Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Proctor & Gamble decline to welcome debate

Filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney were delighted to hear that Proctor & Gamble were considering showing Mine Your Own Business to its employees.

However it seems that their optimism was short-lived. The greatest victory of the environmentalist movement has been to cast its actions and opinions as a moral, non-political stance. Given this who could dare question morality.

Of course this also means there should be no debate about the issues because no one is allowed debate against a moral stance.

However filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney reject this analysis.

"The suggestion that the environment is degrading is a political point of view not based on science and certainly has no moral basis. The suggestion that we need to cut back or reduce or consumption is a similarly flawed political ideology. Right now the rivers and air of the developed world are cleaner than ever and in the developing world development is cleaning up centuries of degradation caused by poverty. Poverty not development destroys the environment," the filmmakers stated.

"This is a debate worth having and we are disappointed that such an influential company as Proctor & Gamble will not acknowledge the need for discussion before we embrace anti-development politics dressed up as apolitical environmentalism," the filmmakers added.

WASHINGTON, May 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Action Fund Management, LLC
(AFM), the investment advisor to the Free Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker:
FEAOX), announced today that negotiations over the FEAOX's shareholder
proposal filed with Procter & Gamble (Ticker: PG) have broken down over PG's
refusal to acknowledge that company employees should be exposed to both sides
of the debate over sustainable development.


"We wanted Procter & Gamble to show its managers and employees the new
documentary "Mine Your Own Business: The Dark Side of Environmentalism"
(http://www.mineyourownbusiness.org) and to publicly acknowledge the need to
hear from both sides of the sustainable development debate," said Steve Milloy
of AFM. "While Procter & Gamble said it was willing to distribute 100 copies
of the film to its employees, the company refused to publicly acknowledge the
value of debate," added Milloy.


"Without the requested public acknowledgment, we doubt that Procter &
Gamble is really sincere about showing its employees 'Mine Your Own Business,'
or educating its employees about what many view as the dark side of
environmentalism," said AFM's Tom Borelli. "Procter & Gamble's stakeholder
engagement on sustainability apparently is limited only to the voice of
environmental activists. 'Mine Your Own Business' spotlights the human cost of
blind adherence to sustainability -- a message company management needs to
hear," added Borelli.


Negotiations between AFM and PG began after AFM filed a shareholder
proposal with PG requesting a report to shareholders on the actions the
company is taking to promote the general business environment.


"Procter & Gamble touts its sustainable development activities on its web
site, but says little if anything about what it's doing to promote business,
capitalism and free enterprise," said Milloy. "The company offered to meet
with us about our concerns, but our position was that employee-viewing of
"Mine Your Own Business" would be a more productive use of everyone's time.


"We're obviously disappointed, but not surprised," said Borelli.
"Companies like Procter & Gamble have been so intimidated by anti-business
environmental and social activists that they're afraid to be seen as
considering alternative points of view," Borelli said.


"I suppose we'll have to look forward to discussing this issue with
Procter & Gamble CEO Alan G. Lafley at the annual shareholder meeting this
fall," Milloy concluded.


The FEAOX aims to increase shareholder value by advancing free-market
principles in the companies it owns. FEAOX is available exclusively through
BISYS Fund Services Limited Partnership (applications may be obtained at
http://www.FEAOX.com/how.html), and through E*Trade
Financial, Scottrade and
HSBC.




SOURCE Free Enterprise Action Fund

Sunday, May 27, 2007

First Canadian Public Screening of Mine Your Own Business

Filmmakers Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer are delighted to announce that the first public screening of Mine Your Own Business in Canada will take place on May 29.

Date: May 29, 2007, 7 PM

Place: Ottawa Public Library, (Metcalfe at Laurier)

Admission: $6.00

Press passes available upon request

On May 29, 2007, Ottawa will have opportunity to see the powerful new film, "Mine Your Own Business", a film about the dark side of environmentalism.

The film screening, at the Ottawa Public Library, is sponsored by the Free-Thinking Film Society, (formerly the Conservative Film Society), a new organization that plans to regularly bring in films of a Libertarian/Conservative bent.

"Mine Your Own Business" exposes the dark side of environmentalism. The documentary hacks away at the cozy image of environmentalists' as well meaning, harmless activists. *Mine Your Own Business* is the first documentary which asks the hard questions of foreigners who lead campaigns to "save" remote areas from development. Their answers are often disturbing, with racist overtones, but we, in the west, blindly support such campaigns that want to keep people in poverty. Now for the first time "Mine Your Own Business" asks local people about their lives and what they want for the future.

Their answers are very often different from what the foreign environmentalists say and what is reported in the mainstream international media.

"Mine Your Own Business" is a journey through the dark side of environmentalism. It demolishes the cozy consensus that environmentalists are well meaning agenda free activists and shows them to be anti-development ideologues who think the poor are happy being poor and don't want the development that we, in the west, take for granted.

"Mine Your Own Business" goes beyond the voice of the foreign environmentalists that we so often hear in the media and meets those who will be most affected by these projects and the well-run campaigns against them.

"Mine Your Own Business" follows George, a 23-year-old unemployed miner from northern Romania whose life has been put on hold after an anti-mining campaign orchestrated by foreign environmentalists. George explains his hopes and dreams for the future - which are different from those prescribed for him by foreign environmentalists. He then travels to other impoverished communities in Madagascar and Chile who are also desperately waiting for large mining projects. George finds people similar to himself with similar hopes and dreams of a decent job and house and a decent education and better life for their children.

For more information, please visit www.mineyourownbusiness.org, or email us at fred.litwin@gmail.com

Contact: Fred Litwin / 613-261-9060 / fred.litwin@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Meagre protest at the Bucharest Film Festival Screening of 'Mine Your own Business'




Alburnus Maior protested the Romanian premiere of Mine Your Own Business in Bucharest. However as usual with their protests it is obvious they do not have the popular support they constantly claim to have. Only three protesters stood together with their banner. When we questioned them they repeatedly attacked George Lucian for wearing a new suit. George was not wearing a new suit he had borrowed a jacket from a friend in Rosia Montana. George is an unemployed miner who lost his job when environmentalists took legal action to stop the drilling at the proposed mine at Rosia Montana
They objected to producer/director Ann McElhinney wearing a gold necklace.

They said the people of Rosia Montana could get by through agriculture and tourism, when George and his sister Ella said this was not true the protesters asked who bought George's new suit.

The hundreds of people who came to see the film engaged in an excellent Q&A with filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney after the screening which ran over time and eventually had to move to the bar because the cinema was needed for another film in the festival.