Topic legalish
Corporations On Trial
477 views
Corporations On Trial is a five-part series following just some of the many lawsuits being brought against multinational corporations for war crimes, conspiracy, corruption, assassinations, environmental devestation and payments to terrorists. Such serious charges have forced some of the world's largest companies to hire high-profile defence lawyers to protect public relations in cases often brought by plaintiffs who are barely literate. These five films reveal a growing anxiety about the power and influence of big business, as many multinational corporations have annual revenues greater than some countries' national budgets and indeed increasingly hold governments to ransom by their economic power. Around the world, ordinary people are fighting back and asking how many more times their interests should be sacrificed for corporate greed and shareholder profit...
Crude
572 views
As one of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet, Crude takes a look inside the $27 billion "Amazon Chernobyl" case, viewing the real-life high stakes legal drama set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, globalisation, hackneyed celebrity 'activism', human rights, multinational corporate power and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures...
If A Tree Falls
1.45K views
For years, the Earth Liberation Front--autonomous individuals operating in separate anonymous cells without any central leadership--carried out spectacular direct-actions against businesses that destroy the environment. Some of the targets were logging corporations, SUV dealerships, ranger stations, a slaughterhouse and a multi-million dollar ski-lodge at Vail, Colorado that was expanding into national forest. As authorities were not able to crack the case and disbanded many years later, the FBI got lucky when they were led to a former activist who agreed to co-operate with them and become an informant. If A Tree Falls provokes hard questions about environmentalism, activism, and the way 'terrorism' is defined by following the story of the activists who were turned over to the FBI, and their fate...
Fool Me Twice
514 views
Fool Me Twice documents the Australian government's lies about the East Timor massacres, the cover-up of the Bali bombings (including the 1993 World Trade Centre attack) and subsequent anti-terror legislation forced through parliament by the Howard government. Laws that are still in effect today...
An Introduction to Your Human Rights
808 views
Do we live in a democratic society or something other than this? What does the reality of our social structure mean when consideration is given to the supremacy of property rights over human rights and freedoms? Canadian presenter Russell Porisky analyses this and explains the difference between a 'person' and a natural person, which enables the massive implications of this in a legal context...
McLibel
2.40K views
McDonald's loved using the UK libel laws to suppress criticism. Major media organisations like the BBC and The Guardian crumbled and apologised. But then they sued environmental activists Helen Steel and Dave Morris. In what then became the longest trial in English legal history, McLibel documents the two activists who represent themselves against McDonald's £10 million legal team with the marathon battle finally concluding at the European Court of Human Rights. The result takes everyone by surprise -- especially the British Government...
Hacking Democracy
1.15K views
Filmed over three years, Hacking Democracy documents a group of American citizens investigating anomalies and irregularities with the electronic voting systems used during the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Presidential elections. The investigation revolves around the flawed integrity and security of the machines, particularly those made by the Diebold corporation. Could the elections have been rigged?
The Corporation
3.07K views
What kind of person is the corporation? Since the current day legal status of the corporation is a person, what would happen if it sat down with a psychiatrist to discuss its behaviour and attitude towards society, culture and the environment? Explored through specific examples, this film shows how the modern day business corporation has developed into the dominant institution of our time...
David vs Monsanto
2.06K views
Imagine that a storm blows across your garden - and that now, without your knowledge and without your consent, foreign and genetically-manipulated seeds are in your vegetable patch which you have nourished and maintained for over 50 years. A few days later, representatives of a large multi-national corporation secretly visit your home, only to return later and demand that you surrender all your vegetables and seeds. Then, they file a lawsuit against you for the illegal use of patented and genetically-modified seeds that you never planted or used and, what's more -- the court rules in favour of the corporation...
Taking Liberties Since 1997
935 views
Teenage sisters detained for 36 hours for a peaceful protest; an RAF war veteran arrested for wearing an anti-Bush and Blair T-shirt; an innocent man shot in a police raid; and a man is held under house arrest for two years, after being found innocent in court. Ordinary law-abiding citizens being punished for exercising their rights--right to protest, right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, right to privacy, to be detained without charge, to be innocent until proven guilty, prohibition from torture...
Good Cop, Bad Cop
569 views
The Australian Federal Police -- the glamour police force that was set-up after the Sydney Hilton Hotel Bombing in 1978 -- has enjoyed consistent showers of praise by politicians and the public ever since it's inception. However, the once-lionised AFP is now being ridiculed for bungling, excessive secrecy and collusion after the "catastrophic failings" of the "terrorism case" against Dr Mohammed Haneef. But the Haneef case is just a symptom of the "deep cultural problems that beset the AFP"...
Don’t talk to the Police
2.13K views
Law Professor James Duane and Police Officer George Bruch explain why even innocent people should never talk to the police...
Resist — The Aftermath of The RNC 2008
171 views
Resist -- The Aftermath Of The RNC8 follows activists Rob Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald and Luce Guillen-Givins; attorney Robert Kolstad, volunteers/arrestees from the community, and others impacted by the actions against the Republican National Convention in 2008. Taking a look back over the last year, the video shares some helpful advice for activists organising under state repression...
Stretching The Law
685 views
For 20 years the NSW Crime Commission went about its business with drugs quietly. When it scored a bust, it stood back and let politicians and the police bask in credit. But all that changed with the sensational arrest of the commission's assistant director, Mark Standen, on charges of trafficking drugs. His spectacular downfall threw a spotlight onto the Crime Commission's remarkable array of powers and how it abuses them. Secret hearings, witnesses compelled to answer questions, broad powers of search and surveillance, no independent review process...
Lethal Force
333 views
Lethal Force takes a detailed look at four incidents, in different parts of Australia, where people suffering mental illness or psychological distress died after being shot or tasered by police. Specifically detailed is how in certain cases, the victims had even sought help at hospital and after having left of their own free will, were shot dead by police...
Super Size Me
296 views
Several lawsuits have been brought against McDonald's corporation in that they are knowingly selling food that is unhealthy. Some of the court decisions have stated that consumers would have a claim if they could prove that eating the food every day for every meal is dangerous. So with that, Super Size Me follows film-maker Morgan Spurlock conducting the experiment -- he eats only McDonald's for thirty days, three meals a day, and if asked to super size a meal, he has to say yes. By the end of the thirty days, he will have eaten every single menu item at least once. The film documents the drastic effect on Spurlock's health, while exploring the fast food industry's corporate influence, advertising and how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit...
A Nod and A Wink
187 views
A Nod And A Wink reviews the use of vague Conspiracy laws in Britain from 1975, laws which are much in the same as those used in police states such as Brazil and the Soviet Union to suppress political and moral dissent. This film raises and addresses the serious questions about the way the legal system works in Britain--and indeed elsewhere...
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
153 views
Guilty Until Proven Innocent reports on the issue of innocent people confined to prisons on remand in the UK, circa 1974. People are imprisoned without trial and are later released with either a small fine or a set of conditions, or leave completely innocent. A strange set of circumstances in a country with such pretensions of a bill of rights and espoused 'legal protections'. Is bail a right or a privilege?
Thalidomide: The Ninety-Eight We Forgot
631 views
Thalidomide: The Ninety-Eight We Forgot follows a four-year investigation on behalf of a group of children damaged at birth by the drug Thalidomide which was introduced in the late 1950s to treat morning sickness and to aid sleep. The drug caused birth deformities, such as phocomelia--with more than 10,000 children in 46 countries born with deformities. This film investigates why a group of people are excluded from compensation from the effects of Thalidomide with various legal proceedings...