Old-fashioned animation expresses Winnipeggers' concern over mass-privatisation

The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500 -- Winnipeg -- has created a video to express the city's widespread horror at the mass privatisation campaign looming over its political landscape. Winnipeg has long been a bastion of progressive labour politics, and is riven by the new prairie politics emanating from the Tar Sands and its randroid Tories: "Using innovative stop graphic animation, Winnipeg animators Christian and Sean Procter tell the story of Winnipeg's proud history and the negative impact privatizing public services has on our city."

Our Winnipeg (Thanks, David!)

• [Jeff Couturier]

  From the YouTube description: “”Using innovative stop graphic animation, Winnipeg animators Christian and Sean Procter…”

  Um, “stop graphic” animation? Was that supposed to be “stop motion”? Even if it was, the video isn’t stop motion animation either. This is obviously an elaborate hoax since an actual Canadian would know the difference. Canadians know animation like Icelandic people know snow.

  • [rrh]

    Well, googling “stop graphic animation” just results in references to this very video, so apparently it’s so innovative they had to invent a new name for it.

    I have more objection to Cory’s title calling it “old-fashioned.”  By Winnipeg animation standards, you can’t call it old-fashioned unless you’ve shot it on black-and-white film by candlelight and then processed the film yourself in a bathtub full of sandpaper.

• [Buck]

  Wow, I’m from Winnipeg, a former CUPE Local 500 employee, and is that ever an embarrassing video! “A city with a proud history. It started with our First Nations”?!

  “Beautiful parks and green spaces that everyone could enjoy.” Yeah, Chinese Exclusion Act much?

  I’m all about fighting the neoliberal agenda but I think we need to broaden our analyses when making the cases against it.

  • [Shinkuhadoken]

    Were they really supposed to say in the video, “Beautiful parks and green spaces that everyone could enjoy. Everyone, but the Chinese. Oh and there were those Japanese internment camps too. And we were pretty awful to Metis and First Nations from time to time. I guess not those people.” Of course, we shouldn’t forget our awful past, but I would rather focus on a future of harmony and what we could be at our best. The political movement that eventually formed the NPD got started in Winnipeg, and I’m sure Jack Layton would have seen it that way too.

• [robdobbs]

  Winterpeg.

• [Verio]

  Nice video. Smart approach.

  Stand up for the things that belong to the public. Once you sell off public assets you don’t get them back…

  • [SomeGuyNamedMark]

    Revenue is always used as the excuse.  They just don’t explain what they will do once everything has been sold off as if their initial problems will have magically disappeared.

• [Matt Bailey]

  Poor Winnipeg.  I’ve never been there and know virtually nothing about it, but I DO know Venetian Snares:
  http://www.amazon.com/Winnipeg-Frozen-Shithole-Venetian-Snares/dp/B0007G6S1C/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_10

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs_eMqI1MIQ&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLBA15BB900260FA5D

  • [Wreckrob8]

    Dance like you’re selling nails. I fucking love Aaron Funk. Winnipeg isn’t a total shithole.

• [robdobbs]

  And here’s what’s in store if the govt. follows through with this:
  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/new-york-to-repeat-chicago-s-parking-meter-catastrophe-20120613

  • [Shinkuhadoken]

    I seem to recall an Eminent Domain court case which reclaimed public assets from foreign control, but that was in the case of a privatized water supply in which the controlling company happily jacked the rates to ridiculous levels.