Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)

Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)

INFO:
Barbara Kopple, USA, english, 1976, 103 min.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074605/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County,_USA
http://www.csfd.cz/film/207802-harlan-county-usa/

(en) Barbara Kopple's documentary account of the 1974 strike of Kentucky mine workers is arguably one of the finest documentaries ever made in the U.S. and possibly the best on the problems of organised labour. The strike began when the miners working for the Eastover Mining Co. joined the UMW, and its corporate parent, Duke Power, refused to sign the standard union contract. By living with the 180-odd families involved in the strike, Kopple shows the backbreaking burdens of the miners' life in the best of times and the looming fear of destitution in the worst.

As the strikers strive to remain united through a difficult year, Kopple photographs the picketing, the company's use of state troopers to keep the roads open for scabs, the showdowns between the miners and strikebreakers brandishing firearms. After several shootings, one miner is finally killed. During the man's wake, a memorable sequence, his mother collapses. While the film is unabashedly partisan, it's worth remembering that the company's refusal to sign a contract was condemned by the National Labor Relations Board and that the corporation agreed to sign only under heavy pressure from federal mediators. The Oscar-winning HARLAN COUNTY, USA is a landmark in the history of American documentary filmmaking.

(cz) Vynikající dokument o stávce horníků v USA. Filmaři se pohybovali skutečně uvnitř stávky. Velmi silné jsou hlavně scény noční přestřelky se stávkokazy, pohřeb zastřeleného horníka a vůbec celé prostředí amerického hornického městečka je šokující. Vše je podbarveno originálními písněmi zpívaných a mnohdy i složených samotnými horníky.

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCiVMngILEI



Watch online:
http://youtu.be/1fsjrnWYSww

Download:
http://www.fileserve.com/file/YTk8SrT/Harlan.County.USA.Xvid.AC3.Mvgroup.avi
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---or---
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---or---
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Torrent:
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3771321/Harlan_County__U.S.A.

Subtitles:
http://www.opensubtitles.org/en/subtitles/3145804/harlan-county-u-s-a-en

Titulky:
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National Geographic - KKK Inside American Terror (2008)

National Geographic - 

KKK: Inside American Terror (2008)

INFO:
National Geographic, USA, english, 2008, 60 min.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1308957/
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/inside/3954/Overview

(en) The white robes and fiery crosses of America's oldest terrorist group have become national symbols of hate and violence. Now, one segment of the modern KKK has teamed up with skinheads, neo-Nazis and other extremist groups toward a common goal of "white rule." NGC travels inside the KKK's deadly world. Learn how the organization's membership has grown in recent years. Hear from current Klan members and victims, along with KKK experts as they break down the face of this modern hate group.

Watch online:
http://youtu.be/5Ckk0zspmKQ

Download:
Fileserve uploading
---or---
https://rapidshare.com/files/2747250614/National.Geographic.KKK.Inside.American.Terror.HDTV.XviD-DiVERGE.part1.rar
https://rapidshare.com/files/1038258559/National.Geographic.KKK.Inside.American.Terror.HDTV.XviD-DiVERGE.part2.rar
---or---
http://www.mediafire.com/file/rtgyy1rkyjxjrlx/National.Geographic.KKK.Inside.American.Terror.HDTV.XviD-DiVERGE.part1.rar
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Links are interchangeable / Linky môžete kombinovať!

Torrent:
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Subtitles:
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Titulky:
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Interview Spike Lee: "I wasn't the one that put blackface on Judy Garland."

It has been 20 years since the release of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. So for the occasion Spike Lee was interviewed by Jason Solomons of the Guardian. In the interview Lee talks about Do The Right Thing, other films and Obama.

In the interview he also talks about a film which is very relevant today. It's the blackface film Bamboozled, a satirical film about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the violent fall-out from the show's success. The film - of course - is relevant because of the recent Vogue issue and the blackface Australian performance of the Jackson Five. In the interview Jason Solomons said that some people found this film a very angry film, Lee replied, "I wasn't the one who put blackface on Judy Garland."

On YouTube I found the video montage of the black face shots used in the film Bamboozled. You sometimes wonder how people can use black face and call it 'artistic'. (See all videos below.)



Do The Right Thing (1989)
Lee: Do The Right Thing takes place in hottest day of the summer. We wanted the people to be sweating while they watched this film.


Fight the power (theme song)
Lee: I knew I wanted an anthem, so I called Chuck D and he came back with this classic. It's really the theme at that time of young black America. In 1989 Fight the power was the only song you heard that summer.


The Toy (1982)
Interviewer: Back in 89 black filmmakers were struggling to be heard. Black actors were struggling to get out of ghetto parts.
Lee: A very important individual, people don't really acknowledge, is Michael Schultz. He was our only African American director in Hollywood at that time. He made a lot of hit films of Richard Prior. Prior was a big star in Hollywood.
Interviewer: They had to had to give him a white buddy, Gene Wilder.
Lee: “The worst was the film The Toy (1982), where he was bought by rich white man as a toy for his child.


Soul Plane (2000)
Interviewer: Do you think, that because of Do The Right Thing, that kind of film will ...
Lee: Hé hé, they still make some of this stuff. You ever heard of a film called Soul Plane?



Malcolm X (1992)
Lee on Malcom X: This is biggest run I've done so far. People said, don't mess it up.


Bamboozled (2000)
Interviewer: One of my favourites is Bamboozled (2000). One of the least seen, one of the most angry.
Lee: One of my favourite films too, very funny film.
Interviewer: Black film makers, black activist say it comes a big angry.
Lee: I don’t know it was angry. I wasn't the one who put blackface on Judy Garland, Mickey Roony and Bugs Buny.



(The film below is a video montage of the blackface shots used in the film Bamboozled)

You sometimes wonder how people can use black face and call it artistic.

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Interviewer: The film Do The Right Thing has shaped the politics of Obama.
Lee: Well I don't know if it has shaped his politics. People forget that the best film in 1989, according to the academy, was Driving miss Daisy. A film no one has seen, no one is watching that today.


La Hain (1995) - The Hait
Lee: The one film I have issue with is La Hain (1995). That film was a complete rip off of Do The Right Thing. The director Mathieu Kassovitz has never acknowledged it. He said he never saw it. When you see Do The Right Thing, it's an homage.


More Bamboozled

Quote of the film. In the film the white boss says to the black screen writer: “I grew up around black people my whole life, the truth is know N*gers more then you. And don't go getting offended by me using the word N***. I have a black wife and two Bi-racial kids so I feel I have the right.”

Spike Lee: “I never drank that post-racial Kool Aid”

An interview with Spike Lee and BBC Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman on changing race relations in America since Lee made "Do The Right Thing". In the interview which aired a month ago, the two argue about the impact of Barack Obama’s election on modern day racism.

A very interesting interview, the idea that racism is something of the past seems to infuriate him.


Spotted on Soulculture

PostSecret

-----Email Message-----

Working as a teacher in the inner-city has rid me of my racism.

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people
mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. Go to http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Very interesting project. I think I will also mail my secret on a postcard, and I will also post up here as well.

Rama Yade the leader of France's Modern-Day Black Power Movement?

According to the US political blog Booker Rising French secretary Rama Yade (32) seemed to have said: "Some Folks Are Saying That I'm Leading France's Modern-Day Black Power Movement". Read the full story here

But the real news is that she will be in Washington this week, to attend the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual legislative conference.

Short history. French President Sarkozy appointed Yade as the secretary of human rights and called her the French Condoleezza Rice. Rama Yade became, after the riots, Sarkozy’s television-friendly integration symbol during his presidential campaign. After the elections she became the only black and the youngest member of the French cabinet

But after a while Sarkozy asked her to run for the European Parliament, which she refused. After her refusal Sark became ‘disappointed’ in her and she was dropped. After a cabinet reshuffle she was appointed as the Secretary of State for Sports.

This week she will be in the US. The Washington post wrote: “The Yade act will be on tour this week in Washington, where aides said the young minister has been invited to attend the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual legislative conference. President Obama is likely to attend, they added, inviting a comparison with the U.S. leader whose charisma, like Yade's, seems to eclipse racial considerations.”

But paper also stated that she still has to “transcend the role of Sarkozy's television-friendly integration symbol”. Read French Minister's Star Status Holds Political Promise

And maybe they are right, Rama Yade is still a symbol. I don’t doubt her commitment to the cause. In 2007 she wrote the book Noirs de France (Blacks in France) as a response about the way the French media reported the death of Afro-Caribbean people in a pension fire. Although people from the French Antilles are officially French citizens, in the newspapers they where portrayed as foreigners.

But most articles about Yade are about her appearance, not about her competence. And to be frank, it is easy to point a finger at the white establishment and yell: ‘there are no blacks in da house!’. Changes are she will become the French Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Or better, she will end up like Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ali became popular as politician in The Netherlands, but ended up as writer in the US.

So I hope that Yada will indeed transcend the role of Sarkozy's television-friendly integration symbol, and perhaps really become the leader of France's Modern-Day Black Power Movement.


See an interesting interview with Rama Yade

Muhammed Ali is Irish?

On September 1st 2009 boxing legend Muhammed Ali visited his ancestral home in Ireland. See the story and the pics here.

Muhammed Ali though he got his European blood due to slavery (see video), but it turned out he got it from his Irish great-grandfather Abe Grady, who settled in the United States in the 1860s and married a freed African-American slave. One of their grandchildren, Odessa Lee Grady Clay, was Ali’s mother.

Abe Grady lived in the Western Irish town Ennis, and Ali was honoured as the first Freeman of his ancestral home Ennis.

I don't know what "Freeman" means, but according to some people it means free drinks at the pub and free entrance to the disco.



In this interview Ali did know his ancestry, but still he thought his great grandfather was a slave owner. But listen to the mistake of interviewer!

Michael Jackson alive!?

New evidence! Michael Jackson is alive. See the video! According to the Sun crazed fans believe MICHAEL JACKSON faked his own death to escape the pressures of fame, they believe their hero is still alive. Read the story here

Thousands have been logging onto websites to join conspiracy theories that the star is simply preparing for the ultimate comeback.

To be honest, I don't believe he is alive. But if he is still alive, I wont talk to him ever again!

Happy 36th Birthday Hip-Hop!

Yesterday, 36 years ago, Hip-Hop was born on 1520 Sedgwick Ave. and Cedar Park USA. But the music and the culture also made its way to Europe. Happy birthday Hip-Hop!


via: Shadow And Act.

Film: I’m Bi-Racial… Not Black Damn It!

For the film 'I’m Bi-Racial… Not Black Damn It!' see the interesting post and comments on the film blog Shadow And Act

Of course I've asked a bi-racial Dutch African-American woman about her opinion. She feels that the title, I’m Bi-Racial… Not Black Damn It!, is wrong. Being bi-racial means not black not white, but both. It's a combination.

People with a bi-racial background are a fast growing group in Europe. It's a consequence of the fact that Europe is less racially segregated then the US.


4 minute trailer


For more information go the website http://videoproduction.battlecatt.com

Black travel experiences in Europe

Photo and copyright: Lola Akinmade
How do black people experience travelling in Europe? Do they feel stared at, feel welcome, or is it a bit of both. And in which Western European countries do they feel most comfortable?

To find out I sampled the experiences (2008 and 2009) from Rick Steves’s Minority Travelers Forum. Most experiences are from African-Americans who visited Europe.

I could have asked photographer and travel writer Lola Akinmade about her travel experience, but on her blog are all the answers. In pictures and in stories. See Lola's blog Geotraveler's Niche. So I stayed on Steves's forum.

To get a big picture of all the experiences I placed the reactions in the categories negative, neutral and positive. Negative means when someone felt being treated negatively. Neutral means, no problems. Positive speaks for itself.


Click on the image to enlarge

1. In England or the UK – Most travellers had a great time. No stares, hardly any discrimination. With 2 negative and 9 positive reactions the absolute winner.

2. Germany – Second best with 1 negative reaction, 1 neutral and 3 positive reactions.

3. The Netherlands – One traveller felt very race conscious in the Netherlands. With 2 negative reactions, 1 neutral and 3 positive reactions third place.

4. France - Very mixed responses. Most black travellers liked it, but the French language barrier remained. Most Americans had neutral feelings about France, but over all they weren’t negative. With 2 negative reactions, 7 neutral and 4 positive reactions fourth place.

5. Italy – Here things started to get dramatically negative. Some loved Italy, others were less positive. Some reported being stared at. To put it in perspective, 4negative reactions, 2 neutral and 3 positive. Fifth place

6. Spain – This country is considered the worst Western European travel destination by most African-Americans on the forum. Most travellers see Spain as a very racist country. However one traveller was aware of racial climate in Spain, but still went. He had a great time in Spain. With 6 negative reactions, 2 neutral and 3 positive reactions it’s a country that leaves a lot of black travellers with some bad memories, but with good ones as well.

Countries as Belgium, Zweden, Austria, Creece and Ireland I didn't include because there were just one or two reactions.

Of course you can’t get a good impression if you have nine responses or less of each country. And it also depends where travellers had their experiences: big city or country side.

Minority
Lola Akinmade is using her blackness to experience traveling to the max. In an interview she explained why she loves traveling as a minority. "Being able to seamlessly move because people automatically assume I’m a local impoverished immigrant allows me to observe and immerse without sticking out like a sore thumb in some places. I get to experience the true attitudes of locals towards others very different from them – both great and bad.

I have experienced everything from utmost rejection to gawks of fascination that a lot of bright-eyed backpackers could never endure. It is at the low times I question the purpose of travel and then Mark Twain’s quote always comes to mind….“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."…… Mark Twain."
Read the whole interview here

Humorous videos of white and black racism

The video ‘racism in the elevator’ from Reckless Tortuga is a humorous video about an irritating situation. The video is about the situation where a white woman is clutching her purse when a black man is around.




The other video is about black racism. It’s about the situation where a black man who wears a suite is seen as a white man, an uncle tom or an ‘elitist’ by an other black person. The best part of the video is the end.

The Michael Jackson memorial was impressive

I've watched the Michael Jackson memorial, very impressive. A Dutch commentator said, it looked as if the black community took him back. And somehow it felt that way too. Especially the speech of Rev. Al Sharpton was powerful. He was right about that Michael Jackson paved the way for a lot of black people, including Obama.

Michael, we salute you too

Here's the video of the rehearsal two days before his death. Thanks to CNN for the footage. CNN reports that there is over 100 hours of rehearsal footage.

NewsOne.com covered the Apollo Theater Tribute to Michael Jackson the King of Pop. Those in attendance included Rev. Al Sharpton, film-maker Spike Lee, and of course his loyal and devoted fans of all ages.

The memorial service will be held on tuesday July 7th. Live broadcast in Europe will start at around 7pm.



Apollo Theater Tribute to Michael Jackson

N.E.R.D. get the plug pulled on them at the Glastonbury Festival (UK)

Summer news. The organisers of Glastonbury Festival pulled the sound on N.E.R.D. The band were an half hour late starting their performance (June 26). But band leader Pharrell Williams told the audiance the band would play the full set. That didn't happend. Read the full story here

N.E.R.D is an American rock, funk and hip hop band of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. The Glastonbury Festival in the UK is the biggest outdoor festival in the world.

N.E.R.D made a video about the economic crises called Sooner or Later. The sound is so European.

Sooner or later

Michael Jackson is dead

Michael Jackson, the show-stopping singer whose best-selling albums -- including "Off the Wall," "Thriller" and "Bad" -- and electrifying stage presence made him one of the most popular artists of all time has died. Michael Jackson, August 29 1958 – June 25 2009, became 50.

Rest in peace and thanks for the music and the memories.

This is my pick too.


Man In The Mirror 2

Esperanza Spalding on tour in Europe 2009

American Jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding will be touring Europe from July 7th to August 8th 2009. She will be in France (Vannes Jazz Festival), Portugal, The Netherlands (North Sea Jazz), Spain, Italy (Venice Jazz Festival)and Germany (KulturArena).

If “esperanza” is the Spanish word for hope, then bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding could not have been given a more fitting name at birth. Blessed with uncanny instrumental chops, a multi-lingual voice that is part angel and part siren, and a natural beauty that borders on the hypnotic, the 23-year-old prodigy-turned-pro might well be the hope for the future of jazz and instrumental music. (The Seattle Times.)

Spalding grew up in the King neighborhood of Portland (USA), Oregon, a neighborhood she herself describes as "ghetto" and "pretty scary." Her mother, who raised her and her brother as a single parent, was an independent, industrious woman. (read more @ wikipedia.org)

Esperanza Spalding Myspace



Esperanza Spalding LIVE at The White House

African Americans versus Afro-Caribbean and African immigrants

A post about a flick called the 'The Neo African Americans' on the blog Shadow and Act, reminded me of an article about an African-American Harvard graduate who found out that a high percentage of 'blacks' on Harvard where from Africa and the Caribbean.

Since she was also the director of the American Association for Affirmative Action, she wanted to know how black immigrant students would fit in that goal of correcting American racial injustices.

In the story entitled 'Among Black Students, Many Immigrants' African-American students were quoted: " Last month, a Harvard Black Students Association message board asked, "When we use the term 'black community,' who is included in this description?" A lively debate ensued, with some posters complaining that African students were getting an admissions boost without having faced the historical suffering of U.S. blacks."

I think this will always be a problem. When the French NAACP, Le Cran, pushed for an investigation into the racial discrimination in France, immediately the French organisation of the French overseas departments (D’outre-mer) made the distinction that blacks from the French Caribbean Islands were different from blacks from Africa, because of their French status.

Maybe it’s time to look at what binds black people from the different countries. Is it race, skin colour, racism, being studied, music, sports, black experience, black men versus black women, slavery, colonialism, segregation, freedom, immigration, identity, selling out, bleaching, crime, ghetto, poverty, struggle, giving back, diaspora, rising, black history, Africa, Caribbean, US, Europe, dislocation, crises, war, Afro, protest, revolution, being the first … ? To be honest, I don’t know.

The documentary ' The Neo African Americans' shows the different shades of black. In a way, a cliché.

Obama visits the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany

President Obama says the Buchenwald concentration camp "is the ultimate rebuke" to those who deny the Holocaust.

Obama visited the Nazi camp where 56,000 people died. He toured the memorial with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel. They laid roses at a memorial.

Obama said people today have a duty to confront those who deny such concentration camps existed.

Obama told reporters that his great-uncle helped liberate a nearby satellite camp, Ohrdruf, just days before other U.S. Army units overran Buchenwald. Obama says his great-uncle returned from war and was unable to speak of the horrible scene.

Obama says the victims and the perpetrators of the camp alike were humans and everyone must stand guard against a repeat.

On the Afro-German blog Black NRW you can find some interesting video's and links about that part of German history - Präsident Obama Rede in der Gedenkstätte Buchenwald am 5. Juni 2009

Stevie Wonder rocks the White house

Stevie Wonder turned 59 on May 13th. But before his birthday he received at the Whitehouse the ‘Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song’, and of course he also performed for the Obama's. You can watch the entire broadcast on PBS.

It was big difference with George Bush at Gospel night at the Whitehouse.