Anna and her cadres as they "gate crash" Wal-Mart stores in a desperate attempt to sign up members.

Forbes magazine calls Al Norman, Wal-Mart's number one enemy. Norman, also known as the "Sprawlbuster" is the dean of anti-Wal-Mart activists. Ten years ago the well-connected Democratic Party activist successfully prevented Wal-Mart from building a store in his Massachusetts hometown. His surprising victory spawned the anti-Wal-Mart movement.

Environmentalist Ben Bennett is the leader of a ten-year long battle to keep Wal-Mart out of Guelph, Ontario. But Bennett is now facing his final battle in this decade long war.

Chris Kofinis is a political science professor from Kingston, Ontario. But Kofinis has found himself on the front lines of the anti-Wal-Mart battle, along with presidential hopefuls John Edwards and Barack Obama. As Communications Director for the Washington D.C. based Wake-Up Wal-Mart, Kofinis is spending millions of dollars for on a sophisticated media campaign against America's biggest employer.

These stories are set against the colourful backdrop of the Wal-Mart annual general meeting. Here, Wal-Mart executives, employees, and shareholders gather for a weeklong celebration of the world's most successful company.

Through interviews, animation and actuality sequences, the filmmakers explore the Wal-Mart Effect and how the company has transformed the economy of the United States and the world.

Wal-Mart Nation is a first person journey through a year in life of the anti-Wal-Mart movement. The filmmakers blend actuality footage, interviews, archival film and photos, text and graphics in a provocative, engaging and often-humourous point of view documentary.

Wal-Mart Nation was produced by Ultramagnetic Productions and directed by Andrew Munger in association with CBC Newsworld.

Thinking Outside the Box Store

Hey - isn't there a Canadian Tire planned for the CocoBox development in Ojibway? Remember, just because they've got a reference to "Canada" in their name, doesn't make them the benign store that many think they are.

Many thanks to The Tyee for publishing this article and to Gord for sending it to me. (By the way, the author of this article is Ned Jacobs, son of the late and great urbanist Jane Jacobs. Man, I miss that woman!)

Thinking Outside the Box Store
By Ned Jacobs
TheTyee.ca

The stated object of Mayor Sullivan's EcoDensity initiative is to reduce Vancouver's "eco-footprint" by cutting energy use and waste, while improving livability and housing affordability.

These goals are laudable, but will EcoDensity actually live up to its billing?

The apparent willingness of the mayor and some councillors to significantly expand big box development in South Vancouver is clearly at odds with EcoDensity.

The environmental and social benefits of density are due to economies of location, mainly achieved through growth of neighbourhood centres with diverse functions.

In sharp contrast, big box retail exploits economies of scale, relying on a widely dispersed customer base, public subsidies for car owners, and plenty of cheap parking.

"Green" building design of a box store does not alter its fundamental dependency on cars and fossil fuels.

And while multi-chain big box plantations can be cost-effective and convenient for car-owning consumers, it's always at the expense of commercial diversity and stability in central and neighbourhood business districts. Retailers in our pedestrian-oriented centres pay premium rents for their location, often with limited or pricey parking. Big box retailers compete unfairly by converting lower-cost industrial land to retail use, while asking us all to suffer the consequences of car dependency.

The question before Vancouver City Council is an application by Canadian Tire for a 255,000 square-foot "big box" retail development that is expected to generate up to 11,000 car trips per day on heavily congested Marine Drive."

255,000 square feet is dwarfed when compared to the 420,000 of CocoBox that Windsor's city council just approved a zoning change for. I hope SouthVan does a better job at protecting it's local economy than Windsor.

Read the rest of this article at The Tyee's website here.