Hollywood North/North: Behind the Scenes with Russia's Movie Moguls

WHO RUNS THE RUSSIAN FILM BUSINESS AND WHAT THEY ARE DRIVING AT

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

  @bears_with

November 19, 2021

Remember the ten plagues of Pharaonic Egypt – the Israelites capitalised and made their getaway to a happy ending. The story has turned into several blockbuster movies and tons of popcorn have been consumed watching them. 

 

There have been two plagues on the Russian film industry, but one is permanent, and there is no escape, no happy ending, no popcorn. This is the story of how the plague of money – from the state budget, oligarch groups, and state banks – is saving the film studios and cinemas from death by coronavirus pandemic. It’s also the story of scandal and corruption around the state financing system that is killing Russian audience demand. This is a blockbuster no Russian director, studio producer, cinema operator, or even film critic dares to present in public. 

Wet'suwet'en Resistance Under RCMP Assault - Cross-Canada Solidarity

Hundreds take over pipeline company office in Toronto in support of eviction of Coastal Gaslink, as RCMP invade, make mass arrests on Wet'suwet'en Territory

by MiningInjustice.org

 

November 19, 2021 

 

Hundreds of people entered the lobby of the building where TC Energy Corporation’s office is located on Friday afternoon, pasting up oversize ‘trespass notices’ for their attempt to force through the Coastal GasLink pipeline on unsurrendered, unceded Wet’suwet’en Indigenous territory. Indigenous community members and supporters took over the lobby with drumming and dancing.

Photo by Rachel Small, World Beyond War (Toronto)

 

“It’s time to put pressure on Coastal Gaslink’s Investors to divest from genocide, human rights violations and climate chaos. They would rather send RCMP to protect a pipeline than save human lives in a disastrous flood.” said Eve Saint, Wet’suwet’en Land Defender. 

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ken Stone, Finian Cunningham November 18th, 2021

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

 

November 18, 2021

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded November 13th and 14th, 2021.

Listen. Hear.

True to its word, the Trudeau government is determined to spend billions for a revamped fighter jet force for Canada’s military. The main debate until now has been which foreign weapons-making company will get the sweet deal – a deal worth a reported 88 billion buckaroos over the next generation – and not whether Canada should be supporting such a deal in the first place.

Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist whose served as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Hamilton Coalition are joining hands in a trans-Canada effort with Canadian Voice of Women, Peace Brigades International, the Regina Peace Council, and the Victoria Peace Coalition here in Victoria among many others to mount the No Fighter Jets demonstrations at Liberal MP’s offices from coast to coast to coast November 22nd.

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; more than a year after Ethiopia’s military launched a so-called “police action” to “restore order” in Tigray province, the fighting rages on. While thousands have died and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced, another casualty of the humanitarian disaster that ensued has been Western goodwill for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate prime minister Abiy Ahmed, who now faces sanctions – along with ally Eritrea – and the threat of American military intervention should the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa nation continue.

To some on the American and European left that threat smacks of the kind of “humanitarian intervention” seen in Yugoslavia, Libya, and Syria; it’s something they say is no less than naked neo-imperialism, and prompting their support for Ahmed and Eritrean strongman, Isaias Afwerki.

Finian Cunningham is a prolific journalist and two-time Serena Shim Award for Uncompromising Integrity in Journalism recipient. His articles on international affairs appear at numerous online outlets, including Strategic Culture, where his March piece, ‘U.S. Paves Way for Intervention in Ethiopia, Horn of Africa’ is proving now to be prophetic.

Finian Cunningham and competing narratives in the ongoing Ethiopian disaster in the second half.

But first, Ken Stone and just saying “NO!” to new fighter jets.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com