Wednesday, February 8 at 7:30 pm

Capitalism Hits the Fan

by Richard Wolff

Richard Wolff breaks down the root causes of today’s economic crisis in the clearest terms that everyone can understand  He shows how the crisis has been decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of American-style capitalism itself.  He traces the source of the economic crisis to the 1970s when wages began to stagnate and American workers were forced into a dysfunctional spiral of borrowing and debt that ultimately exploded in the mortgage meltdown.  By placing the crisis within this larger historical and systemic frame, Richard argues convincingly that the proposed government bailouts, stimulus packages, and calls for increased market regulation will not be enough to address the real causes of the crisis, in the end suggesting that far more fundamental change will be necessary to avoid future catastrophes.

Richard Wolff is not only a brilliant expositor of our country’s economic reality but he has a great sense of humor and viewers will be enlightened, informed, and amused about what global market capitalism has brought to the world — who has benefited and who has gotten hurt.  You will see why the game of growth and debt is over and will not be cured by a stimulus to create one more bubble that will get us back to the same economy that produced the economic meltdown.  He is concise in summarizing the end of capitalism world wide.  It cannot sustain itself anymore.  There is no way out other than to restructure!  You can’t buy your way out;  you can’t borrow your way out;  you cannot stimulate your way out.  The problem is unsolvable in its current structure.  The only way to solve it is to change the structure.  Corporate capitalism has done this to itself.  We have benefited as a nation from fortunate events where for three decades we were the world’s producer.  No more.  The rest of the world has caught up after WWII destroyed their economies and means of production.  The entire world is now in for a lingering depression if we do not change the structure of our economy.  And if certain unpredictable events happen, it could be catastrophic for humanity!

http://www.capitalismhitsthefan.com/

To learn more about Film Series held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Wednesday, February 1 at 7:30 pm

Inside Job

by Charles Ferguson

This priceless documentary exposes the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008.  The global financial meltdown, at a cost of $20 trillion, resulted in 30 million people losing their jobs, their homes, and/or their savings.  The film traces the rise of the rogue financial industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation, and academia.  It presents a devastating expose of the staggering Wall Street swindle that caused the economic meltdown of 2008.

The interview with Martin Feldstein brought back to mind the hoopla of his appointment as chief economic adviser to President Reagan.  The movie points out that Feldstein initiated the financial deregulation follies that led to the looting of the Savings and Loans and culminated with the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, the lead sponsor of which was Senator Phil Gramm.  It was truly depressing to see how this massive swindle was pulled off through the collusion of the economic advisers, politicians, high-flown professors of economics with scandalous and highly unethical conflicts-of-interest, investment banks, and ratings agencies.  The elements leading to the housing bubble and the financial meltdown were deregulation of the banking industry, securitization of the mortgage industry through the creation of mortgage derivatives, excessive bank leverage creating excessive risk, and failure of the bond rating houses to accurately assess the risk brought about by securitization of subprime mortgages.  At the end of the film, Robert Gnaizda lists various groups that should be prosecuted.  When asked why this has not been done, he answered: “It’s a Wall Street government!”

http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/

To learn more about Film Series held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Wednesday, November 9 at 7:00 pm

The Contract to Rebuild

the American Dream

Produced by Charles Davidson and Jack Kurzweil

Featuring Van Jones

      ~~ appearing in person

Van Jones, founder of Rebuild the Dream, will host this special anchor teach-in on the economy in Oakland.  And he will speak about:  A Sustainable Economy and a Just Society.  Since Ronald Reagan became president 30 years ago, the accumulated wealth of the top-fraction of the one percent of rich Americans has skyrocketed upward, while the economic prospects of the 99 percent have stagnated or plummeted.  During the current economic crisis, this disparity has grown larger.  As profits among the giant corporations increase to yet higher levels, so have the rates of foreclosure, long-term unemployment, and childhood poverty.  Still, politicians of both parties pass legislation forcing the poor to suffer austerity in the name of balancing the budget.  Only with deep knowledge and dialog will we be able to change the terms of the economic debate from one of austerity for the 99 percent to one of sustainable growth, a healthier planet, and a just economy.  This evening’s special program featuring Van Jones comes to us from MoveOn and the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club.

http://moveon.org/event/events/attendees/index.html?id=-8918886-Lj34iOx&event_id=123662

Thursday, October 13 at 6:00 pm

A Day of Solidarity with African People

Produced by the Uhuru Solidarity Movement Oakland

The African community in the U.S. is bearing the brunt of the economic crisis — with an ever-widening income gap, massive unemployment, foreclosures, and escalating police violence.  It’s time to take the pledge of solidarity and make a commitment to reparations to the African community.  The Uhuru Movement  builds African self-reliance programs that include economic development institutions, community gardens, freedom schools, and independent media.

The keynote speaker of the evening will be Omali Yeshitela, Chairperson of the African Socialist International.  He is the leader of the Uhuru Movement and continues to be on the front lines of struggle.  He is building African-worker controlled institutions, developing ground-breaking political theory, writing countless books and articles, speaking worldwide, fighting for reparations, galvanizing allies, influencing popular culture, and bringing African people together to liberate Africa and all its resources.

This evening’s program will include workshops — focusing on the war on the African community through the police and prisons and building solidarity with African self-determination — led by Penny Hess, the Chairperson of the African People’s Solidarity Committee and author of the book, Overturning the Culture of Violence. 

http://uhurunews.com/event?resource_name=a-day-in-solidarity-with-african-people-oakland-event

Thursday, July 28 at 6:00 pm

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club

Monthly Meeting

Produced by the Wellstone Coordinating Committee

This is the monthly meeting of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club (WDRC). The Club works to renew and reform the Democratic Party. The evening begins with a social hour and delicious potluck supper at 6:00 pm — bring your favorite healthy dish to share! At 7:00 pm the Club begins its program and all guests of the evening, members and non-members alike, are invited to participate in the discussions.

This evening’s program will feature a Club discussion on:

The Economic Crisis and the Populist Response

The program will begin with some opening comments by a panel whose speakers include:  Matthew Hallinan from the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club;  Jodie Reid from the California Alliance of Retired Americans; Charles Davidson from MoveON’s The American Dream;  and Josie Camacho from the Alameda County Central Labor Council. The panelists will talk about various ways that progressives are engaging politics and organization in the period leading up to the 2012 election.  This will be followed by general and small group discussion aimed at charting a course of action for the Club in the next 18 months.

http://www.wellstoneclub.org/

Wednesday, March  2  at 7:30 pm

Collapse

by Chris Smith

In this disturbing documentary, Michael Ruppert makes the analogy of our current collapsing civilization to the sinking Titanic. There were three types of people on board, he says:  the first type refused to believe the ship was sinking and sat in the bar enjoying the luxurious apertifs;  the second panicked and went crazy trying to save themselves;  the third asked everyone, “How can we build a lifeboat?”  This film focuses on this third group of people and pragmatic ideas to survive the end of civilization as we know it.  Is this a bit dramatic?  But Michael Ruppert’s facts and figures are irrefutable.  He draws upon the same news reports and data available to any internet user, but he applies a unique interpretation. He is especially passionate about the issue of peak oil and portrays an apocalyptic future: the collapse of civilization.  While other observers analyze details of the economic crisis, Ruppert views it as symptomatic of nothing less than the collapse of industrial civilization itself.  No scientist has disputed anything he says in the movie.  It’s clear that some people aren’t going to survive, and the great challenge is to determine or influence how many will survive and what kind of quality of life they will have on the other side.  Those who have neither read Ruppert’s books, viewed his blog, or seen him speak will be riveted as he breaks down the imminent perils of peak oil, the fraud of fiat currency, the quiet revolutions taking place with no media coverage, the corporate and government corruption run a muck, the need for sustainability, and, thankfully, the importance of happiness, joy, and smiles in one’s life.  Those who are blindly waiting for President Obama to fix the world’s ills are going to be extremely underwhelmed.  We would all do ourselves justice by listening to Ruppert’s words and preparing  –  if only for the sake of our children.

http://www.huckmagazine.com/features/michael-ruppert-interview/

To learn more about Film Series held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Thursday, February 25 at 6:00 pm

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club

Monthly Meeting

Presented by Pamela Drake

This is the monthly meeting of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club (WDRC). The Club works to renew and reform the Democratic Party. The evening begins with a social hour and delicious potluck supper at 6:00 pm — bring your favorite healthy dish to share! At 7:00 pm the Club begins its program and all guests of the evening, members and non-members alike, are invited to participate in the discussions.

This evening’s program is about Reforming the American Economy. The featured  speaker will be  Richard Walker,  Professor of Economic Geography, U.C. Berkeley.  His talk will continue the discussion on Progressives and the Democratic Party that was begun at the January Club meeting.  We will also show a trailer for Don Goldmacher‘s work-in-progress documentary film on the economic crisis.

Wellstone Newsletter

http://www.wellstoneclub.org/

Wednesday,  January  27  at  7:30  pm

Episode Three:

We Force You to be Free

This third episode of The Trap focuses on the concepts of positive and negative liberty introduced in the 1950s by Isaiah Berlin.  Curtis briefly explains how negative liberty could be defined as freedom from coercion and positive liberty as the opportunity to strive to fulfill one’s potential.  He claims that it was Berlin’s opinion that, since it lacked coercion, negative liberty was the safer of the two.  He then explains how many political groups who sought their vision of freedom ended up using violence to achieve it.  For example the French revolutionaries wished to overthrow a monarchical system which they viewed as antithetical to freedom, but in so doing ended up with the Reign of Terror.  Similarly, the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia, who sought to overthrow the old order and replace it with a society in which everyone was equal, ended up creating a totalitarian regime which used violence to achieve its ends.

Using violence, not simply as a means to achieve one’s goals, but also as an expression of freedom from Western bourgeois norms, was an idea developed by African revolutionary Frantz Fanon.  He developed it from the Existentialist ideology of Jean-Paul Sartre who argued that terrorism was a “terrible weapon but the oppressed poor have no others.”

This episode also explores how economic freedom had been used in Russia and the problems this had introduced.  A set of policies known as “shock therapy” were brought in mainly by outsiders, which had the effect of destroying the social safety net that existed in most other western nations and Russia.  In Russia, the sudden removal of the subsidies for basic goods caused their prices to rise enormously, making them hardly affordable for ordinary people.  An economic crisis escalated during the 1990s and some people were paid in goods rather than money.  Yeltsin was accused by his parliamentary deputies of “economic genocide” due to the large numbers of people now too poor to eat.   Yeltsin responded to this by removing parliament’s power and becoming increasingly autocratic.  At the same time, many formerly state-owned industries were sold to private businesses, often at a fraction of their real value.  Ordinary people, often in financial difficulties, would sell shares, which to them were worthless, for cash, without appreciating their true value.  This ended up with the rise of the Oligarchs — super-rich businessmen who attributed their rise to the sell-offs of the ’90s.  It resulted in a polarization of society into the poor and ultra-rich, and indirectly led to a more autocratic style of government under Vladimir Putin, which, while less free, promised to provide people with dignity and basic living requirements.

There’s a similar review of post-war Iraq, in which an even more extreme “shock therapy” was employed — the removal from government of all Ba’ath party employees and the introduction of economic models which followed the simplified economic model of human beings outlined in the first two episodes — this had the result of immediately disintegrating Iraqi society and the rise of two strongly autocratic insurgencies, one based on Sunni-Ba’athist ideals and another based on revolutionary Shi’a philosophies.

Adam Curtis also looks at the neo-conservative agenda of the 1980s.  Like Sartre, they argue that violence would sometimes be necessary to achieve their goals, except they wish to spread what they described as democracy.  Curtis argues that although the version of society espoused by the neo-conservatives made some concessions towards freedom, it did not offer true freedom.  The neo-conservatives were ardent supporters of the Augusto Pinochet regime in Chile which used violence to crush opponents in a virtual police state.

Curtis also examines the Western-backed government of the Shah in Iran, and how the mixing of Sartre’s positive libertarian ideals with Shia religious philosophy led to the revolution which overthrew it.  Having previously been a meek philosophy of acceptance of the social order, Revolutionary Shia Islam became a meaningful force to overthrow tyranny.

This episode reviews the Blair government and its role in achieving its vision of a stable society.  In fact, argues Curtis, the Blair government had created the opposite of freedom, in that the type of liberty it had engendered wholly lacked any kind of meaning.  Its military intervention in Iraq had provoked terrorist actions in the U.K. and these terrorist actions were in turn used to justify restrictions of liberty.

In essence, this episode suggests that following the path of negative liberty to its logical conclusions, as governments have done in the West for the past 50 years, results in a society without meaning populated only by selfish automatons, and that there is some value in positive liberty in that it allows people to strive to better themselves.

The closing minutes directly state that if Western humans were ever to find their way out of the “trap” described in this film series, they would have to realize that Isaiah Berlin was wrong and that not all attempts at creating positive liberty necessarily end in coercion and tyranny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trap_(television_documentary_series)