Court Orders Documentary Filmmaker to Hand Ecuador Footage to Chevron

Democracy Now!
May 10, 2010

Last week a federal court in Manhattan ordered a documentary filmmaker to hand over to Chevron hundreds of hours of footage. Joseph Berlinger’s award-winning film, Crude: The Real Price of Oil, chronicles the struggle of indigenous Ecuadorians against ChevronTexaco’s oil contamination of their land. It focuses on the seventeen-year legal battle between Chevron and 30,000 Ecuadorians who say their land, rivers, wells, livestock and bodies were poisoned by decades of reckless oil drilling in the rainforest. Chevron has sought Berlinger’s outtakes to help defend itself against an Ecuadorian lawsuit seeking $27 billion in environmental damages...

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Jailed Whistleblower: US Lawmakers Held Offshore UBS Accounts

DemocracyNow!
April 16, 2010

Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez discusses his interview with UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld one day after Birkenfield's Tax Day clemency request to President Obama. Birkenfeld is serving a forty-month sentence despite playing a key role in exposing the biggest tax evasion scheme in US history...

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Brave New Films: FOX’s War on ACORN

GRITtv
March 25, 2010

What does FOX News have to do with the demise of ACORN? According to this segment from our friends at Brave New Films, quite a lot. FOX's lead sent other news outlets scurrying after the non-story of James O'Keefe's infamous "pimp and prostitute" video, and kept up a steady drumbeat that saw the organization stripped of funds and forced to close its doors.

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Privacy, Civil Liberties Groups Sound Alarm over Expanded Role for National Security Agency in Cyber Security

DemocracyNow!
March 5, 2010

The Obama administration has declassified part of its plan to bolster cyber security, which calls for greater cooperation between private companies and the National Security Agency. Privacy and civil liberties advocates have sounded alarms about the NSA’s expanded role in security because of the secretive nature of the agency and its role in the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program.

How To Get Our Democracy Back

by Lawrence Lessig
February 3, 2010
The Nation

If we want change, we have to change Congress...

Federal Appeals Court Hears Arguments in Landmark Apartheid Reparations Case

DemocracyNow!
January 12, 2009

A landmark case against several international corporations accused of aiding South Africa’s apartheid regime is underway. The companies include Daimler AG, General Motors, Ford Motor Company and IBM. They are accused in a class-action lawsuit of complicity in human rights abuses during the years they did business in apartheid South Africa. The suit was filed several years ago by black victims of white minority rule. Their lawyers are seeking up to $400 billion in compensation...

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As Copenhagen Summit Closes, Obama Maintains Widely Criticized US Position on Emissions Cuts, Climate Aid

DemocracyNow!
December 18, 2009

After ten days of talks, uncertainty looms over the Copenhagen summit—and, some might say, the fate of the planet. Negotiations remain deadlocked as fundamental divisions remain between rich and poor countries. A draft agreement drawn up by a small group of countries, including the US, was dismissed overnight by developing nations. President Obama arrived early this morning to join nearly 120 other world leaders at the summit. In a much anticipated address, Obama offered no new proposals to address the demands of developing countries...

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