Empire - Pax Americana

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Al Jazeera - Empire looks at the dramatic changes taking place in the Arab world and their strategic implications.

The fear factor has been broken, the genie is out of the bottle. Arabs have taken to the streets demanding freedom. As the winds of change blew across the Arab world, the US, the power that has long dominated the region, has been particularly absent.

With all its allies crumbling one after another, what will the US do to maintain its influence in the region? And what can be expected of Israel, the country's closest ally in the region?

Will the spread of democracy lead to a peaceful end to decades of autocratic rule in the Middle East or will the fear of Islamist extremism galvanize Washington's resolve to reinforce Pax Americana?

Our guests today are: Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University; Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer-winning author; and Thomas Pickering, the former US under secretary of state.

Our interviewees are: Clovis Maksoud, the director of the Center for the Global South; and Rob Malley, the Middle East director of International Crisis Group.

This episode of Empire originally aired on February 7, 2011.

more info: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/empire/2011/02/20112875931593543.html

The Day the Klan Marched - Anti-KKK Protesters Beaten by Racist Austin Police

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Original documentary footage of the day the Ku Klux Klan marched to ;the Texas State Capitol Building in Austin, Texas on February 19, 1983. Includes footage of Austin City Council meeting vote giving the KKK permission to march.

The documentary also shows the violent response of the Austin Police Department to the engaging yet peaceful counter Anti-Klan march organized by concerned

Lifting the Veil - Barack Obama and the Failure of Capitalist Democracy

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Sub-headed Barack Obama and the failure of capitalist democracy, 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, and differing conceptions of democracy itself.

"Lifting the Veil is the long overdue film that powerfully, definitively, and finally exposes the deadly 21st century hypocrisy of U.S. internal and external policies, even as it imbues the viewer with a sense of urgency and an actualized hope to bring about real systemic change while there is yet time for humanity and this planet. See this film!"
-Larry Pinkney
Editorial Board Member & Columnist
The Black Commentator

Original interview footage derives from Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Michael Albert, John Stauber (PR Watch), Sharon Smith (Historian), William I. Robinson (Editor, Critical Globalization Studies), Morris Berman (Author, Dark Ages America), and famed black panther Larry Pinkney.

Non-original interviews/lectures include Michael Hudson, Paul Craig Roberts, Ted Rall, Richard Wolff, Glen Ford, Lewis Black, Glenn Greenwald, George Carlin, Gerald Cliente, Chris Hedges, John Pilger, Bernie Sanders, Sheldon Wollin and Martin Luther King.

Lifting the Veil is a major contribution to political documentary. ; It teaches everyone from the uninitiated to the most sophisticated the true nature of the American government... It covers the issues clearly and succinctly, from the opening narrative through to its stirring conclusion.
-Ralph Poynter
lynne stewart defense committee
new abolitionist movement

"The best political film I've seen to date.

Minor Mishap Marching Band Plays in Honk! TX 2011

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MINOR MISHAP MARCHING BAND is a 25 piece renegade circus brass band. They are an absurd expression of boisterous pandemonium Bourbon street meets Budapest.
http://minormishap.com/

Twenty of the most exciting, original, and talented community street bands from across North America will perform absolutely free in streets, parks, and neighborhoods throughout Austin for the inaugural HONK!TX festival, from March 11th to 13th, 2011.

Inspired by the success of the original HONK! Festival in Somerville, Massachusetts and HONK! Fest West in Seattle, Washington, HONK!TX is a non-profit and grassroots gathering of street bands that defy simple categorization. Bands will play unamplified and without built stages, breaking down any barriers between the crowd and performers.

The bands range in size from four to forty members, all diverse in age, ethnicity, and musical background. They represent various performance traditions, including New Orleans second line brass, European klezmer, Balkan and Romani music, and festivals such as Mardi Gras and Brazilian Carnaval.

HONK!TX is made possible by the wholehearted support of neighborhood associations, local businesses, city officials, and other community members. Volunteers will provide housing, transportation, and their time at the festival.

The festival has raised funds from over 230 individual donations through a kickstarter.com campaign. Wheatsville Food Co-op, Whole Foods Market, and SXSW are major sponsors along with fiscal and in-kind support from numerous other local businesses.

The HONK!TX Organizing Committee is comprised of the Minor Mishap Marching Band, Austin's own community street band, and iLoveMikeLitt, a local arts and culture group.

More information, including full band lineup, locations and hours, is available at
http://www.honktx.org/


Produced by Jeff Zavala.
A ZGraphix production.
http://zgraphix.org/

The Real Avatar - The Nature of Things

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Peru is in the midst of an unprecedented resource "rush" - 72% of the
jungle has been zoned for oil development alone. And according to
recent studies, in just 10 years nearly half the Peruvian
rainforest - one of the most biologically diverse areas on Earth - may be
past the point of no return if current rates of deforestation
continue. In The Real Avatar, David Suzuki sets off for the Amazon to
investigate the effect this rush is having on the native peoples who
call this land their home.

Under the shadow of the Cordillera del Condor mountains, and near
where the mighty Amazon river begins, live the Awajun and Wampis
peoples, a proud, warrior nation, never conquered by the Incas or the
Spanish. Today, they feel they are being invaded again: Peruvian and
Canadian mining companies aim to set up a gold mine on land these
natives say is their traditional territory. In fact, the Awajun had an
agreement for the establishment of a National Park along the
Cordillera that would protect their land. But the Awajun found their
agreement broken, quite literally in two, when Peru's President gave
half the area over to mining interests. Studies indicate that mining
here would devastate the areas water system - water that flows to the
downstream Awajun communities.

The Awajun were already part of a deadly confrontation with National
Police in 2009 over Peru's plans for "developing" the Amazon - can
more violence be avoided in the future?

In the southern province of Madre de Dios, native peoples fought
successfully for over a decade to establish a communal Reserve to
protect their lands from illegal mining and logging. The Reserve
created was so protected that not even the natives themselves were
allowed to use it. And yet today, this same Reserve finds itself
nearly totally engulfed by Oil Block 76, sold to the Hunt Oil
Corporation of Texas. As Hunts exploratory work begins, the natives
find themselves divided. Some feel oil development will bring jobs and
money, while others fear the social and environmental impacts, and
know their very way of life is at risk.

And for those nearby "Uncontacted" natives living in the forest in
voluntary isolation, in the same way they have for thousands of years,
the stakes are even higher.

In The Real Avatar, David Suzuki journeys to the Peruvian Amazon to
see first-hand the forces threatening the way of life of its
indigenous peoples, and to explore the magnificent beauty and richness
of this now-vanishing land, this "Pandora" on Earth.

A dramatic story of cultures in conflict, with the fate of the Amazon
hanging in the balance, The Real Avatar is shot in full HD and is
produced and directed by Roberto Verdecchia.

Rahul Mahajan Speaking on the Wisconsin Labor Struggle and the New Radical Right Agenda

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The union-busting agenda in Wisconsin is part of a carefully planned ;national offensive by the newly ascendant radical right wing. Bills in a

Rahul Mahajan Speaks on The Libyan Revolution & the Nuclear Crisis in Japan

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Rahul Mahajan, a co-founder of the Third Coast Activist ;Resource Center and original member of the Nowar Collective, is