The Square (2013)

Activist Cinema Episode 8 - The Square (2013) is an excellent example of a journalistic documentary.  It covers the protests in Egypt's Tahrir Square that started in 2011 and stays with several citizens (protestors, activists and lawyers) over a two year period.  The ups and downs of seeing two presidents removed from power, violent military crackdowns and counter protests in a very short period of time.  It ends with the current (as of fall 2013) 'transitional period' in which the citizens are under military rule and all their victories are now under threat. [Click to Listen]

Activist Music - Punk Rock 1

As a tangent series to the Activist Cinema episodes we've been doing for awhile now, here is short playlist of fantastic Activist Music - The Punk Rock Edition Vol.1.

Transmission - S.T.U.N.
Punk Rock Song - Bad Religion
Controlled Opposition - Anti Flag
Suburban Home - Descendents
Lady Liberty - Rancid
Jerk of All Trades - Lunachicks
Dwindle - Falling Sickness
Boredom - S.T.U.N.

Russian Federation Homophobia and the Sochi Winter Olympic

On this episode we take a closer look at the so called 'Russian Anti-Gay Laws' with the help of a very insightful white paper - Russian Federation Anti Gay Laws: An Analysis and Deconstruction by Brian M. Heiss.  Why are these laws getting so much corporate media coverage?  Is it all just to remind people to tune into the Winter Olympics and by Coke and Nike products?  Is it possibly a distraction story so no one investigates the most expensive and corrupt Winter Olympics in history?  After we discuss these cynical questions, we take a quick look around the Middle East and Africa to see if there are any other countries whose anti-gay laws could stand some scrutiny by our oh-so-concerned corporate media.  And while we're looking into anti-gay laws and anti-gay hate crime statistics, it's always a good idea to check in here at home and see how the United States is faring.  (Hint: it's no better than Russia.  In fact, it's a lot worse in some areas). [Click to Listen]

We're So F**ked 2: Bringing Down the System

It's story time on Mic Check Radio this week.  While this is a follow up to the We're So Fucked episode from two weeks ago, the bulk of this show is a reading which diagnoses just how fucked we human beings are by the industrial-technological system that we human beings have created...and what some potential options are for dealing with this system. [Click to Listen]