The World Coup: THIEFA vs Brazil
Molly Ivins said “Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.” In this excellent video, The Juice Media aptly summarize what is happening in Brazil with mega-event related human rights abuses: forced evictions, diverted public monies, police violence, and increased surveillance, all reported in Juice Media’s traditional style – a hip hop …
State of Exception Campaign Update
JUST 11 days left for our State of Exception Indiegogo Campaign We are entering the home-stretch of our campaign, just 1.5 weeks left! Today, we are announcing some new campaign perks and launching a video update. Please share this video far and wide, and encourage others to donate so we can reach our goal! As most …
The Business of Repression in Brazil
The fastest growing sector of the international arms industry is what are referred to as “Riot Control and Public Order Weaponry.” One of the world’s largest international suppliers of these weapons – Condor – is based in Rio de Janeiro, and has expanded its business by 30% in the last 5 years. Condor supplied many of …
Scandal is FIFA’s Middle Name
When FIFA gets embroiled in a corruption scandal, it’s no longer a scandal – it’s just business as usual. Scandal is what we’ve come to expect from the International governing body of football. This week the UK Telegraph is reporting new allegations that former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner accepted bribes of $2 million from a Qatari firm …
Wavin´ Flag Reclaimed (Music Video)
In 2010, FIFA and Coca-Cola selected Somali-Canadian artist Knaan´s popular song Wavin´ Flag as the promotional anthem of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Originally a freedom song written for the oppressed classes of Somalia, K´naan was required to change the lyrics, depoliticizing them for the purposes of commercial advertising. The original freedom song has …
Guerreira (Woman Warrior): Vik Birkbeck
Amongst the community of media activists in Rio, one of our dearest comrades is Vik (pictured above), who we like to call Guerreira (Woman Warrior). Vik embodies what seem at first to be irreconcilable opposites: she is gentle and soft-spoken, yet fearless and uncompromising in her activism. Born in the UK in 1951, Vik moved …
With Trouble Finding Hosts, IOC Changes Rules
Featured image – “Hackney Looting” by pure evil The IOC announced sweeping changes to the Olympic Games yesterday, including what they are calling a “more affordable bidding process,” making the system cheaper and more flexible to attract future candidates — including the option of holding events outside the host city or country. The new allowances …
Police Brutality and Race: A Personal Reflection (Video)
A lot of people have been asking me to comment on recent events in Ferguson and now this week, with the uprisings around the case of Eric Garner in New York. I am all of the sudden supposed to be an authority on police brutality, as I inadvertently became the victim of this kind of violence when …
Justice for Bhopal: The Yes Men Show Us What It Could Have Looked Like (Video)
As we pointed out in the blog post earlier today, this is the 30th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, when Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical) leaked toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate, into the city of Bhopal, India. Thousands died immediately, and thousands more have died from the ongoing complications from the poisonous gas exposure and …