American Blackout
July 17, 2008
Whatever you think you know about our election systems or Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, this film will make you question further why the news media fails to accurately inform the public. Directed by GNN's Ian Inaba, creator of Eminem's "Mosh" music video, American Blackout critically examines the contemporary tactics used to control our democratic process and silence voices of political dissent.
Many have heard of the alleged voting irregularities that occurred during the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. Until now, these incidents have gone under- reported and are commonly written-off as insignificant rumors or unintentional mishaps resulting from an overburdened election system.
American Blackout chronicles the recurring patterns of voter disenfranchisement from Florida 2000 to Ohio 2004 while following the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. McKinney not only took an active role investigating these election debacles, but has found herself in the middle of her own after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Featuring: Congressional members John Conyers, John Lewis, Stephanie
Tubbs-Jones, Bernie Sanders and jounalists Greg Palast and Bob Fitrakis.
"The Take"
a film by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein
May 15, 2008
A truly breathtaking documentary, filmed during the factory takeovers in
Buenos
Aires. The Take, directed by Canadian journalist Avi Lewis and written
by Naomi
Klein, centers around one auto-parts factory, and of the lives and
struggles of
the 30 unemployed workers who decide to reoccupy, collectivize, and get
it
going again. Unsurprisingly, with this template, the film also covers
the
affects of globalization and Capital, the occupation movement as a
whole, and
the resistance, and repression, from the bosses, politicians, and
judiciary.
The Shock Doctrine:
The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
April 17, 2008
Thursday, 7:30 PM
Marion Public Library
Marion, Iowa
Free Film and Discussion
Recorded in Portland, Oregon, in December
2007, Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed
democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet
strings behind the world changing crises and wars of the last four
decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how
America's "free market" policies have come to dominate the world--
through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.
At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq's civil war, a new law is unveiled
that would allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves.
Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly
out-sources the running of the "War on Terror" to Halliburton and
Blackwater. After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the
pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts.... New Orleans
residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public
housing, hospitals and schools will never be reopened. These events are
examples of "the shock doctrine": using the public's disorientation
following massive collective shocks - wars, terrorist attacks, or
natural disasters -- to achieve control by imposing economic shock
therapy. Sometimes, when the first two shocks don't succeed in wiping
out resistance, a third shock is employed: the electrode in the prison
cell or the Taser gun on the streets.
Based on breakthrough historical research and four years of
on-the-ground
reporting in disaster zones, The Shock Doctrine vividly shows how
disaster capitalism - the rapid-fire corporate reengineering of societies still
reeling from shock - did not begin with September 11, 2001. The book traces its
origins back fifty years, to the University of Chicago under Milton
Friedman, which produced many of the leading neo-conservative and
neo-liberal thinkers whose influence is still profound in Washington
today. New, surprising connections are drawn between economic policy,
"shock and awe" warfare and covert CIA-funded experiments in
electroshock and sensory deprivation in the 1950s, research that helped
write the torture manuals used today in Guantanamo Bay.
The Shock Doctrine follows the application of these ideas though our
contemporary history, showing in riveting detail how well-known events
of the recent past have been deliberate, active theaters for the shock
doctrine, among them: Pinochet's coup in Chile in 1973, the Falklands
War in 1982, the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991, the Asian Financial crisis in 1997 and Hurricane
Mitch in 1998.
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You're Eating What? The Health Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods The Hidden Dangers in Kid's Meals Part 2 from "the GMO Trilogy" |
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Free Film and Discussion
January 24, 2008
Jeffrey Smith, author of the world’s bestselling book on GM foods, Seeds of Deception, describes how biotech companies rigged research, hid health dangers and pressured government regulators to approve food that even FDA scientists said was unsafe.
The Hidden Dangers in Kid's Meals - Part 2 from "the GMO Trilogy"
March 27, 2008
Marion Public Library
Shocking research results, inadequate regulations and warnings from prominent scientists explain why GM foods are dangerous and should be removed from kids' meals. The dramatic story of how student behavior in a Wisconsin school was transformed with a healthy diet provides added motivation to make a change.
“The most powerful presentation I have ever
heard on the issue of genetically engineered foods.”
–Craig Winters, The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods
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Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections
December 20, 2007 |
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. The controversial feature-length film by Emmy award winning direcor David Earnhardt examines in factual, logical, and yet startling terms how easy it is to change election outcomes and undermine election integrity across the U.S.
Beyond increasing the public's awareness, "Uncounted" inspires greater citizen involvement in fixing a broken electoral system. As we approach the decisive election of 2008, "Uncounted" will change how you feel about the way votes are counted in America.
Free and Open to the Public with Discussion to follow.
Charles Shaw of Chicago's Reality Sandwich says:
"Our (American) myths...are at the heart of the revelations in the wildly popular “mythumentary,” Zeitgeist: the Movie, a multi-million download phenomenon since its free release on the Internet last spring that examines how American culture is built around a tripartite, or three layered, myth of god, country, and prosperity."
http://www.realitysandwich.com/big_lie_parsing_mythology_zeitgeist
"Zeitgeist, produced by Peter Joseph, was created as a nonprofit filmiac expression to inspire people to start looking at the world from a more critical perspective and to understand that very often things are not what the population at large think they are. The information in Zeitgeist was established over a year long period of research."
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/index.html
Free Lecture & Discussion
Open to the Public
7:30 PM, Thursday August 16th, 2007
The debate is over. Global warming is already occurring and without significant action to reduce carbon emissions within the next decade, scientists predict that the consequences could be severe and potentially irreversible. Our dependence on fossil fuels is transforming the planet. The Earth has already warmed and there is now more carbon pollution in the atmosphere than at any point in 650,000 years. If we do nothing, the Earth could warm by several degrees more.
The Iowa Global Warming Campaign, a broad, bi-partisan group of organizations, seeks your help to dramatically raise awareness of this issue in the Iowa Presidential caucuses. Our vision is for presidential candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, to discuss publicly, frequently and specifically how they will address global warming, and pledge that they make that plan a top priority.
Mike Carberry of the Iowa Global Warming Campaign
http://www.iowaglobalwarming.org will present the work of the campaign and
lead a discussion focusing on what we can do about this urgent issue.
Hiawatha Public Library
A presentation based on her recent trip to Palestine with the Congressional Accompaniment Project (CAP). Entitled Palestine 101: Obstacles to Peace, Minor will explain what she believes to be some of the obstacles to peace between Israel and Palestine. She will be sharing pictures of her trip.
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7:30 PM, Thursday June 21, 2007 Hiawatha Public Library Our tropical Rainforests, known as the "lungs of our planet", and crucial to our survival are being destroyed at the rate of 6 soccer fields a minute. The Indigenous peoples have inhabited these forests for millennia without destroying them and are teaching us how to utilize the forest the way it was intended without damaging it. Come and hear the story of one man who is living his vision and building reverent, respectful relationships with the Indigenous peoples of Peru after a life altering event opened his eyes to a bigger picture. Learn some Rainforest secrets of "Mother Nature's pharmacy" that these beautiful Indigenous people are sharing with him. This unwritten knowledge is being used to help many with the health challenges that our society is currently facing. Hear how you can be part of the solution as we steward the preservation of "the world's richest, oldest and most productive" ecosystem on Earth. Maryann Hesse, an Amazon Rainforest Ambassador, will be sharing stories of this remarkable man and the journey that led him to this spiritual mission that is making the Rainforest more valuable alive than dead. |
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Free Film & Discussion Open to the Public 7:30 PM, Thursday May 17, 2007 Hiawatha Public Library 150 West Willman Hiawatha, Iowa |
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A musical comedy set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of competing falafel
stands in the West Bank...
David, an
Israeli soldier, falls in love with the beautiful Palestinian cashier,
Fatima, despite the animosity between their families' dueling
restaurants. Can the couple's love withstand a 2000 year old conflict and their
families' desire to control the future of the chic pea in the Middle East? Winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Live Action
Short Film. | |
Open to the Public
7:30 PM, Thursday April 19, 2007
Hiawatha Public Library
150 West Willman
Hiawatha, Iowa
A courageous and startling film, Peter Davis' landmark documentary Hearts and
Minds unflinchingly confronts the United States' involvement in Vietnam. Using
a wealth of sources - from interviews to newsreels to documentary footage of the
conflict at home and abroad - Davis constructs a powerfully affecting portrait
of the disastrous effects of war. Explosive, persuasive, and shocking, Hearts
and Minds is an overwhelming emotional experience and the controversial winner
of the 1974 Academy Award? for Best Documentary.
Free Film & Discussion
Open to the Public
7:30 PM, Thursday March 15, 2007
Hiawatha Public Library
150 West Willman
Hiawatha, Iowa
Hailed as "powerful" and "quietly unflinching,
and communities. The terrible conflict in Iraq, depicted with ferocious honesty
in the film, is a prelude for the even more challenging battles fought by the
soldiers returning home - with personal demons, an uncomprehending public, and
an indifferent government. As these battles take shape, each soldier becomes a
new kind of hero, bearing witness and giving support to other veterans, and
learning to fearlessly wield the most powerful weapon of all - the truth.
Discussion to follow.
Free Film & Discussion
7:00 PM, Friday, March 16, 2007
Cedar Rapids Peace Center
1029-3rd Street SE
Open to the Public
Welcome to the Media War.
There are two Iraq Wars-one is fought with armies of soldiers, bombs and
military force. The other is fought alongside it with cameras, satellites,
armies of journalists and propaganda techniques.
One war is fought in Iraq and is rationalized as an effort to find and remove
WMDs-Weapons of Mass Destruction. The other war is fought in America by even
more powerful WMDs-Weapons of Mass Deception.
WMD represents the hard work and sacrifice of many committed professionals. WMD
was over a year in the making. Even though the major media companies would not
fund this film, many media professionals helped with encouraging words, footage,
contacts and support.
The success of films like Fahrenheit 911, testify to the broad interest in
issues that are not covered by the corporate media. WMD takes on the media
itself with a call for accountability and truthful journalism. However, we
cannot depend on media companies to showcase a film that questions their
practices.
This FREE film is sponsored by the Art Cinema: Free Friday Night Flicks
For info, contact: John @ #319-247-2612
Free Film & Discussion
Open to the Public
7:30 PM, Thursday, December 21, 2006
In February 1971, one month after the My Lai massacre, an astonishing public inquiry into war crimes committed by American forces in Vietnam was held in Detroit. The Vietnam Veterans Against the War organized this investigation.More than 125 veterans spoke of atrocities they had witnessed and committed.
Though the event was attended by press and television news crews, almost nothing was reported to the American public. However, this unprecedented forum marked a turning point in the anti-war movement.
It was a pivotal moment in the lives of young vets from around the country who participated. The Winter Soldier Investigation changed these men forever.
Their courage in testifying, and their desire to prevent further atrocities and to regain their own humanity, provide the dramatic intensity that makes this film an unforgettable experience.
Dubuque School of Americas(SOA) Watch http://www.soaw.org
8:00 PM, Thursday, November 16, 2006
Hiawatha Public Library Free Lecture & Discussion Open to the Public
November 17-19, 2006: Three Days for Justice, Peace and Accountability. Three Days Against the Racist System of Violence and Domination
Art Roche of Dubuque SOA Watch will report on the November 17-19, 2006 Vigil and Action to close the SOA/WHINSEC at Fort Benning, Georgia. The November Vigil and Action has grown into a major convergence point for people from across the Americas. This year's gathering at the gates is shaping up to become the biggest demonstration at a U.S. military base since the Vietnam war. The vigil features amazing musicians like Emily Saliers from the Indigo Girls, percussionists from Colombia and HipHop artists from Chicago and New York. Among the speakers are high-profile figures like Charles Steele, Jr., national President of SCLC(Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO and torture survivors and social movement activists from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti.
Workshops, teach-ins, trainings, organizing meetings and benefit concerts will take place in the Columbus Convention Center and Howard Johnson Hotel, covering topics such as Ending Impunity in Argentina, Alternative Security, Counter-Recruitment, Theatre of the Oppressed and more.
For more information on the November Vigil and Action go to http://www.soaw.org
CEDAR RAPIDS PEACE CENTER
ART CINEMA: FREE FRIDAY NIGHT FLICKS
Documentary by Cathy Zheutlin
Cedar Rapids Peace Center
1029 3rd Street SE, Cedar Rapids
Free Admission & Discussion
Twenty years ago, a group of 500 people walked across America for nine
months in a mobile community known as "Peace City". With her betacam, Cathy
Zheutlin, Producer and Director, videotaped their journey, and created an hour
long documentary called "Just One Step."
It is a film about persistence, commitment, passion, counter-cultural
behavior, and mainstream America. People from all walks of
life--grandparents, children, doctors, veterans, computer
programmers--many of whom had never marched for anything
before--gathered from all over the United States in a historic effort to
affect the politics of a nation. "Just One Step" chronicles not only
the logistical, emotional, and spiritual trials of the marchers as they
crossed the country--living in tents, walking through every conceivable
terrain and weather--but also their interaction with thousands of
Americans in rural and urban communities along the way: farmers,
unemployed steelworkers, housewives, and school children, who welcomed
the marchers into their churches and schools and even their homes.
The film delivers an emotional experience that inspires and renews an
audience, empowering them with the feeling that "ordinary" people can
make a real substantive difference. At the same time, there are
celebrity guest appearances by Jesse Jackson, Pat Schroeder, Yoko One,
Pete Seeger, Studs Turkel, Ron Howard, Betty Thomas and others.
"Just One Step" was screened in 1987, by invitation of the Union of Cinematographers in Moscow. The film won a CINE Golden Eagle, as well as a Bronze Apple for the National Film and Video Festival, and first prize for social issue films at the Anthropos Film Festival in Los Angeles. The Great Peace March itself was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
For more information, call John at #319-247-2612.
Presents:
Free Film and Discussion
Cedar Rapids Peace Center
1029 3rd Street SE, Cedar Rapids
Free Admission & Discussion
The story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war.
Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed, and Uncovered) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so.
For more information, call John at #319-247-2612
or go to http://iraqforsale.org/
Stop Pollution Rally
Help Protect the Cedar River from Contamination!!!
Cedar Rapids City Hall
50 Second Avenue Bridge, Cedar Rapids
For all that care about preventing the contamination of the Cedar River
(the source of drinking water for Cedar Rapids!!!)
A hearing on whether to dump more pollution into the Cedar River is scheduled
for 7:00 pm on Thursday October 19th at the Cedar Rapids City Hall, 50 Second
Avenue Bridge, in the 4th floor Council Chambers. The Linn Greens are helping
to rally the public to voice their opposition.
The Cedar Rapids Wastewater Treatment Plant is requesting permission to
increase the amount of pollution it dumps into the Cedar River.
The proposed permit would allow substantial increases in permit limits without complying
with anti-degradation or anti-backsliding requirements of the Clean Water Act.
These increases are proposed without explanation as to why they are necessary
or whether alternatives are available. The proposed effluent limits would
allow the City of Cedar Rapids to legally discharge concentrations of ammonia
over twenty-five times greater than normally contained in untreated domestic
sewage and the proposed daily cyanide discharge limit is nearly four times
greater than the amount allowed in the previous permit.
Increased pollution discharge limits are especially objectionable because the Cedar River is
considered an impaired waterway downstream from the Cedar Rapids facility
See http://www.votewendy.org/CedarRapidsWastewater.doc for more details.
For more information, call #319-360-5119
"The Rainbow Gathering"
Free Film and Discussion
Cedar Rapids Peace Center
1029 3rd Street SE, Cedar Rapids
Free Admission & Discussion
The Rainbow Gathering is an offering of an Independent Way in
our American Culture, it is a Gathering Folks have heard about and are
Curious about but have rarely seen , it represents the nomadic part of
our American Culture, it is a REAL slice of Our American Pie completely
alternative to any conventional Lifestyle you have seen before, this
Culture has captivated millions in one form or another, one really
needs to EXPERIENCE the Rainbow Gathering in order to know what is
going on. "The only criteria for being Rainbow is that you have a belly
button." The human diversity seen at the 1992 Rainbow Gathering seems
to substantiate these claims.
This film covers the 1992 Coming Home Rainbow Gathering held on
the Western Slope in the HIGH Colorado Rockies at 10,000 ft near
Paonia, CO in early July during the Cherry Festival attended on July
4th by over 18,000 People. This very rare film covers the Joyful,
Youthful Celebration of Life in Nature covering many aspects of the
Rainbow Community and Culture with ecstatic dancing, music and singing,
the repressed collective unconscious of the American Psyche is allowed
Full Freedom to come out and PLAY,
"Welcome Home!"
Come and Celebrate Play and Joy as our Inheritance and Birthright
and see and Enjoy the film. Discussion to follow. Fresh hot popcorn!
For more information, call John at #319-247-2612
or go to http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/index.html
We Get the Pollution!
Presentation by Mark Kresowik
of Community Energy Solutions & the Sierra Club
Hiawatha Public Library
150 W. Willman Street, Hiawatha, Iowa 52233
Free Admission & Discussion
An out-of-state company plans to build a coal-fired power plant
just east of Waterloo. Most of the power will be sold outside of Iowa,
but Cedar Rapids and all of northeast Iowa
will bear the unhealthy effects of emissions from this plant.
Mark will discuss Iowa's alternative energy future
powered by clean, renewable power and improved efficiency....click here for more!
For more information on Free Green films & lectures, or to schedule for your group in your community, call #319-360-5119.
CEDAR RAPIDS PEACE CENTER
"THE GLOBAL BRAIN"
Cedar Rapids Peace Center
1029 3rd Street SE, Cedar Rapids
Free Admission & Discussion
The film, "The Global Brain", will be shown at 7:30PM on Friday, September 15, 2006 at the Peace Center at 1029 3rd Street SE, Cedar Rapids. The film and following discussion are free and open to the public.
"Global Brain" will be the first in a series of free films at the Peace Center in Cedar Rapids.
This moving audio-visual presentation explores the idea that the Earth is an integrated, self-regulating living organism and asks what function humanity might have for this planetary being. It suggests that we stand on the threshold of a major leap in evolution, as significant as the emergence of life itself, and the essence of this leap is inner spiritual evolution. Moreover, Peter Russell maintains that it is only through such a shift in consciousness that we will be able to manage successfully the global crisis now facing us. Using a rich variety of visual images and specially generated graphics, this award-winning video presents an inspiring and optimistic vision of humanity's future in a dynamic and captivating form. Praised by educators and politicians, and used by many international corporations, "The Global Brain" is compelling, challenging and above all timely.
For more information, call John at #319-247-2612.
THE END OF SUBURBIA:
Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
Solon Public Library
320 W Main St, Solon, IA
Free Admission & Discussion
Presented by the Iowa Green Party
The sprawling suburban way of life that exploded after World War II was based on the availability of cheap fossil fuels. But now that the end of "easy energy" is so close at hand, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of The American Dream? Join us for this provocative documentary featuring James Howard Kunstler and others, and stay afterwards for discussion.
Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life, and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too the suburban way of life has become embedded in the American consciousness.
Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American dream.
But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Peak Oil and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary. The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Peak Oil mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia?
http://www.irenew.org/expospec2006.html
For more information, or to schedule a screening in your community, write Linn County Green Party, PO Box 2151, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406-2151 or call Bob at #319-360-5119
Hiawatha Public Library
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, Cuba lost over half of its oil imports. The country underwent a transition from a highly industrial society to a sustainable one. In 2003, filmmakers traveled to Cuba to record its transition from large plantations and reliance on fossil-fuel-based pesticides/fertilizers to small organic farms and urban gardens.
Cuba is a living example of how a country can successfully traverse what we all will have to deal with soon: the reduction and loss of finite fossil fuel resources. This film can give hope to the developed world as it wakes up to the consequences of its addiction to oil. "The Power of Community" is an astounding and moving documentary. It is a story of independence, triumph over adversity, and cooperation.
There ARE limits to natural resources. Worldwide peak oil is here. It is now. We all live on an island.