The Quiet American (1958)

The Quiet American is a 1958 American drama romance thriller war film. It was the first film adaptation of Graham Greene's bestselling 1955 novel of the same name, and one of the first films to deal with the geo-politics of Indochina. It was written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and stars Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave, and Giorgia Moll. It was critically well-received, but was not considered a box-office success.

The film flips the plot of the novel on its head; it turns a cautionary tale about foreign intervention into an anticommunist advocacy of the use of American power abroad. In writing the script, Mankiewicz received uncredited input from CIA officer Edward Lansdale, who was often said to have been Greene’s inspiration for the American character he had called "Pyle" in the novel. (In the 1958 film, this character, though unnamed, was played by Murphy). However, in fact, Greene did not meet Landsdale until after completing much of the novel. According to Greene, the inspiration for the character of Pyle was Leo Hochstetter, an American serving as public affairs director for the Economic Aid Mission in Indochina who was assumed by the French to “belong to the CIA”; they had lectured him during the “long drive back to Saigon on the necessity of finding a ‘third force in Vietnam.’”

The film stirred up controversy. Greene was furious that his anti-war message had been excised from the film, and he disavowed it as a "propaganda film for America."

Click on the image above for the entire film.

Black Axe: Nigeria’s Mafia Cult

Black Axe is a confraternity in Nigeria that now operates as an international criminal organization, which originated around 1980. Among many crimes it was responsible for the Obafemi Awolowo University massacre.

According to BBC Africa over the 2010s they became one of the most far-reaching and dangerous organised crime groups in the world.

Two documents state that in Benin City, 35 million naira was funnelled to the Black Axe to "protect votes" and secure victory in a governorship election in 2012. In exchange for the support, the files suggest that "80 slots [were] allocated to NBM Benin Zone for immediate employment by the state government".

Over 2021 they attempted to steal €1m in welfare fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland.

Interpol arrested six alleged Black Axe leaders in Johannesburg in 2021, and they may be extradited to the United States. Members of the group are known as "Axemen". Its South African wing allegedly has security known as "butchers" to maintain discipline.

In November 2021 a massacre led by the group claimed six lives in the Okitipupa community, headquarters of Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria.

There are many reports of the ill-effects of cultism on Nigerian society. One such report from 1999 states: "[Cults] have brutally ravaged Nigeria's 37 state-run institutions. The Obafemi Awolowo University massacre is only the most recent tragedy. Observers estimate that 150 students have been slain in the last five years, with scores more victimized by rape, assault, extortion, kidnapping, blackmail, torture and arson attack. Cultists—who often emulate the music and attitudes of American street-gang culture—dominate several campuses with intimidation tactics. Sometimes they employ threats of murder or extortion for seemingly petty ransoms, like an 'A' grade or a fraudulently written term paper. Unprotected students, professors and administrators are often forced to surrender whatever grades, goods and privileges the cultists demand."

By 2015 the Black Axe had become a persistent problem. Responsible for the involvement in the murders of at least 200 people in 2014 and carrying out other criminal activities around the world including Internet fraud (romance scams, inheritance scams, real estate scams and business email scams), murder, international smuggling of drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, use by politicians as 'hired thugs', extortion, counterfeiting of identity documents, cloning of credit cards, cheque fraud, advance-fee scams, robbery, and rape.

Members pledge allegiance to a deity called Korofo, the unseen God, according to their ideology they are fighting against colonial oppression. Their name comes from the Neo Black movement symbol featuring a black axe cutting chains of oppression. They have spies known as "eyes" all across Nigerian society.

The Shadow Of The Caravans - Afghanistan before the Russian Invasion (1979)

 

This film is a glimpse of the traditional life of the Afghan people, their culture and their music, just before the Russian invasion in 1979. 

About Afghanistan before the Soviet invasion in Dec.1979. Border unrest, trade routes blocked and the Afghan mujahideen is about to take up arms against the intruder. In April 1978, the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in a bloody coup d'état against then-President Mohammed Daoud Khan, in what is called the Saur Revolution. The PDPA declared the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, with its first leader named as People's Democratic Party general secretary Nur Muhammad Taraki.

The Saur Revolution (/saʊər/; Dari: إنقلاب ثور‎ or ۷ ثور (literally 7th Saur); Pashto: د ثور انقلاب‎), also romanized Sowr Revolution, and alternatively called the April Revolution or April Coup, was the process by which the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) overthrew Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan on 27–28 April 1978, who had himself taken power in the 1973 Afghan coup d'état. Daoud Khan and most of his family were killed at the presidential palace by military officers in support of the PDPA. The revolution resulted in the creation of a Soviet-aligned government with Nur Muhammad Taraki as President (General Secretary of the Revolutionary Council). Saur or Sowr is the Dari (Persian) name of the second month of the Solar Hijri calendar, the month in which the uprising took place.

The revolution was ordered by PDPA member Hafizullah Amin, who would become a significant figure in the revolutionary government; at a press conference in New York in June 1978, Amin claimed that the event was not a coup but a revolution by the "will of the people". The coup involved heavy fighting and resulted in many deaths. The Saur Revolution was a significant event in Afghanistan's history, marking the onset of 43 years of conflict in the country.

Growing Pains: The Ecological Cost of an Insatiable Economy

 

A look at the global and political obsession with economic growth and the ecological and humanitarian consequences.

Ladakh: A Documentary

The isolated region of Ladakh in northern India has changed rapidly in the past two decades due to sudden and shocking contact with the outside world. Tourists love to frequent the unique Himalayan region wedged between Tibet and Kashmir, but their presence is not without consequences.

Most People Don't Even Realize What's Coming

Will you get lost in the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Most people I asked don't even know what that is, but it's happening all around us right now. This system is about technological evolution... evolving us. Please help support us on Patreon, read our goals here:

https://www.patreon.com/truthstreammedia

We plan to make many more films, and that is a large part of what this Patreon helps create, in addition to our smaller reports on YouTube (for as long as they allow it).

We've got a whole research series in the can as well, it's just a matter of having the ability to get to it all.

Thank you all so much from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who has already offered us support – no matter what kind. Your generosity allows us to pay bills, secure proper equipment, up our content production, and attempt to change the world for the better through truly independent media.

Much love,
Aaron and Melissa Dykes

Films
The Minds of Men
Obsolete
Shorts
The Cold Noir (Web Series)

The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States

The Occupation of the American Mind documentary

Over the past few years, Israel's ongoing military occupation of Palestinian territory and repeated invasions of the Gaza strip have triggered a fierce backlash against Israeli policies virtually everywhere in the world -- except the United States. The Occupation of the American Mind takes an eye-opening look at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the U.S.

Narrated by Roger Waters and featuring leading observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. media culture, the film explores how the Israeli government, the U.S. government, and the pro-Israel lobby have joined forces, often with very different motives, to shape American media coverage of the conflict in Israel's favor. From the U.S.-based public relations campaigns that emerged in the 1980s to today, the film provides a sweeping analysis of Israel's decades-long battle for the hearts, minds, and tax dollars of the American people in the face of widening international condemnation of its increasingly right-wing policies.

Original version Narrated by Roger Waters / Featuring Amira Hass, M.J. Rosenberg, Stephen M. Walt, Noam Chomsky, Rula Jebreal, Henry Siegman, Rashid Khalidi, Rami Khouri, Yousef Munayyer, Norman Finkelstein, Max Blumenthal, Phyllis Bennis, Norman Solomon, Mark Crispin Miller, Peter Hart, and Sut Jhally.

The Wrong Empire

Simon Schama traces the steps of the empire-makers to tell the extraordinary story of how a small set of islands off the coast of Europe came to rule an empire that stretched around the globe.

Stealing Africa - Why Poverty?

Rüschlikon is a village in Switzerland with a very low tax rate and very wealthy residents. But it receives more tax revenue than it can use. This is largely thanks to one resident - Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore, whose copper mines in Zambia are not generating a large bounty tax revenue for the Zambians. Zambia has the 3rd largest copper reserves in the world, but 60% of the population live on less than $1 a day and 80% are unemployed. Based on original research into public documents, the film describes the tax system employed by multinational companies in Africa.

Director Christoffer Guldbrandsen
Producer Henrik Veileborg
Produced by Guld­brandsen Film

Benjamin Zephaniah on Windrush, anarchism and his time in North Korea

Poet, writer and activist Benjamin Zephaniah talks to Krishnan Guru-Murthy about the Windrush scandal, how the political system should be torn down and why he spends so much time in China. 

Warning: offensive language.

Exarchia, a countercultural island in Athens

Exarchia is a district of Athens that is home to leftists and anarchists, poor people and intellectuals. Greece's economic crisis hit it hard. But solidarity and a culture of autonomy mean people have got together to help themselves and each other.

The Untold History of the United States Chapter 3: The Bomb

History is increasingly denied in the popular politics of today. Here is an account of the final days of World War Two and how the Cold War erupted. It is a terrifying account of Power, Fear and Greed. It is an account we should all remember. 

101 East - The Great Divide

Across Australia, the fear of ISIS-inspired violence has created a growing intolerance towards the nation’s Muslim community. It is fuelling a rise of ultra-nationalist groups determined to defend what they say is the Australian way of life.

But how representative is this hatred in a country known for its multiculturalism?

101 East meets those driving the hatred, and those fighting back against the abuse.

The Power of Narratives: An Unwinnable War over the Truth?

Lennart Meri Conference 2015 Saturday, April 25 The Power of Narratives: An Unwinnable War over the Truth?

Speakers: Peter Pomerantsev, TV Producer and Author Jüri Luik, Estonian Ambassador to Russia Leon Aron, Director of Russian Studies, American Enterprise Institute Linas Linkevičius, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Moderated by: Edward Lucas, Senior Vice-President, Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) More: http://lmc.icds.ee Organizer: International Centre for Defence and Security (http://www.icds.ee)

Tinariwen - Recorded in Gothenburg Sweden in juli 2012 (French and Arabic with Swedish Subs)

Tinariwen  (tinariwén "deserts", plural of ténéré "desert") is a band of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band was formed in 1979 in Tamanrasset, Algeria, but returned to Mali after a cease-fire in the 1990s. The group first started to gain a following outside the Sahara region in 2001, with the release of The Radio Tisdas Sessions, and the performances at Festival au Désert in Mali and at the Roskilde festival in Denmark. Their popularity rose internationally with the release of the critically acclaimed Aman Iman in 2007. Tinariwen's biography has variously been described as "the most compelling of any band" (Songlines), "the most rock'n'roll of them all" (The Irish Times), "hard-bitten" (Slate.com), and "dramatic" (The Independent).

Witness : Children of the Riots

As the financial crisis weighs heavily on Greece, the country seems trapped in a cycle of violence. But discontent over the misuse of power has long been simmering. Greek youths reflect on how the killing of a teenager by police changed their lives.

Breaking the Taboo

Breaking the Taboo: The Truth About the War on Drugs is a 2015 Brazilian documentary on the War on Drugs (1971-) in which countless lives have been lost or destroyed at a cost of billions of dollars. This film is narrated by Morgan Freeman and is a harrowing account of how drugs policy is enacted on the ground around the world. From the slums of Baltimore to the mountains of Afghanistan a violent campaign is being waged against the production, distribution and consumption of illegal narcotics. But when viewed in light of human rights and harm minimization the cost of the War on Drugs can be argued to outstrip the cost of addiction and health problems from taking drugs.

The film also had repercussions in the English newspaper The Guardian: "The documentary highlights the perils of debating an issue so clouded by ideology and calls for an end to the stigmatization of the debate. It boasts the support of several former world leaders including Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter."

"The War on Drugs has failed. After 50 years of prohibition, illicit drugs are now the third most valuable industry in the world after food and oil, all in the control of criminals. Drugs are cheaper and more available than ever before. Millions of people are in prison for drugs offences. Corruption and violence, especially in producer and transit countries, endangers democracy. Tens of thousands of people die each year in drug wars."

Fela Kuti- Music is the Weapon (1982)

Fela Kuti - Music Is the Weapon from GistMe2 Multimedia on Vimeo. Music is the Weapon - Fela Kuti from Paul Swanson on Vimeo.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti (15 October 1938 — 2 August 1997), or simply Fela ([feˈlæ]), was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.

Filmed in 1982, the 53-minute documentary captures the late Nigerian musician/activist at his peak. (There are slight differences between the English and French versions, so it’s best to watch both.) For the uninitiated, it’s hard to explain–in mere words–how one man could so successfully mate the sexuality of James Brown with the righteous politics of Bob Marley and sinuous sounds of Miles Davis. Fela drew as much inspiration for his “Afro-beat” from Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as funk, reggae, and jazz. Music Is the Weapon features interviews with Fela and a few of his many wives, along with performances of “ITT,” “Army Arrangement,” and other anthems. A controversial figure throughout his life, Fela is described as both “superstar” and “man of the people.” This short, but potent document ably explores that dichotomy. –Kathleen C. Fennessy

As a supporter of traditional religions and lifestyles, Kuti thought that the most important thing for Africans to fight is European cultural imperialism. The American Black Power movement also influenced Fela's political views; he was a supporter of Pan-Africanism and socialism, and called for a united, democratic African republic. He was a candid supporter of human rights, and many of his songs are direct attacks against dictatorships, specifically the militaristic governments of Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. He was also a social commentator, and he criticized his fellow Africans (especially the upper class) for betraying traditional African culture. The African culture he believed in also included having many wives (polygyny) and the Kalakuta Republic was formed in part as a polygamist colony. He defended his stance on polygyny with the words: "A man goes for many women in the first place. Like in Europe, when a man is married, when the wife is sleeping, he goes out and fucks around. He should bring the women in the house, man, to live with him, and stop running around the streets!". His views towards women are characterized by some as misogynist, with songs like "Mattress" typically cited as evidence. In a more complex example, he mocks the aspiration of African women to European standards of ladyhood while extolling the values of the market woman in his song "Lady".

Bypassing editorial censorship in Nigeria's predominantly state controlled media, Kuti began in the 1970s buying advertising space in daily and weekly newspapers such as The Daily Times and The Punch in order to run outspoken political columns. Published throughout the 1970s and early 1980s under the title Chief Priest Say, these columns were essentially extensions of Kuti's famous Yabi Sessions—consciousness-raising word-sound rituals, with himself as chief priest, conducted at his Lagos nightclub. Organized around a militantly Afrocentric rendering of history and the essence of black beauty, Chief Priest Say focused on the role of cultural hegemony in the continuing subjugation of Africans. Kuti addressed a number of topics, from explosive denunciations of the Nigerian Government's criminal behavior; Islam and Christianity's exploitative nature, and evil multinational corporations; to deconstructions of Western medicine, Black Muslims, sex, pollution, and poverty. Chief Priest Say was cancelled, first by Daily Times then by Punch, ostensibly due to non-payment, but many commentators have speculated that the paper's respective editors were placed under increasingly violent pressure to stop publication.

Watching Fela in non-performance situations is interesting as you get a much better idea of who he was as a person behind the mythology from the community and his own posturing for the purposes of promotion. Here in this video below he comes across as a very humble figure. The press conference with the newspaper is conducted as a discussion around a table, with Fela just another person sitting there in a group.

Terrorists: The Kids They Sentenced

WITH ENGLISH SUBS. This is a Swedish 2003 documentary about the sentences given to rioters arrested during and after the Gothenburg Riots in conjunction with the European Union summit in Gothenburg 2001. It is directed by Lucas Moodyson, famous for Mammoth and Lilya Forever.

Capitalism Is The Crisis

Capitalism Is The Crisis: Radical Politics in the Age of Austerity examines the ideological roots of the "austerity" agenda and proposes revolutionary paths out of the current crisis. The film features original interviews with Chris Hedges, Derrick Jensen, Michael Hardt, Peter Gelderloos, Leo Panitch, David McNally, Richard J.F. Day, Imre Szeman, Wayne Price, and many more! The 2008 "financial crisis" in the United States was a systemic fraud in which the wealthy finance capitalists stole trillions of public dollars. No one was jailed for this crime, the largest theft of public money in history. Instead, the rich forced working people across the globe to pay for their "crisis" through punitive "austerity" programs that gutted public services and repealed workers' rights. Austerity was named "Word of the Year" for 2010. This documentary explains the nature of capitalist crisis, visits the protests against austerity measures, and recommends revolutionary paths for the future. Special attention is devoted to the crisis in Greece, the 2010 G20 Summit protest in Toronto, Canada, and the remarkable surge of solidarity in Madison, Wisconsin.