Rally, April 26th, 3 pm + Vive Le Canada + Handling Business

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STOP THE SPP EVENTS: April 26th - July 1st, 2008

On March 23, 2005 without asking for our permission or telling us what we'd gain or lose, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) sequel to NAFTA was signed to merge Canada, America and Mexico in "300 to 400 areas" and create a North American Union (NAU) by 2010 like the European Union (EU) they hate but don't get to vote on. Check the SPP.Gov Official Website vs. CanadianActionParty.ca for It vs. How To Stop It! :-)

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Hey SPPeerage,

We've been invited to an All-Cause Rally at Nathan Philips Square from 3 - 5 pm with at least one speaker spot and chance to perform music, it's right after our 1 pm meeting at Laila's at Bathurst and Bloor and we can talk to fellow activists about the SPP and other issues:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10406128595

We've also been invited by Susan at the ViveLeCanada.ca online newspaper with over one-million hits a month to promote our efforts through her site. She's looking for event dates, first-hand accounts and other stuff. Check their site or get back to me for details.

Finally, the reason to approach businesses is that people often don't know their neighbours, but people know where they shop on a regular basis. If the economy starts collapsing then business-owners who are awake should post signs in the windows saying "Stop The SPP!" or have flyers and DVD's for people to take in case customers are curious about why things are getting screwy. People at stores are often in cliques where they know each other well, a good group to be open to discussing the SPP and other issues.

In groups of two (at most) or by yourself, just walk in politely, wait until someone who works there is free, especially near a counter or the back where they can put away what you give them quickly and do their job and keep anyone from getting in any trouble. Just smile and say: "Hi, we're here on behalf of TorontoChange reaching out to local businesses, here's some info just for you and your staff, if you have any questions please let us know." They'll usually smile and say "Thanks!" in a quick, polite and Canadian fashion, take it and read it or put it away. If they say "No thanks!" that's it and you're out of there.

Do not talk to any customers, you wouldn't when you gave them the info too. Walk out immediately unless they ask a question. Be friendly, but quiet, brief and diplomatic in your responses in a place of business. You will easily get more than 90% of people responding to you in a positive way regardless of who you are. If you get a negative response be thankful it's a rarity and move on.

If you stay - and - only if asked: you will have some interesting conversations with a few people, but your instincts should be to remain reserved unless someone really wants to get into it. Listen to people since they are offering feedback you can use to tailor your approach to what many believe or like. Judge the situation and be on your best behaviour by empathizing with them for what they may not know and what you can learn.

Remember: the faster you leave the more stores you can reach to drop-off information during the time you chose. For most people you meet, based on the stereotypes of how you should act as an "activist" talking crazy stuff, you get a lot of credit for NOT saying much and just letting what you gave them speak for itself. They can see how they want to deal with potentially reality-shattering information on their own time as they probably should.

A few consistent messages should be enough to wake up anybody the same as any other marketing campaign, so this is a good way to potentially get influential locals involved. I've done it a few times and it works as people get used to seeing you and the info and don't mind. Sometimes they're curious and will ask about it, other times you're just normally friendly.

What we all need to do is link up on on a website and sign-up to do this on certain days and times for that "Earth Hour" effect, or the idea that we're all doing something at once in solidarity for something good. (I reserve comment on my issues with "Earth Hour" itself here.)

By contacting a group of people at once we have a counter-propagandistic effect encouraging them to discuss it and giving them an excuse to. It can be directed towards any demographic group in Canada to wake them up on the same day at the same time. Perhaps a reach-out to every trucker in Canada about the NAFTA super-highways and more at once can get the CB radios going from coast-to-coast, for example. Regardless of the profession or other social grouping there's always a grapevine where this will be carried if there's enough initial interest generated by the marketing campaign.

We can try every Saturday from 4 - 6 pm EST from now until July 1st to Stop The SPP, we'll just have to have a specific people promise to do specific things at that time to wake their fellow Canadians to the SPP, like give out 100 DVD's or 500 flyers or whatever, giving us an idea of what was accomplished nationally. Don't worry about liars, stuff happens and we'll get other stuff done.

This can also be done on other days as well. From it will come connections and different ideas that can be shared across the provinces for new means and ends, from negotiating bulk deals to holding conferences and tours to more, at least potentially. The existing infrastructure and people are here so it's possible as long as we make it fun and simple to do.

Anyway, sorry for the length, please share any thoughts... :-)

Cheers,
BK

P.S. Feel free to print copies of these Stop The SPP flyers...

The Three Amigos Amero -
http://e3s.ca/torontochange/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2

NWO Way - Outside - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZC3LT71F
NWO Way - Inside - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K9TO388O

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