I recently reviewed Rajko Grlić’s The Constitution, the gala screening that launched the 12th annual South East European Film Festival, writing that the Croatia-set movie “reminded me of the joy of discovering those ‘foreign’ films by Luis Bunuel, Francois Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, et al, at an arthouse that transported us beyond Hollywood glitz and glamour to a more ‘sophisticated’ cinematic view of the world beyond our shores.” I also felt this way after seeing Danish director/co-writer Thomas Vinterberg’s Copenhagen-set The Commune (Kollektivet) - although it’s not nearly as good or as much fun as the all-too-human The Constitution.  

Scandinavian cinema is a sub-set of the foreign film phenomenon. On the one hand, you have the philosophical introspection into the human condition of Bergman, his fellow Swede Victor Sjöström and Denmark-born Carl Theodor Dreyer, who confront the void and ask: “What’s it all about, anyway?”

Justice for Tyre King Vigil
Friday, May 19, 6-9pm
18th and Madison Streets, near east side Columbus
The Grand Jury is convening this Friday to decide whether or not the officer who killed Tyre King should have to face an open trial. We are not expecting justice. Prosecutor Ron O'Brien has NEVER held CPD accountable for a lethal shooting so we are expecting the system to fail the community once again.
We will gather in the school yard of Douglas Elementary near the site where Tyre's life was lost Friday evening. We are mourning the tragic loss of life and the lack of justice for him and all the victims of police violence in Columbus.
Join us and find out ways you can join the movement to fight for police accountability and real investments in the programs that actually keep communities safe.
Columbus Central SDA Church will be hosting the family in the time following the announcement.
Press inquiries can be sent to mcgovern@ohorganizing.org

While I’ve been in Russia trying to make friends, back home in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, a group of torch-bearing supporters of Robert E. Lee has held a rally generally understood as a proclamation of white supremacy.

The day has finally come: Chelsea Manning has been released! From May 2010 through today Chelsea has been in prison for exposing the costs and inhumanity of war.  She risked everything to do what she felt was right.What can we  commit to today to end war? Share your inspiration and commitment with Chelsea. We will make sure she receives it. At these moments of victory, it is important to let the inspiration refuel our own commitments.

One inevitable outcome of the phenomenal violence we all suffer as children is that most of us live in a state of delusion throughout our lives. This makes it extraordinarily difficult for accurate information, including vital information about the endangered state of our world and how to respond appropriately, to penetrate the typical human mind.

'Phenomenal violence?' you might ask. 'All of us?' you wonder. Yes, although, tragically, most of this violence goes unrecognised because it is not usually identified as such. For most people, it is a straightforward task to identify the ‘visible’ violence that they have suffered and, perhaps, still suffer. However, virtually no-one is able to identify the profoundly more damaging impact of the 'invisible' and 'utterly invisible' violence that is inflicted on us mercilessly from the day we are born.

So what is this 'invisible' and 'utterly invisible' violence?