DIY Media: Movement Perspectives on Critical Moments
This series is dedicated to the memory of author, historian, activist, and colleague, Howard Zinn, whose intellectual honesty and political courage inspired generations of Americans to look more critically at the history they are taught. Ten percent of all proceeds from the sale of this series will be donated to Voices of a People's History, a non-profit co-founded by Dr. Zinn to promote the under-represented voices of social and political activists in U.S. History.
"The DIY Media Series is a valuable contribution to the social history of our time and to the education of the coming generation. I hope it is used widely in schools all over the country to give young people the historical and philosophical tools to become active citizens for social change."
-Howard Zinn, Author A People's History of the United States
"These videos are people speaking for themselves, a history not just about social struggle, but of social struggle, by those engaged in those struggles.”
-Amy Goodman, Host of Democracy Now
Click on the individual titles below or scroll down for more information, to see list of panelists
or to order separate titles
This landmark DVD series, the genesis of which was a screening and panel discussion series held at New York University in 2008-2009, is curated from the best material in Deep Dish TV's 22 year-old grassroots media archive. The project is animated by the idea that history is defined by competing sets of narratives that are selected by interested parties. The mainstream media curates a history for us that is frequently out of sync with the experience of social actors. This project seeks to collect, contextualize, and distribute the narratives that social movements have curated for themselves; telling the histories that are always in danger of being drowned out and forgotten.
Each DVD set in the series collects between four and six original Deep Dish TV programs, as well as a "compilation screener" comprised of excerpts from those original programs. Additionally, the original panel discussions, which included notable authors, academics, activists and filmmakers, are included as part of each DVD set. Each DVD set within the series explores an array of questions both theoretical and practical, relating to the specific issues and social movements covered by the programs, as well as exploring the role that video- and cultural production as a whole- plays within those social movements.
Part One: EXPRESSION = LIFE: ACT UP, Video and the AIDS Crisis This DVD takes a look at ACT-UP in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The programs range from a critical reading of Ronald Reagan’s 1987 State of the Union speech, to a DIVA-TV (an ACT UP affinity group) production looking at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral action in 1989. The panel included several original members of ACT UP NYC
Part Two: ACCESS TO OXYGEN: Environmental Justice Hits the Small Screen
This DVD explores the root causes, initial efforts, and growth of the Environmental Justice Movement in New York City, the United States, and internationally. How do cities deal with the waste they generate? How and where do they generate the power they need? How do you put a value on access to clean air? Includes video produced in collaboration with early Environmental Justice activists. Panel includes original program producers, longtime organizers, and theorists
Part Three: MANY YESES, ONE NO: Confronting Corporate GlobalizationThis DVD provides a remarkable look back at the Global Justice Movement. As the critiques of "free trade" were just being formulated, alternative media producers were there to expose the realities that were the true face of corporate globalization. They were there in Seattle in November of 1999 to bear witness to what was perhaps the most successful week of action against neoliberal economics. This DVD collects material that spans from 1988 to 2002 and provides real insight into the development of this important recent social movement, and the role that independent media played in that movement.
Part Four: RESISTENCIA Y SOLIDARIDAD: El Salvador, Colombia, and the U.S. Solidarity Movement
Recent elections in El Salvador put the FMLN - the former guerilla group and long-time opposition movement - in control of the government. In Colombia, the indigenous and popular Minga of 2008 has sparked a renewed call for broad-based change in a country that for years has been dominated by repressive, militarist leaders. Using these two countries as examples, this DVD examines the role of the U.S. government in Latin America. Panelists discuss some of the lessons learned over the last 20 years of resistance and solidarity, and the efforts of U.S- based activists to resist militarism, corporate globalization and U.S. interventionism in the hemisphere.
Part Five: Behind the Bars: Exposing and Transforming the Prison Industrial Complex gathers four programs from the Deep Dish archive that were made during the fight for prison reform in the 1990s. A panel discussion about this work was organized and videotaped at New York University in November 2009. An edited version of this discussion is also included on this compelling and historic collection.
This project has been made possible by grants from Manhattan Neighborhood Network and the Humanities Council of New York University.
Expression = Life
ACT UP, Video, and the AIDS Crisis
Production Year: 2008
Runtime: 3:00:00
Producers:
Mark Read
Series:
DIY Media: Movement Perspectives on Critical Moments
Locale: New York City
Subjects:
Media Studies,
Sexuality Studies,
Social Movement Studies,
Urban Studies,
AIDS,
Human Rights,
Queer,
Health Care,
Gender Studies,
Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender
CatalogueNumber: 03319
Expression = Life: ACT UP, Video and the AIDS Crisis combines multiple programs from the Deep Dish TV archive and a fascinating discussion with a rare gathering of veteran members of ACT UP, filmmakers, and media theorists, who dissect the history of grass-roots media coordination in America and its role in advancing AIDS activism from the 1980s until today. Part one of the series, DIY Media: Movement Perspectives on Critical Moments.
[View Program Details]
Access To Oxygen
Environmental Justice Hits the Small Screen
Access to Oxygen explores the root causes, initial efforts, and growth of the Environmental Justice Movement. Too often waste and power generation plants are stuck in poor minority communities, with dire results. This environmental racism has given rise to an increasingly vocal and vibrant Environmental Justice Movement, one that has frequently taken the camera into their own hands in order to tell their own stories. Part Two of DIY Media: Movement Perspectives on Critical Moments.
[View Program Details]
Resistencia y Solidaridad
El Salvador, Colombia, and the U.S. Solidarity Movement
Production Year: 2009
Runtime: 4:00:00
Series:
DIY Media: Movement Perspectives on Critical Moments
Subjects:
Political Science,
Media Studies,
American Studies,
Globalization Studies,
Latin-American Studies,
Social Movement Studies,
Central America,
Economic Development,
Human Rights,
Immigration and Exile,
Community Media,
International Relations,
Indigenous Studies
CatalogueNumber: 03486
Resistencia y Solidaridad examines the U.S. role in Latin America, and the work that solidarity activists in the United States have played in challenging their own government's agenda, frequently using video and film as a tool for galvanizing public opposition to U.S. policies. Part Four of DIY Media: Movement Perspectives on Critical Moments.
[View Program Details]
Behind the Bars
Exposing and Transforming the Prison Industrial Complex
Behind the Bars: Exposing and Transforming the Prison Industrial Complex showcases four programs from the Deep Dish TV archive and a fascinating discussion with a rare gathering of prison activists, filmmakers, and media theorists, who dissect the history of grass-roots media coordination in America and its role in confronting the prison industrial complex. Part five of the series, DIY Media: Movement Perspectives on Critical Moments.
[View Program Details]