[Peakoil] Syriana leafletting

[Alex P]

Hi folks,

http://www.postcarbon.org/syriana

suggests handing out leaflets at the cinema, and that's what Leigh and I 
did. It cannot have escaped the notice of Greater Union that Syriana is an 
inherently political film about very important matters. The film poster 
suggests people visit a website to engage on the issue. In addition to 
going to a website in the US, people might also be interested in a Peak Oil 
group in the ACT.

There is no comparison between blowing up buildings and handing out bits of 
paper at the end of a film which would be attended by people with an 
interest in current events. There is also no way in which merely querying 
why we could not hand out bits of paper constitutes being abusive. In 
politics people often react like political engagement is abuse, 
particularly if they are responsible in some official capacity and feel 
they have to keep politics from intruding. However ordinary cinema goers 
were quite happy to take the leaflet. One man joked with me about wheat 
sales and another wanted the leaflet in the car park, both having witnessed 
the "abuse".

In retrospect it would have been better to hand out on the pavement at the 
cinema exits but it was easier to do it as people left the theatre itself.

Previously Leigh and I have handed out leaflets at other events. We handed 
out at the Jared Diamond talk with much success. I was briefly asked what 
we were doing by someone who I believe was from the ANU. You can see there 
is some level of paranoia here in our supposedly free society. In my 
experience, organisations, no matter how supposedly tolerant of 
intellectual debate, are always paranoid about these things. In a grass 
roots campaign we need to leverage off the events which bring receptive 
people together. I don't know if asking permission beforehand would get us 
anywhere.

Alex
O4O4873828

ACT Peak Oil discussion list
http://act-peakoil.org