brave new films

"You can't sustain a democracy in an oligarchic state. The writers on Athenian democracy understood that 2000 years ago," says Chris Hedges, whose new book The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress explores the problems of a crumbling empire, inside and out. Chris joins Laura in studio for a conversation about the death of Bin Laden and the continuing concern over terrorism, the end of empathy in the U.S., and what avenues are left for progressives to fight back. "The elites are not going to help us," he warns, "We're going to have to help ourselves." We first met the steelworkers from Metropolis, Illinois in Madison, Wisconsin early this spring, where workers from all over the country gathered to defend the right to collectively bargain. Until their lockout in June of last summer, these workers ran Honeywell's uranium conversion plant, the only one of its kind in the country, and they depended on their collectively bargaining rights to defend the health and safety of themselves and their small community. A few weeks back, United Steelworkers Local 7-669 came to Morris New Jersey to exercise another right--their rights as shareholders of the very company that has locked them out. Our own Danya Abt traveled there to get the story with cinematographer Zac Halberd. Finally, three years ago today GRITtv first went on air, and on our birthday Laura says goodbye, for now, and introduces you to the next chapter for our organization--a new weekly program on public broadcasting stations. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"NATO is losing the war in Afghanistan in every quantifiable way," says Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films, recently returned from a reporting trip to that country. And what's more, he notes, what's clear from the WikiLeaks cables is that the coalition governments are not as deluded as they would like their people to be about the reality on the ground in Afghanistan.Rick joins us in studio to discuss the realities he saw on the ground in Afghanistan, the death of special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, and more.Rick Rowley is just one of the unembedded, independent reporters trying to bring the real story from Afghanistan to the American people. Our friends at Brave New Films also have teams of independent media makers in that country, and this segment takes us inside their dangerous work."In truth, we face the sobering reality that capitalism’s latest crisis — complete with bank failures, corporate bailouts, rising unemployment, and declining wages — has aided the right, not the left. How can we explain the capacity of the right to benefit from and redirect the bitterness and discontent that derives from capitalism’s own failures?" Peter Bratsis wrote a provocative piece for The Indypendent about the Tea Party movement and the crisis on the left--and he joins Laura in studio to discuss it. Are we missing passion and emotional appeals in our quest to be rational?Finally, there's a new blockbuster out just in time for the holidays: Harry Potter and the Bailed-Out Banks. Laura has a synopsis.

If the Bush tax cuts were a comic book, what would they look like? Who's the superhero, and who's the zombie? Our friends at Brave New Films put together this video to look at the situation facing Congressional Democrats as the tax cuts for millionaires are set to expire.

"Where are we, where is the passion, where is the organizing when millions of people are in deep pain and fear over the economic collapse?" asks Robert Greenwald, founder and president of Brave New Films. While his videos have been viewed 50 million times now by progressive activists, Greenwald wants to see more organizing, more outreach, more movement-building from the left. Joining us via Skype from California, Greenwald chats with Laura about last night's primary election results, the buildup to the midterms, and what he and Brave New Films--and you--can do to ensure better candidates wind up in office. The economic situation hasn't been good for anyone, but funding for the arts always takes a hit first in tough times. The $50 million for the arts in the stimulus bill was a site of contention, with Republicans complaining loudly about going into debt for art's sake. And when funding is crunched, our guests note, the fear of controversy grows--art that doesn't fit the "moral values" of those holding the purse strings is first on the chopping block. We're talking arts and funding for them with William Ivey, former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, and Svetlana Mintcheva, Director of Programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship, today in studio. As the culture wars hit a fever pitch, the the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List center for Art and Politics at the New School are holding a series of panels on censorship and art funding. Finally, there were some Democratic primaries this week, too, but you wouldn't know it from looking at the money media--even the New York Times ignored its own Attorney General's race. Laura has some thoughts.