Making Contact

COINTELPRO, the secret FBI project to infiltrate and disrupt domestic organizations thought to be “subversive,” targeted many movements for self-determination by people of color in the U.S.. Between 1956 and 1971, the FBI conducted more than 2,000 COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) operations. This week, the second part of the documentary film “COINTELPRO 101,” produced by the Freedom Archives.

COINTELPRO, the secret FBI project to infiltrate and disrupt domestic organizations thought to be “subversive,” targeted many movements for self-determination by people of color in the U.S.. Between 1956 and 1971, the FBI conducted more than 2,000 COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) operations. This week, the first part of the documentary film “COINTELPRO 101,” produced by the Freedom Archives.

Every summer, wildfires torch thousands of acres of land. The National Forest Service rushes to the rescue; to save lives, homes, and communities. But is the agency’s approach to fire doing more harm than good? Producer George Lavender takes a closer look at the “War on Fire.”

The global economic situation is causing more people to consider worker owned businesses. We go from Chicago, where workers are trying to take over the factory to save their jobs, to the Basque country in Spain, where an entire region has formed a massive co-operative society.

It began with an on-air rant by CNBC commentator Rick Santelli. It became a major political movement, with elected representatives on Capitol Hill. The Tea Party has come a long way, but who’s really behind it? On this edition: how some of America’s largest corporations are using grassroots movements to influence law makers. We hear excerpts from the documentary "The Billionaires’ Tea Party" and learn more about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

We bring you voices from Pakistan of families destroyed by drone strikes. And, we hear from Medea Benjamin and other activists working to build a global movement against this controversial military technology.

African-Americans are helping to lead the environmental movement. We take you to a resettlement community in North Carolina, sustainable farms in Wisconsin and a local bike ride in California, where local black leaders are changing the color of environmentalism.

Interactive, realistic, pro-war video games have become part of American culture. But protestors and artists are finding ways to turn the virtual world into a place where the military hero narrative can be questioned. On this edition, we hear excerpts from the movie Returning Fire: Interventions in Video Game Culture, written and directed by Roger Stahl.

Police officers and prison guards hold tremendous political sway. Their unions support or opposition can make or break a campaign for office. And their advocacy for better pay, more power, and more jobs has been a major factor in the expansion of the prison industrial complex. For decades, they’ve helped build America’s build America’s criminal justice system. Now that system is changing. Can law enforcement unions change as well?

The US dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Three days later, Nagasaki also fell victim. On this edition, we commemorate the anniversary of the bombings with excerpts from two documentaries, Hiroshima Countdown and Nagasaki Journey.