Return to El Salvador will be playing in Toronto at the Carlton Cinema from Oct 8th-14th, 2010
The documentary tells the story of vibrant Salvadoran individuals and communities and the intricate geo-political systems that have so profoundly impacted their lives.
The above video is the entire, uncut first seven minutes of Return to El Salvador. This sequence will introduce one of the many Salvadoran faces you’ll get to know over the course of the film, and a brief introduction into the past 40 years of rocky Salvadoran history.
Narration by Martin Sheen.
Opening title sequence music by Manu Chao.
Edited by Dan Moretz and James Knightly.
Visual Effects and Graphics designed by Steve Chandler.
Directed by Jamie Moffett
“Being thrown back in jail illegitimately and maliciously in no way dampens my resolve, in fact it only strengthens it and I am resolute to continue fighting. I hope that while I am in jail as many people as possible will continue building movements and building relationships across struggles, and will continue to push back against the system and its norms of domination.” — Alex Hundert from jail, Sep 19th, 2010.
Beka Economopoulos, a member of the Brooklyn-based group Not An Alternative, interprets a moving sculpture by artists at the Toronto G20 using the “Black Bloc” method of sculpting. The piece entitled “The Sculpture of Exception,” ironically turns political theorist Carl Schmitt’s “state of exception” on its head. The state of exception, according to Schmitt, frees the executive from any legal restraints to its power that would normally apply in a given crisis situation or any situation where power needs self-legitimization.
“The Sculpture of Exception” illustrates that collective bodies can also operate outside legal restraints when governments perpetuate crisis through capital consolidation and austerity. The piece draws attention to the possibilities for refusal and non-compliance in the face of such given force and shows a dialectic that forms within this context.
Farah Miranda at Drop G20 charges! Resisting the criminalization of dissent
For ten days at the end of June, the Police led a coordinated armed assault against Toronto’s civilian population. Community organizers were in particular targeted. Mobilizations for justice, for dignity and for self-determination were infiltrated, harassed and intimidated. A Canada wide response is at hand… as people fight to have the criminal charges dropped and to continue the struggle against the G20′s anti-people and anti-environment policies. Support the Legal Defence Fund! http://g20.torontomobilize.org/support)
Global corporate elites come together to make decisions that significantly and negatively affect the health and livelihood of local communities, and contribute heavily to environmental degradation, pollution and climate change. The video demonstrates the functioning of corporate globalization, industrial environmental destruction and the abuse of Indigenous rights, all of which were protested at the G20 in Toronto. It also features the work and struggles of community members and activists working everyday against these encroaching powers.
This video was posted by youandifilms on April 19, 2010.
George Poitras, member of Mikisew Cree indigenous First Nation talks about the issues of pollution and cancers suffered by many of the First Nations people as a result of the Oil companies action extractive industries.
At a BP shareholder’s meeting a resolution about BPs involvement in tar sands production was discussed and put to the vote at the oil majors AGM. Results presented by BP at the meeting show that almost 15% of voters either supported the resolution or abstained despite the boards recommendation to reject it. This is a significant expression of concern about the company’s decision to invest in new tar sands projects.
Indigenous groups held a demonstration to protest the G8 and G20 meetings. Franklin López and Dawn Paley of the Vancouver Media Co-op file a report for Democracy Now! from the streets of Toronto on June 24th, The Indigenous Day of Action.
The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) had an active presence at demonstrations during the Toronto G20 Summit. Members of this movement seek to draw attention to the fact that through economic and military policies, countries of the G8/G20 encourage Israel’s illegal siege on Palestine. More on this topic can be found here.
In the following article and Youtube videos, Jesse Rosenfeld discusses how mainstream media outlets misrepresent the Palestinian struggle, and how independent media plays an extremely important role in exposing the realities on the ground, ultimately mobilizing a more informed community to support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.
Rosenfeld, a freelance journalist, was the subject of a violent and well-publicized arrest as he was covering the G20 Summit demonstrations in Toronto.
While the three-year-old siege of Gaza has been brought into dramatic focus of late, the 12-year embargo of Iraq that crippled the economy and wrought havoc on civil society continues in another form, post-invasion. At the same time, the ongoing war in Afghanistan has taken a terrible toll on its beleaguered population. The massive $1 billion security and military presence in Toronto this month for the G20 will protect the very world leaders who are overseeing wars and occupations that have cost trillions of dollars, and countless innocent lives. Independent media has a crucial role to play in exposing the reality of war and daily life in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan… Severe restrictions on visas and mobility for foreign and domestic journalists, as well as threats from government and paramilitary forces, hamper efforts to report reality on the ground.
Palestine:
As settlements expand across Jerusalem and Israel’s military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza intensifies, Palestinians are on the edge of a new popular revolt. Israel continues its crippling siege of Gaza, paving way for the brutal attack on a humanitarian aid mission into the Strip that took place this month.
Palestinian citizens of Israel are also feeling the pressure as urban renewal and gentrification is used as a pretext to force them out of their historic cities, while the government passes laws to criminalize public discussion of their identity and history. Meanwhile repression against Palestinians and Israeli solidarity activists continues, as does the Palestinian Authority collaboration with Israel.
Behind the regular headlines of tense relations between Israel and the US over settlements The Daily Nuisance is exposing the on the ground reality and impact on those living in Israel/Palestine through photography, video, print, news, analysis and opinion.
While international mainstream news filters out and misinterprets local voices, TDN uses English to present local perspectives to an International audience. The editorial collective is comprised of Palestinian, left-wing Israeli and international journalists and media makers.
Jesse Rosenfeld of The Daily Nuisance discusses opportunities for breaking the siege of indifference and reporting from occupied lands:
We witnessed two elderly women being attacked by the police at the corner of University and College, during the G20 summit in Toronto. We asked them to explain what happened. This is their story.
Surrounded by cops from opposite directions the women found themselves trapped, unable to follow the commands being hurled at them from the police themselves: Move, Move. Move.
The assault they experienced after makes no sense. It remains unexplained and unaccounted for. Thankfully, neither of the women were hurt. This makes for a relatively minor act of police brutality that took place around the summit.