Speaking Freely Volume 4: Chalmers Johnson

A chronicle of a day in the life of a Palestinian cab driver in Los Angeles, DRIVING TO ZIGZIGLAND, portrays the social struggle of the Arab immigrant in post-9/11 America. A film audition typecasts Bashar to play an Al Qaeda terrorist role. The utilities are due and Bashar has twenty-four hours to make the money. For the remaining hours left until tomorrow, an unceasing flow of passengers ride in Bashar's taxi and give the Arab cabbie the run around on issues that deal with suicide bombers, George Bush, Cat Stevens, the war in Iraq, music, and world geography. Bashar's quest to make the money is won until he realizes he has to choose between the Department of Homeland Security and his family.

The End of Poverty? asks if the true causes of poverty today stem from a deliberate orchestration since colonial times which has evolved into our modern system whereby wealthy nations exploit the poor. People living and fighting against poverty answer condemning colonialism and its consequences; land grab, exploitation of natural resources, debt, free markets, demand for corporate profits and the evolution of an economic system in in which 25% of the world's population consumes 85% of its wealth. Featuring Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz, authors/activist Susan George, Eric Toussaint, Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera and more.

Two aging crooks are given two weeks to repay a debt to a woman named The American. They recruit their recently deceased partner's son to help them break into a laboratory and steal the vaccine against STBO, a sexually transmitted disease that is sweeping the country. It's spread by having sex without emotional involvement, and most of its victims are teenagers who make love out of curiosity rather than commitment.

A mediocre musician goes on the road in search of the world's greatest guitar maker.

Gabe and Kakela are happily engaged couple in the mountain of Calabasas, CA. Gabe works as a horse riding instructor and Kakela is a trying-to-be writer. They live in house complex with Nina who is currently separated from her husband. One day, their long-time friend Tre rushes in and asks for short stay after his break-up with his girlfriend. Two men and two women start living under the same roof began its strange journey of the relationship in a isolated world near the city.

Sex, politics and American culture are mixed into a combustible combination in Now & Later. Angela is an illegal Latina immigrant living in Los Angeles who stumbles across Bill, a disgraced banker on the run. She takes him in. Through passionate sex, soul-searching conversations ranging from politics to philosophy, and other worldly pleasures, Angela introduces Bill to another worldview. As their affair heats up, the course of Bill's life begins to take an abrupt and unexpected turn.

It's your traditional Irish holiday - cousins are having sex, couples are getting divorced, John Michael has brought his boyfriend and Millicent might be a witch - it's enough to drive you to drink. The only catch - Mary McDonough won't allow a drop of whiskey in the house.

The story of the war the international community waged against civil war stricken Sierra Leone.

French Guiana has long been the site for some notorious prisons surrounded by dense jungle. In this story, Noel Caradec (Richard Berry) is a bereft son who has come from France to the tropical South American country to look for his father, who fled from the prison and disappeared years ago. He runs into serious opposition from the owner of a hotel and bar known as Cayenne-Palace. The man also happens to be at the center of all the illegal goings-on in the region. However, Noel is not entirely without friends, as his half-brother Xavier and the people of the jungle are on his side.

Bookshop clerk Maggie Malone is granted three wishes after she finds a first-edition copy of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

A Muslim schoolteacher is taken to a CIA black site and then Guantanamo Bay Cuba, where he is interrogated and tortured, despite professing his innocence.

A grieving father seeks answers after his 14-year-old son kills himself. He uncovers painful truths about the lives of teens, the impact of unfettered access to internet and social media, and the shocking rise of depression among America’s youth.

For many years John Perkins was an "economic hit man" in the world of international finance; a function he performed by persuading Third World countries to take on large -scale public works projects. Today, we recognize that these types of projects, financed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), have served to enrich U.S. corporations while creating crippling debt for these countries, effectively turning them into American client states. Experiencing a change of heart, Perkins resigned from the business in 1981. After running a utility company, he founded the nonprofit organization, Dream Change Coalition, which works closely with Amazonian and other indigenous people to help preserve their environments and cultures. Take the time for a conversation with Perkins about globalization and inequality around the world.

The Chair of the Planning Board of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, a fellowship of scholars living throughout the world whose work is intended to contribute to social justice, Susan George is the author of more than a dozen books. Born in the United States and now living in/near Paris, George became a French citizen in 1994. From 1999 to 2006, she served as Vice-President of ATTAC France (Association for Taxation of Financial Transaction to Aid Citizens). She is currently focusing her attention on the issue of neoliberal globalization and engaged in a campaign to democratize the World Trade Organization. Join this award-winning scholar for an hour as she reveals the truth behind the history of empire building, neo-colonialism, and the causes of poverty in our world today.

In this special volume of the series, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks to members of the international press corps about the advantages of socialism over capitalism and explains why true democracy cannot exist under the latter. Noting that the American empire's practice of privatization, foreign intervention, and violence is not conducive to a humanistic society, Chavez instead offers that the healthiest government is one in which all of its citizens play a role in its construction and development-that the ultimate voice is the voice of the people and that Venezuela will always be committed to maintaining that ideal. Taped on location in Caracas, this briefing is one that will never be shown on American network news and one that should be viewed by anyone who is intrigued by this controversial world leader.