"The Laura Flanders Show" (25 minutes)
Trump has been critiqued, among other things, as the troll-in-chief. His presidential win can be credited to the rise of alt-right internet 'trolls,' complex bots, and the online harassment of his opponents. Our guest this week, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a filmmaker and activist, says the spread of online attacks comes with vast offline risks for communities in danger. When Steve Bannon, an avowed white nationalist, serves on the National Security Council, with access to the largest police and surveillance apparatus in world history, there's a problem we haven't even gauged yet, says Soundararajan.
Laura speaks with Thenmozhi about the history of surveillance as a tool for state control and violence. And why, to build an effective resistance against the threat represented by Breitbart and the NSA, resources need to go to counter measures. Although the language of cybersecurity can seem overwhelming, simple tools and training can reduce an average person's risk by 80%, says our guest. For undocumented immigrants, women, and people of color, these practices can make the difference between life and prison. She and her colleagues know first-hand, from their own experience of a hack attack sourced to the extremist Modi government in India.
"30th Annual August Peace Event" (31 minutes)
The August Peace Event is held annually in memory of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US on August 6th and 9th in 1945, the first and only use of atomic weapons in war. At last year's event (on August 7) John Burroughs spoke on “Challenging the Nuclear Giants to Disarm."
Burroughs is a member of the international legal team representing the Marshall Islands in the International Court of Justice, developing legal cases against the nuclear-armed states for their failure to disarm as required by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and international law.
"The Data behind Hollywood’s Sexism" (16 minutes)
Where are all the women and girls in film? Social scientist Stacy Smith analyzes how the media underrepresents and portrays women — and the potentially destructive effects those portrayals have on viewers. She shares hard data behind gender bias in Hollywood, where on-screen males outnumber females three to one (and behind-the-camera workers fare even worse.)
"Reclaiming Their Voice: The Native American Vote in New Mexico"
(41.5 minutes)
This 2009 documentary -- directed by EMMY-winning filmmaker, Dorothy Fadiman -- documents ways in which Native Americans have been disenfranchised over centuries, in particular in voting representation. It chronicles the Laguna Pueblo tribe of New Mexico in their 2004 groundbreaking voter registration drive and the challenges they faced once Laguna voters arrived at the polls. The film also shows the Sacred Alliance for Grassroots Equality's (SAGE) fight to preserve parts of the sacred Petroglyph National Monument. The film is narrated by Peter Coyote and features interviews with members of the local Laguna community, including New Mexico House Representative, W. Ken Martinez.
Robin H. Levin, the Community Librarian of the Fort Washakie School in Wyoming, said of the film: "Emotions run deep when viewing this insightful political documentary. The story blends sincere efforts to achieve political clout with unfortunate results that, somehow, do not shut down the hopes of Native voters in New Mexico." In 2010, the film won the “Best New Mexico Film Award” at the first Duke City Doc Festival, which later became the Albuquerque International Film Festival.