Summary There has been a “drug culture” since the dawn of civilization. Sumerian cuneiform tablets from 3000 BC show a poppy harvest, as do ancient Egyptian scripts and Greek statues adorned with poppy crowns. Far more recently, Freud sung the praises of cocaine, which was included in the original recipe for Coca-Cola. But since the [...]

Summary On a trip to visit family in Seoul in April, I was approached by a man and a woman who claimed to be North Korean defectors. They presented me with a DVD that recently came into their possession and asked me to translate it. They also asked me to post the completed film on [...]

The Aurora, Colorado theater massacre has reignited the debate about gun control in the country. There are many people who believe that gun control would have prevented such an occurrence. We live in a society where people blame access to guns for the violent acts that people who use them commit. We came across the [...]

Summary In late 2001, around 8,000 Taliban fighters, including Chechens, Pakistanis and Uzbeks as well as suspected members of al-Qaeda, surrendered to the forces of Northern Alliance General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a U.S. ally in the war in Afghanistan, after the siege of Kunduz. The program recounts that several hundred of the prisoners, among them [...]

Summary In October 1969 hundreds of young people, clad in football helmets and wielding lead pipes, marched through an upscale Chicago shopping district, pummeling parked cars and smashing shop windows in their path. This was the first demonstration of the Weather Underground’s “Days of Rage.” Outraged by the Vietnam War and racism in America, the [...]

Summary Have US counter-terrorism policies contributed to the deadly crisis in the Horn of Africa? The worst drought in 60 years has thrown some 13 million people across the Horn of Africa into crisis. In Somalia, ravaged by two decades of conflict, the consequences have been disastrous. For over six months, aid agencies on the [...]

Summary Sudan was the giant of Africa which once represented the greatest hope for peaceful coexistence between Arab and African, Muslim and Christian. That hope is all but gone. As Sudan is split into two, the government of Omar al-Bashir in the North faces growing public resentment over the loss of national pride. To boost [...]

The KONY 2012 video has taken the Internet by storm, with over 50 million YouTube views as of today. Since its release, just about everyone, including celebrities, has tweeted or shared the 30-minute video on Twitter or Facebook. In the video, the director Jason Russell calls for the “arrest” of Lord’s Resistance Army leader, Joseph [...]

Summary War on Our World from Dominoes Falling Productions, is a feature length documentary using a collaboration of various material. The film examines war, imperialism and some of the causes and consequences of this, with a particular look at the Military-Industrial complex. An aim of the film is to help inspire peace. The film starts [...]

Summary Is the US contributing to the militarization of cyberspace? Cyberwar. A conflict without foot soldiers, guns, or missiles. Instead the attacks are launched by computer hackers. Digital spy rings. Information thieves. Cyberarmies of kids, criminals, terrorists – some backed by nation states. But is cyber war really a threat? Can cyber war actually cripple [...]

Summary A documentary adaptation Naomi Klein’s 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine. An investigation of disaster capitalism, based on Naomi Klein’s proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance. Based on breakthrough historical research and four years of on-the-ground reporting in disaster zones, The Shock Doctrine vividly shows how [...]

Summary On a cold December morning in 1919, just after midnight, Emma Goldman, her comrade Alexander Berkman, and more than 200 other foreign-born radicals were roused from their Ellis Island dormitory beds to begin their journey out of the United States for good. Convicted of obstructing the draft during World War I, Goldman’s expatriation came [...]

Summary Liberty Bound takes an entertaining look at America’s ongoing struggle to keep a comfortable balance between democracy, capitalism, and fascism. This is a film about historic events that shape history. It is a film about courage and fear; ignorance and knowledge; propaganda and rhetoric. Christine set out to answer these questions on her quest [...]

Summary Why We Fight, directed by Eugene Jarecki, is a 2006 documentary film about the military–industrial complex. The title refers to the World War II-era eponymous propaganda movies commissioned by the U.S. Government to justify their decision to enter the war against the Axis Powers. Why We Fight was first screened at the 2005 Sundance [...]