On the national day to fight police brutality, Breaking the Set highlights the most recent examples of police overstepping their authority in cities across the US. ANSWER Coalition’s Mike Prysner discusses his organization’s shocking and heart wrenching documentary No Justice, No Peace!, a film about the rampant rise of police brutality and the growing resistance movement.

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Epidemic of Killer Cops

No Justice, No Peace! is an original documentary by Liberation News about the growth of a dynamic people’s movement against police brutality.

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No Justice, No Peace!

This 30 minute film is centered around the organizing efforts of more than 40 families of police brutality victims for a statewide march in Anaheim, California on July 21, 2013. The date was symbolically chosen as the one-year anniversary of the execution of Manuel Diaz by the Anaheim police and subsequent crackdown on the community.

No Justice, No Peace! features footage from significant demonstrations leading up to the July 21st action, including protests that shut down the Anaheim police station. The film also shows the organizing efforts of participants, interviews with families, attorneys and activists in the police brutality movement.

This documentary was made by Los Angeles filmmaker and California Institute of the Arts Ben Huff. It was co-filmed and produced by ANSWER activist and organizer Krissana Limlamai.

To order a copy of the DVD or to host a screening, call 323-394-3611 or email [email protected].

MEDIA ROOTS – The documentary Garbage Warrior follows Mike Reynolds, a pioneering architect with a heart of (recycled) gold.  Recognizing humanity’s collective stampede towards self-destruction, Mike works tirelessly to provide families in New Mexico with self-sufficient, sustainable housing.  His designs contrast starkly with the bland, conformist and unsustainable residential architecture present throughout the U.S. today by combining natural materials with local products to create residential masterpieces.  Each house provides its own electrical power, water, and sewage processing.  Furthermore, the construction process produces minimal waste, thrives on experimentation and is entirely flexible to the unique needs of each family.

Instead of embracing or rewarding Mike’s selfless vision to empower society, his local government throws roadblocks in his path.  Mike’s frustration dealing with government red tape raises an important question: when hindered by the U.S. government, do we break the rules, enjoy the benefits associated with such liberty, and hope the government doesn’t notice?  Or, do we accept regulatory oversight, allowing our liberty to be infringed upon, and waste time living with official approval?  These questions not only face eco-pioneers and locals striving to be sustainable, but also to the civil liberties violations associated with Washington’s War on Drugs, surveillance state, and general encroachment upon the Fourth Amendment.

Urgent societal issues of global resources come to the forefront in this documentary.  Eventually, our planet’s inhabitants will have to confront the dilemmas associated with peak oil, water scarcity, and climate change.  Our willful ignorance of these topics will only continue to render this planet uninhabitable for future generations.  If we all follow Mike’s lead, we’d be able to take care of take care of ourselves, our communities, and revive our only planet.

These issues should appeal to Republicans insistent on self-sufficiency and limited government, and Democrats insistent on environmental responsibility.  The distrust of the U.S. government, which is shared by members of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street alike, is further impetus for taking care of our communities and ourselves.  Also, the empowerment associated with sustainable practices is addictive–self-reliance revives forgotten crafts and encourages innovative design.  As Mike advises us, we shouldn’t let society’s rulebook stop us from achieving self-sufficiency and from taking care of one another. 

Documentary – Garbage Warrior

Christian Sorensen for Media Roots

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Photo by Flickr User Lewis and Clark Community College

TAPPED– The high cost – to both the environment and our health – of bottled water is the subject of this documentary that enlists activists, environmentalists, community leaders and others to expose the dark side of the bottled water industry.

Tapped trailer

Trapped, full film

Photo by flickr user stevendepolo

Zeitgeist: Addendum, sequel to Zeitgeist: The Movie, was created as a Not-for-Profit expressions to communicate what the author felt were highly important social understandings which most humans are generally not aware of. The movie attempts to locate the root causes of this pervasive social corruption, while offering a solution.

This solution is not based on politics, morality, laws, or any other “establishment” notions of human affairs, but rather on a modern, non-superstitious based understanding of what we are and how we align with nature, to which we are a part. The work advocates a new social system which is updated to present day knowledge, highly influenced by the life long work of Jacque Fresco and The Venus Project.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

http://thezeitgeistmovement.com/

Cover photo by flickr user Zeitgeist Granada