WANTED: Your Circle of Friends
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On Aug. 21, the campaign to stop Walmart’s injunction against www.walmartworkerscanada.ca provided internet users with a new, fun-filled way to protect their rights. By visiting www.walmartworkerscanada.ca/freespeech and following the WANTED: Your Circle of Friends link, campaign supporters can help spread the word by pulling a good-hearted prank on their friends.
Based on a tactic used by the groundbreaking presidential campaign of Barack Obama, unsuspecting friends receive an email titled Were you on the news?! and get linked to a satirical news video in which they are named as members of the SAVE the CIRCLE underground movement, desperately wanted by police for a laundry list of zany charges, including “secretly craving doughnuts” and “uttering the word ‘Oh’ in a public place.”
The recipient’s name, as entered by the sender, actually appears as part of the video.
The Were you on the news?! message is another tongue-in-cheek poke at Walmart’s attempt through the courts to stop UFCW Canada from using certain “oval,” “circular,” and “semi-circular designs,”as stated in the corporation’s injunction application recently filed with the Québec Superior Court.
The campaign to stop Walmart from using the courts to undermine UFCW Canada’s ability to effectively communicate with Walmart workers continues to gather momentum and support as it moves into its fifth week of mobilization.
Since the www.walmartworkerscanada.ca/freespeech campaign was launched on July 28, it has drawn an unprecedented amount of attention from an international group of organizations and individuals who represent a number of concerns, including digital rights and other civil liberties issues.
Quebec’s top court is expected to hear Walmart’s argument against www.walmartworkerscanada.ca sometime in September.
In the meantime, the campaign for free speech will proceed at full-throttle and all UFCW Canada activists are asked to regularly check www.walmartworkerscanada.ca for new ways to fully engage in their union’s efforts.