The Corporation

by **Starman** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:50 pm

Lest we forget (while discussing and reading the many interesting and important issues and topics posted on this board) that at root of our Constitutional Crisis of illegitimacy and abuse of authority, malfeasance and incompetance, systemic officially-sanctioned crime and corruption, shameless war-profiteering and atrocities resulting from an immensely reckless and arrogant foreign policy, electoral fraud and essentially one-party rule representing elite interests, loss of civil rights and endemic social injustice, and the rise of the Militaristic Police State under a feudal plutocracy -- lies the institution of corporations whose enormous consolidation of wealth and influence under legal protections has made possible the wholesale subversion of our democratic republic. Following reviews are of the DVD documentary The Corporation edited by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott, from the book by Joel Bakan, available thru Amazon.com (and elsewhere). Most people seem to understand there are some bad things about corporations, but don't appreciate how corporations are destructive entities that are responsible for a great many of the civil rights and social justice issues that are among the world's greatest problems today. Starman <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smokin.gif ALT=":smokin"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007DBJM8/qid=1121274143/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/002-5491866-8592056?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846">www.amazon.com/exec/obido...d&n=507846</a> Amazon.com An epic in length and breadth, this documentary aims at nothing less than a full-scale portrait of the most dominant institution on the planet Earth in our lifetime--a phenomenon all the more remarkable, if not downright frightening, when you consider that the corporation as we know it has been around for only about 150 years. It used to be that corporations were, by definition, short-lived and finite in agenda. If a town needed a bridge built, a corporation was set up to finance and complete the project; when the bridge was an accomplished fact, the corporation ceased to be. Then came the 19th-century robber barons, and the courts were prevailed upon to define corporations not as get-the-job-done mechanisms but as persons under the 14th Amendment with full civil rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (i.e., power and profit)--ad infinitum. The Corporation defines this endlessly mutating life-form in exhaustive detail, measuring the many ways it has not only come to dominate but to deform our reality. The movie performs a running psychoanalysis of this entity with the characteristics of a prototypical psychopath: a callous unconcern for the feelings and safety of others, an incapacity to experience guilt, an ingrained habit of lying for profit, etc. We are swept away on a demented odyssey through an altered cosmos, in which artificial chemicals are created for profit and incidentally contribute to a cancer epidemic; in which the folks who brought us Agent Orange devise a milk-increasing drug for a world in which there is already a glut of milk; in which an American computer company leased its systems to the Nazis--and serviced them on a monthly basis--so that the Holocaust could go forward as an orderly process. The movie goes on too long, circles too many points obsessively and redundantly, and risks preaching-to-the-choir reductiveness by calling on the usual talking-head suspects--Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Moore. And except for an endlessly receding tracking shot in an infinite patents archive, there's scarcely an image worth recalling. Still, it maps the new reality. This is our world--welcome to it. --Richard T. Jameson ** The New York Times "A monster movie! Smart!Fascinating! The topic is intricate and global and [the filmmakers] address it with spiky, dogged intelligence. A dense, complicated and thought-provoking film!" The Corporation charts the spectacular rise of the corporation as a dramatic, pervasive presence in our everyday lives. With a deft mix of humor, visual panache, and seriousness, filmmakers Mark Achbar (Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomksy and the Media) and Jennifer Abbott and writer Joel Bakan have fashioned a timely, entertaining critique of global conglomerates in the modern age. Based on Bakan's book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, the film is a graphic and engaging quest to reveal the corporation's inner workings, curious history, controversial impacts and possible futures. Featuring illuminating interviews with Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore (FAHRENHEIT 9/11), historian Howard Zinn, "No Logo" author Naomi Klein (THE TAKE), as well as corporate honchos, whistleblowers and big business spies, THE CORPORATION charts the spectacular rise of an institution aimed at achieving specific economic goals as it also recounts victories against this apparently invincible force. ** An Exposé of Legal Tyranny, February 14, 2005 Reviewer: C. Middleton (Australia) This is an extraordinary film about the creation of the American corporation, its legal organizational model, its global economic dominance and its psychopathic tendencies, and its incredible ambition to influence every aspect of culture in its unrelenting pursuit of profit. The Corporation was spawned from Joel Balkan's in depth book, "The Corporation: A Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power". (Due to be released in March this year) The film and book begins in the 18th century, in the establishment of the 14th Amendment. Initially the 14th Amendment was designed after the Civil War to give ex slaves' legal rights, like any other citizen of the United States, but through a maze of legal precedents, the business corporation organization model was now deemed a "legal person" with all the civil rights accorded to a citizen. This highly absurd precedent has paved the way for corporations to literarily get away with murder, because a "corporation" is not an individual that you can put in jail. In effect, a corporation has no moral or social obligations; their only obligation is the pursuit of profit. This film offers numerous examples of unethical practices resulting in death for many people, and because of their status under the 14th Amendment, and endless legal loopholes, have gotten away with terrible crimes against humanity and the environment with no more than a fine, a mere slap on the wrist. As the law treats corporations as "persons", Balkan thought it appropriate to put the various behaviours of these companies under psychological examination. What this psychological study illustrated is that corporations, as "persons" behave and display the symptoms of the clinical psychopath. A psychopath typically does not have a social conscience, is guilt free after committing heinous acts, and will destroy anything or anybody that prevents them from attaining the object of their particular obsession - in this case, the relentless pursuit of profit. This documentary took several years to produce with over 650 hours of footage, director(s), Jennifer Abbot and Mark Achbar, had to chisel down this amazing amount of material into a comprehensible film. What is most astounding is the range of people interviewed for this film, that argue from all sides of the "corporation issue": Ira Jackson, Ray Anderson - CEO of Interface, the world's largest carpet manufacturer; Noam Chomsky, Richard Grossman, Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, Milton Freidman - Noble Prize winning economist; Jeremy Rifkin - President, Foundation of Economic Trends; Dr. Robert Hare - Consultant to the FBI on psychopaths, and many more individuals from all sides of the debate. When Balkan wrote his book and then collaborated with Mark Achbar to produce this film, what they did not want was the film to appear as just some left-wing diatribe, attacking the corporations, but to illustrate to people how the corporation began, how they have evolved and what they could well turn into if the people do not become involved in the democratic process, ensuring our governments take back the reigns of power. After viewing this film, it becomes all too evident that these large corporations have too much power, whose mandate is not the common good of the people, and who will go to any lengths, legally and otherwise, in the pursuit of profit and the bottom line. I believe this is one of the best and most important documentary films to be made in many years. * Reviewer: Erica Anderson (Minneapolis, MN) 2004 was the year of the documentary. Documentaries were huge over the past year from "Control Room" to "Outfoxed". Obviously the biggest of the documentaries was Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11". After seeing that film, I was definitely interested in seeing other documentaries. Another great documentary I had seen last summer was "The Corporation" which is based on Joel Bakan's book of the same name. Unfortunately it was shown in few theaters other than in big cities like where I live. After seeing the film, I went out and bought the (overpriced) book. I had to laugh at the fact that the book was barely 100 pages and was priced at (...) at Border's. Unlike most films that were originally books, "The Corporation" remained faithful. For 2 1/2 hours I was engrossed with the film. The film kicks off with the subject of how the environment is effected by corporate America, which eventually led to sweat shops. The topic of the dangers of globalization is nothing new but it certainly made me look at drinking milk in a whole new light. If you drink milk, make sure that there is no 'special' ingredient (like farmers trying to chemically force their cows to produce more milk). I also was seeing red when two newscasters in Florida were pretty much shut down on this particular story no thanks to upper management at the tv station they worked for (owned by Rupert Murdoch). I was also repulsed by the suggestion that IBM had donated some of their equipment to Adolf Hilter so he can keep track of the population numbers in his concentration camps. I really don't know how much truth is to that suggestion but it is pretty compelling, if not revolting (if it is true). Another fascinating segment in the film was how a town in South America revolted against its fascist regime because the government officials then made the locals pay for water, including rain water they would collect. Who on god's green water is greedy enough to charge for rain water?! What really turned me off was when the film briefly discussed about advertising and how marketers aim towards children. I don't have any kids (nor do I plan on having any) but I felt dirty after seeing this segment because I enjoyed some of the products by the companies that were aiming at kids to nag their parents into buying their stuff for them. Michael Moore does make a cameo appearance in the film. He shows a couple of clips from one of his earlier films "The Big One" in which he goes after corporate America. I think Michael's role in the film was to provide some levity in an otherwise dour film. For me personally I loved this film. I had no problems sitting through the 2 1/2 hours. Some people might have issues with that. I always was aware of the dangers of globalization and free trade so nothing really new in this film was talked about. This film is unequivocaly one sided since it does criticize big corporations but then again the whole point of this film is to exposing corporate America and just how corrupt corporations can be. I am so glad that this film is finally coming out on dvd this spring. I am definitely planning on buying it. It is one of my favorite documentaries of all time. ** Reviewer: Conrad the Concerned Citizen Thanks to publicly funded broadcasting, I first saw The Corporation on TV over a year ago, but I assume this 2-disc DVD (which is now on my wish-list) contains everything I saw (and then some). The Corporation is a slick MTV-style documentary that if nothing else is always entertaining to watch. It has ultra-high production values, the right mix of seriousness and humour (thanks to a sprinkling of 1950's era film footage), very catchy music and a rousing ending. But it also drives home a clear message about who's really controlling and benefiting from the current world order. This isn't conspiracy-mongering - everything in The Corporation is occurring right now, and whether that bothers you or not is up to your own sense of morality and justice. One day soon, critics will look back on this little documentary from Canada and remark how prophetic it was. Some of the things I liked best about The Corporation: -a good introduction to some difficult concepts, using fun metaphors like a shark to describe corporations as "externalizing machines" -a very emotional interview with the founder of the environmentally friendly company Interface Inc. concerning the ecological holocaust now taking place in our world-- provocative allegations concerning the extent of the patenting of life forms by corporations -images of riot police in Quebec and Bolivia beating down peaceful demonstrators to protect corporate interests, which forces the viewer to question how democratic our society is any longer. The latter two-thirds of the film fail to make reference to the initial thesis about the corporation as a psychopath and instead revolve around a series of case studies. Most of these are fascinating, but some seem too forced, especially a section about inter-corporate espionage which is too corny and strays from the central message about the social crimes of corporations. The Corporation also comes up a bit short in describing how we should modify our free-market big business economy to make it better serve the people's interests. These are minor quibbles, and EVERY informed citizen of the world is obligated to see this documentary and then make up their own mind about whether corporations are the dominant institution of modern times, and whether that's a good or a bad thing. See it to be entertained, and then consider the politics afterward. --This text refers to the edition ** The Corporation, July 11, 2005 Reviewer: Thomas M. Degan In a 1927 interview, Benito Mussolini told a journalst, "Facism should more properly be called 'Corporatism' because it is the total merging of corporate and state power". Welcome home folks, we're here! Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. We're not even in America anymore. Certainly not the America of the Bill of Rights or the America of Abraham Lincoln when he spoke of "...government of the people, by the people, for the people..." This is the new reality of life in the United States. This oncoming facism has been creeping up on us at such a snail's pace for the past twenty five years that very few of us even noticed it. And now we have a hideous, half-witted frat boy in the White House - corporate America's errand boy - putting the final nails in the coffin of democracy. The Corporation explains in as even-tempered a matter as possible (this is not Farenheit 9/11, much as I loved that film) what has happened to this country - really, the world - why it has happened and what we can and must do about it. Buy this film and show it to as many people as possible.

by **DrDebugDU** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:03 pm

A very good subject. As the world starts to globalize, it is accompanied by criticism of the current forms of globalization, which are feared to be overly corporate-led. As corporations become larger and multinational, their influence and interests go further accordingly. Being able to influence and own most media companies, it is hard to be able to publicly debate the notions and ideals that corporations pursue. Some choices that corporations take to make profits can affect people all over the world. Sometimes fatally. Today we know that corporations, for good or bad, are major influences on our lives. For example, of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations while only 49 are countries. In this era of "globalization", marginalized people are becoming especially angry at the motives of multinational corporations, and corporate-led globalization is being met with increasing protest and resistance. How did corporations ever get such power in the first place? What was the impact of giving corporations the same right as individuals in 1886 in the United States? ... <a href="http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Corporations.asp">www.globalissues.org/Trad...ations.asp</a> It is also important to note that the government agencies who have something to hide are more and more using NGOs (non-governmental, non-for-profit organizations) as a means of covering up their inner working. Examples are Project for a New American Century, National Endowment for Democracy (=CIA), International Republican Institute etc. These so-called NGOs are nothing more than shadow government agencies with nice fancy names so they cannot be recognized anymore. This started a lot earlier with Ford Motor Company, Rockefeller Family and Carnegie Steel who created the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Carnegie Endowment for "International Peace" (like that foundation wants peace in the world <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eyes.gif ALT=":rolleyes"> )

by **DrDebugDU** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:29 pm

Let's also insert the words from my favorite professor whose name cannot be prenounced: Chossudovsky Live 8: Corporate Media Bonanza Disinformation Campaign and Public Relations Stunt on behalf of the G8 by Michel Chossudovsky July 5, 2005 GlobalResearch.ca Live 8, "the greatest concert" ever aired live, has been presented to World public opinion as an "awareness campaign" in solidarity with Africa. Its stated objective was to put pressure on the Group of Eight leaders (G<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/glasses.gif ALT="8)"> to increase foreign aid flows and cancel the debt of the World's poorest countries. In the words of its promoter Bob Geldof, Live 8 has provided a "unique opportunity" to save a continent from a humanitarian disaster. The Live 8 concerts organized in the eight major industrial countries (as well as in South Africa), however, were not intended to raise money for the World's poorest countries. In fact quite the opposite Live 8 is a multimillion dollar undertaking, which will result in huge profits for its corporate sponsors including AOL Time Warner, the US based media giant, the Ford Motor company, through its Swedish affiliate Volvo and Nokia, the cell phone company, not to mention Britain's EMI Music Group, which has entered into a highly lucrative arrangement with the Live 8 organizers. AOL Time Warner controls the US broadcasting rights which it has licenced to the Walt Disney Company for broadcast TV on ABC and a myriad of affiliated TV and radio stations, including Premiere Radio Networks, XM Satellite Radio and Viacom's MTV Networks (for cable TV). AOL also holds the exclusive online rights for the event on the internet. TV air-time has been auctioned off around the world. Millions of dollars of advertising revenues are expected from the broadcasting of the event, not to mention the repeats, the video-clips, the internet broadcasting and the DVDs, which will be available commercially. According to the producers, Live 8 will go down as "the biggest global broadcast in history". The organizers expect --through TV, radio and the internet-- to reach some 5.5 billion people, or 85 per cent of the world's population. The advertising industry places the number of potential viewers at a conservative two billion, approximately one third of the World's population. By far this is largest media advertising operation in history, which will line the pockets of the promoters, producers, corporate sponsors, not to mention the royalties accruing to the performers and "celebrities". A small percentage of the proceeds might accrue to charitable organizations involved in developing countries but this is not the stated objective of Live 8. The Ford Motor Company has used the event to promote its "up-market" Swedish car division Volvo, with advertising spots during the US broadcast. Volvo has also provided for artist transportation to and from the London and Philadelphia concerts as well as a VIP entertainment suite at the Philadelphia concert. (See <a href="http://"></a> www.adage.com/news, June 30, 2005). "The event, said company spokesman Soren Johansson, "fits with the DNA of the company" and "appeals to people’s emotions." One of Volvo's TV spots features 'Volvo for Life" award- winner Rosamond Carr, "who operates an orphanage in Rwanda, and two others talking about Volvo’s values and their reasons for Live 8 involvement." (Ibid) Moreover, Vonage, the US based phone company is said to have spent "'six figures' to become a primary sponsor of Premiere Radio Networks’ coverage". And will also run a Live 8 schedule on MTV Networks. The EMI Deal In a multimillion dollar agreement with the Live 8 organizers, Britain's EMI Music Group has secured the exclusive rights on the DVDs of the concerts in six of the G8 countries including the US, France, Britain, UK, Italy and Germany: "An EMI spokeswoman said that once sales had paid for the advance, Live 8 would pay a 'very generous royalty rate' to Live 8 on the rest of the sales." In the words, of Bob Geldof, "I hope this will be the biggest-selling DVD of all time." Meanwhile, the event has contributed to boosting stock market values with EMI's share price triple its 2003 level. (...) The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles in their entirety, or any portions thereof, on community internet sites, as long as the text & title are not modified. The source must be acknowledged and an active URL hyperlink address to the original CRG article must be indicated. The author's copyright note must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: crgeditor@yahoo.com © Copyright Michel Chossudovsky, GlobalResearch.ca, 2005 The url address of this article is: <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/">www.globalresearch.ca/</a> index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20050705&articleId=641

by **Sweejak** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:39 pm

A "Must see" film. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/7j5m7">tinyurl.com/7j5m7</a>

by **Camino Real** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:45 pm

yeah, i just saw it a few days ago. learned some things. what a sad day when the 14th amendmant was usurped by ...the corporation.

by **Qutb** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 2:05 pm

The Carlyle Group - Poppy, James Baker, Carlucci, John Major etc. - are going to make a killing off the London bombings. They own a 30% interest in the "private-public partnership" QinetiQ, which is now probably going to install body scanners in all the Underground stations in London. QinetiQ also stands to make millions on the UK biometric ID card scheme, which now has a much better chance of being implemented. QinetiQ was created by a part-privatization of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. The other shareholder is the Ministry of Defence. <a href="http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20409-1686151,00.html">technology.timesonline.co...51,00.html</a>

by **heath7** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 2:59 pm

The anti-tobacco 'truth' ads that are supposed to represent actual executive meetings of tobacco companies make excellent 30 second documentaries on the operation of corporations. While funny, they show just how far these executives (surely not just for tobacco companies) will go to secure more wealth for their bosses, just so they can keep paying on their mortgages and mercedes loans. It'd be interesting to see the same tactic used against other industries such as junk food, medicine, insurance, etc. One particular company that would make a terrific target, I think, would be Monsanto. Its amazing all the evil games they get caught playing right out in the open, like terminator seeds, suing farmers for not destroying their own crops, pesticide disputes, the list goes on and on

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