Monsanto is a world leader in industrial agriculture, providing the seeds for 90 percent of the world’s genetically modified crops. Once a chemical company based in the US, Monsanto has transformed into an international life sciences company, aiming to solve world hunger and protect the environment.
Filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, however, exposes the company’s troubling past, in her recent film, The World According to Monsanto. In an interview with The Real News Network, she discusses Monsanto’s controversial practices from a producer of PCBs and Agent Orange to genetically modified seeds and related herbicides.
Starting from the Internet over a period of three years Robin has collected material for her documentary, going on to numerous interviews with people of very different backgrounds. She traveled widely, from Latin America, to Asia, through Europe and the United States, to personally interview farmers and people in influential positions.
As an example of pro-Monsanto interviews, she talked at length with Michael Taylor who has worked as a lawyer for Monsanto and also for the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), where he had great influence on the legalization of the genetically modified bovine growth hormone (BGH). It also became FDA policy during Taylor’s tenure that GM seeds are declared to be “substantially equivalent to non-GM seeds, hence proclaiming proof of the harmlessness of GMs to be unnecessary. Michael Taylor is a typical example of technocrats employed via ‘the revolving door policy’. He is now head of the Washington, D.C. office of Monsanto Corporation.
The American biotechnology firm, Monsanto, has applied for a patent for pig breeding in 160 countries. The patent is for specific parts of the genetic material of pigs which Monsanto’s genetic researchers have decoded. If this patent is granted, pig breeding would be possible with the approval of the company.
Farmers and breeders are naturally alarmed because these genes have long existed in the great majority of their pigs. Using DNA tests they can prove that there is no new invention in the patent applications but that, instead, granting this patent would be to allow a part of nature to fall into the hands of a single company.
Monsanto’s influence on the patent offices is huge. If the patent is approved, money will have to be paid to Monsanto for every pig in the world carrying this genetic marker. This has long been the case for certain feedstuffs, such as genetically modified maize. Many farmers in the US have already become dependent on the company. It is not merely a question of money, however, but also a question of the risk posed to consumers. In America, as in Europe, cases of infertility in animals fed with genetically modified maize are becoming increasingly common. No-one yet knows what effects such products are having on humans.
This documentary highlights the fact that because waves of repression continue to come: lawsuits are still levied against innocent people; arrests are still made on flimsy pretexts, in order to terrify and confuse; harsh laws are still enacted against filesharing, taking their place in the gradual erosion of our privacy and the bolstering of the surveillance state. All of this is intended to destroy or delay inexorable changes in what it means to create and exchange our creations. If STEAL THIS FILM II proves at all useful in bringing new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think ‘after intellectual property’, think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity, we have achieved our main goal.
This documentary features rare archival footage and interviews with significant personalities in anarchist history including Murray Boochkin and Karl Hess, and also live performance footage of the Dead Kennedys.
It’s clear why the BNP want intelligent young men like Mark, a university graduate. BNP leader Nick Griffin tells Dispatches that Collett is a potential leader of the party. But Modell is interested in trying to determine what motivates a bright young man to throw in his lot with a party which will make him reviled in public.
Modell has little in common with his subject and finds himself taking an exception to some of Collett’s interests and occupations – which range through rabid anti-Semitism (’Jews aren’t white’) to explaining how he likes to “break” people, in particular his ex girlfriend.
The 9/11 Chronicles: Part One, Truth Rising is the first extensive documentary on the 9/11 truth movement. It serves as an ideal educational tool for those either uninformed about this growing movement or those wanting to know more. It is imperative that Truth Rising reach as many people as possible. Please purchase a copy of Truth Rising, make copies, and give them to your family, friends, and strangers on the street.
This film follows the growing momentum of 9/11 truth, as people throughout the world take action against their globalist masters. Shot unlike anything you have ever experienced from Alex Jones, cinema verite’ style, this masterpiece not only exposes the mistreatment of our 9/11 heroes, but also shows how a growing number of people around the world are questioning the official version of events that day. Featuring interviews with Willie Nelson, Rosie O’Donnell, Jesse Ventura, George Carlin, Martin Sheen, as well as confrontations with many political figures including Bill Clinton, David Rockefeller and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Every day natural resources are being rapidly depleted, while production and consumption rise in nations like China and India. In response to this crisis, a new philosophy promoting a non-toxic or recyclable destiny for all man-made products has triggered a new industrial revolution among designers and manufacturers. Rob van Hattum’s award-winning documentary explores how companies such as Nike, Herman Miller and Ford are experimenting with completely clean and sustainable production methods and products following the concept that “waste=food.”
John Pilger was banned from South Africa for his reporting during the apartheid era. On his return thirty years later with Alan Lowery, he describes the extraordinary generosity of a liberated people, but asks who are the true beneficiaries of a democracy – the black majority or the white minority? Won the Gold Award in the category of ‘Film & Video Production: Political/International Issues’, Worldfest-Flagstaff, 1998; Certificate for Creative Excellence (third place), U.S. International Film & Video Festival, Elmhurst, Illinois, 1999.
Votergate, an action documentary, follows a young team on their nationwide investigation of the current problems with our voting systems and elections procedures. Fast-paced and engaging, Votergate reveals the shocking story of how touchscreen voting systems are highly susceptible to hacking and how these systems are being implemented across the country without the proper checks and balances to insure accuracy and accountability.
The United States has refused to abide by the Geneva Conventions. They are the rules of war that were developed after World War II. Basically what they say is when you capture people during a war, you have to treat them humanely. You have to give them medical assistance. You have to, first of all, decide who they are. They get this left to this tribunal that decides: Are you a prisoner of war? Are you a civilian? Do you have nothing to do with this war whatsoever? Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties, is the third in a series of Public Interest Pictures films that follows Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election and Uncovered: The War on Iraq. True to their legacy, Unconstitutional provides the facts and stories that illuminate administration lies, wrongheaded policies, and the real victims of these actions – the American people.
Here, you’ll get the real story behind the USA PATRIOT Act and other administration policies and the gut wrenching stories behind those affected-from law-abiding store clerks to United States Olympians unable to travel. It’ll remind you of what America used to stand for and what it seems we’re falling for now. In short, this one-hour film will affirm why you’re angry and give you a tool to help others join your ranks.
Well shot, well edited, and paced quickly enough that you don’t get bored, but slowly enough that important topics are covered in depth. Where else are you going to find an instructional documentary that takes you inside growrooms? For a younger generation, (accustomed to learning visually) this DVD is an invaluable resource. Of course, if you’re a serious student, read the book, but the DVDs are a great place for the novice to start.
It covers the conflict between animal rights advocates and the meat industry, and their respective attempts to influence consumers. It was directed, shot and edited by Jennifer Abbott, who spent five years travelling across Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand to interview representatives on all sides. The film intercuts these interviews with images of farm animals and industrial farming operations. It explores what is sometimes popularly called factory farming.
In the aftermath, some went militant as the ill-fated Weather Underground; others channeled their activism through prominent careers as journalists, politicians and professors. Mixing eloquent contemporary testimony from SDS members such as writer/professor Todd Gitlin, Senator Tom Hayden and NPR commentator Juan Gonzalez with scintillating archival footage from the front lines of the movement, Helen Garvy’s REBELS WITH A CAUSE chronicles the values, motivations and actions of a generation that lost its innocence-and helped change America.
Writer-director Curtis Johnson seems to view compassionately the young militants who make up the loose network of public speakers, protest organizers, and lab-animal liberators the U.S. government has labelled the number one domestic terrorist threat. One activist notes that the FBI doesn’t view anti-abortion zealots in quite the same light, but the right-makes-might argument certainly cuts both ways something pondered by commentators as varied as Christopher Hitchens, Margot Kidder, a couple of porn twins, and Greenpeace cofounder Paul Watson, whose tactics (especially with his whale-friendly See Shepherd outfit) have been copied and sometimes distorted by youngsters at times oblivious to long-range consequences, let alone the PR effect, on average Americans.
In this snappily edited, shockingly well balanced (and occasionally gruesome) overview, celebrities talk a little, but more space is given to the voices of Josh Harper and Kevin Kjonaas, arrested under the USA PATRIOT Act for doing little more than verbally advocating radical action to stop cruel animal testing. The boys are obnoxious in their moral certainty, but their insight into possible ramifications in the wider political arena brings up important points about where America is headed especially where threats to unchecked corporate dominion are concerned.
A visit to New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina muddies the waters even further, as the Humane Society of the United States is revealed to have raked in money while pets and “enterprise animals” perished in the bungled aftereffects of the hurricane.
The picture is cannily billed with Zoo, a film about the consequences of loving animals too much.
There is gold in the hills, and marketers know your children will lead the way. So, they spend billions of dollars every year, on the premise that a tug of your heartstrings will mobilize your purse strings. And they’ve unleashed an army of market researchers to help them accomplish their mission. The kids have taken over.
It’s all been made possible through a dramatic shift in parenting style, which has parents dictating less and listening more, and ageneration of under twelve’s that is more numerous and more affluent than the Baby Boomers. This is a marketing culture where companies are moving far beyond traditional boundaries, coining terms like “the infant niche market” and “cradle-to-grave brand loyalty.” Psychologists and anti-marketers have been waving a red flag for years, and now they’re dressing for battle. Meet the players who have helped the kids take over.
In addition to criticizing the administration’s handling of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, Moore digs deep into the surprising relationship with the Bin Laden family held by both Bush administrations, and questions whether or not potential Saudi involvement with the attacks has been ignored.
All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act – The Take – has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. In the wake of Argentina’s dramatic economic collapse in 2001, Latin America’s most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. The Forja auto plant lies dormant until its former employees take action.
They’re part of a daring new movement of workers who are occupying bankrupt businesses and creating jobs in the ruins of the failed system. But Freddy, the president of the new worker’s co-operative, and Lalo, the political powerhouse from the Movement of Recovered Companies, know that their success is far from secure. Like every workplace occupation, they have to run the gauntlet of courts, cops and politicians who can either give their project legal protection or violently evict them from the factory.
The story of the workers’ struggle is set against the dramatic backdrop of a crucial presidential election in Argentina, in which the architect of the economic collapse, Carlos Menem, is the front-runner. His cronies, the former owners, are circling: if he wins, they’ll take back the companies that the movement has worked so hard to revive. Armed only with slingshots and an abiding faith in shop-floor democracy, the workers face off against the bosses, bankers and a whole system that sees their beloved factories as nothing more than scrap metal for sale.
With The Take, director Avi Lewis, one of Canada’s most outspoken journalists, and writer Naomi Klein, author of the international bestseller No Logo, champion a radical economic manifesto for the 21st century. But what shines through in the film is the simple drama of workers’ lives and their struggle: the demand for dignity and the searing injustice of dignity denied.
In “A Question of Eligibility,” Farah chose four key presenters to bring the issue home WND senior staff writer Jerome Corsi, the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of “The Obama Nation”; Orly Taitz, one of the most visible attorneys involved in filing lawsuits challenging Obama to produce proof of his qualifications for office; Alan Keyes, a participant in one of those lawsuits, a presidential candidate himself, and the Republican candidate who opposed Obama in his successful bid to become a U.S. senator, the job that brought him to national attention; and Janet Porter, an activist and pundit who writes a weekly column for WND.
Uncovered: The War on Iraq, filmmaker Robert Greenwald chronicles the Bush Administration’s determined quest to invade Iraq following the events of September 11, 2001.
The film deconstructs the administration’s case for war through interviews with U.S intelligence and defense officials, foreign service experts, and U.N. weapons inspectors — including a former CIA director, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and even President Bush’s Secretary of the Army.
Their analyzes and conclusions are sobering, and often disturbing, regardless of one’s political affiliations.
Yahya Barakat, who teaches at Al-Quds University, told The Washington Report that he began work on the documentary the instant he learned that Corrie had been crushed to death by an Israeli-driven Caterpillar bulldozer.
This documentary offers rare footage of Rachel talking to a camera and describing Israeli human rights violations against a Palestinian civilian population. The film opens with grim images of dinosaur-like Caterpillar bulldozers turning urban Rafah into a garbage pile of destroyed buildings. It continues with interviews of Rachel’s fellow International Solidarity Movement volunteers, and concludes with comments from her parents
