Official BBC press release follows:
'G8, Can You Hear Us?'
9pm on Tuesday 15th November on BBC4

BBC4, 60 minutes, documentary.

We hear a lot these days about political apathy among the young. This
film begs to differ. There is political life in Britain, but not as most
of us know it. 'G8, Can You Hear Us?' goes inside the global justice
movement for the first time. It follows three very different activists
as they make their way to Gleneagles to protest against the G8 summit.
This kind of political activism attracts large numbers of British people
but is either ignored or derided by the mainstream media. 'G8, Can You
Hear Us?' goes behind the tabloid stereotypes and exposes a vibrant
world where political commitment is expressed through direct action and
the novel idea that changing the world can actually be fun.

All our characters hate the G8 and its policies, and they don't like
Live 8 and Make Poverty History much either. 'I don't think that making
Tony Blair look good by Bob Geldof laying his head on his shoulder is
enough', says Green Party activist Matt Wootton. 'It's not getting deep
enough to the root causes of poverty and of exploitation and certainly
of climate change.' We follow Matt as he cycles to Scotland: 'I really
want to go to Gleneagles just to recharge, and realise that I am indeed
part of a huge movement that is creating change, that's gonna create a
lot more change.'

Once a force that struck fear into the hearts of the class enemy, the
Communist Party of Great Britain is now down to a few hundred loyal
supporters. 'I'm a communist', says its national organiser, Mark
Fischer. 'I have to believe in the profundity and the ability of
millions and millions of people, the majority in society, to think in
deep ways about political questions.' He's on a mission for hearts and
minds, and seeks to convert everyone he meets - but he fails badly with
Matt, when he argues that class struggle is more important than climate
change.

John Jordan is a very different kind of activist. He's the inspirer of
the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, whose purpose in Scotland is
to carry out peaceful civil disobedience - and to encourage others to do
so too. Assisted by a grant from Arts Council England, the clowns spread
the anarchist word as they tour the country in a caravan fuelled by
solar energy and recycled chip fat. 'I can't think of anything more
pleasurable than going round in the clown army in a bus', says John.
'And being paid to do it!' Marching and demonstrating is far too
conventional for the clown army. They astonish the shoppers of Glasgow
with their outrageous 'prayer to products', and confuse the police when
they try to close down the Scottish motorway system to blockade
Gleneagles. For the clowns, it's about changing the world - but without
taking power.