Cheap This Is What Democracy Looks Like (DVD) (Jill Friedberg, Rick Rowley) Price

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Customer Reviews of This Is What Democracy Looks Like

A peaceful protest in the name of Democracy turns ugly
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>In order to understand this frightening and powerful documentary, you have to understand the meaning of two terms: <
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>(1) Democracy: government in which the common people hold the ruling power either directly or more usually, through elected (by a majority) representatives; the principle of equality of rights, opportunity, and treatment. <
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>(2) World Trade Organization (WTO): from the film itself, it "is the latest in a series of transnational bodies and agreements to regulate the global economy. It can use sanctions and fines to override the labor, safety, and environmental standards of individual nations." <
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>What is this film about? In Nov. 1999, the WTO was scheduled to hold its last meeting of the millennium at the convention center (behind closed doors) in downtown Seattle, Washington. Activists (from all over the world) prepared to blockade the streets to prevent the meeting from taking place since they perceive the actions of the WTO to be unfair favoring corporate greed over the working guy/gal. Over thirty thousand protesters converged on downtown Seattle. <
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>The viewer is told that "by the end of the week, demonstrations were being held around the world in solidarity with the protests in Seattle." <
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>The viewer is presented with powerful images of the protest "that was shot by over one hundred media activists." Also there is printed information that appears (for example, the definition of WTO above) and footage of protesters and protest leaders saying what's on their mind. Parts of this documentary are narrated. (Susan Sarandon is one of the narrators.) <
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>Besides learning a lot, I felt I was actually at the protest. Thank goodness I was not physically there since the police force monitoring this event started getting brutal with the protesters. (Many were arrested and beaten by police.) <
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>The only problem I had is that for the printed material that appeared, abbreviations that I was unfamiliar with were used for the names of various labor and other organizations. It would have been helpful and more instructive to me if the full names were used instead. <
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>Finally the DVD (the one released in 2005) is perfect in picture and sound quality. However, I did notice that after the film finishes, the program does not revert back to the main menu. There are several interesting extras including video excerpts from the WTO 2003 protests in Cancun, Mexico. <
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>In conclusion, this is a powerful film showing actual footage of how a relatively small group of protesters tried to take back the rightful democratic power that the political and corporate elite of the world is determined to take from the little people. <
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>(2000; 70 min; full screen) <
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