MEDIA RELEASE
DATE: 30 October 2011

More Happening in Wellington than Rugby - a Peoples’ Expo And Social Forum on Saturday 8th October 2011.

A "Peoples' Expo and Social Forum" organised by the Wellington Workers Education Association (WEA) will be a shop window and a day of action and discussion for community and campaign groups in Wellington on Saturday 8 October.

Workshops, forums and live music will be running from 10.00am to 4.00pm at St John's Conference Centre on the corner of Dixon and Willis Streets. Participating groups include Campaign for MMP, Save our SOEs and the Wellington Residents Coalition. Te Puni Electoral Office is providing information about enrolment for the election in November and Keep New Zealand Working and CTU’s Workplace Health and Safety will have stalls with information for workers of all ages.

People are invited to drop in for a look or stay all day. As well as information and displays there will be workshops on public participation throughout the day and the opportunity to discuss a number of issues including social activism and educating for social change.

The Expo and social forum is inspired by the memory Jim Delahunty (1926-2010), a committed activist, unionist and folk musician. Green MP Catherine Delahunty will give a keynote address at 11.00am.

“With the election coming up it is timely to talk about how to have your say” said Victoria Quade a Wellington WEA Organiser. “The idea of the Expo is to give people an opportunity to find out what people are doing and talk about issues,” she said.

A novel action to oppose the "flogging off" of State Owned Enterprises is the focus of a campaign to be launched at the Expo after Ms Delahunty’s address.
The "Save Our SOEs" campaign launch features a large stencilled message on a mock-up white picket fence, and a letterbox numbered "100" to reinforce the continued 100% Government ownership of State Assets.

Supporters of the Save Our SOEs campaign are encouraged to tie a ribbon or coloured scarf to their letterbox at home and post photos of their suitably attired letterboxes on the campaign Facebook which will also be launched at the Expo.

Letterboxes are being used to represent all SOEs in the wider campaign. The Finance Minister Bill English has refused to rule out the sale of the State Owned Enterprise New Zealand Post.

As the campaign gathers momentum the Save Our SOEs organisers look forward to imaginative variations to the symbolic "tying up" to maintain the continued 100% Government ownership of State Assets. In an extension to the campaign some supporters want to tie a ribbon to a power pole outside their house as a visible and symbolic protest against the privatisation of power companies.

Saturday October 8th also marks 10 years since the invasion of Afghanistan. In the UK the Stop the War coalition are planning an Anti-War Mass Assembly in Trafalgar Square London. Peace activists are using the Wellington WEA’s Peoples’ expo and social forum as an opportunity to review New Zealand’s involvement in Afghanistan.

The Wellington WEA’s is committed to the advancement, encouragement and provision of continuing and community education of adults that promotes a just and more equitable society which takes account of Te tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Social forums are a strategy for individuals and social movements to come together to share their experiences, debate ideas and network for effective action. The first World Social Forum (WSF) was held in January 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil as a counter forum to the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, Switzerland at the same time. Since then they have become a focus for international action drawing attention to issues as diverse as climate change to the impact of global capitalism.

Wellington WEA
PEOPLES’ EXPO
& Social Forum
St John’s Conference Centre
10.00am - 4.00pm Saturday 8th October 2011
Keynote address 11am, Catherine Delahunty MP

© Scoop Media