cine institute

Since the earthquake in Haiti in January, we've been bringing you updates from the Ciné Institute, a remarkable organization that has helped Haitians tell their own story of recovery and rebuilding. In this segment, we see the story of one young volunteer who spends her days helping her neighbors, providing care and lifting spirits.

Continuing our coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, we bring you more footage from the Cine Institute.

Yesterday, Laura called our attention to the strange tale of the attempt at bugging Senator Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office, noting the stories uncovered by indie reporters connecting the dots between the ACORN sting, the break-in, and funding flowing into universities from the nation's intelligence agencies--as well as right-wing organizations. David Price of Counterpunch and Lindsay Beyerstein of the Media Consortium joined us to talk about the disturbing layers to this story, and discuss where it goes next. Last week, rebel historian, best-selling author, and lifelong activist Howard Zinn passed away at age 87. We speak with four people whose lives, careers, and activism were shaped by his work: poet Staceyann Chin, author of The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir, progressive sportswriter Dave Zirin, Nation contributor and author of several books, including A People's History of Sports in the United States, and teacher, actor and activist Brian Jones. Benjamin Jealous is the youngest-ever head of the NAACP, but he has a long history with the organization--he is the fifth generation of his family to be involved. He joined us to remember Howard Zinn and to discuss the importance of knowing your own history and the history of the everyday men and women around us, the ones who shaped movements like the Civil Rights movement and continue to press for social justice the world over. Zinn's work has been translated into nearly every format imaginable: we also have the history of the American empire told through cartoons and narrated by Viggo Mortensen. Chevron oil company has contributed for years to devastating environmental damage in Ecuador and the Amazon region. Citizens of Ecuador call on new Chevron CEO John Watson to do the right thing and help clean up the damage his company has caused. Finally, we continue to bring you stories from the Haiti earthquake recovery from the students at the Cine Institute in Jacmel. In this video, we hear stories of rescues during the aftermath of the quake.

Obama's preparing for his first State of the Union speech, and we're wondering if once again he's going to try to be all things to all people. After all, on the campaign trail he dismissed talk of a spending freeze, only to adopt that language a year into his administration, and with the economic team he's still using, he's starting to remind us of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton--who may have slashed the deficit, but did so on the back of his "welfare reform. We talk about Obama's choices for the economy and the path we hope he'll take now with Kai Wright of The Nation and The Root, Jeff Madrick, author of "The Case for Big Government," and Lynn Parramore of the New Deal 2.0. Cornel West, Princeton professor and author of "Democracy Matters," recorded a video message for President Obama on the eve of his first State of the Union address, asking him to recommit to concern for poor and working people. Some of the students from the Ciné Institute, who shot footage we've been airing from Haiti over the last couple of weeks, tell their personal stories from the earthquake. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has been an outspoken leader in the Senate on everything from the fight for single-payer health care reform to blocking Fed chair Ben Bernanke's reappointment.