god i wish the one piece fandom was like. better than it is

this was written several weeks ago in response to asks i was receiving i am posting it now it is very long the longest i have ever made and it is not very well edited but here it is in this final essay i talk about how shitty rae is about black people in her writing as well as just me talking about how her writing sucks in general lets begin

hello everyone 

as you may know i have received a lot of anons in the last week or so about issues of racism in the beetlejuice community both just generally speaking and also within specific spaces 

i was very frustrated to not be getting the answers i wanted because i typically do not talk about what i do not see but in an effort to be better about discourse i went looking through discourse from before my time in the fandom and i also received some receipts and information from my followers and from some friends

keep in mind that the voices and thoughts of bipoc are not only incredibly important at all times but in this circumstance it is important that if a bipoc has something to add you listen and learn and be better

i admit that when this happened i wasnt aware of the extent of what occurred and im angry at myself for not doing more at that time and i want to work harder to make sure something like this doesnt go unnoticed again

im a hesitant to talk about months old discourse because i have been criticized for bringing up quote old new unquote but this is very important and i am willing to face whatever comes from to me

lets talk about this

content from our local racist idiot that may be months old but its important

putting my thoughts under a cut to spare the dash but before i begin obviously this is awful

lets fucking unpack this folks

right out the gate op states that she supports artistic freedom but then within a couple words she goes against that statement

being entirely canon compliant isnt artistic freedom and even so if this person has so much respect for canon they wouldnt be out here erasing lydias obvious disgust for beetlejuice in the movie or ignoring lydias age for the sake of shipping that shit isnt canon either 

also we love the quick jab at the musical there hilarious we love it dont we because god forbid a licensed and successful branch on a media have any standing in this conversation but whatever

now lets scroll down and talk about the term racebending

the term racebending was coined around 2009 in response to the avatar the last airbender movie a film in which the east asian races of the characters were erased by casting white actors in the three leading roles of aang sokka and katara 

whenever the term racebending is used in a negative light it is almost always a case of whitewashing like casting scarlett johansen in ghost in the shell or the casting of white actors of the prince of persia sands of time instead of iranian ones

this kind of racebending erases minorities from beeing seen in media and is wrong

all that being said however racebending has also been noted to have very positive after effects like the 1997 adaptation of cinderella or casting samuel jackson as nick fury in the marvel movies nick fury was originally a white guy can you even imagine

i read this piece from an academic that said quote writers can change the race and cultural specificity of central characters or pull a secondary character of color from the margins transforming them into the central protagonist unquote

racebending like the kind that rae is so heated about is the kind of creative freedom that leads to more representation of bipoc in media which will never be a bad thing ever no matter how pissy you get about it

designing a version of a character as a poc isnt serving to make them necessarily better it serves to give new perspective and perhaps the opportunity to connect even more deeply with a character it doesnt marginalize or erase white people it can uplift poc and if you think uplifting poc is wrong because it tears down white people or whatever youre a fucking moron and you need to get out of your podunk white folk town and see the real world

the numbers of times a bipoc particularly a bipoc that is also lgbt+ has been represented in media are dwarfed by what i as a white dude have seen myself represented in media is and that isnt okay that isnt equality and its something that should change not only in mainstream media but in fandom spaces as well

lets move down a bit further to the part about bullying straight people which is hilarious and lets also talk about the term fetishistic as well lets start with that

this person literally writes explicit pornography of a minor and an adult are we really going to let someone like that dictate what is and what isnt fetishistic

similarly to doing a positive racebend situation people may project lgbt+ headcanons on a character because its part of who they are and it helps them feel closer to the character and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that

depicting lgbt+ subject matter on existing characters isnt an inherently fetishistic action generally things only really become fetishistic when the media is being crafted and hyped by people who are outside of lgbt+ community for example how young teens used to flip a tit about yaoi or how chasers fetishize trans people

but drawing a character with top surgery scars or headcanoning them as trans is harmless and its just another way to interpret a character literally anone could be trans unless if their character bio says theyre cis and most of them dont go that deep so it really is open to interpretation and on the whole most creators encourage this sort of exploration because it is a good thing to get healthy representation out in the world

as for it being used to bully straights thats just funny i dont have anything else on that like if youre straight and you feel threatened and bullied because of someone headcanoning someone as anything that isnt cishet youre a fucking idiot and a weak baby idiot at that like the real world must fucking suck for you because lgbt+ people are everywhere and statistically a big chunk of your favorite characters arent cishet sorry be mad about it

lets roll down a bit further about the big meat of the issue which was when several artists were drawing interpretations of lydia as a black girl which i loved but clearly this person didnt love it because they have a very narrow and very racist and problematic view of what it means to be a black person

and before i move forward i must reiderate that i am a white person and you should listen to the thoughts of poc people like @fright-of-their-lives​ or @gender-chaotic it is not my place to explain what the black experience is like and it certainly isnt this persons either

implying that the story of a black person isnt worth telling unless if the character faces struggles like racism and prejudice is downright moronic 

why use the word kissable to describe a black persons lips now thats what i call fetishistic and its to another extreme if youre talking about a black version of lydia on top of that

the author of this post says herself that shes white so clearly shes the person whos an authority on the black experience and what it means to be a black person right am i reading that right or am i having a fucking conniption

how about allowing black characters to exist without having to struggle why cant a black version of lydia just be a goth teenager with a ghost problem who likes photography and is also black like she doesnt have to move to a hick town and get abused by racist folks she doesnt have to go through any more shit than she already goes through and if you honestly think thats the only way to tell a black persons story you need to get your brain cleaned

you know nothing about the complexities about being a black person and i dont either but you know wh odo black people who are doing black versions of canon characters they fucking know 

lets squiggle down just a bit further 

so the writer has issues with giving characters traits like a broad nose or larger lips if theyre a woman but if theyre a man suddenly its totally okay to go all ryan murphy ahs coven papa legba appropriation when approaching character design like are you fucking stupid do you hear yourself is that really how you see black men like what the fuck is wrong with you

none of the shit youre spewing takes bravery it takes ignorance and supreme levels of stupidity

do you really think you with your fic where a black lgbt+ woman is tortured and abused where you use the n word with a hard r to refer to her like that shits not okay its fucking depraved and yeah we know you love being shitty but like christ on a bike thats so much 

can we also talk about this

what the fuck is this fetishistic bull roar garbage calling this black character beyonce dressing her up in quote fuck me heels unquote are you are you seriously gonna write this and say its a shining example of how to write a black character youre basically saying ope here she is shes a sex icon haha im so progressive and i clealry understand the black experience hahahaha fuck you oh my god

on top of that theres a point where this character is only referred to as curly hair or the fact that the n word is used in the fic with the hard r like thats hands down not okay for you to use especially not in a manner like this jesus christ

oop heres a little more a sampling for you of the hell i am enduring in reading this drivel

oh boy lets put a leash on the angry black woman character lets put her in a leash and have the man imply hes a master like are you kidding me are you for real and what the fuck is with calling her shit like j lo and beyonce do you actually think thats clever at all are you just thinking of any poc that comes into your head for this 

also lydia fucking tells this girl that she shouldnt have lost her temper like she got fucking leashed im so tired why is this writing so problematic and also so bad

hold up before i lose my head lets look at some of her own comments on the matter of this character and what happens to her

hi hello youre just casually tossing the word lynch out there in the wide open world as if thats not a problem that is still real like are you fucking unhinged there have been multiple cases of this exact thing happening in our firepit of a country in the last five months alone like how can you still have shit like this up for people to read how can you be proud of work like this in this climate

and also what the fuck is that last bit 

what the actual fuck

i dont speak for black people as a white person but you do!? im sorry i had to get my punctuation out for that because wow thats fucking asinine just because one black person read your fic and didnt find the torture and abuse of your one black character abhorrant doesnt mean that the vast majority of people not only in the fandom but in the human population with decency are going to think its okay because its not 

i started this post hoping to be level headed and professional but jesus fucking christ this woman is something else white nationalism is alive and well folks and its name is rae

if you defend this woman you defend some truly abhorrant raecism

editors notes 

in order to get some perspective on these issues more fully some of the writing by the author was examined and on the whole it was pretty unreadable but i want to just call back to the very beginning of this essay where the person in question talked about holding canon in high regard but then in their writing they just go around giving people magic and shit and ignoring the end of the movie entirely like are you canon compliant or nah 

the writing doesnt even read like beetlejuice fanfic it reads as self indulgent fiction you could easily change the names and its just a bad fanfic from 2007

also can we talk about writing the lesbian character as an angry man hater like its 2020 dude and als olets touch on that girl on girl pandering while beetlejuice is just there like here we go fetishizing again wee

i cant find a way to work this into this already massive post but

im going to throw up

okay so thats a lot we have covered a lot today and im sure my ask box will regret it but this definitely should have been more picked apart when it happened

please feel free to add more to this i would love more perspectives than just my own.

Economics

RETHINKING CUBAN CIVIL SOCIETY: SOMETHING DEEPER THAN THE TRUTH

By Maria Isabel Alfonso

A young man in a baseball cap with "MIAMI" emblazoned on the front sits on a curb, looking at his phone. Beside him, an older man looks over his shoulder at the screen. Other Cubans sit on the curb or on the steps behind it, staring at their phones and tablets. In Cuba, a scene like this would have once been unthinkable. But since 2015, the government has loosened the rules on Internet access, allowing citizens to go online with their devices (for a fee) at designated WiFi hotspots.

The spread of online access-and people taking advantage of it for activities like blogging about politics and culture-is one of the signs of a renewed interest in bolstering Cuban civil society. But Cuba faces unique challenges in bolstering citizen engagement.

Near the start of RETHINKING CUBAN CIVIL SOCIETY, the film offers a definition of its central theme. "Civil society: The aggregate of non-governmental organizations and individuals that manifest the will and interests of citizens." Then, on the screen, the word "non-governmental" is crossed out. It is a striking visual illustration of Cuba's unique situation-one in which the public sector dominates much of society, playing an ambiguous role in civil society institutions.

Since the mid-1990s, Cuba has seen a rise in independent media, and a resurgence of movements fighting against racism, for economic justice and LGBTQI rights, and for greater democracy and citizen participation. In RETHINKING CUBAN CIVIL SOCIETY, Cuban academics, journalists and bloggers, and writers and musicians grapple with what it means to encourage healthy public participation and dissent in the context of Cuba: a country under embargo in which foreign-funded dissidents seek to overthrow the government, and at the same time a country in which the Communist Party has placed itself above the State.

In city parks and apartments, on stairwells, in classrooms, and in magazine offices, the people featured in RETHINKING CUBAN CIVIL SOCIETY grapple with these questions. Can more competitive elections and greater democracy exist in a one-party State? How can LGBTQI activists successfully influence government policy? How can access to the benefits of economic reforms allowing private business be extended to marginalized populations? Can the government help encourage a healthy, independent media eco-system? And how much of the stifling of civil society can be blamed on the embargo and how much is simply home-grown?

Thoughtful and engaging, the film is conveniently divided into chapters on class and activism, media, Internet and the blogosphere, political opposition, and Cuban civil society across international borders.

DVD (Spanish, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2018 / 37 minutes

SILENT TRANSFORMATION, A

By Simon Brothers, Luke Mistruzzi, Anton Smolski, Mark Preston

The transformative power of the co-operative enterprise model, illustrated with many inspirational examples.

The co-operative movement was built by people who took on the responsibility for their collective well-being in the face of government neglect, economic exclusion and cultural discrimination.

As the modern economy increasingly denies vast sectors of the population basic amenities for decent life, this co-operative spirit is as critical as ever. However, over the years the co-op sector has become insular and poorly understood.

A SILENT TRANSFORMATION sets out to explore the innovative self-help efforts of different communities across the Province of Ontario, Canada. By addressing their needs collectively they are helping to regain the radical vision of co-operation.

In these communities are the seeds of economic democracy, global solidarity, and a new popular movement to transform society!

Will it grow and flourish?

DVD / 2018 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 70 minutes

TIME THIEVES

By Cosima Dannoritzer

Forget water, oil and rare minerals - there is a new resource everyone wants: our time. TIME THIEVES reveals how companies monetize our time without our knowledge and how the social networks have, in their own words, become 'the new clockmakers'.

TIME THIEVES is an eye-opening investigation into how our time became a currency; why 'time poverty' is on the rise and how the more we try to save time, the less we have. Who hasn't come across the situation where an airline has us printing our own boarding passes and checking in our own luggage, saving the company a fortune in working hours? Who hasn't spent hours assembling a piece of furniture, or struggled with an automatic cashier? Haven't we all asked ourselves who should be paying whom for doing all the work? Award-winning director Cosima Dannoritzer blends remarkable archival footage and heart-breaking stories with testimonies from leading experts in a documentary that was filmed on location in Japan, USA, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany.

TIME THIEVES investigates how time has become money, how the clock has taken over both our working and personal lives, and how we can take back control over this precious, but finite resource.

DVD (English, French, German, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2018 / 85 minutes

FREE LUNCH SOCIETY

By Christian Tod

What would you do if your income was taken care of?

Just a few years ago, an unconditional basic income was considered a pipe dream. Today, this utopia is more imaginable than ever before-intense discussions are taking place in all political and scientific camps.

FREE LUNCH SOCIETY provides background information about this idea and searches for explanations, possibilities and experiences regarding its implementation.

Globalization, automation, Donald Trump. The middle class is falling apart. One hears talk about the causes, rather than about solutions. Time for a complete rethinking:

An unconditional basic income means money for everyone - as a human right without service in return! Visionary reform project, neoliberal axe to the roots of the social state or socially romantic left-wing utopia? Depending on the type and scope, a basic income demonstrates very different ideological visions. Which side of the coin one sees depends on one's own idea of humankind: inactivity as sweet poison that seduces people into laziness, or freedom from material pressures as a chance for oneself and for the community. Do we actually need the whip of existential fear to avoid a lazy, depraved life in front of the TV set? Or does gainful employment give our lives meaning and social footing simply because we haven't known anything else for centuries? And because we've never all had the freedom to self-actualise in other ways?

That basic income is a powerful idea is indisputable: land, water and air are gifts of nature. They are different from private property that humans create by their individual effort. However, when we receive wealth from nature, from the commons, then that wealth belongs to all of us equally.

From Alaska's oil fields to the Canadian prairie, from Washington's think tanks to the Namibian steppes, the film takes us on a grand journey and shows us what the driverless car has to do with the ideas of a German billionaire and a Swiss referendum. FREE LUNCH SOCIETY, the first international film in cinemas about basic income, is dedicated to one of the most crucial questions of our times.

DVD (English, German, Color, Closed Captioned, With English Subtitles) / 2017 / 92 minutes

SYSTEM ERROR

By Florian Opitz

Politicians, economists and the media are obsessed with economic growth. But why do we still cling to this concept? Clearly it is impossible to have infinite growth on a finite planet.

This investigative documentary seeks to educate audiences about the term "growth", particularly in the world of economics. It seems today's society and financial markets are dictated by an ever-present need to grow. This film uncovers what this means and how it has developed through history. It looks at how and why it stopped during the Great Depression and the growing importance it took on in the '70s and '80s. We also see how growth looks in various industries, such as in the world of agriculture, manufacturing and on Wall Street. Capitalism is explored, as well as the ways in which financial markets determine - perhaps more than governments - the functioning of societies and countries. Finally, SYSTEM ERROR looks at the economic crash of 2008, its origins and its effects on the way we view growth. Is there a limit to this growth, especially now that technology is developing?

In SYSTEM ERROR award-winning director Florian Opitz ("Speed, In Search of Lost Time" and "The Big Sellout") examines the fundamentals of capitalism. He reveals unexpected correlations and lays bare the pathological nature of the current system. He also examines the continuing impact of Karl Marx as an analyst of capitalism.

Filmed in Brazil, China, Germany, the U.K and the U.S.A, System Error gives a fresh perspective on the capitalist system and where it is leading us.

DVD (English, German, Portuguese, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2017 / 96 minutes

WHEN BANANA RULED

By Mathilde Damoisel

Bananas are everywhere: Americans eat nearly 10 billion of them per year, consuming more pounds of bananas than apples and oranges combined.

WHEN BANANA RULED tells the story of the men who made bananas the most ubiquitous fruit in the world, through a multinational empire that dominated production and sales, overthrew governments, and created a business model still largely used by today's tech giants.

The story of bananas as commodities begins with a failed railway project started in Costa Rica in 1871, led by American Minor Cooper Keith. When the Costa Rican government defaulted on its payments to Keith for its construction, the businessman faced ruin. His salvation? Bananas. Keith would go on to co-found the United Fruit Company and within decades-after a concerted campaign led by the father of public relations, Edward Bernays-bananas became a staple of the North American diet. Animated mascot Miss Chiquita Banana was a pop culture icon, doctors recommended bananas as an ideal food for children, and bananas popped up in movies and Broadway musicals.

But, as WHEN BANANA RULED documents, the entire enterprise was built on a rapacious, imperialist business model that required the domination of countries including Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia. United Fruit took over critical national infrastructure like railways and ports, rapidly expanded plantations by displacing small (often Indigenous) farmers, bought itself favorable legislation, and, like today's largest companies, sheltered profits offshore to avoid taxes.

Life on the plantations was a world within a world: A strict hierarchy with white managers from the best business schools, foremen from the US South (recruited for their knowledge of slavery), and black laborers paid largely in company food coupons and strictly forbidden to unionize. When a new, revolutionary government was formed in Guatemala, United Fruit's plantations were nationalized. What happened next came straight from the playbook that would dominate US foreign policy in the region: claim a Communist threat, persuade legislators back home of its dangers, bomb the country, and install a new, pro-American and pro-business regime.

Using a rich trove of archival footage and documents, including letters to and from lobbyists, telegrams, vintage ads and movie clips, and gorgeous, hand-tinted stills, WHEN BANANA RULED is a story of intrigue that touches on economics, international politics, the history of multinational business and reveals how an array of forces conquered the world through a simple fruit.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2017 / 52 minutes

COMPANY TOWN: THE DARK SIDE OF THE SHARING ECONOMY

Directed by Deborah Kaufman, Alan Snitow

A grassroots movement challenges Citizens United, corporate power, and moguls of the "sharing economy" to stop gentrification and wrest back control of San Francisco's future.

The once free-spirited city of San Francisco is now a "Company Town," a playground for tech moguls of the "sharing economy." Airbnb is the biggest hotel, Uber privatizes transit. And now these companies want political power as well.

Meanwhile, middle class and ethnic communities are driven out by gentrification, skyrocketing rents and evictions, sparking a grassroots backlash. Can an insurgent electoral campaign overcome corporate power and billionaires' megabucks to change a city's course?

COMPANY TOWN shows how a grassroots coalition of unions, tenants, neighborhoods of color, activists and artists can come together to win.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adults) / 77 minutes

FOOD FOR CHANGE: THE STORY OF COOPERATION IN AMERICA

Directed by Steve Alves

The deep history of cooperatives in America -- the country's longest-surviving alternative economic system.

FOOD FOR CHANGE looks at the current resurgence of food cooperatives in America and their unique historic place in the economic and political landscape. Born in the heartland, cooperatives are seen as the middle path between Wall Street and Socialism.

The film profiles several food co-ops that have revived neighborhoods and communities - right in the shadows of corporate agribusinesses and supermarket chains. It's an inspiring example of community-centered economies thriving in an age of globalization.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 82 minutes

SINGULAR STORY OF UNLUCKY JUAN, THE

By Ricardo Figueredo Oliva

Seven pounds of rice, five pounds sugar, four ounces coffee, half a pound cooking oil, five eggs, 10 ounces beans, a small bread roll and a pound a half of meat - that's the monthly allotment for Cubans under the country's rationing system.

An independent film financed through crowd-funding and without the financial support of traditional Cuban film institutions, THE SINGULAR STORY OF UNLUCKY JUAN is a comprehensive, accessible examination of the particularities of the Cuban economy. Using a fictional worker called Juan as an example, the film shows how the economy affects the daily lives of ordinary citizens - and how badly it squeezes those who don't have access to hard currency.

Cuba has two currencies: the Cuban Peso and the CUC - a far more valuable currency pegged to international exchange rates. Tourists pay in CUCs and shop at CUC stores, which stock higher quality goods at a huge premium.

Divided into chapters covering rations, the marketplace, CUC stores, private business, corruption, economic migration, and future Cuba, the documentary walks us through how each of these affects Juan and those like him. The film interviews a cross-section of Cuban workers and an economist who favours a more free-market approach, and offers sometimes hypnotic shots evoking economic activity: butchers cutting meat, fruit vendors at markets, shops lined with luxury goods inaccessible to most.

Juan starts the month with 250 Cuban pesos. But once he's paid for his food rations, extra food to meet his needs for the month, transit, utilities, and the new energy-efficient fridge he was obliged to buy (and use 20% of his monthly salary to pay off over a 10-year term), there is little left. No wonder so many Cubans rely on living with relatives, overseas remittances, or getting involved in corruption and the black market.

As bad as things are, Cubans worry about what the future will look like once relations with the United States eventually become normalized. Speaking about the US, they worry the Americans "will swallow us whole" and use words like "crushed" and "assimilated" to describe what may lie ahead. The door has already been slightly opened - with a new foreign economic development zone and relaxed rules allowing some Cubans to own private businesses. But these are no panacea either. Small-business owners report frequent harassment, ticketing for endless infractions, and bureaucratic roadblocks. "I don't own this business," says a tired-looking woman, "I am its slave."

DVD (Spanish, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2016 / 52 minutes

WECONOMICS: ITALY

Directed by Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin

Weconomics: Italy reports on the extensive and innovative cooperative economy in the region around Bologna.

The Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy has one of the highest concentrations of cooperative businesses in the developed world. The capital, Bologna is an industrial powerhouse, where prosperity is widely shared, and cooperatives of teachers and social workers play a key role in the provision of government services.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 19 minutes

CHICAGO BOYS

By Carola Fuentes and Rafael Valdeavellano

After the 1973 coup which brought Augusto Pinochet to power, a group of Chilean economists were given the power to turn Chile into a laboratory for the world's most radical neo-liberal experiments. These men, including Sergio de Castro and Rolf Lüders, both of whom would serve as ministers of finance during the Pinochet years, met in the 1950s at the University of Chicago, where they studied under the famed economist Milton Friedman, and the man who would become their mentor, Arnold Harberger.

CHICAGO BOYS is their story from their student days through the dictatorship, told by the Chicago Boys themselves. Could their program for 'economic freedom,' such a drastic restructuring of the Chilean economy, only have been implemented by an authoritarian regime? What were they willing to do to achieve their goals? And how do they see the long-term results today?

Even though they do eventually acknowledge some of the darker sides of their work, Lüders "couldn't care less about inequality," de Castro feels bad for the torturers, and they all seem completely baffled by those Chileans who have filled the streets, for five years now, in protest against their legacy.

DVD (Color) / 2015 / 85 minutes

FOOD COOP

Directed by Tom Boothe

Looks at the workings of a highly profitable supermarket, Brooklyn's Park Slope Food Coop, which for 44 years has been a shining example of a successful alternative economic system at work.

FOOD COOP takes us deep into the belly of the Park Slope Food Coop, one of America's oldest cooperative food supermarkets, with a healthy dose of insight and wit.

Nestled deep in New York City, which, for many, exemplifies both the glory and the horrors of the capitalist spirit, you can find this highly prosperous institution, just as American and certainly more efficient than Wall Street, but whose objective is entirely non-profit. Working against everything that defines "The American Way of Life," the basic principles of the Park Slope Food Coop are simple: each of its 16,000 members work 2.75 hours per month to earn the right to buy the best food in New York at incredibly low prices. This Brooklyn coop founded in 1973 is probably the best implemented socialist experience in the United States.

Through FOOD COOP, you will see this institution come to life and witness how the enthusiasm that animates the Park Slope Food Coop demonstrates a potential for change; how the coop's mode of participation viscerally teaches democracy to those who take part in its activities.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 97 minutes

GENERATION JOBLESS

In Canada, while the economic recovery has eased for many, the youth unemployment rate remains staggering-double that of the general population. The documentary Generation Jobless explores the crisis of over-educated youths being underemployed, scraping by in low-paid, part-time jobs that do not require a degree just to pay off their debt while struggling to find real jobs. Some call them the lost generation, but it is not only young people who will pay the price.

If this generation is unable to forge a way into the economy, whose taxes will support the social safety net? If young people can't afford to buy homes, will the real estate market come crashing down again?

Youth unemployment and underemployment is a ticking time bomb with consequences for everyone.

DVD / 2015 / 43 minutes

CAPITALISM

Capitalism has been the engine of unprecedented economic growth and social transformation. With the fall of the communist states and the triumph of "neo- liberalism," capitalism is by far the world's dominant ideology. But how much do we understand about how it originated, and what makes it work?

CAPITALISM is an ambitious and accessible six-part documentary series that looks at both the history of ideas and the social forces that have shaped the capitalist world.

Blending interviews with some of the world's great historians, economists, anthropologists, and social critics, with on-the-ground footage shot in twenty-two countries, CAPITALISM questions the myth of the unfettered free market, explores the nature of debt and commodities, and retraces some of the great economic debates of the last 200 years.

Each fifty-two minute episode is designed to stand alone, making these ideal for classroom use or as an additional resource for students:

Episode 1: Adam Smith, The Birth of the Free Market Capitalism is much more complex than the vision Adam Smith laid out in The Wealth of Nations. Indeed, it predates Smith by centuries and took root in the practices of colonialism and the slave trade.

Episode 2: The Wealth of Nations: A New Gospel? Adam Smith was both economist and moral philosopher. But his work on morality is largely forgotten, leading to tragic distortions that have shaped our global economic system.

Episode 3: Ricardo and Malthus: Did You Say Freedom? The roots of today's global trade agreements lie in the work of stockbroker David Ricardo and demographer Thomas Malthus. Together, they would restructure society in the image of the market.

Episode 4: What If Marx Was Right? Have we gotten Marx wrong by focusing on the Communist Manifesto instead of on his critique of how capitalism works - a critique that is relevant and as penetrating as ever?

Episode 5: Keynes vs Hayek: A Fake Debate? The ideological divide between the philosophies of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek has dominated economics for nearly a century. Is it time for the pendulum to swing back to Keynes? Or do we need a whole new approach that goes beyond this dualism?

Episode 6: Karl Polanyi, The Human Factor An exploration of the life and work of Karl Polanyi, who sought to reintegrate society and economy. Could the commodification of labour and money ultimately be as disastrous as floods, drought and earthquakes?

CAPITALISM is an impressive series that makes economics accessible through an interdisciplinary approach that explores the work of great thinkers, while embedding economics in specific social, political, and historical contexts. The series can be watched as a whole, but each episode also stands alone.

The series features some of the world's top economists, historians, anthropologists, and sociologists, including Thomas Piketty, Noam Chomsky, Yanis Varoufakis, Nicholas Phillipson, Kari Polanyi Levitt, David Graeber, and Abraham Rotstein.

3 DVDs (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2014 / 320 minutes

DOWNTOWN DREAM

By Aaron Matthews

For decades, small town life in the United States has been slowly and quietly eroding. But there are overlooked stories amidst the talk of America's economic decline: the stories of individual men and women in the "Rust Belt" community in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Once one of the country's largest steel manufacturing centers, Lewistown lost its manufacturing base and industrial might a generation ago and has since become a "ghost town." DOWNTOWN DREAM follows the lives of five dynamic men and women living in Lewistown who refuse to be counted out and instead struggle to reinvent their lives and their dreams in America's chilly economic climate.

Over the course of two years, in DOWNTOWN DREAM, viewers witness five dynamic personal journeys that also concretize the struggles of the town itself. Jon, a developer, reflects Lewistown's wistful remembrance of nobler days; Bernard, a pastor and one of 150 African Americans in Lewistown, embodies the town's potential resurrection; Pam, a would-be salon owner, reflects the can-do spirit that may be a remedy for Lewistown's business community; Barb, a recovering addict, and Katie, her daughter and an aspiring actress and singer, personify its potential physical rehabilitation. Lyrical and intimate, the film reveals typical Americans in a typical American place grappling with the question on everybody's lips today: How do you make it in America anymore?

After more than 40 years of decay, Lewistown is now at a crossroads. The town leaders have drawn up a comprehensive redevelopment plan, and it is taking shape. In order to beautify the deserted downtown, streets have been widened, trees have been planted and buildings have been razed. The centerpiece of the plan-spending $250,000 in state funding to install a park in the town's center-is underway.

The situation in Lewistown mirrors the fate of the nation at this critical point in history. How do Americans make sense of economic and political forces beyond their control? Will they make a go of it and if so, how? In DOWNTOWN DREAM, Jon, Bernard, Pam, Barb and Katie reinvent their dreams in the face of devastation and decay.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2013 / 45 minutes

DETROPIA

Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

A vivid portrait of Detroit, America's first major post-industrial city, as it struggles to deal with the consequences of a broken economic system.

Detroit's story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century...the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim Crow; the rise of manufacturing and the middle class; the love affair with automobiles; the flowering of the American dream; and now the collapse of the economy and the fading American mythos.

With its vivid, painterly palette and haunting score, DETROPIA sculpts a dreamlike collage of a grand city teetering on the brink of dissolution. These soulful pragmatists and stalwart philosophers strive to make ends meet and make sense of it all, refusing to abandon hope or resistance. Their grit and pluck embody the spirit of the Motor City as it struggles to survive postindustrial America and begins to envision a radically different future.

DVD / 2012 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 86 minutes

SURVIVING PROGRESS

Director: Mathieu Roy & Harold Crooks

Technological advancement, economic development, population increase - are they signs of a thriving society? Or too much of a good thing? Based on the best-selling book A Short History of Progress, this provocative documentary explores the concept of progress in our modern world, guiding us through a sweeping but detailed survey of the major "progress traps" facing our civilization in the arenas of technology, economics, consumption, and the environment.

Featuring powerful arguments from such visionaries as Jane Goodall, Margaret Atwood, Stephen Hawking, Craig Venter, Robert Wright, Michael Hudson, and Ronald Wright, this enlightening and visually spectacular film invites us to contemplate the progress traps that destroyed past civilizations and that lie treacherously embedded in our own. Leading critics of Wall Street, cognitive psychologists, and ecologists lay bare the consequences of progress-as-usual as the film travels around the world - from a burgeoning China to the disappearing rainforests of Brazil to a chimp research lab in New Iberia, Louisiana - to construct a shocking overview of the way our global economic system is eating away at our planet's resources and shackling entire populations with poverty.

Providing an honest look at the risks and pitfalls of running 21st Century "software" (our accumulated knowledge) on 50,000-year-old "hardware" (our primate brains), Surviving Progress offers a challenge: to prove making apes smarter was not an evolutionary dead end.

DVD-R / 2012 / 86 minutes

MARX RELOADED

By Jason Barker

MARX RELOADED is a cultural documentary that examines the relevance of German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx's ideas for understanding the global economic and financial crisis.

The recent crisis triggered the deepest global recession in 70 years and prompted the US government to spend more than 1 trillion dollars in order to rescue its banking system from collapse. Today the full implications of the crisis in Europe and around the world still remain unclear. Nevertheless, should we accept the crisis as an unfortunate side-effect of the free market? Or is there another explanation as to why it happened and its likely effects on our society, our economy and our whole way of life?

Today a new generation of philosophers, artists and political activists are returning to Marx's ideas in order to try to make sense of the crisis and to consider whether a world without or beyond capitalism is possible. Is the severity of the ongoing recession a sign that the capitalist system's days are numbered? Ironically, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, could it be that communism might provide the solution to the growing economic and environmental challenges facing the planet?

Written and directed by Jason Barker - himself an experienced writer, lecturer, translator and doctor of philosophy - MARX RELOADED includes interviews with leading thinkers on Marxism, including those at the forefront of a popular revival in Marxist and communist ideas. The film also includes interviews with leading skeptics of this revival as well as light-hearted animation sequences which follow Marx's adventures through the matrix of his own ideas.

Interviews with leading experts include: Norbert Bolz, Micha Brumlik, John Gray, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, Nina Power, Jacques Ranciere, Peter Sloterdijk, Alberto Toscano, and Slavoj Zizek.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2011 / 52 minutes

RISE OF DISASTER CAPITALISM (NAOMI KLEIN)

The Rise of Disaster Capitalism features Naomi Klein explaining the ideas and research behind her bestselling book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. In this riveting lecture and interview, Klein challenges and exposes the popular myth of the free market economy's peaceful global victory.

Around the world there are people with power who are cashing in on chaos, exploiting bloodshed and catastrophe to brutally implement their policies. They are the shock doctors. From Chile in 1973 to Iraq today, this is the chilling tale of how a few are making a killing while more are getting killed.

DVD / 2009 / 77 minutes

WHAT'S THE ECONOMY FOR, ANYWAY?

Directed by John de Graaf

Ecological economist Dave Batker questions whether GDP is an adequate measure of society's well-being and suggests workable alternatives.

Fame, ecological economist Dave Batker presents a humorous, edgy, factual, timely and highly-visual monologue about the American economy today, challenging the ways we measure economic success--especially the Gross Domestic Product--and offering an answer to the question: What's the Economy for, Anyway?

Using Gifford Pinchot's idea that the economy's purpose is "the greatest good for the greatest number over the longest run," Batker compares the performance of the U.S. economy with that of other industrial countries in terms of providing a high quality of life, fairness and ecological sustainability, concluding that when you do the numbers, we come out near the bottom in nearly every category.

Batker shines a humorous light on such economic buzzwords as "productivity," and "consumer sovereignty," while offering ideas for "capitalism with a human face," a new economic paradigm that meets the real needs of people and the planet.

DVD / 2009 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 40 minutes

GLOBAL CONNECTIONS: HOW WE ARE CONNECTED TO THE REST OF THE WORLD

Everyday we can see things in our lives that show us that we are connected with people all over the world. But exactly how is Australia connected to the other countries in the world, and what are our responsibilities? This program looks at how Australia is connected with the rest of the world in three key areas - trade and travel, communications, and global organisations and agreements. It features interviews with representatives from:

An export firm (Staedtler Pacific) ABC NewsRadio The United Nations The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade There is also a case study of AusAID.

DVD / 2003 / 21 minutes

MONEY AND BANKING: WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW

Taught By Professor Michael K. Salemi

From the invention of coins by the ancient Lydians to the 21st-century eurozone, human history tells the story of ingenious financial systems and the never-ending quest for economic solutions. Today, our global economy is both fascinating and dizzyingly complex-challenging even experts to comprehend it fully. But one thing remains clear: Money and finance play a deeply fundamental role in your life.

Money is a social contract that affects the decisions of nations and individuals. Our financial institutions drive our political systems and the growth of nations. And money and banking are indispensable in both your daily financial transactions and your most essential long-term plans. A working knowledge of money and banking systems is critically useful in several ways:

It helps you understand the complex and often bewildering world of finance. It helps you to "read" the current economic climate, to make sense of what you see in the media, and to gauge where the economy is headed. It gives you key insights into society and the economic issues in life. It allows you to comprehend integral aspects of history and the way civilization developed. Perhaps most important, it helps you to plan your own life and to make key financial decisions for yourself and your family.

Speaking to all of this in Money and Banking: What Everyone Should Know, economist and award-winning Professor Michael K. Salemi of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill leads you in a panoramic exploration of our monetary and financial systems, their inner workings, and their crucial role and presence in your world. In 36 incisive and detailed lectures, he gives you a penetrating look at the financial institutions that are fundamental to your life and well-being. Beginning with the colorful history of money, including the monetary history of the United States, you investigate pivotal topics, including

the crucial role of public confidence in the stability of our financial system; how money is created by commercial and central banks; how "Wall Street" and "Main Street" are inextricably intertwined, each requiring the success of the other; the dramatic history and causes of hyperinflation; the uses of "local" currencies and nontraditional monetary systems; the thorny problem of financial firms that are deemed "too big to fail," and why being named "TBTF" gives firms an incentive to engage in risky investments; the irrational psychology of stock market "bubbles," in which investing becomes speculative gambling; and why the value of the dollar depends on interest rates elsewhere in the world.

6 DVDs (With Course Guidebook) / 1080 minutes

UNDERSTANDING INVESTMENTS

Taught By Professor Connel Fullenkamp, Ph.D.

Understanding Investments helps you do just that. In 24 lectures, it introduces the fundamentals of investing to those new to the subject while broadening and deepening the knowledge of more experienced investors. Taught by Professor Connel Fullenkamp, an award-winning educator from Duke University who regularly consults in the world of international finance, these lectures clearly explain the various kinds of financial markets, the different kinds of investments available to you, and the pros and cons of each. Even more important: The course shows you how to evaluate each of these in terms of your own financial situation.

4 DVDs (With Course Guidebook) / 720 minutes

WHERE IS THE WORLD GOING, MR. STIGLITZ?

Director: Jacques Sarasin

Simply and eloquently, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz explains how the world's economy works. Drawing not only from his academic expertise but also from time spent on the ground in countries around the world, Stiglitz offers fresh thinking about the questions and challenges facing all of us - from well-off Americans to those mired in Third World poverty.

This five part series will appeal to experts and non-experts alike, as Stiglitz's clear and concise reasoning about the complexities of globalization is revealed. The topics covered include an overview of the world economy; the challenge of global warming and the environment; the future of global trade and immigration; how globalization can benefit (and harm) developing countries; and issues of security and terrorism.

Jospeh Stiglitz is one of the most respected economists in the world today. Some of his positions and achievements include:

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics Chairman of Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors Chief Economist at the World Bank Chair of the Management Board of the Brooks World Poverty Institute Consultant to World Leaders Professor at Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Stanford and (currently) Columbia University Author of the Best-Selling Book Globalization and Its Discontents (translated into 35 languages) and its followup Making Globalization Work

2 DVDs / 380 minutes

http://www.learningemall.com/News/Economics_202011.html

Roseanne Conner Has Been Permanently Foreclosed!

It’s been barely one week since actress/comedienne Roseanne Barr ended decades’ worth of comedic goodwill from her “Domestic Goddess” alter ego...all with one fatal tweet.  

And, almost four years after Bill Cosby saw his comedy empire fall – once the floodgates had burst open regarding his past history as a sexual predator – a sad parallel can be drawn.  I would refer people back to my November 2014 op-ed piece entitled “Dr. Huxtable Has Left the Building...”

To be clear:  there are pointed differences between the respective downfalls of both Barr and Cosby.  The latter had managed to keep his sex crimes hush/hush for several decades before his depravity caught up with him...a harbinger of karmic justice for sexual abuse survivors, more than three years before the #MeToo movement arose.

Barr, by contrast, had a history of crude and unflattering public behavior...but nothing, in and of itself, that would ever turn her into a universal pariah.  Her pattern of racist statements didn’t begin until the Obama presidency (coinciding with her own forays into political campaigns...including her 2012 long-shot presidential bid on the Peace & Freedom Party ticket).

What finally did her in: following the successful revival of her classic sitcom (for a de facto tenth season) this past spring, Barr pressed her luck one too many times.  In a May 29 racist slur made by Barr on Twitter, she compared former Obama White House public engagement liaison Valerie Jarrett to an ape:

Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.

Within a day, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey officially pulled the plug on the revival’s much-anticipated fall return (which would have been its eleventh season, technically).  Fittingly, Dungey is the first black woman to head a major broadcast network.

Amid a bizarre flurry of alternately apologizing for – and then doubling down on – her hate speech over the next few days, Barr lashed out at a variety of addition public figures, including Chelsea Clinton, George Soros, and a handful of her former costars.  Barr was promptly dropped by her talent agency, ICM Partners.

Predictably, Fox News and legions of Barr’s conservative followers (due to the actress’s – and her character’s – full-throated support of Donald Trump) took to the airwaves, excoriating ABC (and the so-called “liberal media”) for censoring Barr and trampling on her First Amendment rights.  What they fail to acknowledge is that the First Amendment doesn’t allow for anybody to say anything they want, whenever they want, with absolutely no repercussions.

First, let’s dispose of the faux-outrage from the Far Right by establishing why Barr’s tweet was unequivocally racist.  As The Washington Post’s Arica L. Coleman chronicles, European colonists who enslaved Africans openly viewed and maligned people of color as “lustful” creatures by likening them to the primates that inhabited continental Africa.  This has been used as a basis for dehumanizing the worth and personhood of black people in the United States for centuries.

So for Barr to compare Jarrett to a simian – that digs straight to the heart of the systemic, cultural, and social forms of racism that have plagued black Americans for generations.  It’s much different than, say, liberal citizens who’ve joked that George W. Bush looked like a monkey – due to how there has never been any albino species of primate ever linked to a historical institution of oppression.  The only “white ape” from America’s history is the mythical legend of one found within the Tarzan franchise.

That being said, ABC should have realized it was taking a risk when it first signed Roseanne Barr for her sitcom’s revival last year.  The May 29 tweet against Jarrett was nothing new for the fallen star; Barr had a recorded history of making such racist statements in recent years.  

Furthermore, it should have been a warning sign when taking into account how Barr had endorsed Bernie Sanders (a self-described “Democratic socialist”) during the 2016 primaries – but then turned right around and endorsed Donald Trump (a demented fairweather conservative and avowed corporatist).  In terms of ideology and decorum, Sanders and Trump are oceans apart.  The fact that Barr jumped from Sanders to Trump should have been a red flag that she was still unstable (notwithstanding her own volatile public image throughout the 1990s).

This reminds me of the whole Duck Dynasty flap from late-2013.  Remember? – A&E infamously fired the reality show’s patriarch, Phil Robertson, after he’d made anti-gay statements in a GQ interview that year.  When Duck Dynasty fans (and the entire Robertson family itself) threatened to pull out and retaliate, A&E backpedaled and reinstated him.

I addressed this in my January 2014 op-ed entitled “What the Duck, America...?!?!”  Phil Robertson had delivered his anti-LGBT speech in a manner that was devoid of slurs, so it was easier for him (and his supporters) to throw a tantrum and get him his job back.  Roseanne Barr, by contrast, explicitly chose a racial slur that was so blatant and overt that there was no coming back from it.  If Robertson had openly used a term like “cocksuckers” or “faggots” during his interview, I suspect his termination would have stuck – he would have become the pariah back in 2014 that Barr has become this summer.

Nor does ABC itself have clean hands.  While ABC/Disney CEO Bob Iger has condemned Barr after justifying her very public firing by saying:

There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.

...yet, Iger himself has an abominable personal record of cherrypicking his perception of “acceptable” hateful sentiments toward minority groups.  With cognitively-dissonant tactlessness, Iger outwardly pays lip service to people of color and women...but, on the other hand, he is totally willing to throw LGBT people and non-Christians under the bus, as I’d profiled in my op-ed from this past March entitled “Political Indirectness.”

And on top of that:  ABC is *still* trying to milk revenue out of Roseanne itself by reportedly exploring the possibility of creating a Darlene spinoff starring Sara Gilbert, who played the Conners’ rebellious middle child.  They are obviously thinking they can channel the success of The Hogan Family after Valerie Harper exited her self-titled sitcom back in the 1980s.  

Roseanne, however, just won’t work that way.  Harper had only done Valerie for a season-and-a-half before she was pink-slipped due to demanding a pay raise.  Roseanne now has a full decade worth of content and history behind it.  Also, Sara Gilbert is still needed as a sane and reasonable voice to balance out the toxic neofeminism (from some of her fellow cohosts) on her current CBS daytime gabfest, The Talk (even though The Talk and Roseanne do have their respective studios on the same backlot).

I understand the desire to keep the 200+ cast/crew members employed in the wake of Barr’s racist meltdown.  But ABC could still make a concerted effort to find all of them new jobs on other ABC Studios (or ancillary) productions.  I seriously doubt that any casting director or showrunner will hold it against any of Barr’s castmates or the below-the-line crew via some stigma of “guilt-by-association.”   If anything, other series would have nothing but sympathy for any Roseanne refugees who want to get back to work.

The final piece of irony in all of this is exactly how far Barr herself has fallen.  In her sitcom’s original inception, she portrayed Roseanne Conner, a blue-collar suburban Illinois worker and mother whose dysfunctional lower middle-class family was unlike any clan ever portrayed before on an American primetime comedy.  Her TV husband, John Goodman’s lovable-but-equally-assertive Dan, balanced her out with fantastic chemistry.

As Roseanne and Dan grappled with living from paycheck to paycheck – hopping from one crummy and thankless job to the next – they had their hands full raising their three children: oldest daughter, Becky (Lecy Goranson), a brainy overachiever with a sharp tongue; middle daughter, Darlene (Gilbert), a bratty tomboy with even more classic retorts than Becky; and youngest son, D.J. (Michael Fishman), a rambunctious mischief-maker who was clearly Mama Conner’s favorite.

Americans dealt with the recession of the early-1990s, and, likewise, the Conners’ own fortunes ebbed-and-flowed.  Dan – originally a drywell contractor – went into business for himself as a bike shop owner...but his establishment folded after two years.  Roseanne, meanwhile, floated from factory worker to beauty salon sweeper to restaurant server to finally opening her own successful restaurant in 1992 (shortly after Dan’s bike shop went belly up).  Since, when the show returned for Season 10 this past spring, Roseanne Conner was now a disabled Uber driver, it can only be assumed that The Lunch Box (her and Jackie’s loose meat sandwich diner) must have gone belly up at some point (probably during The Great Recession).

Always present during the show’s original run was the terrific Laurie Metcalf as Roseanne’s hapless pushover of a younger sister, Jackie.  Becky and Darlene began dating (and, eventually, each married) a set of brothers: bad boy Mark (the late Glenn Quinn) and introverted David (Johnny Galecki, who has now skyrocketed to success as Leonard on The Big Bang Theory).  D.J.’s character was also fleshed out, as the years went on.

The Conners were always crass, outspoken, and constantly fighting an uphill battle of remaining just above the poverty line.  So many Americans related to them because a lot of our own struggles were their struggles.  Offscreen, Barr battled for creative control with a turntable of showrunners – but ultimately, she secured the top decision-making power and vaulted her sitcom to #1 in the Nielsens.

When I talk about “the irony” of Barr’s present-day fall, I’m referring to its fluctuating content.  Seasons 4 and 5 were the strongest of Roseanne, in my humble opinion – and the ratings reflected that popular sentiment (in fact, many of the fans even prefer the sitcom’s earliest three seasons; I actually view Seasons 1 through 3 as having many significant weak spots, in hindsight).  But then, around Season 6 (coinciding with Barr’s highly-publicized divorce from actor Tom Arnold), Roseanne’s quality began to take a nosedive.

The Roseanne Conner character had always made strong statements against the patriarchy while opposing male domination in her daily life.  But she had always done it in an endearing, authentic way.  By 1993, her lead character suddenly shifted from being lovably-sarcastic and sympathetically-cantankerous to just being outright mean.  Her misandry (i.e. contempt for males) became pronounced and gratuitous in virtually every episode.  Dan’s character became wildly uneven – oscillating between charismatic assertiveness, psychotic temperamental escapades, and the meekness of a stereotypically-“whipped” husband.

There was no longer any consistency to Roseanne and Dan’s marital interactions.  Every episode eventually became written to essentially boost Barr’s ego...rather than organically developing the characters or advancing their storylines.  

It’s ironic, when you think about it, seeing how one of Roseanne’s most critically-acclaimed episodes aired in Season 7 and dealt with D.J. being afraid to kiss Geena, his black female classmate, in a school play.  Upon returning after two decades off the air, in the Season 10 revival it’s revealed that D.J. actually went on to marry Geena herself...and they have a daughter named Mary (presumably named after Nana Mary, played by the late Shelley Winters) together.  And Roseanne Conner absolutely adores her youngest new granddaughter.  Just more bittersweet poetic irony...

Still, ABC remained mum – and reaped the advertising revenue from Roseanne Conner’s new persona of toxic misandry.  It was a #1 show, after all.  Even when it gradually began bleeding viewers over the course of Seasons 6 through 9, it still delivered solid ratings.  This was likely a consequence of nostalgia, viewer loyalty, and women in the viewing audience who’d latched onto a lead female character who (usually) didn’t take crap from anybody.  Hell, when Goranson left the show during its fifth season, Roseanne got away with recasting the role of Becky (introducing audiences to Sarah Chalke, later of Scrubs fame).  When Barr got pregnant in real-life, the birth of the Conners’ fourth child – their son, Jerry – was written into the series.

But for all of those years, ABC never complained...because male-bashing has been fairly “fashionable” within mainstream culture for the past few decades.  It took Barr making a reprehensible and indefensible racial slur for her to finally be put in her place.

Another reason why I’m skeptical of a Darlene spinoff: the Season 10 finale (apparently, the de facto series finale), which aired on May 22 (less than two weeks ago!), actually wrapped up the show quite nicely.  The Conners’ basement flooded, and it looked as though they were about to lose everything.  Then, a state of emergency was declared – empowering the Conners through an allocation of FEMA dollars that not only allowed them to repair their house but also provided enough money for Roseanne Conner to have her badly-needed knee surgery.  The final scene is of the extended Conner family ready to pig out on Roseanne’s favorite foods the night before her surgery takes place.

This would be a fitting spot to end the series for good.  It was certainly superior to the much-maligned “Lottery Season” (Season 9) that ended the show’s original run, which was revealed to be part of a fictitious short novel that Roseanne Conner had written.

When the Roseanne revival (Season 10) was first announced back in April of last year, I had my own extensive wish-list for it.  By and large, I think they did an excellent job (particularly memorable was the scene where “Grammy Rose” proceeded to “waterboard” mouthy granddaughter Harris – portrayed by newcomer Emma Kenney – in the kitchen sink).  I was looking forward to Season 11.  It’s beyond disgusting how Barr couldn’t learn how to hold her tongue and enjoy a generation of newfound success.

Still, while I find the ABC cancellation to be justified, I do think it’s an overreaction for networks such as CMT, The Paramount Network, TV Land, and Hulu to yank Roseanne’s syndicated reruns.  I thought the exact same thing when all syndicated episodes of The Cosby Show were unceremoniously pulled back in 2014 and 2015.  If the syndication revenue falls due to viewer backlash, *THEN* rescinding the syndicated runs makes sense.  But let us enjoy all the happy memories we have of Roseanne.  And let the cast enjoy the money from any residuals if there is indeed an audience left for the old episodes.  And yes, I still have the exact same sentiments about The Cosby Show.

To be clear, there have been much different circumstances and contexts surrounding the deletion of both Roseanne and The Cosby Show from the airwaves.  But the former “Domestic Goddess” deserves nothing but scorn for torpedoing her own career after a downslide that has been a protracted slow burn.

And, much like Bill Cosby, Roseanne Barr has no one but herself to blame for it.

Abyssmalsavior/Azurefiend/Demifiend-Hitoshura/Kashima-Naokishin | Crownedclowngirl | Glowingibyss | Loveismysword+  Masterpost [DIAMOND EDITION]

REPOST TIME! Since Tumblr is a piece of shit and made all the links on the original post defunct as soon as I hit Save on it, after I took an exhausting amount of time fixing and re-testing what links I could get to. 

soft edit: Apparently the links in the post are showing up now, strikethroughs and all. ... Yeah, I guess you can just head to the OP and reblog that. I’ll just keep this here.

Cursory reading before I go into this a little further, as some people have covered evidence of this individual’s antics in their respective dealings with her.

[ Amendment note: due to deactivations, archives, url switches, or a combination of these situations, some links have been struck out to show that the post source no longer exists and was not reblogged or preserved in any capacity (my bad!). They will otherwise remain as they are, but with additional links. The links provided are separated from the old links with a || symbol. 

Also, anony.ws got shut down and the Tumblr meta redirect otherwise leads to malware or something, so I advise just... not trusting any anony.ws links at all on this post until I can find the replacements for the images.

The links near the bottom quoting abyssmalsavior and her many antics will not be struck out, however, as they are either direct quotes from her, from people that have dealt with her and their assessment of her behavior, or otherwise describe the intent of the post. ] @terminusvitae​ [ Link 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ] || [ 7 ], [ 8 ], [ 9 ], [ 10 ], [ 11 ], [ 12 ], [ 13 ], [ 14 ], [ 15 ], [ 16 ] @thespellweaver​ [ Link 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ] || [ 6 ], [ 7 ], [ 8 ], [ 9 ], [ 10 ]

@temen-ni-gru  [ START HERE ], [ THEN HERE ], [ Link 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ] || [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ], [ 7 ], [ 8 ], [ 9 ], [ 10 ], [ 11 ], [ 12 ], [ 13 ], [ 14 ], [ 15 ], [ 16 ], [ 17 ], [ 18 ], [ 19 ], [ 20 ], [ 21 ], [ 22 ], [ 23 ], [ 24 ], [ 25 ]

@indifferenceismyshield literally the entire blog. check it out. They’re doing the Lord’s work.

And there’s even an Encyclopedia Dramatica page about her bullshit back on DeviantArt close to a decade ago, which she never stops bringing up. DeviantArt, I mean, not ED. if there’s anyone else I might’ve missed, feel free to reblog and add your own links. [ Amendment note: screenshots provided through reblogs of this masterpost, recent evidence, and found evidence of her past dealings have been added to the masterpost. preceded by [a1.#] Ctrl+F a1. to scroll down to them. The previous a0.# points have been unbolded. ] Now, you might be wondering (although I’d hope not), “Wow, how can someone be capable of causing this much trouble with multiple people?”  Simple. She’s a moron that thinks she can get away with paper-thin attempts at catfishing. She vainly tries to attempt separating her main three blogs (crownedclowngirl, abyssmalsavior, and glowingibyss) from each other while keeping CCGs sideblogs (of which soravalentine is obviously part of, as well as ninjaprincessyuffie) and GIs sideblogs (GI a.k.a. dark-mistress-shiro and demoniccielaphantomhive) obvious as hell, but somehow it didn’t occur to her that we can tell they’re the same person, primarily because I can see her IP looking at specific posts I make/reblog just before she responds to them or reacts on any of the aforementioned blogs, even though I made a post this morning highlighting it. I reblogged a post originating from her abyssmalsavior account. These are her anons, posing as “Vincent-mun” (a.k.a. gothic-gunman, a glowingibyss sideblog). This is her IP looking at my post after having specifically gone to the inbox. Timestamps, they work like magic. I made my post almost calling her a brain-dead lemur. This is her IP looking at that post. This is her response, on abyssmalsavior, after exiting specifically from my post’s url to her Reblog page. I reblogged posts from crownedclowngirl on Dec 10th as receipts? Oh look, her IP looking at the posts on my blog, then she got upset about it, or something. That happened on the 18 of November too, come to think of it. Oh shit, turns out I searched all those times the same IP visited my blog-- they happen to be the times either crownedclowngirl and abyssmalsavior had something to say to/about me concerning their own bad behavior which I was keeping track of. Oops. Pray tell, how does she try defending her catfishing? Looking through the archive apparently it involves insisting that “tumblr staff confirmed we don’t have matching IPs” even though I-- you know what? Let’s highlight how stupid that is.  First she makes a post getting pissy about my behavior as if she has any right, and there’s some passing mention about how her grandmother just died, as if she ever really gave a fuck about her grandmother, but I’ll get to that in a moment. There’s mention of crownedclowngirl being physically present with her. As in, they live in the same general area and could visit each other at any given moment. Now, considering archives on Tumblr display posts from left to right, most recent to least recent, this means she said crownedclowngirl was physically in the same place she was, then she reblogs a post from CCG saying “tumblr confirmed we don’t have matching IPs” and the response? “Oh I forgot about that”. The stupidity of that statement is pointed out courtesy of @cambixnisms. Abyssmal and CCG then proceeded to have a conversation with each other by posting/reblogging each other about personal things instead of talking to the other person.  It’s not even that subtle, she makes 0 effort to make herself act like different people in different places when she outs herself readily by posting personal information. Crownedclowngirl was downloading an MMO when she resided in Matagorda County (in the Bay City area) with her grandmother. Matagorda “comprises the Bay City, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Houston-The Woodlands, TX Combined Statistical Area.” The IP address listed on many screenshots thus far is Humble, Texas. Humble is “a city in Harris County, Texas, United States, within the Houston metropolitan area.” Assuming that IP address only belonged to Abyssmalsavior, she happened to post about “local news” concerning two day care workers being fired over a transgender student, and the event in question happened in Katy, Texas. Katy is “a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. The city is located in Harris, Fort Bend, and Waller counties.” Humble and Katy have Harris County in common, and there’s another county separating both those cities from Matagorda. This is what their locations would be if highlighted on [a section of] a map of Texas. She didn’t even try hiding that they’re all in Texas, you all can see that. She doesn’t try typing differently. All three main blogs and their established sides make the same typos. “Forum” instead of “form”: on abyssmal: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] ; on ccg: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] ”Tows” instead of “those” “Ano” instead of “anon”: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] “Deformation” instead of “defamation”: on abyssmal: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]  ; on glowingibyss: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] ; on crownedclowngirl: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] She’s tried halfway owning up to the typos by calling them “common disability markers” on more than one occasion-- the point being, all “three” of these users have dyslexia, in the same form of it that means they type the same way, somehow. Which is funny, because that means someone was being lied to about a disability they all shared and easily copped to having, or they were just covering up for abyssmal and making excuses, which isn’t that hard to assume. Whether or not she has autism or dyslexia, a) that is not an excuse for shitty behavior, as a 30 year old woman she will be held accountable, and b) there’s still obviously something wrong with her when even an anon points it out. How does she get away with talking to a behavior specialist about someone she knows, discussing confidential information, when they’re not even family? Friend or not, that’s not what people in any remotely medical field do. Add to that, the same opinions and the same expression of those opinions. Somehow both abyssmal and crownedclowngirl felt the need to reblog a post about Rose Quartz (from Steven Universe) and compare people turning white characters into POC and increasing representation of POC in media (racebending) to being exactly as harmful as making an obviously big character skinny and erasing the representation associated with it (fat-shaming), then saying racebending is awful because we get less white people, and reacting nastily when someone replies to that.  CCG and GI are both half-Irish and heavily concerned with representation of the Irish in media (especially Disney) and how bad they have it in terms of stereotyping and racism-- really? What are the chances? Calling someone a butt-hurt diva and a bitch? That sounds awfully familiar... Let me get this out of the way, what are the chances both CCG and AS had grandmothers whom were very ill and required frequent/overnight hospital stays and visits, and that AS would start mentioning hers around the same time CCG stopped mentioning hers? Not that abyssmal really cared, seeing as how her first priority when mentioning that her grandmother is dying is “don’t shit talk me” not “I hope she passes on painlessly” or something. Using your grandma as a shield from criticism is bad form no matter how you slice it. Now that we’ve established they’re all the same person, what exactly is she guilty of? Let’s start with literally everything. [a0.1] first and foremost, suicide baiting attempts against both timcxnpy and knifeofshinra. The post warning the fandom against abyssmalsavior is here, and the claim was corroborated by kos through abuse-archives.  “I’m not sorry I just told you your friend isn’t suicidal she’s just a bitch” mistreatment of CSA survivors as told by the anti-anti-wincest blog [a0.2] the mistreatment in more detail: telling survivors of child sexual abuse how to use the term and what to call themselves; “dickhead dumbass sjw”; ”worthless piece of garbage”; defending their calling a rape victim a slut; “no survivor would demean themselves unless they felt they were guilty”; “you aren’t a hater are you? because if you are I was waiting for someone to SINK my claws into tonight ill be happy to rip you a new hole"; “CSA survivor is not a thing and will never BE a thing!”; “CSA IS NOT AN ANAGRAM FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE!!!!!!!!!!!” ; “CSA as Child sex assault IS NOT A FUCKING THING AND WILL NEVER BE A FUCKING THING GET OVER IT”; as told by glimmeringgoldenearl-- “you condone pedophila, abuse, bad bdsm, and other things”; as told by countess-claudia-phantomhive-- “seriously assuming that everyone on here that says they are victims of Child Sex Abuse is faking it”; as told by shironais-- “you not only support pedophilia, but you also feel the need to insult people who want to share their thoughts with yours”; as told by beauty-trainer-molly-- “You refuse to tag your gross sebaciel and when people ask you nicely you become this bellowing ass hat who insults them and refuses”. “No one of value wants to hear your bullshit” (note: cedfiaisabadship has an faq that explains why that’s a bad ship, as well as the role of pro-pedophilic fiction in grooming children for sexual abuse, and if it wasn’t obvious enough, fiction affects reality.) [!!!] ”TRASHIEST BULLSHIT ENTITLEMENT PIECE OF GARBAGE EVER” [!!!] wtf are nasty grams [!!!] ”whore cam”???  [!!!] false accusations against thespellweaver [a0.3] more false accusations, note that this post was made after she mass-deleted her posts on abyssmalsavior to hide evidence of her wrongdoing.  [a1.1] hopping on an alt blog, fallen-nobility, to tell user tayvents that “YOUR AN ASSHOLE GO TO HELL”, and continuing to tell them to go to hell over a ship. [a1.2] "the wikia is fucked up and your an asshole [...] she owned your ass admit it and move the fuck on! [...] GO CHEW ON YOUR FUCKED UP CRAP YOU MORON” [a0.4] admitting that they would set up a new blog [zoomed in version] separate from abyssmalsavior. proceeds to create the azurefiend blog with the same character, same theme, same writing style, and proceeds to send message as azurefiend, quickly outing herself as abyssmal. [a1.3] created neitherdevilnorman, and also outs herself as abyssmal on ‘norman’ by having the same opinion on ‘statcounter is spyware’/ ‘works completely on spyware’ / ’it’s a Trojan’, and claiming to have blocked blogs that have never spoken to that specific person, as well as having ‘knowledge’ (I use this term loosely) of the drama between temen-ni-gru and abyssmalsavior. tayvents counters the ‘statcounter is spyware’ lie [ here ], [ here ], and [ here ]. The last link is in reply to an anon that calls thespellweaver and stylish-alastor ‘full of shit’. sent herself anons on neitherdevilnorman calling thespellweaver a ‘drama ho’. [a1.4] created the loveismysword blog and pretends to be an anti-hate ‘zen’ blog, only to defend her alt accounts and excuse their gross, homophobic behavior. admits their bias in the following post. outs herself as abyssmal and other alts by continuing to insist that statcounter is a spyware program with no proof, and uses “ghetto” as an insult and defends such word usage by claiming “words have more than one meaning”. also creates the ‘loveismyswordblockedthembecause’ blog to spread more misinformation and lies about the blogs she’s been blocking. callout post by thespellweaver concerning that, and another from thespellweaver countering the claim that ‘statcounter is spyware’. additional counters from putesco, ventus-ven-for-short, and roxas-number-thirteen. [a1.5] created kashima-naokishin, and outed herself as abyssmal using common misspellings found in other alt blogs, as well as carrying drama between mvpsatan and thespellweaver, using SJW as a pejorative term, insisting on “settling timeline issues” concerning DMC and SMT: Nocturne in exactly the same way as all other Naoki blogs in recent time, and again throwing a baseless accusation that “[statcounter] asks for information it’s not supposed to have”. committing this grievous crime against language (also, “my IQ is borderline genius”? lmao that’s 2nd grader “Broly’s power is maximum” levels of bullshit) “excuse you and go to hell” (but “I HAVE NEVER disrespected anyone”??? lol) “private conversations need to remain private”, proceeds to slam someone in public for defending Chaos-mun and claiming “I DON’T OWE YOU JACK SHIT” [a1.6] misgenders Chaos-mun yet again, lies about it by making up conversations, and brings up “old dead drama” by reblogging a post made a month ago harassment of minors and other people flipping shit when someone tells her to respect others and show proper etiquette shitting on SoraKairi shippers (or at least people who are sick of shipping-related Kairi hate) "I owe you nothing more or less than an ass kicking right now” [a0.5] “I confessed that I wanted to shoot one really dirty whore bitch back then [...]  when the universe deals with this bitch its gonna be a fate worse than death and something more evil than I could imagine and I want to see that more than i want to shoot her in her fucking face” [a0.6] “Im gonna indulge because you deserve nothing but the worst spite hatred and vile claws ripping down your back you vain little slut”; [!!!] “WHORE BITCH IS LUCKY I DON’T KNOW WHERE SHE LIVES BECAUSE I’M IN A MOOD TO REND THE FLESH FORM HER BODY FOR THIS THAT’S HOW FUCKING PISSED I AM.[...] maybe the universe will appease me more than physically torturing a little cyberbully dike if I choose to ignore my murderous intentions.” [a0.7] “she is a LYING WHORE who I will see banned for harassing me” [a1.7] for irony, these are her anons harassing people to circumvent them blocking her. on stylish-alastor: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] and one added instance of her blog-camping. [a0.8] complaining about mutual only role players  co-opting someone else’s roleplay confession post to victimize herself fatshaming. apparently fanart portraying a character as fat is an insult to people who lose weight. it slaughters a character’s development. but then she can’t decide whether to do that or skinny-shame by calling thin women “twigs” and “stick figures” “people need to stop saying I can’t handle rejection” but the rules on her Yuffie blog give the exact impression that can’t handle rejection or being told ‘no’ wanting demonic ciel to be ageless like Sebastian to "fuck[ing] with every ship hater ever by making shota art on one hand and adult porn videos on the other”, which, well, if she didn’t sound like a pedophile before, she does with that one. [a1.8] using ‘loveismysword’ to continue attacking tayvents over tay’s refusal to do a pedophilic ship. their post addresses tay as “upset user” and paints her as abusive, tay’s counterpost here proves no abusive behavior came from her. Also sent a message to tayvents, “We are not sorry we do not see justification for your actions”, and kept insisting that she was hostile. capslock raging at someone calling Grell trans, later tries to defend it on abyssmal by saying “hackers did it” [a0.9] “GREL isn’t CIS HES GAY YOU PRICK”; “I WILL RUIN YOU BITCH! [...] I RUIN YOU with NO MERCY and NO REGRETS!”; “GO TO HELL I am sick and fucking tired of this crap like I'm gonna listen to a loser prick like you”  in general just being a massive (inexcusably so) knob-end and not even in a remotely satisfying way [a1.9] pretends to be sole arbiter of what constitutes having a panic attack. accuses a user of having faked it -- “that user is not showing aftereffects of a panic attack at all”--  just because they might have been on an alternate blog during said attack, when it’s likely used as a coping method. called out courtesy of an anon here. to compare: lord-kuran, a known alt, called said user a “greedy bitch” and also accused them of lying about their attack.

Signal boost, and if there is anything more to add, please do so in the reblogs. Hopefully this post won’t need more amendments, but I won’t hold my breath.

The Daily Disaster-5/18

AN UNDER-APPRECIATED PROBLEM WITH THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY IS HOW HE AND HIS STAFF CONTINUOUSLY NORMALIZE DISASTER. BECAUSE WE WITNESS NEW SCANDALS, GAFFES, COVERUPS, HYPOCRISY, MISDIRECTION, INCOMPETENCE, ATROCITY, CRONYISM, IGNORANCE, RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, TREASON, EMBARRASSMENT, LIES, DYSFUNCTION, POWER GRABS, WAR ESCALATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL ASSAULTS, MISOGYNY AND MORE ON A DAILY BASIS, THE MAGNITUDE OF EACH IS DIMINISHED IN OUR CONSCIOUSNESS BY THE SIMPLE VIRTUE THAT WE HAVE BECOME SATURATED. BECAUSE OF THIS, WE AT ZENRUPTION WILL BE PUBLISHING A DAILY CURATION OF THE EVENTS THAT HAVE BEEN REPORTED, FROM VARIOUS SOURCES, INCLUDING LEAKS WITHIN THE WHITE HOUSE, SO THAT WE CAN FULLY EXPERIENCE THE LEVEL OF DISASTER OUR EXECUTIVE BRANCH HAS BECOME AND THE IMPLICATIONS IT HAS ON ALL OF US. TODAY, MAY 18, 2017

Check back often

and contribute!

By Jerry Mooney

From The Horse's Mouth (Trump tweets, then leaker tweets, then published reports)

Trump deleted these tweets today, but I screenshotted them :)

With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017

This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017

Why Is Donald Trump Standing By Mike Flynn? https://t.co/8zEFwX3gKX via @buzzfeed

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 18, 2017

1/ Some Republicans are boo-hooing about the special prosecutor. You know what would have prevented it? I'll tell you.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 18, 2017

2/ Not trying to turn the House Intel hearings into a "but muh leaks" clown show. Not having the WH conspire with Nunes.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 18, 2017

3/ Not slow-rolling the House and Senate investigations and hoping it will all go away. Not tweeting and giving incriminating interviews.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 18, 2017

4/ Not trying to suborn the FBI director. Not having RUS officals in the Oval Office. Not posing for RUS propaganda photos.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 18, 2017

5/ Not hiring a package of people in business with RUS oligarchs. Not screeching praise for the GRU asset Wikileaks.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 18, 2017

6/ Not engaging in every flavor of whataboutism. Not lying constantly from the press room podium.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 18, 2017

7/ You bought this bad pony. You ride it.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 18, 2017

Slam Dunk. Grand Slam. Chose whatever metaphor works for you. https://t.co/zrCfNv3NnY

— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) May 18, 2017

Do you think Trump has figured out that degrading our IC while praising Putin/Russia/WikiLeaks wasn't in his own best interests?

— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) May 18, 2017

@TrueFactsStated @LouiseMensch New Time Magazine cover. No words necessary. pic.twitter.com/MmstkB1xpV

— Peter J. Clark (@pondbridge) May 18, 2017

@TrueFactsStated @wrennywrenn Or a future legal fund. He has a history of embezzling campaign funds. https://t.co/Y6KivaaITm

— Susan. B Bitchin (@s_bitchin) May 18, 2017

I dunno, maybe should have considered that before nominating him. https://t.co/cSUWxkmfGU

— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) May 18, 2017

While folks around Trump have slowly been teaching him how to play checkers, Comey is 27 moves ahead in 3 dimensional chess.

— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) May 18, 2017

No stopping impeachment train now. As stock market drops, powers that be may short it for profit, but they know Trump too big a liability. https://t.co/n2XYToJJvK

— Mattison (@Mattison) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump "Why don't they love me, aren't I deserving?" Pressure builds to the beat of the clock. Tick tock, tick tock.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump A lifetime spent in self adulation now rots from within as you polish the tin and deny speculation. Thinly veiled lies losing their power.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump You already said that, don't you remember? All moving so fast you're head's spinning now. Your marvelous empire is crumbling around you.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump You already said that, don't you remember? All moving so fast you're head's spinning now. Your marvelous empire is crumbling around you.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump Of course, Mr. President. You are. For now. Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump You've weak and powerless. You try to regain power by raging at others, but that only makes you weaker. But you can't stop, you're so angry.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump Your highest ranking aides are giving up. You'd fire them for their lack of loyalty but nobody is willing to take their place. You're alone.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump Even your appointed family are getting tired. They want an escape, they want you to resign to salvage the value of their inheritance.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump But already know it's a lie. You're repeating it here as emotional masturbation. Desperation is setting in & you can't handle the pressure.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump You are the President of the United States. If you have a tangible reason to believe there was illegal activity, direct DOJ to investigate.

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

@realDonaldTrump And whose fault is that? You promised a Special Counsel to investigate Clinton. But later said that it was all just campaign fluff. #youlied

— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) May 18, 2017

Pres wanted to bring Flynn (!!!!) on the Middle East trip, said he'd be a "good resource to have." Idea quickly put to rest.

— Rogue WH Snr Advisor (@RogueSNRadvisor) May 18, 2017

During Fox & Friends, Pres LOCKS himself in room & wont let anyone in bc they'll take his phone - always manages to tweet then.

— Rogue WH Snr Advisor (@RogueSNRadvisor) May 18, 2017

After the election, when @KellyannePolls kept writing "Trump is your President", you see, she got that one FLAT WRONG. #Pence #Flynn pic.twitter.com/KhJN1xXfXE

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) May 18, 2017

BREAKING: @RepCummings presses Chaffetz to finally use his #SubpoenaPen for #WhiteHouse docs on #Flynn. https://t.co/CpOVQJx10C

— House OversightDems (@OversightDems) May 18, 2017

‼️TREASON‼️#Flynn blocked Obama plan to crush ISIS in Raqqa b/c #Turkey (secretly paid Flynn >$500k) opposed it.https://t.co/SZoaUPIz4w

— Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) May 18, 2017

#Flynn: "I just got a message from the president to stay strong" Me: In other words: "don't talk & I'll pardon you"https://t.co/krrSJfom2Y

— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) May 18, 2017

All Trumpflakes right now #RenewAmerica #trumprussia #flynn #WitchHunt pic.twitter.com/8MHrlRNiwi

— McDonalds Trump (@AltTrumpconvos) May 18, 2017

Double popcorn day for the endless bombdropping #impeach #trumprussia show. #muller #investigation #Flynngate #obstructionofjustice pic.twitter.com/Lsxj0WlXgb

— Maddy (@SpeakUpNoworNev) May 18, 2017

@matthewamiller News just breaking that Flynn won't honor subpoena. "Stay strong" must be code for "I'll pardon you." #traitorTrump #Flynngate

— Rebecca Rauber (@rebeccarauber) May 18, 2017

No, sure this doesn't mean Flynn is guilty AT All. 🙄#Flynnghazi #Flynngate https://t.co/puxUi51ER7

— Curiosity (@SFTravels) May 18, 2017

.@Isikoff "Stay strong..." ("... or end up dead like anti-#Putin #Russians")#FlynnGate #TrumpRussia #MarchForTruth #TheResistance https://t.co/xOLmbwHHXz

— ((TrumpResistance)) (@TrumpResist) May 18, 2017

@DrGMLaTulippe @Gav4955 @m4verick12 @DavidGoodrich4r @IreneVista1970 @JonesAnthonee @RobertMordica @TheresePicard @HillaryClinton The fact that Fmr POTUS Obama advised Trump not 2 hire Flynn, made Trump want Flynn that much more-regardless! #TrumpRussia #Flynngate .@NPR pic.twitter.com/KZoly0GWTj

— JGreen, M.P.A. (@jgreenSTPA) May 9, 2017

Shot: “As investigators circled Flynn, he got a message from Trump: Stay strong” https://t.co/ajSLDQVqJk Chaser: https://t.co/U2pfYIDQ70

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 18, 2017

House oversight panel chairman Chaffetz to depart Congress June 30: Politico https://t.co/WPpfSGmCtb pic.twitter.com/qEdGPkg0xX

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) May 18, 2017

.@SpeakerRyan on the House Russia probe: “We are going to keep these investigations going here, as I’ve always said” https://t.co/L1gOsbnAAK pic.twitter.com/I7QsRpTUZh

— POLITICO (@politico) May 18, 2017

To sum up: Donald Trump now thinks the Deputy AG he hired two weeks ago is leading a "Witch Hunt" against him.

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) May 18, 2017

At least 20 IMPEACHMENT MARCHES planned for July 2nd, per organizers. Will increase pressure on Hill Ds >>https://t.co/3gtK3FXjOV

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) May 18, 2017

Interesting—Evan McMullin wrote an op-ed in Feb. abt same meeting where McCarthy joked Trump was being paid by Putin https://t.co/oWrE1szKmw pic.twitter.com/ngYcKx34lj

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 18, 2017

GOP leaders can’t say they didn’t see the Russian interference coming. They knew. — Op-Ed by Evan McMullin, February https://t.co/c4WCqOOyaQ

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) May 18, 2017

McCain on Trump's claim that he's the worst treated politician ever: "I've been treated worse" https://t.co/BjbCPMuBbm pic.twitter.com/Kewgc2S2fL

— The Hill (@thehill) May 18, 2017

Read this piece _> "I prosecuted drug offenders in the ’80s. It was a disaster. Why is Sessions taking us back?" https://t.co/eo6iPFTDhb

— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) May 18, 2017

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will brief the full Senate in a closed session https://t.co/qbyW1pkBpC

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 18, 2017

House Intelligence committee requests Comey memos https://t.co/Fsdz72F6fO pic.twitter.com/LRZvjSjdKB

— The Hill (@thehill) May 18, 2017

Trump doesn’t realize that he’s really Tyler Durden https://t.co/nhtz2i7GhO

— Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) May 18, 2017

“...it's going to really limit what Congress can do”@LindseyGrahamSC: James Comey testimony in jeopardy https://t.co/ZxSrvD4pYJ pic.twitter.com/ad9iBcwLSY

— POLITICO (@politico) May 18, 2017

Analysis: Special counsel Robert Mueller is bad news for Trump’s embattled White House https://t.co/YKK0ksFZc7

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 18, 2017

.@VP Pence stands by claim he didn’t know about Flynn lobbying investigation https://t.co/C7p11WWVTV pic.twitter.com/g3sP3CyQax

— POLITICO (@politico) May 18, 2017

The self-pitying president. @GrahamDavidA on Trump's response to the latest news:https://t.co/eo46S1mE2w pic.twitter.com/TltiEULd8M

— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) May 18, 2017

What conservative pundits are writing about Trump's 'Watergate' moment https://t.co/xc19HBsyo1

— The Guardian (@guardian) May 18, 2017

US spies heard Russian intelligence brag about targeting Clinton: report https://t.co/xrzyPjjGsh pic.twitter.com/OSvyWbBytg

— The Hill (@thehill) May 18, 2017

Slam Dunk. Grand Slam. Chose whatever metaphor works for you. https://t.co/zrCfNv3NnY

— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) May 18, 2017

Third candidate for Trump FBI director withdraws from consideration: https://t.co/TOsKflw2KF pic.twitter.com/WC1CcbP0Pg

— The Hill (@thehill) May 18, 2017

Robert Mueller: "I'm in" Jason Chaffetz: "I'm out" Michael Flynn: "I'm in contempt" Donald Trump: "I'm screwed"

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) May 18, 2017

Mnuchin just now: "We never said we were in favor of Glass-Steagall." Official GOP platform 2016: pic.twitter.com/l2NX8PoZKF

— Pete Schroeder (@peteschroeder) May 18, 2017

Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians: report https://t.co/AmHDfpFMgj pic.twitter.com/7iAVnGs5SL

— The Hill (@thehill) May 18, 2017

Rod Rosenstein’s week-long journey from Trump’s man of absolute integrity to the target of rage tweets https://t.co/Mjv1PUGhSM pic.twitter.com/oKGHKHS0hD

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) May 18, 2017

Advisers urged President Trump to hire an outside lawyer to deal with issues related to the Russia investigation https://t.co/3dHP5QgfuX

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 18, 2017

Science committee Dems to Trump: Stop relying on fake news https://t.co/Ep3aeIpkgJ pic.twitter.com/4HDDS57IGx

— The Hill (@thehill) May 18, 2017

After Turkish security brutally assaulted protesters in DC, Trump maintains a deafening silence https://t.co/KlJ7HHcqPD pic.twitter.com/35Dbne3MiY

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) May 18, 2017

"Why Trump will likely resign as Mueller pursues 'Putingate'" https://t.co/KFGQGTqdLA pic.twitter.com/nWPbBPtuiG

— The Hill (@thehill) May 18, 2017

President Trump’s first trip abroad: How’s that going to go? https://t.co/323PLCvYnL pic.twitter.com/7Eqi0d0Zzk

— Slate (@Slate) May 18, 2017

.@SenatorBurr: “Michael Flynn has not cooperated with the committee up to this point” https://t.co/KmdrtfKaJ1 via @abwrig pic.twitter.com/u2aCizVuDF

— POLITICO (@politico) May 18, 2017

Kushner urged Trump to attack after special prosecutor announcement: report https://t.co/Etfc22PFUw pic.twitter.com/vvcvW4Bz2L

— The Hill (@thehill) May 18, 2017

With Donald Trump’s downfall underway, the U.S. intel community may be targeting Paul Ryan too https://t.co/eStWYr5GwI

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) May 18, 2017

Former Joint Chiefs chairman: "The harder you chase leaks, the more leaks there will be" https://t.co/eAO7pHYc8u pic.twitter.com/fU9caXO0lR

— The Hill (@thehill) May 18, 2017

President Trump: “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!” https://t.co/5EazikFe1B

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 18, 2017

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A Space That Wasn’t Made for Me (My Op-Ed for the Tufts Observer)

I am solely speaking about my experience as a queer, Persian man. I do not claim to understand or hope to speak for anybody else but myself. My experiences have been socialized by the immediate environment in which I was raised, and I fully realize how I have historically been complicit and involved in some of the systems and organizations that I criticize in this piece. My effort to improve as a person and to hold myself accountable for my actions is one that is not devoid of mistakes.

During recess one day in middle school, one of the coolest kids in my class, an attractive White male, asked me who some of my favorite singers were. Anxious to make a good impression, I thought of the Whitest shit I could come up with to please him: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kurt Cobain, and Dave Matthews Band. I think I threw in Lil Wayne as well, because I have found that many White boys love reaffirming their “hipness” by admiring and “identifying” with Black rappers.

I grew up in a predominantly White, affluent neighborhood and attended a “prestigious” prep school in the greater Boston area. I quickly learned to value White activities like theater and tennis, both of which I really enjoyed, but all the while felt excluded from socially. I began to consider White, muscular men with rigid jawlines and blue eyes to be the epitome of attraction and beauty, shaping the way I began to look at myself in the mirror, and later contributing to the ways that I would begin to modify my body.

At the same time, my experiences assimilating to various aspects of White culture seemed to juxtapose with my identity as an Iranian-American. My parents emigrated from Iran to France and finally settled in Brookline, MA. I grew up in a house with Persian art, poetry, and music. I ate home-cooked Persian food every night, spoke Farsi with my family, and celebrated being Iranian by attempting to recognize the social implications that I thought being Iranian would mean.

Growing up, I always imagined that I would experience a universal bond with other Persians. I believed that the experiences we seemed to face as a community would transcend our often divisive, intersectional identities; however, I didn’t recognize how difficult it would be to navigate my Persian-ness as a queer man. I didn’t want to acknowledge the deeply rooted masculinity and patriarchal structure embedded within Persian culture that doesn’t give space to those with divergent and non-normative identities—specifically, queerness.

Identifying as gay, then eventually developing my sexuality to fit my own definition of queer, became an aspect of my identity that began to deteriorate the bond that I had tried to sustain between the Iranian community and myself. Once I began to realize how difficult it would be to find any space where my queerness and race could interact, I began to feel a deep sense of resentment towards myself. Never feeling quite Persian enough became a recurring sentiment at events, vacations, and dinners with my extended family. I found that my queerness seemed to dissuade my desire to “feel” Iranian by participating in the hyper-masculine activities and homophobic discourse that is rampant within many Persian social contexts that I have experienced.

As I sought to develop my identity further in college, something about associating myself as brown and not specifically as Persian began to muddle my identity and prevent me from characterizing my experiences as separate or unique. I don’t know what it feels like to be Latino. I do not identify as South Asian, nor do I consider myself an Arab—and so to experience struggle through the lens of an identity that cannot be located has made me feel that my brownness will not, and cannot, find a space to exist freely. Whether it is being misidentified or having my racial identity questioned, I have developed an uncomfortable relationship with claiming, accepting, and embracing being Iranian.

Whenever people used to ask about my ethnicity, I always responded by saying, “I’m Iranian.” Recently, however, I have begun to use the ethnic origin of my identity as a signifier of the unique culture that I ascribe myself with. Identifying and introducing myself as Persian marks an important and unique ethnic exclamation that has reaffirmed my desire to separate myself from other Middle Eastern and Arab cultures. (Contrary to popular belief, Persians are not ethnically Arab.)

Growing up and hearing Iran described as a threatening or evil country also made me uncomfortable publically identifying as Iranian. The inability for people in this country to disassociate Iran’s government from its people created this self-destructive pattern for me to constantly prove myself as a good Iranian, or disassociate from my racial background altogether. Today, I still find it terribly difficult navigating being Iranian given the current immigration ban that Trump’s administration has brought forth. Beyond the fallacy that the nations listed in the ban have contributed to acts of terror in the US (not a single one has), I also find it disheartening to hear Iran constantly being referred to under a false pretense of danger, terror, and otherness.

Despite the many “diverse” spaces at Tufts that foster important discussions for people of color, queer and trans folk, and women of color, I have found that, in order to join or feel welcomed into these dialogues or spaces, I have had to compromise aspects of my Persian-ness or succumb to adopting a generalized Middle Eastern identity in order to engage in discussions. I think that the socially conscious and active community at Tufts, which claims to create an inclusive space for marginalized individuals, tends to fall short in understanding or acknowledging the nuances of certain intersectional identities that exist on this campus, mine being one of many.

I grew up speaking Farsi, and the food that I have always eaten at home is so specific to Iran that I’m disheartened when our culture is generalized and placed within the socio-cultural landscape of others within the Middle Eastern region. Obviously, I am not angry or even shocked that people don’t know much about Iranian culture. It is rather the disregard or almost a sense of entitlement that many people on this campus feel when trying to locate my identity that puts me off. Surprisingly, people who major in American Studies, Sociology, and Anthropology have been among those who have asked me things like how spicy I like my food or if I know how to make homemade hummus. Iranian food is not spicy at all, and we don’t make or eat hummus unless we go out to restaurants.

Many times when White social justice activists on this campus ask me how to create more inclusive spaces for POC, I find that I want to respond by saying, “Stop trying to speak on behalf of identities that you don’t understand. Stop trying to locate us to fit into your social justice narrative or use us as a token to investigate intersectionality when you’re blindly unaware of the fundamental differences among our cultures.” For example, not identifying as a Middle Eastern gay man but rather as a Persian queer man is often read as commendable or “interesting” by socially active folks at Tufts, but rarely incorporated into important discussions or dialogues about queer POC on campus.

The socially unaware, uninvolved, and generally conservative White population at Tufts is truly, however, the largest demographic of individuals who have contributed to my anxieties, anger, and frustration. Whether it’s the toxic White gays at previous Rainbow House parties who have commented on and fetishized my “exotic” appearance, or White girls who love to tokenize my foreign queerness, you have all failed to recognize your internalized racism and homophobia. From the one frat brother who spat on me and my friend outside of a frat house window next to Moe’s my freshman year, to the multiple athletes who have physically pushed and verbally assaulted me at campus events, you have reminded me that regardless of how hard I try to make myself palatable to you, I am still a Persian faggot.

Despite all of this, however, I am constantly reminded of how privileged and lucky I truly am. My parents worked hard to put me through private school and then a liberal arts education, and I am forever grateful to them for the sacrifices they have made for me. My family has given me the space to explore my identities and embrace me for wanting to hold onto or discard certain aspects of both. Many queer Persians, however, do not experience the same socio-economic security, access to education, and support that I have, and I recognize how fortunate I am to even be able to speak up and feel safe to talk about this on a platform where my thoughts can hopefully be validated.

Luckily, I have been able to surround myself by some incredible Persian individuals on this campus who strive to include the intersections of my queerness and Iranian identity into a dialogue, giving me a platform to exist comfortably. Given the current socio-political climate of this country, I have found an immense amount of strength and desire to make our identities as Persian known. My unequivocal love for Persians is the strongest it has ever been. No ban on earth could prevent us from succeeding wherever we go, and I hope that people at Tufts and those within my close circle of friends will seek to learn more about Iran’s immensely influential history, culture, and society before calling themselves allies.

For me to not speak up after three and a half years of having people speak for me would further detract from the importance of celebrating my overlapping, yet individually valid, identities. Tufts, especially in its attempts to create or foster a space for inclusiveness, does not incorporate the nuances of socio-cultural and ethnic identities into a space that unidentifiable individuals can claim.

To the handful of professors and sociology majors that see my identities as unique and different, I’m appreciative of you. To the greater socially “active” and “progressive” White activists, women, and queer folk on campus, practice what you preach. Don’t think that individuals like me are not constantly trying to make ourselves palatable to you either. And finally, to the ex-lovers, friends, and professors who have pushed me into a space where self-hatred and discomfort have permeated the past 15 years of my life, I look back on my experiences with you not as moments when I wasn’t strong enough to speak up against you, but rather as a time when I just didn’t know where to locate that strength.

Economics

RETHINKING CUBAN CIVIL SOCIETY: SOMETHING DEEPER THAN THE TRUTH

By Maria Isabel Alfonso

A young man in a baseball cap with "MIAMI" emblazoned on the front sits on a curb, looking at his phone. Beside him, an older man looks over his shoulder at the screen. Other Cubans sit on the curb or on the steps behind it, staring at their phones and tablets. In Cuba, a scene like this would have once been unthinkable. But since 2015, the government has loosened the rules on Internet access, allowing citizens to go online with their devices (for a fee) at designated WiFi hotspots.

The spread of online access-and people taking advantage of it for activities like blogging about politics and culture-is one of the signs of a renewed interest in bolstering Cuban civil society. But Cuba faces unique challenges in bolstering citizen engagement.

Near the start of RETHINKING CUBAN CIVIL SOCIETY, the film offers a definition of its central theme. "Civil society: The aggregate of non-governmental organizations and individuals that manifest the will and interests of citizens." Then, on the screen, the word "non-governmental" is crossed out. It is a striking visual illustration of Cuba's unique situation-one in which the public sector dominates much of society, playing an ambiguous role in civil society institutions.

Since the mid-1990s, Cuba has seen a rise in independent media, and a resurgence of movements fighting against racism, for economic justice and LGBTQI rights, and for greater democracy and citizen participation. In RETHINKING CUBAN CIVIL SOCIETY, Cuban academics, journalists and bloggers, and writers and musicians grapple with what it means to encourage healthy public participation and dissent in the context of Cuba: a country under embargo in which foreign-funded dissidents seek to overthrow the government, and at the same time a country in which the Communist Party has placed itself above the State.

In city parks and apartments, on stairwells, in classrooms, and in magazine offices, the people featured in RETHINKING CUBAN CIVIL SOCIETY grapple with these questions. Can more competitive elections and greater democracy exist in a one-party State? How can LGBTQI activists successfully influence government policy? How can access to the benefits of economic reforms allowing private business be extended to marginalized populations? Can the government help encourage a healthy, independent media eco-system? And how much of the stifling of civil society can be blamed on the embargo and how much is simply home-grown?

Thoughtful and engaging, the film is conveniently divided into chapters on class and activism, media, Internet and the blogosphere, political opposition, and Cuban civil society across international borders.

DVD (Spanish, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2018 / 37 minutes

SILENT TRANSFORMATION, A

By Simon Brothers, Luke Mistruzzi, Anton Smolski, Mark Preston

The transformative power of the co-operative enterprise model, illustrated with many inspirational examples.

The co-operative movement was built by people who took on the responsibility for their collective well-being in the face of government neglect, economic exclusion and cultural discrimination.

As the modern economy increasingly denies vast sectors of the population basic amenities for decent life, this co-operative spirit is as critical as ever. However, over the years the co-op sector has become insular and poorly understood.

A SILENT TRANSFORMATION sets out to explore the innovative self-help efforts of different communities across the Province of Ontario, Canada. By addressing their needs collectively they are helping to regain the radical vision of co-operation.

In these communities are the seeds of economic democracy, global solidarity, and a new popular movement to transform society!

Will it grow and flourish?

DVD / 2018 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 70 minutes

TIME THIEVES

By Cosima Dannoritzer

Forget water, oil and rare minerals - there is a new resource everyone wants: our time. TIME THIEVES reveals how companies monetize our time without our knowledge and how the social networks have, in their own words, become 'the new clockmakers'.

TIME THIEVES is an eye-opening investigation into how our time became a currency; why 'time poverty' is on the rise and how the more we try to save time, the less we have. Who hasn't come across the situation where an airline has us printing our own boarding passes and checking in our own luggage, saving the company a fortune in working hours? Who hasn't spent hours assembling a piece of furniture, or struggled with an automatic cashier? Haven't we all asked ourselves who should be paying whom for doing all the work? Award-winning director Cosima Dannoritzer blends remarkable archival footage and heart-breaking stories with testimonies from leading experts in a documentary that was filmed on location in Japan, USA, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany.

TIME THIEVES investigates how time has become money, how the clock has taken over both our working and personal lives, and how we can take back control over this precious, but finite resource.

DVD (English, French, German, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2018 / 85 minutes

FREE LUNCH SOCIETY

By Christian Tod

What would you do if your income was taken care of?

Just a few years ago, an unconditional basic income was considered a pipe dream. Today, this utopia is more imaginable than ever before-intense discussions are taking place in all political and scientific camps.

FREE LUNCH SOCIETY provides background information about this idea and searches for explanations, possibilities and experiences regarding its implementation.

Globalization, automation, Donald Trump. The middle class is falling apart. One hears talk about the causes, rather than about solutions. Time for a complete rethinking:

An unconditional basic income means money for everyone - as a human right without service in return! Visionary reform project, neoliberal axe to the roots of the social state or socially romantic left-wing utopia? Depending on the type and scope, a basic income demonstrates very different ideological visions. Which side of the coin one sees depends on one's own idea of humankind: inactivity as sweet poison that seduces people into laziness, or freedom from material pressures as a chance for oneself and for the community. Do we actually need the whip of existential fear to avoid a lazy, depraved life in front of the TV set? Or does gainful employment give our lives meaning and social footing simply because we haven't known anything else for centuries? And because we've never all had the freedom to self-actualise in other ways?

That basic income is a powerful idea is indisputable: land, water and air are gifts of nature. They are different from private property that humans create by their individual effort. However, when we receive wealth from nature, from the commons, then that wealth belongs to all of us equally.

From Alaska's oil fields to the Canadian prairie, from Washington's think tanks to the Namibian steppes, the film takes us on a grand journey and shows us what the driverless car has to do with the ideas of a German billionaire and a Swiss referendum. FREE LUNCH SOCIETY, the first international film in cinemas about basic income, is dedicated to one of the most crucial questions of our times.

DVD (English, German, Color, Closed Captioned, With English Subtitles) / 2017 / 92 minutes

SYSTEM ERROR

By Florian Opitz

Politicians, economists and the media are obsessed with economic growth. But why do we still cling to this concept? Clearly it is impossible to have infinite growth on a finite planet.

This investigative documentary seeks to educate audiences about the term "growth", particularly in the world of economics. It seems today's society and financial markets are dictated by an ever-present need to grow. This film uncovers what this means and how it has developed through history. It looks at how and why it stopped during the Great Depression and the growing importance it took on in the '70s and '80s. We also see how growth looks in various industries, such as in the world of agriculture, manufacturing and on Wall Street. Capitalism is explored, as well as the ways in which financial markets determine - perhaps more than governments - the functioning of societies and countries. Finally, SYSTEM ERROR looks at the economic crash of 2008, its origins and its effects on the way we view growth. Is there a limit to this growth, especially now that technology is developing?

In SYSTEM ERROR award-winning director Florian Opitz ("Speed, In Search of Lost Time" and "The Big Sellout") examines the fundamentals of capitalism. He reveals unexpected correlations and lays bare the pathological nature of the current system. He also examines the continuing impact of Karl Marx as an analyst of capitalism.

Filmed in Brazil, China, Germany, the U.K and the U.S.A, System Error gives a fresh perspective on the capitalist system and where it is leading us.

DVD (English, German, Portuguese, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2017 / 96 minutes

WHEN BANANA RULED

By Mathilde Damoisel

Bananas are everywhere: Americans eat nearly 10 billion of them per year, consuming more pounds of bananas than apples and oranges combined.

WHEN BANANA RULED tells the story of the men who made bananas the most ubiquitous fruit in the world, through a multinational empire that dominated production and sales, overthrew governments, and created a business model still largely used by today's tech giants.

The story of bananas as commodities begins with a failed railway project started in Costa Rica in 1871, led by American Minor Cooper Keith. When the Costa Rican government defaulted on its payments to Keith for its construction, the businessman faced ruin. His salvation? Bananas. Keith would go on to co-found the United Fruit Company and within decades-after a concerted campaign led by the father of public relations, Edward Bernays-bananas became a staple of the North American diet. Animated mascot Miss Chiquita Banana was a pop culture icon, doctors recommended bananas as an ideal food for children, and bananas popped up in movies and Broadway musicals.

But, as WHEN BANANA RULED documents, the entire enterprise was built on a rapacious, imperialist business model that required the domination of countries including Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia. United Fruit took over critical national infrastructure like railways and ports, rapidly expanded plantations by displacing small (often Indigenous) farmers, bought itself favorable legislation, and, like today's largest companies, sheltered profits offshore to avoid taxes.

Life on the plantations was a world within a world: A strict hierarchy with white managers from the best business schools, foremen from the US South (recruited for their knowledge of slavery), and black laborers paid largely in company food coupons and strictly forbidden to unionize. When a new, revolutionary government was formed in Guatemala, United Fruit's plantations were nationalized. What happened next came straight from the playbook that would dominate US foreign policy in the region: claim a Communist threat, persuade legislators back home of its dangers, bomb the country, and install a new, pro-American and pro-business regime.

Using a rich trove of archival footage and documents, including letters to and from lobbyists, telegrams, vintage ads and movie clips, and gorgeous, hand-tinted stills, WHEN BANANA RULED is a story of intrigue that touches on economics, international politics, the history of multinational business and reveals how an array of forces conquered the world through a simple fruit.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2017 / 52 minutes

COMPANY TOWN: THE DARK SIDE OF THE SHARING ECONOMY

Directed by Deborah Kaufman, Alan Snitow

A grassroots movement challenges Citizens United, corporate power, and moguls of the "sharing economy" to stop gentrification and wrest back control of San Francisco's future.

The once free-spirited city of San Francisco is now a "Company Town," a playground for tech moguls of the "sharing economy." Airbnb is the biggest hotel, Uber privatizes transit. And now these companies want political power as well.

Meanwhile, middle class and ethnic communities are driven out by gentrification, skyrocketing rents and evictions, sparking a grassroots backlash. Can an insurgent electoral campaign overcome corporate power and billionaires' megabucks to change a city's course?

COMPANY TOWN shows how a grassroots coalition of unions, tenants, neighborhoods of color, activists and artists can come together to win.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adults) / 77 minutes

FOOD FOR CHANGE: THE STORY OF COOPERATION IN AMERICA

Directed by Steve Alves

The deep history of cooperatives in America -- the country's longest-surviving alternative economic system.

FOOD FOR CHANGE looks at the current resurgence of food cooperatives in America and their unique historic place in the economic and political landscape. Born in the heartland, cooperatives are seen as the middle path between Wall Street and Socialism.

The film profiles several food co-ops that have revived neighborhoods and communities - right in the shadows of corporate agribusinesses and supermarket chains. It's an inspiring example of community-centered economies thriving in an age of globalization.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 82 minutes

SINGULAR STORY OF UNLUCKY JUAN, THE

By Ricardo Figueredo Oliva

Seven pounds of rice, five pounds sugar, four ounces coffee, half a pound cooking oil, five eggs, 10 ounces beans, a small bread roll and a pound a half of meat - that's the monthly allotment for Cubans under the country's rationing system.

An independent film financed through crowd-funding and without the financial support of traditional Cuban film institutions, THE SINGULAR STORY OF UNLUCKY JUAN is a comprehensive, accessible examination of the particularities of the Cuban economy. Using a fictional worker called Juan as an example, the film shows how the economy affects the daily lives of ordinary citizens - and how badly it squeezes those who don't have access to hard currency.

Cuba has two currencies: the Cuban Peso and the CUC - a far more valuable currency pegged to international exchange rates. Tourists pay in CUCs and shop at CUC stores, which stock higher quality goods at a huge premium.

Divided into chapters covering rations, the marketplace, CUC stores, private business, corruption, economic migration, and future Cuba, the documentary walks us through how each of these affects Juan and those like him. The film interviews a cross-section of Cuban workers and an economist who favours a more free-market approach, and offers sometimes hypnotic shots evoking economic activity: butchers cutting meat, fruit vendors at markets, shops lined with luxury goods inaccessible to most.

Juan starts the month with 250 Cuban pesos. But once he's paid for his food rations, extra food to meet his needs for the month, transit, utilities, and the new energy-efficient fridge he was obliged to buy (and use 20% of his monthly salary to pay off over a 10-year term), there is little left. No wonder so many Cubans rely on living with relatives, overseas remittances, or getting involved in corruption and the black market.

As bad as things are, Cubans worry about what the future will look like once relations with the United States eventually become normalized. Speaking about the US, they worry the Americans "will swallow us whole" and use words like "crushed" and "assimilated" to describe what may lie ahead. The door has already been slightly opened - with a new foreign economic development zone and relaxed rules allowing some Cubans to own private businesses. But these are no panacea either. Small-business owners report frequent harassment, ticketing for endless infractions, and bureaucratic roadblocks. "I don't own this business," says a tired-looking woman, "I am its slave."

DVD (Spanish, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2016 / 52 minutes

WECONOMICS: ITALY

Directed by Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin

Weconomics: Italy reports on the extensive and innovative cooperative economy in the region around Bologna.

The Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy has one of the highest concentrations of cooperative businesses in the developed world. The capital, Bologna is an industrial powerhouse, where prosperity is widely shared, and cooperatives of teachers and social workers play a key role in the provision of government services.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 19 minutes

CHICAGO BOYS

By Carola Fuentes and Rafael Valdeavellano

After the 1973 coup which brought Augusto Pinochet to power, a group of Chilean economists were given the power to turn Chile into a laboratory for the world's most radical neo-liberal experiments.

These men, including Sergio de Castro and Rolf Lüders, both of whom would serve as ministers of finance during the Pinochet years, met in the 1950s at the University of Chicago, where they studied under the famed economist Milton Friedman, and the man who would become their mentor, Arnold Harberger.

CHICAGO BOYS is their story from their student days through the dictatorship, told by the Chicago Boys themselves. Could their program for 'economic freedom,' such a drastic restructuring of the Chilean economy, only have been implemented by an authoritarian regime? What were they willing to do to achieve their goals? And how do they see the long-term results today?

Even though they do eventually acknowledge some of the darker sides of their work, Lüders "couldn't care less about inequality," de Castro feels bad for the torturers, and they all seem completely baffled by those Chileans who have filled the streets, for five years now, in protest against their legacy.

DVD (Color) / 2015 / 85 minutes

FOOD COOP

Directed by Tom Boothe

Looks at the workings of a highly profitable supermarket, Brooklyn's Park Slope Food Coop, which for 44 years has been a shining example of a successful alternative economic system at work.

FOOD COOP takes us deep into the belly of the Park Slope Food Coop, one of America's oldest cooperative food supermarkets, with a healthy dose of insight and wit.

Nestled deep in New York City, which, for many, exemplifies both the glory and the horrors of the capitalist spirit, you can find this highly prosperous institution, just as American and certainly more efficient than Wall Street, but whose objective is entirely non-profit. Working against everything that defines "The American Way of Life," the basic principles of the Park Slope Food Coop are simple: each of its 16,000 members work 2.75 hours per month to earn the right to buy the best food in New York at incredibly low prices. This Brooklyn coop founded in 1973 is probably the best implemented socialist experience in the United States.

Through FOOD COOP, you will see this institution come to life and witness how the enthusiasm that animates the Park Slope Food Coop demonstrates a potential for change; how the coop's mode of participation viscerally teaches democracy to those who take part in its activities.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 97 minutes

GENERATION JOBLESS

In Canada, while the economic recovery has eased for many, the youth unemployment rate remains staggering-double that of the general population. The documentary Generation Jobless explores the crisis of over-educated youths being underemployed, scraping by in low-paid, part-time jobs that do not require a degree just to pay off their debt while struggling to find real jobs. Some call them the lost generation, but it is not only young people who will pay the price.

If this generation is unable to forge a way into the economy, whose taxes will support the social safety net? If young people can't afford to buy homes, will the real estate market come crashing down again?

Youth unemployment and underemployment is a ticking time bomb with consequences for everyone.

DVD / 2015 / 43 minutes

CAPITALISM

Capitalism has been the engine of unprecedented economic growth and social transformation. With the fall of the communist states and the triumph of "neo- liberalism," capitalism is by far the world's dominant ideology. But how much do we understand about how it originated, and what makes it work?

CAPITALISM is an ambitious and accessible six-part documentary series that looks at both the history of ideas and the social forces that have shaped the capitalist world.

Blending interviews with some of the world's great historians, economists, anthropologists, and social critics, with on-the-ground footage shot in twenty-two countries, CAPITALISM questions the myth of the unfettered free market, explores the nature of debt and commodities, and retraces some of the great economic debates of the last 200 years.

Each fifty-two minute episode is designed to stand alone, making these ideal for classroom use or as an additional resource for students:

Episode 1: Adam Smith, The Birth of the Free Market Capitalism is much more complex than the vision Adam Smith laid out in The Wealth of Nations. Indeed, it predates Smith by centuries and took root in the practices of colonialism and the slave trade.

Episode 2: The Wealth of Nations: A New Gospel? Adam Smith was both economist and moral philosopher. But his work on morality is largely forgotten, leading to tragic distortions that have shaped our global economic system.

Episode 3: Ricardo and Malthus: Did You Say Freedom? The roots of today's global trade agreements lie in the work of stockbroker David Ricardo and demographer Thomas Malthus. Together, they would restructure society in the image of the market.

Episode 4: What If Marx Was Right? Have we gotten Marx wrong by focusing on the Communist Manifesto instead of on his critique of how capitalism works - a critique that is relevant and as penetrating as ever?

Episode 5: Keynes vs Hayek: A Fake Debate? The ideological divide between the philosophies of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek has dominated economics for nearly a century. Is it time for the pendulum to swing back to Keynes? Or do we need a whole new approach that goes beyond this dualism?

Episode 6: Karl Polanyi, The Human Factor An exploration of the life and work of Karl Polanyi, who sought to reintegrate society and economy. Could the commodification of labour and money ultimately be as disastrous as floods, drought and earthquakes?

CAPITALISM is an impressive series that makes economics accessible through an interdisciplinary approach that explores the work of great thinkers, while embedding economics in specific social, political, and historical contexts.

The series features some of the world's top economists, historians, anthropologists, and sociologists, including Thomas Piketty, Noam Chomsky, Yanis Varoufakis, Nicholas Phillipson, Kari Polanyi Levitt, David Graeber, and Abraham Rotstein.

3 DVDs (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2014 / 320 minutes

PRICE WE PAY, THE

Smart, eye - opening and incendiary, THE PRICE WE PAY examines the timely issue of tax avoidance and exposes how tech giants like Google, Amazon and others of the "cloud" economy are eroding the foundations of the democratic state by using tax havens to stash trillions of dollars offshore and thus deprive governments of hundreds of billions in corporate - tax revenue each year. This practice is arguably legal - but is it fair?

Assembling interviews with leading economists and academics from around the world including Thomas Piketty, author of The New York Times bestseller Capital in the Twenty - First Century, award - winning director Harold Crooks (Surviving Progress) blows the lid off the dirty world of corporate malfeasance.

DVD / 2014 / 93 minutes

DOWNTOWN DREAM

By Aaron Matthews

For decades, small town life in the United States has been slowly and quietly eroding. But there are overlooked stories amidst the talk of America's economic decline: the stories of individual men and women in the "Rust Belt" community in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Once one of the country's largest steel manufacturing centers, Lewistown lost its manufacturing base and industrial might a generation ago and has since become a "ghost town." DOWNTOWN DREAM follows the lives of five dynamic men and women living in Lewistown who refuse to be counted out and instead struggle to reinvent their lives and their dreams in America's chilly economic climate.

Over the course of two years, in DOWNTOWN DREAM, viewers witness five dynamic personal journeys that also concretize the struggles of the town itself. Jon, a developer, reflects Lewistown's wistful remembrance of nobler days; Bernard, a pastor and one of 150 African Americans in Lewistown, embodies the town's potential resurrection; Pam, a would-be salon owner, reflects the can-do spirit that may be a remedy for Lewistown's business community; Barb, a recovering addict, and Katie, her daughter and an aspiring actress and singer, personify its potential physical rehabilitation. Lyrical and intimate, the film reveals typical Americans in a typical American place grappling with the question on everybody's lips today: How do you make it in America anymore?

After more than 40 years of decay, Lewistown is now at a crossroads. The town leaders have drawn up a comprehensive redevelopment plan, and it is taking shape. In order to beautify the deserted downtown, streets have been widened, trees have been planted and buildings have been razed. The centerpiece of the plan-spending $250,000 in state funding to install a park in the town's center-is underway.

The situation in Lewistown mirrors the fate of the nation at this critical point in history. How do Americans make sense of economic and political forces beyond their control? Will they make a go of it and if so, how? In DOWNTOWN DREAM, Jon, Bernard, Pam, Barb and Katie reinvent their dreams in the face of devastation and decay.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2013 / 45 minutes

MARX RELOADED

By Jason Barker

MARX RELOADED is a cultural documentary that examines the relevance of German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx's ideas for understanding the global economic and financial crisis.

The recent crisis triggered the deepest global recession in 70 years and prompted the US government to spend more than 1 trillion dollars in order to rescue its banking system from collapse. Today the full implications of the crisis in Europe and around the world still remain unclear. Nevertheless, should we accept the crisis as an unfortunate side-effect of the free market? Or is there another explanation as to why it happened and its likely effects on our society, our economy and our whole way of life?

Today a new generation of philosophers, artists and political activists are returning to Marx's ideas in order to try to make sense of the crisis and to consider whether a world without or beyond capitalism is possible. Is the severity of the ongoing recession a sign that the capitalist system's days are numbered? Ironically, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, could it be that communism might provide the solution to the growing economic and environmental challenges facing the planet?

Written and directed by Jason Barker - himself an experienced writer, lecturer, translator and doctor of philosophy - MARX RELOADED includes interviews with leading thinkers on Marxism, including those at the forefront of a popular revival in Marxist and communist ideas. The film also includes interviews with leading skeptics of this revival as well as light-hearted animation sequences which follow Marx's adventures through the matrix of his own ideas.

Interviews with leading experts include: Norbert Bolz, Micha Brumlik, John Gray, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, Nina Power, Jacques Ranciere, Peter Sloterdijk, Alberto Toscano, and Slavoj Zizek.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2011 / 52 minutes

FORGOTTEN SPACE, THE

By Allan Sekula and Noel Burch

The "forgotten space" of Allan Sekula and Noel Burch's essay film is the sea, the oceans through which 90% of the world's cargo now passes. At the heart of this space is the container box, which, since its invention in the 1950s, has become one of the most important mechanisms for the global spread of capitalism.

The film follows the container box along the international supply chain, from ships to barges, trains, and trucks, mapping the byzantine networks that connect producers to consumers (and more and more frequently, producing nations to consuming ones). Visiting the major ports of Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Guangdong province, and many places between, it connects the economic puzzle pieces that corporations and governments would prefer remain scattered.

We meet people who have been reduced to cogs in this increasingly automated machine - the invisible laborers who staff the cargo ships, steer the barges, drive the trucks, and migrate to the factories, and whose low wages form the base of the entire enterprise. The film also introduces us to those who this system's efficiency has marginalized: the longtime unemployed occupants of a California tent city, Dutch farmers whose land is bisected by a new high-speed train line, and the displaced residents of Doel, Belgium, whose city is slated for demolition in order to expand the port of Antwerp.

Employing a wide range of materials and styles, from interviews to classic film clips, essayistic voiceover to observational footage, THE FORGOTTEN SPACE provides a panoramic portrait of the new global economy and a compelling argument about why it must change.

DVD (Color) / 2010 / 112 minutes

KAPITALISM: OUR SECRET RECIPE

By Alexandru Solomon

When George Becali's limousine was stolen in 2009, he didn't call the police. Instead, Becali - one of the wealthiest men in Romania - turned to his personal bodyguards. They tracked down the alleged thieves, then captured and tortured them. Becali was imprisoned briefly. Soon after his release, he was elected to the European Parliament.

Few stories better illustrate contemporary Romanian economic and political realities: the fluid line between private wealth and political power, and the egos of wealthy men who see their own actions as above the law.

Becali is one of the rich and powerful Romanian magnates who have dominated the post-Communist Romanian economy, and to whom filmmaker Alexandru Solomon introduces us in his startling documentary Kapitalism: Our Secret Recipe.

With the 1989 fall of the Ceausescu regime the future seemed bright. Freed from its tyranny, Romanians looked forward to a capitalist, entrepreneurial age marked by freedom and a higher standard of living.

Twenty years later, Romania has the smallest GDP of all former Communist countries, with a third of the economy controlled by a small group of millionaires. Meanwhile, spending on infrastructure has stagnated: Romania's roads rank 110th in the world. Kapitalism: Our Secret Recipe seeks to understand how this came to pass - how public assets enriched very few, to the detriment of the country.

Rather than trying to understand the elite from a distance, Solomon sits down with them and asks them pointed questions. And they are surprisingly forthcoming in their responses.

Take Dan Voiculescu, the Vice-President of the Romanian Senate, who leveraged a job with a state-controlled export company into a net worth in the billions. Speaking in his palatial home, under an oil painting of himself, Voiculescu makes no apologies: a small group of people were in a position to get rich, and they did.

Then there's Dinu Patriciu, who bought a state-owned oil refinery valued at 615 million Euros for only 50 million Euros - then sold it a few years later for two billion. By its very nature, capitalism in a transitional period is "immoral" he says.

Intermingled with the interviews, are whimsical but effective animated sequences that use clay, LEGO and Playmobil to visually highlight key points and clearly demonstrate labyrinthine transactions. In addition to its personal interviews with the oligarchs, Kapitalism also depicts them at a distance, on television screens overlooking Bucharest, for instance. Here, they are remote, unapproachable - as most Romanians would experience them.

Ultimately, what Kapitalism suggests is that not much has changed over the last 20 years. The film imagines Ceausescu returning from the dead to tour the country now, and finding much to like. "You have maintained the three pillars of the Communist Party," this imaginary Ceausescu tells a group of assembled magnates. "Prejudice. Corruption. Relationships."

DVD (Color) / 2010 / 55 minutes

BANKING THE UNBANKED

By Sarah Vos

Ever since microfinance entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, microfinance projects have played a growing role in international development.

For executives like Reliance Financial CEO Baboucarr Khan and COO Ismaila Faal, the field offers opportunities to raise people out of poverty - and to make money.

Banking the Unbanked is a verite documentary that follows Khan, Faal and other members of the Gambia-based Reliance team as they try to build the bank into a viable West African financial institution. Their target clients: those who make under five dollars a day. Taxi drivers. Small shopkeepers. Seamstresses. Fishermen.

Running the company weighs heavily on Khan. We see his frustration when construction on a new branch is not only sloppy but also behind schedule. And he is taken to task by the board of directors for an outburst against the Central Bank of Gambia - Reliance's regulator - after it issues a scathing report on some of the bank's practices. Meanwhile, members of the Reliance senior management team participate in an executive leadership program run by a Dutch university.

As Reliance falters, microfinance consultant Craig Feinberg urges a harder line on defaulting creditors - and suggests the possibility of getting out of small loans altogether, concentrating instead on wire transfers and foreign exchange.

Banking the Unbanked captures the tension and drama in the surprisingly cut-throat world of microfinance - a world where many small loans add up to a whole lot of money. Can promoting development by lending to those at the bottom of the economic ladder co-exist with the need to provide investors with attractive rates of return?

DVD (Color) / 2009 / 56 minutes

RISE OF DISASTER CAPITALISM (NAOMI KLEIN)

The Rise of Disaster Capitalism features Naomi Klein explaining the ideas and research behind her bestselling book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. In this riveting lecture and interview, Klein challenges and exposes the popular myth of the free market economy's peaceful global victory.

Around the world there are people with power who are cashing in on chaos, exploiting bloodshed and catastrophe to brutally implement their policies. They are the shock doctors. From Chile in 1973 to Iraq today, this is the chilling tale of how a few are making a killing while more are getting killed.

DVD / 2009 / 77 minutes

WHAT'S THE ECONOMY FOR, ANYWAY?

Directed by John de Graaf

Ecological economist Dave Batker questions whether GDP is an adequate measure of society's well-being and suggests workable alternatives.

Fame, ecological economist Dave Batker presents a humorous, edgy, factual, timely and highly-visual monologue about the American economy today, challenging the ways we measure economic success--especially the Gross Domestic Product--and offering an answer to the question: What's the Economy for, Anyway?

Using Gifford Pinchot's idea that the economy's purpose is "the greatest good for the greatest number over the longest run," Batker compares the performance of the U.S. economy with that of other industrial countries in terms of providing a high quality of life, fairness and ecological sustainability, concluding that when you do the numbers, we come out near the bottom in nearly every category.

Batker shines a humorous light on such economic buzzwords as "productivity," and "consumer sovereignty," while offering ideas for "capitalism with a human face," a new economic paradigm that meets the real needs of people and the planet.

DVD / 2009 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 40 minutes

WORLD'S NEXT SUPERMODEL, THE

By IJsbrand van Veelen

With America's version of capitalism seemingly heading for bankruptcy, is there a crisis-proof economic model that can shape the 21st century?

In THE WORLD'S NEXT SUPERMODEL, three prominent thinkers argue for competing economic models. Kishore Mahbubani, author of The New Asian Hemisphere, pitches the Asian model, characterized by the economic successes of China, India and Singapore. Wouter Bos, Dutch Minister of Finance, claims that the values of the European model are superior, while Brazilian economist Marcelo Neri praises the economic success of his country.

The proposals for these models are discussed by a jury consisting of macro-economist Willem Buiter, professor at the London School of Economics, New America Foundation's Parag Khanna, an expert analyst of global geopolitical issues, and author and Yale law and globalization professor Amy Chua.

These expert "judges," in a lively debate, examine the three models on the basis of issues such as social stability, environmental sustainability, government and market relationship, and their crisisproof nature. Their surprising decision is sure to provoke continued debates on this important global issue.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2009 / 48 minutes

LET'S MAKE MONEY

Directed by Erwin Wagenhofer

Erwin Wagenhofer's incredible odyssey tracking our money through the worldwide finance system.

LET'S MAKE MONEY follows the trail of our money through the worldwide finance system.

What does our retirement savings have to do with the property blow-up in Spain? We don't have to buy a home there in order to be involved. As soon as we open an account, we're part of the worldwide finance market--whether we want to be or not. We customers have no idea where our debtors live and what they do to pay our interest fees. Most of us aren't even interested, because we like to follow the call of the banks to "Let your money work.'' But money can't work. Only people, animals or machines can work.

The film starts at the Ahafo mine in Ghana, West Africa, where vast areas are being blasted open. Gold is extracted from the rock in a tedious process, then smelted and flown directly to Switzerland. The spoils are divided up proportionally: 3% for Africa, 97% for the West. The mine was opened with the assistance of the World Bank.

"I don't think the investor should be responsible for the ethics, the pollution or anything the company in which he has invested produces. That's not his job. His job is to invest and earn money for his clients." - Mark Mobius, president of Templeton Emerging Markets

"In the end it's always the so-called man or woman on the street who's left paying the bills." - Hermann Scheer, winner of the alternative Nobel Prize and a member of German Parliament

DVD / 2008 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 107 minutes

SEEDS OF HUNGER

By Yves Billy & Richard Prost

Today more than three billion people worldwide suffer from malnutrition, including one billion who are starving. The current global economic crisis has created food shortages, skyrocketing prices, and food riots in some countries. With the world of agriculture confronting the impact of such factors as global warming, population urbanization trends, changes in eating habits, and increased use of grains for biofuels, SEEDS OF HUNGER outlines the shape of an impending global food crisis.

Filmed in Africa, China, Latin America and the U.S., SEEDS OF HUNGER examines issues involved in creating such a crisis, including the politics of food security and scarcity, declining food production and the need for increased production to meet population growth, the impact of genetically modified foods, water shortages, famine, food aid programs, the loss of crop land, and national food production, distribution and export policies.

These and other issues are explored in interviews with farmers, financial analysts and food buyers and importers worldwide, as well as Maryam Rahmanian of the Centre for Sustainable Development and Environment, Bruno Parmentier, Director of the Ecole Supérieure d'Agriculture, Zhang Shihuang of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, Marc Dufumier, researcher for AgroParisTech, Amani Elobeid of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, and Stefan Tangermann of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

DVD (Color) / 2008 / 52 minutes

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