Aristides de Sousa Mendes ignored the orders of the facist Portuguese government during WWII, by helping people escape to Portugal. A diplomat in Bordeaux, he gave visas to thousands of Jewish and nonJewish refugees trying to escape the Nazi occupation. When it was discovered, he was fired, disgraced, and died poor dishonored by his country. More than 50 years later, the truth is finally coming to light of the around 30,000 lives he helped save, and the plight that he suffered at the hands of the facist Portuguese government. This screencast is me getting to know this story, which was the topic of the evening for my family here in Brussels.
Category Archives: Video
bmtv75 CCC Talk Part 3 of 4
This section of my CCC’07 talk on Rebellious Communication and the Federal Flood looks at prisons and public housing in New Orleans. You’ll notice at the end I come to a conclusion not unlike that which Naomi Klein later did in her book the shock doctrine.
Remember to update your links as my blog is now located directly on citizenreporter.org and if you want to watch part 1 and 2 of this blog please look in the archives.
bmtv74 CCC Talk Part 2 of 4
Long overdue part 2 of the talk I gave at the Chaos Communication Camp over the summer, topic is of course Rebellious Communication and the Federal Flood. This part is about housing in New Orleans and my experience exploring this topic first-hand.
If you want to watch part 1, which I put out in December, here is the link. Of course you can learn more about the wonderful camp at the CCC website.
bmtv73 Amsterdam Public Library 2.0
In an era where most people get their books from a superstore or a .com, it might seem like libraries are behind the times and forgotten.
But here in Amsterdam, the largest public library in Europe was opened last summer… and is quite something to behold. From books to media of all kids to art to live performances to food to every magazine I can think of… it is perhaps the greatest example of the library for this era
bmtv72 Guam Under Siege
This vlog entry is about the US military buildup in Guam. The government is moving its forces from Japan to this tiny island over the next 6 years, and the place already has problems supporting the military bases it has. Of course its much more complicated that this, watch the vlog.. its a start.
Click To Play
bmtv71 Canadian Military Show
Over the past 2 years, as part of the new cold war over who owns the arctic, the Canadian government has chosen to use its military to show how serious they are about defending their claim. Through a series of missions and exercises that involve land, sea, and air forces, not to mention determined statements from the Prime Minister, they obviously hope the international community will back off and they can reign freely as masters of the arctic.
One small but interesting task I undertook recently was to search for video produced by or about the Canadian military deployed in the arctic. This vlog entry features those images. And while there may be a somewhat humorous element to the idea that Canada would use violence to settle an international dispute, you will also notice that they really are armed and very much playing the new cold war game.
Click To Play