REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE, NOT CLIMATE CHANGE! - INTERNATIONAL MARXIST TENDENCY

IMT STAEMENT: FOR REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE, NOT CLIMATE CHANGE!
International Marxist Tendency
02 September 2019

The international climate strike movement has created waves across the world. Over the past year, during the course of several global days of action, millions of young people from over 100 countries have walked out of school in order to join the ‘Fridays for Future’ protests, demanding immediate action against the climate crisis.

By taking to the streets en masse, occupying roads, and shutting down cities, these demonstrations have forced politicians to sit up and take notice.

What’s more, these mobilisations have filled a new generation with a sense of confidence, power, and purpose. For the protestors, the idea of mass, militant action is now the norm, not the exception. The word ‘strike’ is now firmly at the forefront of young people’s minds. The lesson is clear: if you want something, you must organise and fight for it.

Starting last year in Sweden with the weekly protests of one school student, Greta Thunberg, the #YouthStrike4Climate movement has rapidly spread internationally. In every country, the situation is the same: students and youth are entering into political activity, demanding ‘system change, not climate change’.

It is clear that urgent action is needed. A massive reduction in emissions and pollution levels is essential. And large-scale mitigation measures must be taken, such as the construction of flood defences and reforestation. But the capitalists and their political representatives are completely incapable of carrying out the radical changes that are required.

Global action is needed to solve a global problem, but capitalist governments are impotent. Some world leaders have declared a ‘climate emergency’. But this is an empty phrase when uttered from the lips of these big business politicians. After all, under capitalism, it is not they that really decide. Instead, the future of humanity and our planet is left to the caprices of the so-called ‘invisible hand’ of the market.

Greta Thunberg has pointed out that scientists are being ignored, and asks for governments to listen to the scientific evidence and advice. Similarly, activists from the Extinction Rebellion movement have tried to ‘raise awareness’ and convince politicians through a strategy of highly visible direct actions.

But the capitalists and their politicians will not be persuaded by moral arguments, nor by facts and figures. At the end of the day, we cannot expect this out-of-touch elite to do anything to protect the earth, as their only criterion is maximising profit at the expense of the rest of us.

Corporations will cut corners and ride roughshod through regulations wherever necessary in order to reduce costs, outcompete their rivals, capture new markets, and maximise their profits.

Capitalist politicians have nothing to offer in response to this destruction. All they can suggest is that we must club together and make individual choices to reduce our environmental footprint.

But the ‘solutions’ that flow from this are entirely reactionary. In essence they are just a ‘greenwashing’ of austerity – telling workers and the poor that they must tighten their belts to solve a problem created by the capitalists and their rotten system.

Most importantly, this liberal, individualistic mantra flies in the face of the facts. One recent study, for example, showed that 100 big companies (mainly big fossil fuel producers) are responsible for over 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. This highlights where the real blame for climate change lies.

In response to this fact, some left-wing politicians – such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the USA – have raised the demand for a ‘Green New Deal’, calling for governments to curb carbon emissions by investing in renewable energy supplies and creating green jobs.

These vague proposals generally amount to a Keynesian strategy of attempting to regulate and manage the capitalist system. But capitalism cannot be managed. It cannot be tamed and made ‘green’. As long as the economy is based on production for profit, it will be big business that dictates to governments, not the other way round.

We must be clear: it is capitalism that is killing our planet. Its insatiable pursuit of profits is responsible for the race to the bottom in which environmental standards and living conditions are driven ever further down. It is profit-driven corporations that decide what is produced and how it is produced. But this is not done according to any plan. Instead, our economy is left to the anarchy of the market.

It’s the profit motive, not economic growth itself, that is the problem. This is why calls from certain quarters of the green movement for ‘zero growth’ and ‘degrowth’ are reactionary. ‘Zero growth’ under capitalism is called a recession – and it is the working class and the poor who are made to pay. An argument for permanent recession is an argument for permanent austerity.

The only way to bring about a sustainable economy – where rising living standards are not in contradiction with protecting the planet – is on the basis of a democratic, rational, socialist plan of production.

In private hands, the major monopolies generate obscene levels of waste and environmental damage. Nationalised under a socialist economic plan, however, they could employ modern green technologies to slash emissions and pollution in the space of a few years, while providing quality food, shelter, education, transport, and healthcare for all.

By combining the best scientific minds with the skills of workers in industry, under democratic workers’ control, we can put all of society’s technological abilities and resources at the service of humanity and the planet.

In many countries, support for Green parties has risen on the back of growing environmental concerns and a general distrust of traditional establishment parties. But fundamentally, the Green leaders are just liberals, who do not challenge the system or see the division of society into mutually opposed classes.

From the conclusion that capitalism is the root of the problem, it follows that we must fight for radical change on a class basis: linking the militancy and radicalism of the student climate strikes with the wider labour movement, with workers and youth fighting together for bold socialist environmental policies.

In this respect, the upcoming international days of action on 20 and 27 September potentially represent a big step forward for the movement. Greta Thunberg has correctly urged workers across the world to join students on these global walkouts. In some places, trade unions have already backed this call, promising to strike or protest alongside young activists.

The next step is for the whole of the labour movement to emulate these examples and throw its full weight behind the climate strikes. The power of the organised working class, armed with a socialist programme, would be unstoppable. As the Marxists have always stated, not a lightbulb shines and not a wheel turns without the permission of the working class.

Only by abolishing the capitalist system and replacing it with socialism can we plan the use of the planet’s resources in a democratic way. Only with the socialist transformation of society can we satisfy the needs of the majority in harmony with the environment, instead of generating profits for a parasitical minority.

The science and technology exist to deal with climate change. But under capitalism, these forces are destroying planet earth, not saving it. Socialism or barbarism: that is the future before us. We need a revolution.

Maximum mobilisation for the September climate strikes!

Students and workers – unite and fight!

Capitalism is the problem – socialism the answer!

Join the IMT!

The US government's response to the Ebola epidemic is to send troops. Socialist Cuba sends medical personnel - from The "Marxism-Leninism Today" website

Obama To Send 3,000 Military Forces To Fight Ebola In West Africa.

By Jim Kuhnhenn
Sept. 16, 2014

Washington (AP) — "The Obama administration is ramping up its response to West Africa's Ebola crisis, preparing to assign 3,000 U.S. military personnel to the afflicted region to supply medical and logistical support to overwhelmed local health care systems and to boost the number of beds needed to isolate and treat victims of the epidemic."

By World Health Organization (WHO)

September 12, 2014

Cuba's Minister of Public Health announced September 12th that Cuba would be sending a medical team of 165 experienced medical professionals to Sierra Leone to help combat the Ebola crisis there. The announcement, which came at the World Health Organization's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, represents "the largest offer of a foreign medical team from a single country during this outbreak," according to WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan.Cuba is known the world over for its ability to train excellent doctors and nurses who can then go out to help other countries in need. Currently there are more than 50,000 Cuban-trained health workers in 66 countries.

And now Dr Roberto Morales Ojeda, Minister of Public Health, has announced that Cuba will send a medical team of 165 people to Sierra Leone to help in the frontline in the Ebola response efforts. 

This is the largest offer of a foreign medical team from a single country during this outbreak.

"Money and materials are important, but those two things alone cannot stop Ebola virus transmission," says Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General at the World Health Organization (WHO). "Human resources are clearly our most important need. We need most especially compassionate doctors and nurses, who will know how to comfort patients despite the barriers of wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) and working under very demanding conditions".

The Cuban team consists of 100 nurses, 50 doctors, 3 epidemiologists, 3 intensive care specialists, 3 infection control specialist nurses and 5 social mobilization officers, all overseen by epidemiologist Dr Jorge Juan Delgado Bustillo. All of the Cuban health workers have more than 15 years' experience and have worked in other countries facing natural disasters and disease outbreaks. Some of the workers have already been working in Sierra Leone and Guinea for some years and are willing to continue their service there. Once they have all followed WHO-standard infection control training in Cuba, the team will pack supplies of PPE and travel to Sierra Leone in early October. They will stay there for 6 months, working in shifts in smaller teams in Ebola treatment centres and community clinics.

Dr Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director at WHO, says "Those of us who have been working on the response efforts at WHO know how truly valuable this offer is. Many countries have offered money but no other country has offered such a large number of workers to go in and help do the most difficult jobs in this crisis."

It is hoped that this offer of support will send a strong message of solidarity for Africa to the rest of the world and will catalyse additional offers of support from other countries.

PolEco: Basic Mass Course (BMC) seminar in Cavite

The Basic Mass Course seminar is given to the basic masses, for them to have an understanding on the root cause of poverty and injustices happening in the country, why it is happening, and what's the solution to the problem. It focuses on how capitalism is a decaying system and how socialism is the more progressive system. The seminar in Cavite was conducted last August 20, 2013, and was attended by 12 participants from different mass organizations like Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) - Bulihan, Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) - GMA, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod (KPML) - GMA. Also among them are aspirants for public positions in the coming barangay elections in October. The seminar was handled by Partido Lakas ng Masa - Cavite.

PolEco: All True Revolutionaries Are Environmentalists (an article on Liberation News by Steven Argue

All True Revolutionaries Are Environmentalists 

By Steven Argue 

“Nobody is qualified to become a statesman who is entirely ignorant of the problems of wheat.” ― Socrates (Of ancient Greece 469 BC - 399 BC) 

 
I was thinking of that quote not long ago when a utopian anarchist argued with me against the need for a centralized planned economy under workers control after the revolution. When I asked him how we would then run the railroads, he claimed we do not need railroads. I tried explaining to him that modern agriculture depends on modern industry, and modern industry depends on railroads. He couldn't understand that his utopian vision of returning to a purely agrarian society would mean the starvation of millions of people in the United States, billions if done worldwide. A similar wide-eyed utopian with a vision of the return to an agrarian society was Pol Pot, the man who goes down in infamy for leading a “revolution” in Cambodia that caused the starvation of about a million people. 

 
In Vietnam, legitimate revolutionaries (all be it with some Stalinist baggage) drove the imperialists out of the south in 1975 and took control of Vietnam, ending the U.S. slaughter of three million Vietnamese people. Unlike Pol Pot, the Vietnamese Communists had a Marxist understanding of the need for modern industry. In 1979, after China and Cambodia invaded Vietnam at the urging of the United States, Vietnam put an end to Pol Pot’s madness by invading Cambodia, handing out rice and rifles to the people as they went. Fearful of an armed people, Pol Pot’s forces were driven from Cambodia in one month. After that victory, however, Reagan aided Pol Pot’s terrorist forces which helped them attack Vietnamese troops and Cambodian civilians from across the border in Thailand. Yet, through their defeat of Pol Pot, did Vietnamese Communist forces bring socialism to Cambodia as they did with the defeat of U.S. forces in South Vietnam? No they did not. Was there really anything that could be called a “revolution” or "counter-revolution” in Cambodia? Not really. Yet, the Vietnamese did put an end to the hell on Earth created by the murderous anti-Marxist leadership of Pol Pot. 

 
Marxists understand that modern industry is an essential component to building socialism. Yet, there are anti-Marxist tendencies within the socialist left, in anarchism in particular, which claim that liberation has been possible everywhere and at all times in human history. This ignores material realities. For instance, in ancient Greece before large scale advances in science, technology, and medicine underdevelopment drastically reduced human potential. Human lives were tragically short and filled with brute labor and violence. Average life expectancy was under 15 years of age and most people were slaves. It is only relatively recently in human history that the material basis for socialist revolution and workers democracy has been developed. 

 
While modern bourgeois historians love to gush about the “democracy” of ancient Greece, this was a “democracy” of rich male slave owners that put Socrates to death for questioning the official state religion of Zeus. At his trial, Socrates rightly mocked the foolishness of the charges against him, where he was both charged with atheism and with trying to start a new religion. An additional charge against Socrates was that of corrupting the youth. Today, all good modern revolutionaries continue to question all state religions, continue to strive to “corrupt” the youth, and should take the advice of Socrates in understanding the problems of wheat. 

 
Today, while there continue to be revolutionaries who foolishly see modern industry as the problem to be eliminated, on the opposite end of the spectrum are another set of misguided revolutionaries who see no problems with modern industry at all. Obviously humanity has advanced from the days of Socrates when “civilization” depended on slave labor and animals for the energy to grow food. Yet today, modern agriculture and industry depends on the energy produced by burning fossil fuels. Carbon from those fossil fuels are now rapidly moving the Earth in a direction where we will no longer be able to grow much of the food needed to feed humanity. For instance, without change, global warming will cause the Midwest, which grows much of the world’s wheat, to become desert in just a few decades. Likewise, low lying crop lands that grow much of the world’s rice, like in Vietnam and Bangladesh, will be destroyed by the salt waters of rising seas. Mass starvation is on the horizon and the ruling capitalist class is doing nothing to stop it. 

 
While science has developed alternatives to fossil fuels as well as far more efficient ways of using those fuels, private ownership of oil, coal, and auto has created a powerful capitalist force in society that actively prevents progress in order to continue to profit from the destruction of the Earth. It is only through social ownership of the means of production that necessary changes can be made that can begin to save civilization from the coming holocaust of global warming. It will take a socialist revolution to save humanity from global warming. Likewise, without socialist revolution soon, we are rapidly losing the economic basis to build socialism. Yet, after a couple decades of publishing, the only mention the Internationalist Group (IG) has ever made of global warming was in regards to Hurricane Sandy: 

 
“Sandy was quickly labeled “Frankenstorm,” yet the wind and rain were weaker than Irene, which hit Brooklyn last year. The far greater destruction and casualties (130 dead in the U.S., over 100 in Haiti) were primarily due to the failure and refusal of an arrogant ruling class to carry out measures to prepare for such a storm, and “malign neglect” toward its impoverished victims. Following Irene, proposals had been made by official commissions to carry out a number of measures, some costly (sea walls and flood gates) and others less so (sealing off tunnels, subway entrances and gratings in likely affected areas; elevating public housing boilers and electrical equipment). But nothing was done. Sandy was yet again an “unnatural disaster” like so many in the past decade, whether attributable to global warming or not (i.e., hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes), in which warnings were ignored and the death toll multiplied by capitalist-induced chaos, skimping on infrastructure and not only callous indifference towards those affected by it but even a deliberate desire to remove “unwanted” populations.” 

 

These are generally good points, yet in this one time where they have finally mentioned the words “global warming”; they really say nothing about the subject or what to do about it except to prepare for its damage. These are measures that do need to be taken, but global warming must be tackled as well. In fact, they seem to be poo pooing knowledge of the general trend of warmer oceans causing more hurricanes with increased severity. They do this by comparing two hurricanes and ignoring overall data. 

 

Similarly, the Spartacist League went for many decades without adequately addressing the problem of global warming. In 2010 they finally accepted the science of global warming with their article “Capitalism and Global Warming”. In fact, the article finally makes many of the same arguments I made in earlier articles, arguments I’ve been making for decades. Yet, the Spartacist League has continued railing against environmentalists as a petite bourgeois layer. In addition, if one had it on their word, us environmentalists don’t see capitalism as the problem. Some do and some don't. Yet the Spartacist League speaks as if one cannot be an environmentalist, working class, and a socialist all at the same time. The Spartacist League, while often having good spot on analysis, loves to throw in formulations that paint themselves as the one true carrier of all truth. These formulations serve to alienate rather than embrace and build. I for one, as an environmentalist, was calling for saving our planet from global warming through socialist revolution long before the Spartacist League finally adopted the issue. 

 

Those of us concerned about the health of this planet call ourselves environmentalists and, just as it will take socialism to save the planet, all true revolutionaries are environmentalists. Building socialism depends on understanding the problems of wheat. Likewise, as growing mass starvation looms on the horizon, the capitalists are not qualified to rule because they are failing to deal with the problems of wheat. 

-Steven Argue of the Revolutionary Tendency

This is an article of Liberation News, subscribe Free:
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PolEco: This is how the US continuously destabilizes progressive socialist countries - from Granma International (Cuban Daily)

O U R A M E R I C A
Havana. May 30, 2013

Henrique Capriles: Provoking destabilization
Laura Bécquer Paseiro

AFTER failing in his attempt to provoke internal chaos in Venezuela, defeated right-wing presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski has turned his attention to the international arena. With a well devised and advised strategy, aided by the United States, he has undertaken a campaign beyond Venezuelan borders to delegitimize the legitimate government which won the last elections.

His method is a simple one. It is to destabilize national institutions and discredit the principal leaders of the Bolivarian process, in particular President Nicolás Maduro, with the backing of individuals such as Otto Reich and Roger Noriega.

His anything but innocent visit to Bogotá has provoked a storm which is threatening the positive climate of relations between Colombia and Venezuela, two nations with historical, economic and social ties.

Capriles stated that he began his tour to denounce the "fraudulent" popular will expressed at the April 14 elections. He went further than that, advising that he is still to meet with various other Latin American governments. "Colombia will not be the first nor last stop on this visit."

He packed his bags leaving aside accusations of his lack of governorship in the state of Miranda. Legislative Council President Aurora Morales stated May 30 that ignoring his responsibilities as governor "is placing Capriles beyond the Constitution," and recalled that the Miranda government lodged an appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice some weeks ago for clarification of the situation.

This tour of Capriles, one of the April 2002 coup leaders, is also threatening to affect the peace talks underway in Havana between the Juan Manuel Santos government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Army of the People (FARC-EP), in which Venezuela is participating as an observer. In this way he is playing along with the Colombian paramilitary ultra –right which previously supported him and is prepared to do anything to avert an end to the conflict in that country, which has become a lucrative business

As part of the strategy, the corporate press is using these distractions to conceal other news. Little has been said of the visit by three Bolivarian government ministers to Bogotá to promote economic links, and far less of recent Colombian-Venezuelan cooperation in combating narcotics, with the extradition from Venezuela of three notorious drug traffickers.

Capriles and his allies have little concern about methods and far less for their consequences.

PolEco: Posthumous Messages on Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias - from Granma International (Cuban Daily)

Chávez: A universal revolutionary

WITHOUT any distinction of political affiliation or geographic location, expressions of sorrow at the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez continue, in a generalized acknowledgment of the architect of the Bolivarian Revolution and one of the principal promoters of an integrated Latin America and the Caribbean.

Photo: José M. Correa

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America- Trade Treaty of the Peoples (ALBA-TCP) honored him before the UN Human Rights Council.

"Chávez was able to fully interpret the pro-independence and pro-unity thinking of Latin American and Caribbean independence leaders and take it to its most complete expression, the ALBA," affirmed Angélica Navarro, the Bolivian permanent representative in Geneva.

Alí Rodríguez Araque, UN secretary general of UNASUR, said that Chávez would be remembered not only as the promoter of Latin American integration and "the great restorer of Bolívar’s original project, but also the leader who restored Venezuelan dignity…"

Heads of MERCOSUR, ECLAC, and the Latin American Parliament also sent condolences to the Venezuelan government and people.

In a press conference in Haiti, President Michel Martelly expressed his sorrow at the death of Chávez, who he described as an exceptional person. "A great man has died, an exceptional person who never missed an opportunity to express his love for Haiti and to help its people. We will always be grateful to President Chávez, today is a sad day."

Guyanese President Donald Ramotar and Alejandro García Padilla, Governor of Puerto Rico, also sent condolences.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Army of the People (FARC-EP) issued a communiqué stating that it shares the pain of Venezuelan Bolivarians at the heartbreaking news. "Like no-one else, Chávez fought passionately to make material the social program of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, the unity and dignity of our peoples, the conviction of sovereignty and freedom in their widest sense."

Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized Chávez’ elevated human and leadership qualities in a message of condolence to the Venezuelan government and people. Putin described him as "an exceptional and outstanding leader and a close friend of Russia."

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko lamented the death of the Venezuelan leader, whom he described as a faithful and close friend and brother of his country.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic announced that the Venezuelan President is to be awarded a posthumous decoration "for his merits in the development and reinforcement of peaceful cooperation between the two countries."

Irish President Michael Higgins highlighted Chávez’ battle against poverty and the social advances he achieved.

There were official announcements of condolences and acknowledgment of the head of state’s historic legacy in Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The Chinese Foreign Minister announced that President Hu Jintao; General Secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping; and Wu Bangguo, President of the Permanent Committee of the People’s National Assembly sent messages of condolence to Venezuelan authorities. The note describes Chávez as "a good friend of the Chinese people… who did much in favor of friendly and cooperative relations between Beijing and Caracas."

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh affirmed his profound sadness and described Chávez as "a charismatic and immensely popular leader, who leaves a legacy of struggle for social justice."

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya also lamented the death of Chávez, who he defined as a key architect in African-South American relations.

Palestine National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas offered condolences to the Venezuelan people and government, while noting, "Palestinians have lost a friend who passionately defended their right to freedom."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad affirmed that his Venezuelan counterpart will be like a saint who will return on the Day of Resurrection. Syrian leader Bashar al Assad stated that the death of Chávez was both "a great personal loss" and a loss for the Syrian people.

In the United States, actors Danny Glover and Sean Penn, and filmmakers Michael Moore and Oliver Stone also expressed their condolences to the Venezuelan people and highlighted the leader’s work in defense of the poor of the world and lovers of freedom.

Argentine footballer Diego Maradona also joined his compatriots in mourning the death of President Hugo Chávez. (SE)

- Communiqué from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on the death of Comandante President Hugo Chávez Frías

PolEco: Sanlakas Partylist's Letter of Solidarity to the Venezuelan people and the oppressed classes of all Nations

A letter of solidarity and mourning with the people of Venezuela and the oppressed classes of all nations

Details

Category: Statements

Published on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 13:21

In this hour of grief, Sanlakas Party-list together with the exploited masses of the Filipino nation are one with oppressed classes of all nations in mourning the loss of one of the greatest champion of social justice and democratic reform in the last decade.
We realize that no amount of words could ever make the perfect eulogy for a Hugo Chavez. For he is an exceptional intellectual who went against the tide, an illuminating leader who steered millions to struggle, a resolute commander of the global resistance against the neo-liberal world order.
The Filipino nation could only envy the Venezuelan people for they were gifted with a Hugo Chavez for fourteen years institutionalizing people-centered reforms while we suffer from a spoiled-brat of a landlord sitting idly in the presidential palace.
Hugo's militancy, charisma and political wizardry did not only impress the world but more importantly it inspired every exploited and downtrodden factory worker, peasant, tribesman, government employee, foot soldier and other deprived sectors which bear the weight of both imperialist greed for profit and rotten political puppet to struggle against their dictates.
It is our sincerest hope that the glorious Bolivarian revolutionary tradition remain to be the bailiwick of genuine democracy and the seedbed of revolutionary fervor not only in Latin America but the rest of the world. May Hugo's example serve us well and the succeeding generations to continue the struggle till this system of greed and injustice sowed by the oligarchs be trampled once and for all.
Mabuhay ka, Commandante Hugo Chavez!
Mabuhay ang pakikibaka ng mga api't pinagsasamantalahan sa buong daigdig!

Sanlakas Partylist

PolEco: PTV4 Interviews Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) chairperson Sonny Melencio

PolEco: Europe prepares for biggest coordinated shutdown in generation - An article from the "Anti Capitalist Initiative" website

Hurrah to the workers of the European Union. This is a big step and the first of our times. It's an anti-cuts movement for their democratic struggles for dignified living standards, pensions, unemployment benefits, and services, not just against their governments, but against the whole capitalist system. They said the austerity policy is perpetrated by the global financial community headed by the Troika of the IMF-World Bank, the EU, and the European Central Bank, which operates globally. So the logical backslash is to fight it globally also, by uniting workers of all of Europe, and eventually workers of the world !!!

Europe prepares for biggest coordinated shutdown in generation

Toby Abse | October 26, 2012 | 0 Comments

Workers in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta, are set to walk out in a European-wide general strike. Toby Abse reports.

The co-ordinated general strikes in a number of European countries on Wednesday 14 November  may on one level only be a symbolic protest against the vicious austerity policies attacking  working class living standards, pensions, unemployment benefits, health services , education and other parts of the public sector all over the European Union. After all, a one day strike will not bring the system or indeed any national government crashing down – but on another level such a transnational strike is a tremendous and exciting step forward for the anti-cuts movement in Europe.

It is clearly about time that the workers’ movement started to co-ordinate its actions across national boundaries in exactly the same way as the capitalists and the politicians that represent their interests.

The notion that a European austerity offensive – that in the case of Greece, Spain and Portugal is directly linked to the demands of the Troika ( European Union/European Central Bank/ International Monetary Fund) - can be successfully fought on a purely national basis is obviously absurd.  It requires a European wide mobilisation of the working class on resolutely internationalist lines.

Even the most combative workers’ movement on the entire continent, that of Greece, which has staged general strikes on 20 days in the last few years (generally for 24 hours, occasionally for 48) has not succeeded in halting the bosses’ attacks, precisely because the  Greek capitalist class is tied to its international counterparts, who are absolutely determined that no working class, even in one of the smaller and  less populous European countries, can reverse the austerity offensive, precisely because of the example it would provide to others in similar situations.

It should be equally obvious that secessionist movements in Scotland or Catalonia will offer no way out of  austerity ; the enemy of Scottish workers is not the English and the enemy of Catalan workers is not the Castilians.

Indeed smaller national states might well offer more scope to multinational companies seeking to promote a race to the bottom, as should be obvious to anybody who has taken a close look at the SNP’s economic policies. Indeed, in the days when they openly used Ireland as a model, they made it obvious that they would offer international capital a more favourable tax regime than even the tax-lite British state.

So far trade unions in five countries are committed to participation in the European general strike on 14 November – Spain, Portugal, Greece , Cyprus and Malta. Whilst the ETUC called for a ‘ day of action and solidarity for a Social Compact for Europe’ at the meeting of its Executive Committee on 17 October, it would be wrong to see the original initiative coming from this very bureaucratic body.

It seems to have started with the biggest Portuguese union confederation, the CGPT, calling a general strike for 14 November against  the ‘exploitation and impoverishment’ of the Portuguese population in the wake of partially successful Portuguese protests that forced the Portuguese government to retreat on some aspects of its austerity policies. This then led both the two main Spanish trade union confederations Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and the UGT in  to decide to call a general strike for the same day. The CCOO said ‘Unemployment, cuts, the impoverishment of the majority and the deterioration of public services justify a general strike’.

This co-ordinated Iberian general strike seems to have been the spark behind the decision of GSEE (General Confederation of Greek Workers) to announce their intention to come out again on 14 November on the day of the latest Greek general strike on Thursday 18 October, even if the Greek announcement came a day after the ETUC meeting.

Whilst the ETUC statement makes some reasonable points and acknowledges the Europe-wide nature of the anti-working class offensive, it romanticises the virtues of ‘the European social model’ and sows some dangerous illusions  by ‘supporting the objective of sound accounts’ or stating that  ‘fiscal consolidation has had a sharper effect than originally estimated by institutions, including the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund’, thus implying like Miliband and Balls that cuts are too deep and too fast, but not something to be totally rejected.

Moreover, it promotes the idea of ‘strikes, demonstrations, rallies and other actions’, a mix and match menu that would give excuses to trade union bureaucrats eager to avoid too serious a degree of mobilisation rather than calling for general strikes in every country in the EU. Nonetheless, from an agitational viewpoint, the ETUC day of action statement does provide a lever for putting demands on Brendan Barber and his ilk at the British TUC.

It is no longer appropriate to simply demand of the TUC that it name the day for a general strike. We should redouble our efforts to argue that if the TUC is seriously committed to investigating the practicalities of a general strike, it should go ahead and organise it on the 14 November when general strikes are taking place all over Europe against austerity policies that are remarkably similar to those of the Cameron- Clegg coalition in the UK.

After all, Len McCluskey, the leader of Unite asked the crowd in Hyde Park on Saturday 20 October if they wanted a general strike, and got a thunderous response from thousands of people shouting “yes”. He then asked for a show of hands on which the idea was overwhelmingly carried.

We must emphasise that if he is serious about all this, he should push for 14 November.

We should also put pressure on Bob Crow and the RMT to back a 14 November call; indeed, we must hope that the union’s militancy and its willingness, on occasions, to co-operate with European transport unions.

If even the most militant national trade union leaders do not heed this call, we must nonetheless, do everything we can to ensure that the 14 November mobilisation in the UK is not  reduced to a few badly publicised poorly attended lunch time rallies or some invitation only rally in the evening in Congress House. If anybody has a live industrial action ballot, they should suggest the strike be held on 14 November for example.

Let’s do all we can to bring the spirit of the European general strike to Britain’s shores.

PolEco: PLM is now a certified national political party

PLM is now an accredited national political party

Written by Partido Lakas ng Masa

Wednesday, 26 September 2012 16:33

PLM: National Political Party of the Marginalized Sectors The petition for certification of Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) as a national political party has been approved by the Commission on Elections on September 19, 2012.  With this approval, the fight for a national political party representing the marginalized sectors has escalated to new heights. This is a confirmation of PLM’s three and half years of existence and its expansion as a political party with a mass constituency and grassroots chapter-formations.  PLM members belong to the basic mainline sectors of the Filipino masses, which include workers, farmers, public transport drivers, vendors and the urban poor in the twelve (12) administrative regions in the country. A majority of our members are women. PLM's growth and expansion is a validation of PLM’s unceasing struggle to dismantle the elite system of political and economic rule in the country, and replace it with full democracy under a government of the masa. This is an affirmation of the correctness of PLM’s advocacy for a socialist society to supplant the moribund and profit-oriented capitalist system today. PLM’s Plataporma ng Masa is also gaining support from the masses as a concrete and urgent platform for national survival and social justice. PLM extends its gratitude to all its members, especially the leaders and members of the PLM chapters in the 12 territorial regions in the country; the founding organizations which originally formed the party, from the labor, transport, farmers, urban poor, and youth sectors; and all other individuals, groups and organizations which have extended assistance and support to the party. PLM will now step up its activity for the coming 2013 elections. PLM will intervene as a national political party by fielding and supporting local candidates at the grassroots level.  As of today, PLM is already running councilors in Marikina City and Taytay in Metro Manila, a mayor in GMA, Cavite, and a vice-mayor in San Pablo City. PLM is also calling for the unification of the progressive party lists in the country, and will give concrete backing to party list organizations which adhere to PLM’s platform and beliefs. Mabuhay kayong lahat, mga kasama!  Mabuhay ang PLM! Sonny Melencio, Chairperson Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM – national political party of the marginalized sectors)

PolEco: The Top 100 Documentaries Inspiring the Shift to a Sustainable Paradigm: from the Films For Action website

Films For Action Presents: The Top 100 Documentaries Inspiring the Shift to a Sustainable Paradigm

Film offers us a powerful tool to shift awareness and inspire action. It offers a method to break our dependence on the mainstream media and become the media oursleves. We don't need to wait for anyone or anything. Just imagine what could become possible if an entire city had seen just one of the documentaries below. Just imagine what would be possible if everyone in the country was aware of how unhealthy the mainstream media was for our future and started turning to independent sources in droves.
Creating a better world really does start with an informed citizenry, and there's lots of subject matter to cover. Our country has to come to terms with the true history of Western civilization. It has to learn about basic ecology. It needs to understand some basic truths about peak oil and the monetary system, the truth about capitalism and governments.
Our society needs a new story to belong to. The old story of empire and dominion over the earth has to be looked at in the full light of day - all of our ambient cultural stories and values that we take for granted and which remain invisible must become visible.
But most of all, we need to see the promise of the alternatives - we need to be able to imagine new exciting ways that people could live, better than anything that the old paradigm could ever dream of providing.
And all of this knowledge and introspection, dreaming, questioning, and discovery is essential for a cultural transformation that addresses root causes. This knowledge is vitally necessary. Taken together, this knowledge, which is documented throughout the 100 documentaries we've selected below, will lay the foundation on which the next paradigm will be built, post empire.
So take this library of films and use it. Host film screenings, share these films with friends, buy and give copies to your elected officials and school faculty. Get this information out in to your community and you will be laying the foundation for a local movement for mass societal, environmental and economic change.

1. The Corporation (2003)
	The Corporation is today's dominant institution, creating great wealth but also great harm. This 26 award-winning documentary examines the nature, evolution, impacts and future of the modern business corporation and the increasing role it plays in society and our everyday lives.
2. The Future of Food (2004)
	There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America — a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat. The Future of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods
3. The Economics of Happiness (2010)
	Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too.
4. Dirt! The Movie (2009)
	DIRT! The Movie takes you inside the wonders of the soil. It tells the story of Earth's most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility--from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.The opening scenes of the film dive into the wonderment of the soil. Made from the same elements as the stars, plants and animals, and us, "dirt is very much alive."
5. Lifting the Veil: Obama and the Failure of Capitalist Democracy (2011)
	This film explores the historical role of the Democratic Party as the "graveyard of social movements", the massive influence of corporate finance in elections, the absurd disparities of wealth in the United States, the continuity and escalation of neocon policies under Obama, the insufficiency of mere voting as a path to reform,
6. What A Way To Go: Life at the End of Empire (2007)
	A middle class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot and the demise of the American Lifestyle.Featuring interviews with Daniel Quinn, Derrick Jensen, Jerry Mander, Chellis Glendinning, Richard Heinberg, Thomas Berry, William Catton
7. War Made Easy (2007)
	War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration
8. In Transition 2.0 (2012)
	In Transition 2.0 is an inspirational immersion in the Transition movement. You’ll hear about communities printing their own money, growing food everywhere, localising their economies and setting up community power stations. It’s an idea that has gone viral, a social experiment that is about responding to uncertain times with solutions,  ingenuity and optimism.
9. 2012: Time For Change (2010)
	"2012: Time for Change" presents an optimistic alternative to apocalyptic doom and gloom. Directed by Emmy Award nominee João Amorim, the film follows journalist Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the bestselling 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, on a quest for a new paradigm that integrates the archaic wisdom of tribal cultures with the scientific method.
10. Gasland (2010)
	The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a “Saudia Arabia of natural gas” just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination.
11. Food Inc. (2008)
	For most Americans, the ideal meal is fast, cheap, and tasty. Food, Inc. examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact. Director Robert Kenner explores the subject from all angles, talking to authors, advocates, farmers, and CEOs
12. The Age of Stupid (2009)
	Not currently available.Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite plays an old man living in the devastated world of 2055 in this documentary-drama-animation hybrid from Director Franny Armstrong and Oscar-winning Producer John Battsek. Runaway climate change has ravaged the planet by 2055.
13. The Yes Men Fix The World (2009)
	The Yes Men Fix the World is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks.
14. Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)
	Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story comes home to the issue he’s been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world).But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint, Michigan.
15. Dream Worlds 3: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video (2007)
	Examines the stories contemporary music videos tell about girls and women and encourages viewers to consider how these narratives shape individual and cultural attitudes about sexuality. Illustrated with hundreds of up-to-date images Dreamworlds 3 offers a unique and powerful tool for understanding both the
16. The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006)
	When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time.
17. The Crisis of Civilization (2011)
	A dark comedy remix mash-up bonanza about the end of industrial civilization. featuring clowns, car crashes, explosions, super heroes, and xylophones and much, much more ..... Based on the Book by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
18. What Would Jesus Buy? (2007)
	Religion aside for a moment, there’s a terrible addiction that has swept across this country, and it’s one of the nation’s best kept secrets. Mostly everyone will tell you that it’s a really bad thing, but nobody can seem to stop doing it. And it doesn’t come cheap, nearly sixty percent of us are in long term debt because of it. No, we’re not talking booze...
19. Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)
	Funny, provocative and surprisingly accessible, the film explores the political life and ideas of Noam Chomsky, world-renowned linguist, intellectual and political activist. A mammoth two-part project, the film is nonetheless light on its feet, favoring a style that encourages viewers to question its own workings, as Chomsky himself encourages his listeners to extricate themselves from the...
20. Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action (trailer)
	From the Director of Scared Sacred & The Producer of The Corporation"Fierce Light" is a feature documentary that captures the exciting movement of Spiritual Activism that is exploding around the planet, and the powerful personalities that are igniting it.
21. The Canary Effect: Kill the Indian, Save the Man (2006)
	From multi-award winning directors Robin Davey and  Yellow Thunder Woman, comes this 'Illuminating Documentary' (Time Out). Delving deeply into the often misunderstood and frequently over looked historic realities of the American Indian, The Canary Effect follows the terrifying and horrific abuses instilled upon the Indigenous people of North America,
22. Black Gold - A Film about Coffee and Trade
	Black Gold follows an Ethiopian coffee producer's epic journey around the world as he attempts to get a fair price for his high quality coffee. The film highlights that the solution for Africa is in equitable TRADE and NOT AID.
23. Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas (2008)
	From Venezuela's Communal Councils, to Brazil's Participatory Budgeting; from Constitutional Assemblies to grassroots movements, recuperated factories to cooperatives across the hemisphere- This documentary is a journey, which takes us across the Americas, to attempt to answer one of the most important questions of our time: What is Democracy?
24. Play Again (2010)
	What are the consequences of a childhood removed from nature?At a time when children play more behind screens than outside, PLAY AGAIN explores the changing balance between the virtual and natural worlds. Is our connection to nature disappearing down the digital rabbit hole?
25. Earthlings (2005)
	EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called "non-human providers." The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby.
26. Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)
	A feature length documentary by Peter Joseph that presents the case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society.The film intends to transcend the issues of cultural relativism and traditional ideology and move to relate the core, empirical life ground attributes of human and social survival, extrapolating those immutable...
27. Sir! No Sir! - The GI Movement to End the Vietnam War (2005)
	This feature-length documentary focuses on the efforts by troops in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to oppose the war effort by peaceful demonstration and subversion. It speaks mainly to veterans, but serves as a ready reminder to civilians that soldiers may oppose war as stridently as any civilian, and at greater personal peril.
28. Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Politics (2009)
	The definitive documentary explaining the influence of money on politics by Jonathan Shockley. If you like it, consider buying the high quality DVD or donating a few $ at http://goldenruledocumentary.blogspot.com/This film is based on Thomas Ferguson's book Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems. The film offers an in depth look at...
29. The Secret of Oz (2009)
	Thirteen years ago, in a documentary called "The Money Masters", we asked the question why is America going broke. It wasn't clear then that we were, but it is today. Now the question is how can we get out of this mess. Foreclosures are everywhere, unemployment is skyrocketing - and this is only the beginning. America's economy is on a long, slippery slope from here on. The bubble ride of debt...
30. The 11th Hour
	Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, this captivating documentary explores the perilous state of our planet, and the means by which we can change our course. Contributing to this crucial film are noted politicians, scientists and other ambassadors for the importance of a universal ecological consciousness. The 11th Hour is directed by Nadia Connors and Leila Conners Peterson and features narration from...
31. Food Matters (2008)
	"Let thy Food be thy Medicine and thy Medicine be thy Food." –HippocratesWith nutritionally-depleted foods, chemical additives and our tendency to rely upon pharmaceutical drugs to treat what's wrong with our malnourished bodies, it's no wonder that modern society is getting sicker. Food Matters sets about uncovering the trillion dollar worldwide 'sickness industry' and gives people some...
32. Rich Media, Poor Democracy (2003)
	If a key indicator of the health of a democracy is the state of its journalism, the United States is in deep trouble. In Rich Media, Poor Democracy, Robert McChesney lays the blame for this state of affairs squarely at the doors of the corporate boardrooms of big media, which far from delivering on their promises of more choice and more diversity, have organized a system characterized by a lack...
33. The War on Kids (2009)
	THE WAR ON KIDS is a 95 minute documentary that shows how American public schools continue to become more dangerously authoritarian. In addition to failing in their mission to educate effectively, they erode the country's democratic foundation and often resemble prisons. School children are interviewed as are high school teachers and administrators, as well as prison security guards, plus...
34. Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (2008)
	Consuming Kids throws desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless multi-billion dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food and violent video games to bogus educational products and the family car. Drawing on the insights of health care professionals, children's advocates, and industry insiders, the film focuses on the explosive growth of...
35. Garbage Warrior (2007)
	What do beer cans, car tires and water bottles have in common? Not much unless you're renegade architect Michael Reynolds, in which case they are tools of choice for producing thermal mass and energy-independent housing. For 30 years New Mexico-based Reynolds and his green disciples have devoted their time to advancing the art of "Earthship Biotecture" by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid...
36. Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity
	Jackson Katz argues that widespread violence in American society, including the tragic school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, Jonesboro, Arkansas, and elsewhere, needs to be understood as part of an ongoing crisis in masculinity. Tough Guise is the first educational video geared toward college and high school students to systematically examine the relationship between pop-cultural imagery and...
37. The Billionaires' Tea Party (2011)
	The Tea Party movement has taken American politics by storm. But is this truly a populist uprising or one of the greatest feats of propaganda ever seen?Seeking to find out, Australian filmmaker Taki Oldham embeds himself in the Tea Party uprising. From men sporting tri-corner hats in Louisville Kentucky (the movement takes name from a key event in the American revolution) to 100,000 placard...
38. END: CIV (2011)
	Directed by Franklin Lopez, END:CIV examines our culture’s addiction to systematic violence and environmental exploitation, and probes the resulting epidemic of poisoned landscapes and shell-shocked nations.Based in part on Endgame, the best-selling book by Derrick Jensen, END: CIV asks: If your homeland was invaded by aliens who cut down the forests, poisoned the water and air, and...
39. Rise Like Lions: OWS and the Seeds of Revolution (2011)
	Scott Noble, who also produced Lifting the Veil, pulls together a combination of internet and original footage to create the first feature-length documentary on Occupy Wall St, telling the story and motivation behind the movement in its own words. It is a treatise to the beautiful awakening of human heart and hope that has arisen in the American people, capturing the imagination...
40. Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class (2005)
	Based on the book by Pepi Leistyna, Class Dismissed navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows.Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of working class people...
41. RiP! A Remix Manifesto (2009)
	In RiP: A Remix Manifesto, Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.The films central protagonist is Girl Talk, a mash-up musician topping the charts with his sample-based songs. But is Girl Talk a paragon of people power or the Pied Piper of...
42. Who Killed The Electric Car? (2006)
	In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline... Ten years later, these cars were destroyed. This film examines the politics, business interests, and technology that explains why.
43. Democratic Schools
	At democratic schools pupils themselves can decide, what and how they want to learn. There are no curricula, no marks and examinations are voluntary. Pupils and teachers have the same rights and organize their school together. With decisions everyone has a voice... Can that be done well?Democratic Schools - a film about the desire to learn.Film starts at the 5:40 mark.Support the film makers...
44. Collapse (2009)
	Americans generally like to hear good news. They like to believe that a new president will right old wrongs, that clean energy will replace dirty oil and that fresh thinking will set the economy straight. American pundits tend to restrain their pessimism and hope for the best. But is anyone prepared for the worst?Meet Michael Ruppert, a different kind of American. A former Los Angeles police...
45. Rethink Afghanistan (2009)
	Rethink Afghanistan is a ground-breaking, full-length documentary focusing on the key issues surrounding this war. By releasing this film in parts for free online, we are able to stay on top of news of the war as it continues to unfold. We hope to raise critical questions regarding Afghanistan that Congress must address in oversight hearings, which inform the public and challenge policymakers.
46. Inside Job (2010)
	2010 Oscar Winner for Best Documentary, 'Inside Job' provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial...
47. FLOW: For Love of Water
	Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water...
48. Barbershop Punk
	In a privatized American Internet, is big business “Big Brother” or does the free market protect and serve the needs of the average citizen with its invisible hand? With the simple act of swapping files, barbershop quartet baritone Robb Topolski finds himself at ground zero of a landmark case whose outcome will affect the rights of every American citizen.Following one man’s...
49. War By Other Means (1992)
	John Pilger travels to many third world countries to investigate the devastating results of loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). This film shows how many wars today are not carried out at the barrel of a gun, but by the monetary policies of global banking institutions. Instead of bombs, it has been discovered that debt is a far more powerful weapon to control and...
50. The Miami Model (2004)
	Martial Law was declared in downtown Miami in November of 2003 to provide security for the FTAA Economic Summit. Blatant and unashamed police brutality is caught on film. The US Federal government granted the State of Florida $8.5 million dollars from the $87 billion allotted to Congress to fight the "War on Terror," in order to provide "security" for the FTAA summit. Tazers and "non-lethal"...
51. 9/11: Press for Truth (2006)
	Best introduction to the 9/11 justice movement, dealing mainly with the 9/11 Commission cover-up as exposed by the victims family members during their fight to find out what happened to their loved ones that day. (Wondering why this film made the list? See this.)
52. Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising's Image of Women (1999)
	Jean Kilbourne continues her groundbreaking analysis of advertising's depiction of women in this most recent update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series. In fascinating detail, Kilbourne decodes an array of print and television advertisements to reveal a pattern of disturbing and destructive gender stereotypes. Her analysis challenges us to consider the relationship between advertising and...
53. The End of America (2008)
	Wolf's impassioned arguments prove totally compelling, and the filmmakers' accompanying illustrations transport her comparisons from the abstract to the historic- VARIETYExpertly crafted by award-winning filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (The Devil Came on Horseback and The Trials of Darryl Hunt) comes this provocative film, THE END OF AMERICA based on The New York Times best seller by...
54. Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2007)
	This groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged from the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs--from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding...
55. The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America (1996)
	"The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..."
56. Capitalism Is The Crisis (2011)
	This documentary explains the nature of capitalist crisis, visits the protests against austerity measures, and recommends revolutionary paths for the future.
57. The Money Fix (2009)
	Money is just information, a way we measure what we trade, nothing of value in itself. And we can make it ourselves, to work as a complement to conventional money. It's just a matter of design.Money is at the intersection of nearly every aspect of modern life. Most of us take the monetary system for granted, but it has a profound and largely misunderstood influence on our lives. 'THE MONEY FIX'...
58. Permaculture - A Quiet Revolution (2008)
	As corporate media fails to provide accurate news of the world's dire environmental predicament, the Earth sends a clear message in the form of record-breaking natural disasters, famine and epidemics. People are mobilizing for what lies ahead. In May 2007, the 8th International Permaculture Convergence (IPC8) was held in Brazil, bringing together visionary activists from 43 countries in the...
59. Orwell Rolls In His Grave (2003)
	"Orwell Rolls Over In His Grave" expresses ideas that will never be heard in mainstream media. It is the consummate critical examination of the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Asking whether America has entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for the truth, director Robert Kane Pappas explores what the media doesn't like to talk about: itself...
60. PsyWar: The Real Battlefield is the Mind (2010)
	This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the "elitist theory of democracy" and the relationship between war, propaganda and class."A deep, richly illustrated study of the nature and history of propaganda, featuring some of the world's most insightful critics".- Mark Achbar; Film director; 'Manufacturing Consent', 'The...
61. Peace, Propaganda And The Promised Land (2004)
	Provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among...
62. Education For a Sustainable Future (2012)
	Education For a Sustainable Future presents information on how today's practices in schools are socially unsustainable. The documentary film critically analyses what is considered socially relevant in a new education system which brings out the most potential in all of humanity whilst also detailing specific educational methods from a wide range of sources on how to nurture social skills...
63. Toxic Sludge Is Good For You (2002)
	While advertising is the visible component of the corporate system, perhaps even more important and pervasive is its invisible partner, the public relations industry. This video illuminates this hidden sphere of our culture and examines the way in which the management of "the public mind" has become central to how our democracy is controlled by political and economic elites. Toxic Sludge Is Good...
64. Paradise with Side Effects (2004)
	A documentary following two women from Ladakh, or Little Tibet, a remote region in the Himalayas, on a reality tour of London to see what life in the West is really like. The tour, sponsored by the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC), exposes the women to aspects of modern urban life homelessness, old-age homes, massive garbage dumps that contrast sharply with the idealized media...
65. The Myth of the Liberal Media: The Propaganda Model of News (1997)
	Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky demolish one of the central tenets of our political culture, the idea of the "liberal media." Instead, utilizing a systematic model based on massive empirical research, they reveal the manner in which the news media are so subordinated to corporate and conservative interests that their function can only be described as that of "elite propaganda." "If you want...
66. Subconscious War (2011)
	Subconscious War is a short documentary on media, reality, and the culture of violence, It covers the prophecies of Aldous Huxley and Neil Postman's grim assessment of our Brave New World and relates these to our violence and the cultural influences that fosters it today.
67. Starsuckers (2009)
	Starsuckers is a feature documentary about the celebrity obsessed media, that uncovers the real reasons behind our addiction to fame and blows the lid on the corporations and individuals who profit from it. Made by the same team behind BAFTA nominated Taking Liberties, it will be released in cinemas on the 30th October - unless Rupert Murdoch shuts us down first. Or Max Clifford. And perhaps Bob...
68. Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections (2008)
	UNCOUNTED is an explosive new documentary that shows how the election fraud that changed the outcome of the 2004 election led to even greater fraud in 2006 - and now looms as an unbridled threat to the outcome of the 2008 election. This controversial feature length film by Emmy award-winning director David Earnhardt examines in factual, logical, and yet startling terms how easy it is to change...
69. Class Dismissed (2004)
	Class Dismissed provides a critical look at how U.S. history is taught in high school, at the myths that reduce the complexity of history into simple soundbites, and the information that never seems to make it onto the textbook pages. How can we alter this system to address the limitations of the current curriculum, to allow students to find their own place in history and the world today, to...
70. Freedom of Expression (2007)
	In 1998, university professor Kembrew McLeod (Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa) trademarked the phrase "freedom of expression" - a startling comment on the way that intellectual property law restricts creativity and expression of ideas. This provocative and amusing documentary explores the battles being waged in courts, classrooms, museums, film studios...
71. The War On Democracy (2007)
	Award winning journalist John Pilger examines the role of Washington in America's manipulation of Latin American politics during the last 50 years leading up to the struggle by ordinary people to free themselves from poverty and racism. Since the mid 19th Century Latin America has been the 'backyard' of the US, a collection of mostly vassal states whose compliant and often brutal regimes have...
72. The End of Poverty (2009)
	Global poverty did not just happen. It began with military conquest, slavery and colonization that resulted in the seizure of land, minerals and forced labor. Today, the problem persists because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies — in other words, wealthy countries taking advantage of poor, developing countries. Renowned actor and activist, Martin Sheen, narrates The End Of...
73. No Logo: Brands. Globalization. Resistance. (2003)
	In the age of the brand, logos are everywhere. But why do some of the world’s best-known brands find themselves on the wrong end of the spray paint can — the targets of anti-corporate campaigns by activists and protesters?No Logo, based on the best-selling book by Canadian journalist and activist Naomi Klein, reveals the reasons behind the backlash against the increasing economic and...
74. The Evilness of Power (2008)
	An examination of the effects of power and hierarchy on individuals, society, and the world at large. Produced by Jonathan Shockley.
75. Sicko (2007)
	The words "health care" and "comedy" aren't usually found in the same sentence, but in Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore's new movie 'SiCKO,' they go together hand in (rubber) glove.The film weighs the plight of the uninsured (and the insured who must deal with abuse from insurance companies) against the record-breaking profits of the pharmaceutical industry.
76. Big Bucks, Big Pharma (2006)
	Big Bucks, Big Pharma pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated, and in some instances created, for capital gain. Focusing on the industry's marketing practices, media scholars and health professionals help viewers understand the ways in which direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising...
77. Pickaxe (1999)
	This excellent documentary takes us into another world; the world of rogue loggers and firefighters turned eco-warriors. The story begins as an arsonist burns 9000 acres of protected old-growth public forest in Oregon that can not be logged unless it burns. To stop the proposed "salvage" logging of this incredible ancient forest, citizens are moved to blockade a road and keep the government out...
78. OUTFOXED : Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)
	Outfoxed examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know.
79. First Earth: Uncompromising Ecological Architecture (2010)
	FIRST EARTH is a documentary about the movement towards a massive paradigm shift for shelter -- building healthy houses in the old ways, out of the very earth itself, and living together like in the old days, by recreating villages. It is a sprawling film, shot on location from the West Coast to West Africa. An audiovisual manifesto filmed over the course of 4 years and 4 continents, FIRST...
80. Pyramids of Waste: The Lightbulb Conspiracy (2010)
	Pyramids of Waste (2010) also known as "The lightbulb conspiracy" is a documentary about the negative effects of consumerism and planned obsolescence.
81. Within Reach (2012)
	In celebration and exploration of all things green, two bicyclists are on a year-long journey around the United States to share what they've learned about sustainable communities. They’ve traveled more than 6,000 miles to visit and film 100 sustainable communities of all types, working to capture in film the abundance of community-oriented solutions out there that are already working.
82. Perma Kultcha (2010)
	This 30-minute documentary focuses on Permaculture and Organic Farming in South Africa and what it can do to transform society at a grass roots level, to create sustainable lives for individuals, communities and South Africa as a whole.The documentary aims to educate the youth of SA on the importance of food security and introduces a holistic approach to utilize our countries abundant, yet often...
83. Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008)
	Zeitgeist: Addendum, a 2008 documentary film produced by Peter Joseph, is a continuation of the film Zeitgeist, the Movie. The film includes facts regarding the Federal Reserve System in the United States, the CIA, Corporate America and others, concluding the advocation of a libertarian movement called the Venus Project, created by social engineer Jacque Fresco. The movie was released free online...
84. The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
	BC's illegal marijuana trade industry has evolved into a business giant, dubbed by some involved as 'The Union', Commanding upwards of $7 billion Canadian annually. With up to 85% of 'BC Bud' being exported to the United States, the trade has become an international issue. Follow filmmaker Adam Scorgie as he demystifies the underground market and brings to light how an industry can function while...
85. Waste = Food (2007)
	Man is the only creature that produces landfills. Natural resources are being depleted on a rapid scale while production and consumption are rising in na­tions like China and India. The waste production world wide is enormous and if we do not do anything we will soon have turned all our resources into giant landfills of waste. But there is hope. The German chemist, Michael Braungart, and the...
86. The One Percent (2006)
	This 80-minute documentary focuses on the growing "wealth gap" in America, as seen through the eyes of filmmaker Jamie Johnson, a 27-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune. Johnson, who cut his film teeth at NYU and made the Emmy®-nominated 2003 HBO documentary Born Rich, here sets his sights on exploring the political, moral and emotional rationale that enables a...
87. Trading on Thin Air (2010)
	Trading on Thin Air explains the methods used by the financial oligarchy to extract the wealth of the nation and how the same strategy is being used to subvert a movement for conservation and sustainability and harness it to create the next big bubble.
88. Punishment: A Failed Social Experiment (2012)
	Punishment: A Failed Social Experiment provides a detailed, critical analysis of the current legal and justice system generally in operation across the planet whilst also providing potential solutions which work on preventing crime and creating a much more socially sustainable society.Original interviews with: DR. DAVID SCOTT, Criminologist, University of Central Lancashire PROFESSOR JOE SIM..
89. Iran (Is Not the Problem) (2008)
	IRAN (Is Not The Problem) is a feature length documentary film responding to the failure of the American mass media to provide the public with relevant and accurate information about the standoff between the US and Iran, as happened before with the lead up to the invasion of Iraq.We have heard that Iran is a nuclear menace in defiance of the international community, bent on “wiping...
90. A Crude Awakening (2007)
	Produced and directed by award-winning European journalists and filmmakers Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, A Crude Awakening tells the story of how our civilization’s addiction to oil puts it on a collision course with geology. Compelling, intelligent, and highly entertaining, the film visits with the world’s top experts and comes to a startling, but logical conclusion – our...
91. Wal-Mart: the High Cost of Low Price
	The film dives into the deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities struggling to fight a goliath. A working mother is forced to turn to public assistance to provide healthcare for her two small children. A Missouri family loses its business after Wal-Mart is given over $2 million to open its doors down the road. A mayor struggles to equip his first responders after...
92. The End of Suburbia (2004)
	"We're literally stuck up a cul-de-sac in a cement SUV without a fill-up" - James Howard KunstlerGlobal oil peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of the future?
93. A Convenient Truth: Solutions From Curitba, Brazil (2006)
	Cities should be a solution not a problem for human beings. The city of Curitiba has demonstrated for the past 40 years how to transform problems into cost-effective solutions that can be applied in most cities around the world.
94. Free to Learn: A Radical Experiment in Education (2006)
	Free to Learn is a 70 minute documentary that offers a “fly on the wall” perspective of the daily happenings at The Free School in Albany, New York. Like many of today’s radical and democratic schools, The Free School expects children to decide for themselves how to spend their days. The Free School, however, is unique in that it transcends obstacles that prevent similar...
95. A Passion For Sustainability (2008)
	Envision a society where economic opportunity, social justice and sustainable culture all spring from environmental stewardship. Imagine a world where nurturing the health of the planet is the catalyst for global financial success and social stability. Can you? -- Ten years ago, fourteen business owners in Portland, Oregon did just that. Using a sustainability tool called The Natural Step, these...
96. Coming Home: The Reinvention of Localized Economies
	In 1973, British economist E.F. Schumacher wrote “Small is Beautiful – Economics as if People Mattered”, – a book that offered a vision of an economy driven by a desire for harmony, not greed; an economy based on community and ecological values, not global financial derivatives.  In the 1970s, “Small is Beautiful” helped launch a back-to-the-land movement...
97. Greening Sacred Spaces
	Greening Sacred Spaces is a practical programme developed by Faith & the Common Good to assist faith communities with both the educational and spiritual dimensions of greening as well as the "how-to" side of audits, retrofits and generally reducing the faith community's footprint. We have developed a whole resource kit – with workshops, posters, music, and more– to help...
98. Permaculture - Farms for the Future (2008)
	More than 96 per cent of all the food grown in Britain is reliant on synthetic fertiliser. Without it there would be serious trouble. But without artificial fertiliser there's not enough nutrients for the crops to grow, and without ploughing there is nothing to aerate the soil. So how can we manage without them? The answers are in nature. As Charles Darwin pointed out, earthworms have been...
99. Why We Fight (2005)
	Inspired by Dwight Eisenhowers legendary farewell speech (in which he coined the phrase military industrial complex), filmmaker Eugene Jarecki surveys the scorched landscape of a half-centurys military adventures, asking how and telling why a nation of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war. The film moves beyond the...
100. Independent Media in a Time of War (2003)
	Part scathing critique, part call to action, this film is composed of a speech given by Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! illustrated by clips of mainstream media juxtaposed with rare footage from independent reporters in Iraq. "Independent media has a crucial responsibility to go to where the silence is," says Amy Goodman, "to represent the diverse voices of people engaged in dissent." She...