Next Scheduled Update: 15 December, 2006
GLOBAL*BEAT: HOLIDAY ANTI-BUYING GUIDE: Our Publisher, ROD AMIS, reviews two new film releases from Cinema Libre Studio that deserve your holiday viewing attention. One intensely serious, the other just a lot of fun. "The Empire in Africa" and "Freedom Fries: And Other Stupidities We'll Have to Explain to Our Grandchildren".
Philippe Diaz's "The Empire in Africa" (trailer), which premieres in theatres across in the United States on 8 December, is a troubling, highly graphic and enlightening film about the civil wars that ravaged Sierra Leone for over a decade. "The Empire in Africa" serves as a poignant counterpoint to the Hollywood vehicle "Blood Diamond" which will be released in US theatres the same day.
Diaz's film, a documentary, is so powerful that after its French language version was played during Critic's Week at the Cannes Film Festival, India - the country contributing the second largest contingent of "peace-keeping" forces in Sierra Leone - withdrew its participation in the effort.
Unlike "Blood Diamond," an action film and garnering Oscar buzz because it features Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Empire in Africa" puts the onus for the bloodletting, the near-genocide, in Sierra Leone squarely at the feet of the United Nations and the "international community" led by the United States and the United Kingdom. ... READ MORE
DAY ONE - CONGO: MPHUTHUMI NTABENI provides analysis on the situation behind the contended election in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) teeters at the brink of another civil war, I think it is opportune to look back at the stubborn cause of clashes there so as to venture towards finding lasting solutions. But whatever we say or do, the final solution remains with the Congolese.
Around 18 million Congolese went to the polls on 30 July 2006 to choose their president and national assembly. These were the first free and almost fair elections the Democratic Republic of Congo has had in over 40 years. The vote was largely peaceful, with few a sporadic scenes of violence here and there.... READ MORE
FEED THE HUNGRY. You can he
lp someone else in this world and IT WON'T COST YOU A DIME. If you simply remember to drop by The Hunger Site every day that you surf and click a simple button ONE LESS PERSON WILL GO HUNGRY. The food is distributed by the United Nations World Food Programme and paid for through the sponsorship of companies that care. Do your part.| WRITERS | TALKBACK | SUBSCRIBE | YOUR LETTERS | Send Page To a Friend