Power from a flick of a switch

I’m a firm believer that Americans (and Canadians to a much lesser extent) would be much more worldly-aware if they just tuned into the BBC for just 1-2 hours per day instead of CNN. Their coverage is much more balanced and because they try to provide international news coverage, you don’t get the stupid, local, “feel good” stories like a high school girl sweeping all the awards in her graduating class… of one. You’ll have to thank NBC Nightly News for that one.

This morning I tuned in to the BBC to try to hear the European perspective on the disputed Iranian election, but what I got instead was the tail end of an amazing documentary, Power Trip.

Power Trip trailer.

Power Trip documented how the energy system in the former Soviet republic of Georgia was privatized after the fall of communism. They went from a system where 90% of people were stealing electricity and / or not paying for electricity to a system where over 85% of people were taking money out of their paycheques and putting it towards the utility bills. It documented how greed, corruption, and mismanagement by eastern European government heads could destroy what really unique people are trying to spearhead – the adoption of capitalism.

The documentary follows several key figures – Telasi, the Georgian power distribution company; AES, an American energy company that invested in Telasi; and other key project managers. There is one in particular, Piers Lewis, who is what I can assume (I missed the first bit of the documentary) the main project manager in Tblisi, Georgia. His passion and desire to see everyone in his country get uncorrupted, uninterrupted power for 24 hours of the day was so evident. The dedication he was able to show to developing a capitalist bill paying system was palpable and also dangerous – the riots and crowds that opposed the shutoff of electricity to delinquent customers threatened his life.

This documentary was a scary glimpse into what was left after the Soviets upped and left in the early 1990s. Their communist ideologies might not have worked out, but there was a system in place to get people food and electricity. Watching this documentary made me slightly more grateful of the amenities I enjoy in Canada. It also made me more shameful that while these people over there are fighting over human necessities like running electricity, CNN is sowing the seeds of racial tension by airing yet another Black in America. I know racism is still a big issue in pockets of the USA, but it is also as much a perception perpetuated by blacks and whites. At least in Georgia the poor couldn’t will themselves to receive electricity in the winter when the sun went down.

Power Trip is available for torrent download at Mininova or purchasable from the movie website.