Our April meeting in Denver and Boulder will include a short presentation by Joseph Karuna. Joseph has assembled an impressive packet of 9/11 educational materials that he presented this month to many well-placed officials at the National Conference on Media Reform in Denver and the Conference on World Affairs in Boulder. He will have packets available for a donation.

Following this, Denver will screen the excellent and hard-hitting documentary by Scott Noble, The Power Principle Part II: Propaganda (1 hour, 40 minutes), and  Boulder will screen the new documentary by Adnan Zuberi, 9/11 In the Academic Community: Academia’s Treatment of Critical Perspectives on 9/11 (1 hour).  We will provide copies of The Power Principle Part II: Propaganda to attendees in Boulder. Grand Junction will screen The Power Principle Part II.

Denver and Grand Junction Film:  In his documentary trilogy The Power Principle, Scott Noble, focusing on the last 70 years, does not soft-pedal his historical account of how the U. S. empire was constructed. Part I: Empire documents how U.S. foreign policy, whether under Republican or Democratic regimes, is based on (1) the interests of major corporations and a tiny elite to increase profits and (2) the U.S. government’s interests in maintaining and expanding its imperialistic influence. Part III: Apocalypse details how externally–and increasingly internally–this has caused massive poverty and suffering, genocide, war, coups, crushed unions and popular movements, and environmental destruction.

Following World War II American foreign policy planners were faced with a choice: to embrace democracy in all of its forms in various countries or to suppress huge populations around the globe through violence. It chose the latter. [Read more…]

Please join us for this month’s educational meeting featuring the screening of two films.

Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (50 minutes)

This groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged from the earliest days of silent film to today’s biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs –– from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding “terrorists” –– along the way offering insights into the origin of these stereotypical images, their development at key points in U.S. history, and why they matter so much today. Dr. Shaheen shows how the persistence of these images over time has served to desensitize and “naturalize” prejudicial attitudes toward Arabs and Arab culture.

Shaheen inspires critical thinking about the consequences of these Hollywood caricatures, and he challenges viewers to recognize the urgent need for counter-narratives that do justice to the diversity and humanity of Arab people and the reality and richness of Arab history and culture. He reveals that a number of these films have been made with the cooperation of the Department of Defense.  (The recent Hollywood film “Zero Dark Thirty” is a prime example of the use of theatrical films to further instill fictitious official narratives into the minds of the American public.)

Most of us in modern America understand that stereotypes are morally wrong and simply not truthful, but stereotypes take a long time to wither away. Often we find them comfortable, and we resist adjusting our perceptions of a people who have been maligned. We (and Hollywood) have, nonetheless, corrected our stereotype of Jews, Afro-Americans, and Native Americans, among others.Our hats are off to Dr. Jack Shaheen who continues this consciousness-raising American tradition. In the last segment of this documentary Shaheen talks about several recent films that begin to break down the stereotypes. He ends with an expression of hope in young, creative filmmakers who are moving beyond the stereotypical and bigoted depictions from Hollywood.

“Washington and Hollywood spring from the same DNA.”  –  Jack Valenti, Former President and CEO of Motion Picture Association of America

 Attack of the Drones  (a 24-minute Al Jazeera report) [Read more…]