The bookmobile now has a growing selection of DVDs. They're all free but donations are appreciated and will go directly to paying for Derrick Jensen's food, hotel, & transportaion when he comes to milwaukee on 4/23/2008 (so that I don't have to cover it myself).
Here's a list of the DVD's the Bookmobile currently carries: (each disc is separated by "~~~~")
*SURPLUS
Why is the lifestyle of consumerism a source of such rage today? How come the privilege of buying goods does not automatically lead to happiness? Why all this emptiness despite our wealth?
Erik Gandini's approach through Surplus is to portray this issue from an emotional rather than a factual perspective.
Shot in the US, India, China, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Canada and Cuba during three years. Surplus is the result of a complicated editing process by talented music composer/editor/percussionist Johan Söderberg.
George W Bush's famous "shopping-speech" calling for a war against terrorism that deters the nation from the fear of consumption. Castro responding with hymns to the anti-consumerist, advertising-free island of Cuba. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer preaching that the computer will give us peace on earth "bringing people together" while Adbuster Kalle Lasn warns that advertising pollutes us mentally, that over-consumption is unsustainable and that we are running out of oil.
Surplus main man is John Zerzan, controversial philosopher whose call for PROPERTY DAMAGE has inspired many to take to the streets. "That is not violence. Sitting there doing dope and watching MTV . Then you go and get a job. Just schlep along. To me that is violence," says Zerzan. "We are terrorized into being consumers."
In November 2003 Surplus was awarded with the most prestigious prize a Documentary can get, The Silver Wolf at Amsterdam's IDFA, and has spread widely around the globe since then.
It is very important to understand, that the makers of this documentary does not idealize the alternatives of western consumerism. Vice versa, they show it very clearly that the "alternatives" of such consuming madness are the same - madness. The idea of this documentary is not the communist propaganda. As a matter of fact, it is impossible to show this documentary in Cuba. It is too critical for them too. The idea of this film is to show the hopelessness of the situation, where we live. In documentary Zerzan says, that he does not think that the destroying and burning are solutions, but there are simply nothing more to do. This film declares, that we have no solutions nor alternatives. This is not the propaganda of violence, but the tragic conclusion, that it is more ethical (bu only more) to burn and to destroy, than to consume and to conform from day to day.
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*Sam Harris
An impassioned plea for reason in a world divided by faith, this important and timely lecture delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today\'s world. Harris offers a vivid historical tour of mankind\'s willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when those beliefs are used to justify harmful behavior and sometimes heinous crimes. He asserts that in the shadow of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer tolerate views that pit one true god against another. Most controversially, he argues that we cannot afford moderate lip service to religion; an accommodation that only blinds us to the real perils of fundamentalism. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris also draws on new evidence from neuroscience and insights from philosophy to explore spirituality as a biological, brain-based need. He calls on us to invoke that need in taking a secular humanistic approach to solving the problems of this world.
STORY OF STUFF
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
CAPITALISM & OTHER KIDS’ STUFF
This short film asks us to take a fresh look at the world we live in and to question some of the most basic assumptions about life in capitalism. The running time is 51 minutes.
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*The Corporation
Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.
John Perkins – ECONOMIC HITMAN
John Perkins was a highly paid consultant who worked for an American engineering company. In the course of his work in the 1970s and 1980s, he said his job was to convince the leaders of poor countries to borrow more money than they could possibly repay and then take over their economies. Washington could also call upon these countries when favours were needed - military bases, UN votes, oil and other natural resources.
Leaders who refused were bullied out of power, and even assassinated, Perkins wrote in his 2004 book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. He has recently published a follow-up, The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption.
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*Imperial Grand Strategy – Noam Chomsky
In "Imperial Grand Strategy," a lecture given at the University of Manchester, Chomsky takes on the war in Iraq. He cuts through the ideological fog that surrounds the invasion and occupation, laying waste to the U.S. government's justifications for them. In the process, he uncovers the real motivations behind U.S. military aggression: a global imperial plan put in place long before Iraq—and that will extend far into the future, unless we do something about it.
"The Assault on Freedom and Democracy," delivered at Merrimack College, moves from broad, geo-political concerns to the sort of authoritarian societies needed "on the ground" for such imperial strategies to work. Discussing the Patriot Acts (1 & 2) at home and a long and disgraceful U.S. history of "democracy-building" abroad, Chomsky highlights the vast difference between noble rhetoric and our consistent military and economic support for dictators and thugs.
The DVD ends with "Questions About Anarchism," an interview with Barry Pateman of the Emma Goldman Papers. In a more relaxed and personal exchange, Chomsky discusses the anarchist principles that have guided him since he was a teenager and that lie behind the social and political analysis he's been producing for the last four decades.
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*The Fourth World War
Shot on the frontlines of struggles spanning five continents, The Fourth World War is the untold human story of men and women who resist being annihilated in the current global conflict. While our airwaves are crowded with the talk of a new world war, narrated by generals and filmed from the noses of bombs, the human face of war is rarely seen. The Fourth World War weaves together the images and voices of the war on the ground—from the front lines of struggles in Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Palestine, Korea, "the North" from Seattle to Geneva, and the "War On Terror" in New York and Iraq. Narrated by Michael Franti and Suheir Hammad. Seventy-five glorious minutes, with music from the likes of Manu Chao, Asian Dub Foundation, Ozomatli, and DJ Moosaka.
"A powerful, radical cry from the frontlines of the war on people. This film captures the spirit of resistance: it is as beautiful and global as humanity itself." —Naomi Klein
"Inspirational. Essential. It documents the history of the future before it is born...and while we can still do something about it." —Peter Wintonick, director of Manufacturing Consent
Bonuses included:
*Preview for Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine”
*No Border Camp
*Three episodes of “It’s the End of the World As We Know It and I Feel
Fine”
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*Derrick Jensen: Endgame
Hailed as the philosopher poet of the ecological movement, best-selling author Derrick Jensen returns with a passionate forecast of how industrial civilization, and the persistent and widespread violence it requires, is unsustainable. Jensen's intricate weaving together of history, philosophy, environmentalism, economics, literature and psychology has produced a powerful argument that demands attention.
A BURNING RAGE
A short, emotional film on the Earth and Animal Liberation Fronts and the Green Scare. 2006. “Nothing ever burns down by itself…”
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Arundhati Roy - WE
This is most of her "Instant mix imperial democracy" speech cut up and set to music, images, and video. Passionate, intense, and brazenly sarcastic, We is great for those new to and those familiar with Roy's work.
Also on this disc, "The story of stuff" (see above) and:
John Pilger's "The war on democracy" which is a great condensed history lesson of US/CIA involvement in Latin America. Sure to disilusion the most strident of patriots.
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More to come!
