terrorism

October 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the Patriot Act. In the days following 9/11, fear and shock dominated the public and domestic security issues rose to the top of our agenda. The state of emergency that began during the Bush administration has continued into the Obama administration. But how many of actions taken to keep Americans safe are effective and worthwhile? Are we, as Americans, giving up too much to employ many of the antiterrorism tactics in use?

One country's terrorist is another country's revolutionary...

The award-winning documentary "Freeing Silvia Baraldini" is a profound inquiry into the life of an Italian woman who became an American radical.  Silvia spent 24 years in prison following her conviction of helping to free Black Panther, Assata Shakur from prison.  Filmmakers Margo Pelletier and Lisa Thomas unlock a chapter in U.S. radical politics that has been until now, sequestered by the U.S. government.

Click here to see a trailer for "Freeing Silvia Baraldini" and find out more about the film!

Christopher Hedges, whose forthcoming book is "Death of the Liberal Class" (Perseus), is also the best-selling author of "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" (2003), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. A quote from the book was used as the opening title quotation in the critically-acclaimed and Academy Award-winning 2009 film, The Hurt Locker.  The quote reads: "The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug."

This event is co-sponsored by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace.

Hedges, whose column is published Mondays on Truthdig, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.

A new Academy Award-nominated drama about Germany in the 1970s: Murderous bomb attacks, the threat of terrorism and the fear of the enemy inside are rocking the very foundations of the still fragile German democracy.

The radicalised children of the Nazi generation led by Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) are fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism supported by the German establishment, many of whom have a Nazi past.

Their aim is to create a more human society but by employing inhuman means they not only spread terror and bloodshed, they also lose their own humanity. The man who understands them is also their hunter: the head of the German police force Horst Herold (Bruno Ganz). And while he succeeds in his relentless pursuit of the young terrorists, he knows he’s only dealing with the tip of the iceberg.

Leonard Retel Helmrich is an internationally-renowned, award-winning Indonesian filmmaker. Come early for a 6 PM potluck with the artist!