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    Deep Dish TV's Mario Murillo Reports From Colombia
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    Grace Paley was an early supporter of Deep Dish TV. This site presents examples of non-violent resistance from around the world.
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    News, information and examples of community media around the world. Radio, television, theater, murals, comics and the internet as forms of resistance to homogenous commercial culture.

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Poet and Activist Tuli Kupferberg dies at 86

Release Date: 7/14/2010

Kupferberg was founding member of the Fugs, a fixture at underground galleries and anti-war protests during the 1960s. A prolific writer, his work included the satirical anti-Vietnam War pamphlet, 1,001 Ways to Beat the Draft and 1,001 Ways to Live Without Working.


Watch these great videos of this pacifist anarchist icon. Courtesy of Paper Tiger Television.


Tuli Kupferberg Reads Sports Illustrated: In Honor of the Baseball Season

Poet and activist Tuli Kupferberg reflects on the publication Sports Illustrated. He discusses the sense of generating a "contained universe" separate from conventional reality in which idealization of the human form, the sadomasochism of competition and games in a class society are paradigms for war. Kupferberg goes on to point out the contradictory proliferation of alcohol related advertising within it's pages with it's obvious debilitating effect on motor skills and the central nervous system. A must see for all sports fans.




Tuli Kupferberg Reads Rolling Stone: Always Smile When You Give Them the Shaft


Tuli Kupferberg is an original Fug and publisher of underground comics, takes a deeper look at 80s mainstream pop with a reading of Rolling Stone magazine. American counter culture poet, author & publisher Tuli Kupferberg critically deconstructs Rolling Stone magazine, offering detailed perspectives on it's origin and founding and weighs in on Rolling Stone magazine topics such as commercial advertising and the cult of celebrity.



The Ongoing Cultural Destruction of Iraq.

Release Date: 6/27/2010

"When we go back and look at this situation we will find there were attempts to wipe out culture...In reality the occupation is a military and a cultural occupation."
Iraqi writer and painter Mooald Dawood Al-Bassam



Erasing Memory - The Cultural Destruction of Iraq is a half hour program, part of the 2005 Deep Dish TV series Shocking and Awful-A Grassroots Response to War and Occupation This heartbreaking and enraging program begins with Robert Fisk's eyewitness account of the looting of Baghdad's museums and libraries, while the U.S. military watched, ordered by their high command only to protect the Ministry of Oil. Elsa First's beautiful lamenting poems of the plunder and the loss give emotional magnitude to the crime. Archeologist David Gimbel describes the vast pillage of archaeological sites so severe that "no archaeologist could deal with it psychologically."

In 2010, in one of its few truthful articles about the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, the New York Times published a story by Steven Lee Myers, which we reprint below, detailing the ongoing pillage of the archeological treasures of humanity unleashed and facilitated by the United States and its determination to destroy Iraq as a viable, independent state in the Middle East. Myers begins by recounting (without naming him) Donald Rumsfeld's smirking response to the devastating looting of Iraq's museums and archeological treasures by U.S. soldiers, internationally financed theft rings and Iraqi thugs: "stuff happens." Since he is writing for the New York Times, Myers cannot talk of cause and effect or place subjects in front of verbs followed by the object of an active voice sentence. Everything has to be couched in the passive voice, with out agency. So he says that the current looting is "not the result of the chaos that followed the American invasion in 2004..." as if some unknown force set this first looting in motion. It would be verboten in the U.S. media to say "This time it is not a result of the "stuff happens" chaos that was caused by, was the direct result of the American invasion in 2003..."

Myers concludes his first paragraph however, with a direct statement:"The looting....is...the result of the beurocratic indifference of Iraq's newly sovereign government." Is the Iraqi government "sovereign"? And who brought these indifferent bureaucrats to power? The winner of the last "vote" was Mr. Alawi, long on the payroll of the CIA.

Subtle use of language to hide causality and place white gloves on the bloody hands responsible for the "chaos." But that's just a sidebar comment on the language of empire in a revealing article. So please click on the link above and watch Erasing Memory - The Cultural Destruction of Iraq and perhaps write a comment to the NY Times on their coverage.


June 25, 2010
Iraq’s Ancient Ruins Face New Looting
By STEVEN LEE MYERS

DHAHIR, Iraq — The looting of Iraq’s ancient ruins is thriving again. This time it is not a result of the “stuff happens” chaos that followed the American invasion in 2003, but rather the bureaucratic indifference of Iraq’s newly sovereign government.

Thousands of archaeological sites — containing some of the oldest treasures of civilization — have been left unprotected, allowing what officials of Iraq’s antiquities board say is a resumption of brazenly illegal excavations, especially here in southern Iraq.

A new antiquities police force, created in 2008 to replace withdrawing American troops, was supposed to have more than 5,000 officers by now. It has 106, enough to protect their headquarters in an Ottoman-era mansion on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in Baghdad and not much else.

“I am sitting behind my desk and I am protecting the sites,” the force’s commander, Brig. Gen. Najim Abdullah al-Khazali, said with exasperation. “With what? Words?”

The failure to staff and use the force — and the consequent looting — reflects a broader weakness in Iraq’s institutions of state and law as the American military steadily withdraws, leaving behind an uncertain legacy.

Many of Iraq’s ministries remain feeble, hampered by corruption, the uncertain divisions of power and resources and the political paralysis that has consumed the government before and after this year’s election.

In the case of Iraq’s ancient ruins, the cost has been the uncountable loss of artifacts from the civilizations of Mesopotamia, a history that Iraq’s leaders often evoke as part of the country’s once and, anticipating archaeological research and tourism, future greatness.

“The people who make these decisions, they talk so much about history in their speeches and conferences,” said the director of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, Qais Hussein Rashid, referring to the plight of the new police force, “but they do nothing.”

The looting today has not resumed on the scale it did in the years that immediately followed the American invasion in 2003, when looters — tomb raiders, essentially — swarmed over sites across the country, leaving behind moonlike craters where Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Persian cities once stood.

Even so, officials and archaeologists have reported dozens of new excavations over the past year, coinciding with the withdrawal of American troops, who until 2009 conducted joint operations with the Iraqi police in many areas now being struck by looters again. The antiquities police say they do not have the resources even to keep records of reported lootings.

Here in Dhahir, the looting is evident in the shattered bits of civilization — pieces of pottery, glass and carved stone — strewn across an expanse of desert that was once a Sumerian trading town known as Dubrum.

The bowls, vases and other pieces are destroyed and discarded by looters who seek gold, jewelry and cuneiform tablets or cylinders that are easy to smuggle and resell, according to Abdulamir al-Hamdani, a former antiquities inspector in Dhi Qar Province. The nearest city, Farj, is notorious for a black market in looted antiquities, he said.

“For me, for you, it is all priceless,” he said, “but for them it is useless if they can’t sell it in the market.”

The Dubrum site — which stretches for miles in a sparsely populated region — is pocked by hundreds of trenches, some deeper than 10 or 12 feet. At the bottom of some is the brickwork of tombs, marking the area as a cemetery. Mr. Hamdani said tombs were the most highly valued targets — of archaeologists and looters alike.

Many of the trenches date to the postinvasion chaos, but others have been freshly dug. Just last month someone used a bulldozer and plowed a two-foot-deep gash in the desert, unearthing the brick and bitumen remains of a stairway possibly leading to another cemetery. The materials dated it to the Babylonian period in the seventh century B.C.

The precision of the new looting indicates expertise. “The thief is in the house,” Mr. Hamdani said, suggesting that many of those involved worked on the sites years ago when legitimate archaeological excavations took place, before the war that toppled Saddam Hussein.

A Bedouin reported the new excavation to the local police in Dhi Qar, but officers there could do little except to draw public attention to the problem.

Mr. Hamdani’s successor as antiquities inspector for the province, Amir Abdul Razak al-Zubaidi, said he did not even have the budget to pay for gas to drive to the sites of new looting.

“No guards, no fences, nothing,” Mr. Hamdani said. “The site is huge. You can do whatever you want.”

Until the creation of the antiquities police in 2008, responsibility for protecting archaeological sites rested with the Federal Protection Police, created, equipped and trained by the American military. The federal police, however, also guard government officials and buildings, like schools and museums. The ruins, some just desolate patches of desert, slipped down the list of priorities.

Rather than filling the gap, the creation of the antiquities police deepened it. Iraq’s various military and police forces simply left the issue to an agency that effectively still does not operate, nearly two years later.

Mr. Rashid, director of the antiquities board, also said his agency’s request for a $16 million budget in 2010 had been slashed to $2.5 million. The police officers promised by the Ministry of the Interior simply have yet to materialize, despite an order last year from Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

“Not everything the prime minister requests from his ministers is obeyed,” he said. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry declined to comment on the status of the antiquities police.

Mr. Rashid went on to complain that the looters in some southern provinces — including Dhi Qar and Wasit — operated with the collusion of the law enforcement authorities. “The hand of law cannot reach them,” he said.

The extent and lasting impact of the looting in sites like Dubrum may never be known, since they have never been properly excavated to begin with.

Mr. Zubaidi, the inspector in Dhi Qar, compared the current crisis to the looting of the National Museum in Baghdad, a convulsive ransacking that shocked the world into action. The museum’s fate continues to attract far more attention from the government and international donors.

“Most of the pieces that were stolen from the National Museum will come back,” Mr. Zubaidi said. “Each piece was marked and recorded.” Nearly half the 15,000 pieces looted from the museum have been returned. “The pieces that were stolen here will never be returned,” he said. “They are lost forever.”

Khalid D. Ali contributed reporting.


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Waves of Change Project Map Now Up!

Release Date: 6/8/2010

Deep Dish is setting up an interactive map for the Waves of Change Project. This will be a page embedded in the new Deep Dish site which is now being redesigned. The Waves of Change Project has over 300 potential posts of video, audio files, articles and graphics which will posted as part of the Waves of Change project. Here are a few samples of our material to this Google map. Click here to see the test site:


Watch the site in the coming weeks as we post some more of the programs and interviews about local, community television and other forms of communication.


View Previous News Items

Release Date: 2/12/2010

The Deep Dish TV News Items
The purpose of this section of our website is to link current news stories to the relevant videos in the Deep Dish TV archives – over 300 programs that we've produced or distributed over the past 23 years. These programs provide useful background and important perspective on contemporary events.

January 2010 News Items

Everyday Moments
In the midst of all the sad and bad news that draws the focus of our cameras, it is refreshing to look at the everyday moments that make up the fabric of our lives Carlos Pareja short video is about two minutes long and a patchwork of small moments i captured in and around Brooklyn, New York with his point & shoot in movie mod

The Cairo Declaration
New Year's Eve Candlight Vigil in Egypt's Tahrir Square

The Gaza Freedom March has come to an end. 1400 delegates from 43 countries traveled to Cairo Egypt in order to enter Gaza by the Rafah border crossing controlled by Egypt. Despite months of negotiating with the Egyptian Government and responding to all of its requests, as the Gaza Freedom Marchers were on their way to Cairo from around the world, the government announced that the border with Gaza was closed and no marchers would be allowed to enter Gaza. As the delegates gathered in Gaza, the Egyptian Government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were building an "underground wall", metal plates driven 50 meters into the ground, to block the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt which are the main source of food, medicine and other supplies for the people of Gaza. The delegates of the Gaza Freedom March spent the week from December 27th to January 2nd attempting to persuade the government to allow them entry via Rafah. Every effort to protest and create public opinion was met with police blockade and force. Finally the government it would allow 100 people could enter. The offer was rejected as an effort to divide and vilify the delegation.

Haiti Community Radio Earthquake Emergency
Community Radio Stations in Haiti destroyed by Earthquake

U.S. Military Occupation of Haiti in Guise of Aid
As Haitians desperately await food and water, medical aid and help digging out from under the devastating destruction of the earthquake, the U.S. has put thousands of heavily armed soldiers on the ground, taken over the airport and turned back flights from other countries bringing in aid. "We don't need soldiers and guns" said a former Haitian Defense Minister.

Video Reports from Haiti
Deep Dish TV's blog Waves of Change features recent short videos by Ciné Institue from the town of Jacmel in the Southeast area of Haiti, not far from Port au Prince.

Stay up-to-date on Haiti with the Waves of Change Blog
The Waves of Change Blog is a terrific source of ongoing news about the crisis in Haiti, and the efforts of community activists to bring hope to this desperate station.


December 2009 News Items:

Egyptian Security Forces Detain Gaza Freedom Marchers in el-Arish and shut down Gaza Memorial in Cairo
Israel-Egypt-US tighten stranglehold on Palestinians in Gaza. Egypt refuses to allow medical supplies, food and International delegations from 46 countries to enter Gaza - the world's largest concentration camp


Egypt continues effort to block Palestinians in Gaza
Egyptian Government Tries to Block All Support For Palestinians in Gaza

Close to 1400 delegates to the Gaza Freedom March (GFM), people from 46 countries have arrived in Cairo intending to travel by bus to the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah to enter Gaza and join the Gaza Freedom March scheduled for January 31st. The March has been planned for four months and representatives of the GFM have been meeting with Egyptian officials for months to insure smooth passage. At the last minute Egypt refused permission to enter Gaza, forced the bus company that was to transport the participants, forbade them to meet in public in Cairo and denied access to a planned memorial on the Nile River. We just received the following from Cairo.

Gaza Freedom Marchers Reject Egyptian Offer to Let Just 100 Enter Gaza
After three days of vigils and demonstrations in downtown Cairo, Suzanne Mubarak’s offer to allow just 100 of 1,300 delegates to enter Gaza was rejected by the Gaza Freedom March Coordinating Committee as well as many of the larger contingents – including those from France, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Sweden and New York State (U.S.).


Gaza Freedom Marchers Attacked by Egyptian Police
Participants of the Gaza Freedom March describe their efforts of the Egyptian government to prevent their expression of solidarity with the people of Gaza

Aid Convoy for Gaza blocked by Egyptian Government, Waits in Jordan
'Fighting to break the Gaza siege'

85 year old Holocaust Survivor Hedy Epstein Begins Hunger Strike to Open Gaza Borders
Hedy Epstein, the 85 year old Holocaust survivor and peace activist, announced that she will begin a hunger strike today as a response to the Egyptian government’s refusal to allow the Gaza Freedom March participants into Gaza.

Dennis Brutus, South African poet, freedom fighter 1924-1985
The memory of Dennis Brutus will remain everywhere there is struggle against injustice. Uniquely courageous, consistent and principled, Brutus bridged the global and local, politics and culture, class and race, the old and the young, the red and green. He was an emblem of solidarity with all those peoples oppressed and environments wrecked by the power of capital and state elites

Gaza Freedom March
Over 1000 people from the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia plan to join tens of thousands of Palestinians on historic Dec. 31st, 2009 March in Gaza

Rich Countries' Secret Deal on Global Warming
The Copenhagen climate change summit may be in peril as exposed document reveals scripted agreement between developed nations.

10 Years Later-The Impact of Shutting Down The WTO in Seattle
Reflections on the 'power of the people'

The Murder of Fred Hampton
Fred Hampton was the 21 year old, brilliant revolutionary Chairman of the Black Panther Party of Illinois. On December 4th, 1969 in the pre-dawn hours, Chicago Police raided the apartment where Hampton, his fiancee and other Party members were sleeping. Investigations proved that the FBI planned and orchestrated the raid,

November 2009 News Items:

Howard Zinn's "The People Speak" on the History Channel
December 13, 2009
8 PM Eastern and Pacific
7 PM Central
Produced by Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Chris Moore, Anthony Arnove, and Howard Zinn. Performances by: Brolin, Damon, Rosario Dawson, Bob Dylan, Michael Ealy, Lupe Fiasco, Morgan Freeman, Jasmine Guy, John Legend, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Sandra Oh, Viggo Mortensen, Bruce Springsteen, Marisa Tomei, Kerry Washington, and many others.

Digital Oral History From Durban South Africa

An Israeli Mother's Solidarity with Palestinian Women

Thanks-giving or Thanks-taking

Cal Student Occupation vs Tuition Hikes, Layoffs: Spark For a New Movment.

Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart's Appeal Denied

Health Care Bill: Tragedy or Farce?

What You Didn't Know About the War

Friday November 20th! Great Deep Dish Screening!

Deep Dish TV Now on Facebook and Twitter!


October 2009 News Items:

Amnesty International Accuses Israel of Denying Water to Palestinians

Argentina Democratizes Media Law

Deep Dish TV Announces Release of DIY Media Series!

Iraq Government Closes Baghdad University

War in the Cities - G-20 in Pittsburgh

Women of Afghanistan Speak Out

Marek Edelman - Hero of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Dies


July 2009 News Items:

A Report From Gaza
I learned that there is no cease fire in Gaza. Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza and shooting its farmers and fishermen. - Felice Gelman, member of the Code Pink delegation to Gaza, May-June, 2009

Pakistan & Afghanistan: Battle Ground of Empire
An interview with David Barsamian, author and founder of Alternative Radio. Barsamian discusses the Taliban and the expansion of the U.S. war in Afghanistan to Pakistan in the context of Pashtun nationalism.

A Summer Not to Forget Wins Jury Award at Sole Luna Festival in Palermo Italy
Carol Mansour's film is part of Deep Dish TV series Nothing Is Safe - Israels 2006 War on Lebanon.

Israeli Soldiers Testify to War Crimes in Gaza Invasion
You feel like an infantile little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them." Fifty-four testimonies of Israeli combat soldiers who participated in Operation Cast Lead reveal gaps between the reports given by the army following January’s events; the needless destruction of houses; firing phosphorous in populated areas and an atmosphere that encouraged shooting anywhere.

Honduras:Military Coup and the Fight for Land and Liberty
"A more likely motive for the coup lies in the Honduran oligarchy's fear of what would happen if the people got a chance to write their own Constitution."David Wilson, Monthly Review

Laughing all the Way to the Bank
The IMF was used to force neoliberalism - that poisonous cocktail of financial deregulation, free markets, privatisation and the rolling back of the state – on developing countries. IMF policies have been, despite the heartache, the wrecked lives, the savaging of countries' agriculture, education and institutions, granted legitimacy during this crisis.

The Women of Afghanistan
Part 5 of Brave New Films' Rethink Afghanistan exposes the reality of life for women in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion.

This is Where We Take Our Stand
The Winter Soldier Project: New Online Film Series Documents GI Resistance


YES MEN Withdraw Their Film From Jerusalem Film Festival
Whatever words are applied to such actions, our film mustn't help lend an aura of normalcy to a state that makes these decisions. For us, that's the bottom line.

June 2009 New Items

For The Record: The World Tribunal on Iraq
Documents the organizing efforts that put the United States on trial for its illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq and the atrocities that have been committed in the name of "liberation."

US Colonel Advocates US 'Military Attacks' on 'Partisan Media'
Calls the independent media "the killers without guns"

May 2009 News Items

City of West Hollywood CA Takes Anti-Torture Stand
"If any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any prisoner, I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring such exemplary and severe punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it would not be disproportionate to his guilt at such a time and in such a cause, for by such conduct they bring upon us shame, disgrace, and ruin to themselves and to our country."- George Washington


U.S Military Occupation of Haiti in Guise of "Aid"

Release Date: 1/18/2010

As Haitians desperately await food and water, medical aid and help digging out from under the devastating destruction of the earthquake, the U.S. has put thousands of heavily armed soldiers on the ground, taken over the airport and turned back flights from other countries bringing in aid. "We don't need soldiers and guns" said a former Haitian Defense Minister.

A brief Al Jazeera video report from Haiti.


Deep Dish TV on Facebook

Release Date: 11/5/2009

Deep Dish T.V.

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Deep Dish TV Announces Release of DIY Media Series!

Release Date: 10/21/2009

Deep Dish TV is proud to announce the completion and release of its landmark, four-part series, DIY Media:  Movement Perspectives on Critical Moments.  Eighteen months in the making, this DVD series depicts the history of recent social movements in the United States from the perspective of participants in those movements; a history recounted through the words of activists that have sought equal rights for gays and lesbians, waged campaigns for environmental justice; struggled to curb corporate power, and fought against unjust, destructive U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.  The mainstream media curates a history for us that is frequently out of synch with the experience of history’s actors.  This series strives to amend that record and include a “people’s history” as an integral part of the story.

"A vital document for those who wish to understand and share a history
other than what mainstream media presents to us. 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, Democracy Now!

This series is a resource that no Library, College or University should be without.  The materials on it are applicable across a wide range of disciplines, such as Urban Studies, History, Sociology, LGBTQ Studies, Gender Studies, Political Science, Environmental Studies, and Latin American Studies.  Read below for a short description of each of the four parts, go to the Deep Dish website for more information and to watch clips online.

The perspectives represented on these DVDs are too often silenced and lost.  Help to ensure that current and future generations have access to this unique, insight-providing material by encouraging your community center, educational institution, or public library to order one or all of these remarkable DVD sets.

Part One- EXPRESSION = LIFE: ACT UP, Video and the AIDS Crisis
gathers four programs from the Deep Dish archive that were made during the peak years of activity for ACT UP NYC, and, in addition, offers a one hour compilation of selects from these and other, additional programs. A panel discussion about this work, and the current state of the gay liberation struggle, was videotaped at New York University in April, 2008. An edited version of this discussion is also included on this compelling, and historic collection.

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 produce?
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 Globalization
This 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 brutal realities that were result of corporate globalization.  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.  Panel includes key organizers from the WTO shutdown in 1999 as well as filmmakers and historical theorists.
 
Part Four: RESISTENCIA Y SOLIDARIDAD: Salvador, Colombia, and the 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.







Deep Dish TV Now on Facebook and Twitter!

Release Date: 10/14/2009

Deep Dish on Facebook

Deep Dish on Twitter


We invite you to visit our Facebook Fan Page and Twitter site. Deep Dish TV is, above all, a network. It is a network of hundreds producers, videographers and editors who have created over 300 programs since Deep Dish TV was founded in 1986. It's a distribution network that links producers with viewers across the United States through a network of public access cable stations and public interest satellite channels. And now it is an expanding network on the internet. Almost every Deep Dish TV video is now viewable for free on the internet via our website or on Archive.org. We invite you to join our network of creators and social activists. Comment on the videos via Facebook, Twitter or on our website, make suggestions for new series, volunteer to work with us.


Iraq Faces Water Crisis

Release Date: 9/8/2009

In 2005 Deep Dish TV produced Shocking and Awful - A Grassroots Response to War and Occupation, an award winning 12-part series on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. This followed our 1991 The Gulf Crisis TV Project, a 10-part series on the First Gulf War. In the last 6 years we have continued to report and analyze the massive disruption and destruction brought upon Iraq. The implications and consequences of the wars on Iraq are immense, as the following articles describe.

In an area once called the “Fertile Crescent,” Iraq is now facing an economic and environmental crisis, as the flows of both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are becoming increasingly reduced, the National (a newspaper based in Abu Dhabi, the Arab Emirates) reported on September 4th. A downstream neighbor of Syria and Turkey, Iraq has always been dependent on the two rivers, which have historically watered its plains generously, sustaining Mesopotamia, “the land between two rivers,” the site of the world’s earliest civilization. The water from the two rivers accounts for over half of Iraq’s grain production and drinking water, both of which are critically important for a country that is trying to recover and rebuild after decades of invasion and occupation.

A part of Iraq’s water shortages is due to climate change-induced droughts, which have been plaguing the area since 2006. Syria, which is also low on water resources, has been tapping more aggressively into the Tigris and Euphrates. Most importantly, however, Turkey has been damming the two rivers to serve its own water and energy needs, significantly reducing the volume of water flowing into Iraq. Turkey has been working on its Southeast Anatolia Project (GAP), a 22-dam and reservoir project on the two rivers, whose 19 hydroelectric power plants are scheduled for completion by 2013. This is a US $32 billion project Turkish officials say will better the economic situation of the impoverished southeast. But the project has been met with extensive criticism internationally, particularly because the Ilisu Dam site, planned for the Tigris River, will submerge the ancient city of Hasankyef, which has a history longer than 10,000 years, and displace the local Kurdish population.

The UPI reported that Turkey increased the Euphrates’s water flow by 50 percent at the beginning of summer, but this still falls short of the volume of water that has traditionally flown into Iraq. There has been growing concern from Iraqi officials that the water shortage could prove catastrophic to the country’s already devastated economy, as water and irrigation officials from the three countries have been meting to discuss a compromise. So far, the discussions have not yielded conclusive results.


Iraq’s new war is a fight for water
Phil Sands and Nizar Latif

Dam projects by neighbouring states are drastically reducing the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates and helping to turn a once-fertile plain into desert. Phil Sands and Nizar Latif report as an environmental crisis deepens

As bombs continue to tear apart its towns and villages, Iraq is now in the grip of an environmental crisis that experts and officials warn may do what decades of war have not been able to – destroy the country. The new war on Iraq, says one member of the country’s parliament, “is a war of water”.

The Tigris and Euphrates, two of the world’s great water courses, fed life to the historic lands of Mesopotamia, “the land between two rivers”. The previously lush plains south of Baghdad are widely held to be the cradle of civilisation, the birthplace of some of humanity’s greatest achievements and earliest empires.

Today, however, those same rivers are increasingly starved of water. The floodplains on either side of the Euphrates and Tigris, Iraq’s old fertile agricultural heartlands, are parched. In northern Iraq, underground supplies of water have been so depleted they may never recover.

Wells once 200 metres deep now have to go down twice as far to reach the lowered water table. A majority of existing wells in the region are running dry.

“Vast areas of Iraq are now cracked and barren, the marshes have dried up and dust storms worse than anyone can remember obscure the sun,” says Ibrahim al Alubiddi, an economics professor at Baghdad’s Mustansariya University.

“These are the symptoms of a water shortage that threatens Iraq. It’s a real crisis and could lead to disaster unless radical solutions are found quickly.”


The immediate effects have also been felt in other countries. This summer a series of vast Iraqi dust clouds have drifted down the Arabian Gulf, as far south as the UAE.

The clouds have been unusually large, a consequence of Iraq’s increased desertification, itself a result of water shortages that, according to Mr Alubiddi, have been made worse by war, corruption and poor environmental policies.

Iraq’s devastating water shortages have three main causes: upstream dams in Turkey and Syria have drastically reduced the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates; rainfall levels have hit record lows; and inefficient management techniques mean Iraq wastes what limited water it does have.

“The drought has been a real issue; without rain there has been no replenishment of rivers and groundwater aquifers,” says Mohammed Amin Faris, a leading Iraqi water official. “We used to have droughts once a decade. Now we are worried they are coming every two or three years because of global climate change.

“In addition to that, we have other problems. Neighbouring countries are putting up dams that have stopped us getting the water we had in the past.”

According to Iraqi government figures, water flow in the Euphrates is currently some 200 cubic metres per second as it crosses into Iraq, less than half of the minimum amount required to help the country meet its basic needs. Much of the water is stopped in Turkey, while Syria, battling its own water crisis, is also drawing on supplies. Iraq, downstream of both, pays the price for their consumption.

Similar problems face the Tigris and will be greatly exacerbated if Turkey pushes ahead with its controversial US$2 billion (Dh7.35bn) Ilisu dam project.

“The Euphrates River is already cut as far as Iraq is concerned and the Tigris will be cut as well if Turkey goes ahead,” says Mr Faris. “If these dams are completed the flow from the Tigris will be halved from 20.9 billion cubic metres a year to 9.7 billion cubic metres.”

Most of the cities in Iraq, he says, are dependent on that water: “Vast areas of land will be dry. This dam could destroy Iraq.”

As a member of Iraq’s international water negotiating committee, Mr Faris has been involved in talks with Turkey and Syria designed to come up with an equitable solution for water sharing. Discussions so far have been inconclusive.

“We are trying to get a third party involved in the talks as a mediator, the United States or the United Nations,” he says. “But they have refused. Water is a political issue, it’s part of a political game and of course it’s far more important than oil. There are alternatives to oil but there is no alternative to water.”

The next round of talks was due to take place yesterday in Ankara, and follows claims by the Iraqi water minister, Latif Rashid, that Turkey had broken a promise to increase water flows in the Euphrates.

Iraq also faces reduced water flow from Iran but, according to Mr Faris, government attempts to open dialogue with Tehran on the issue have failed.

“We want negotiations but Iran is just ignoring us,” he says. “They are upstream and we are downstream and there’s not much you can do about it, especially if you are weak.”

Water shortages, acute in the cooler and traditionally wetter northern part of the country, are even worse in central and southern zones. Agriculture has been hit hard.

“We simply don’t have enough water,” says Salam Iskander Zait, the head official for the Ministry of Agriculture in Wasit province, south of Baghdad. His offices are in Kut, on the Tigris. “Water levels have been falling consistently, this is the thing that worries me. It’s not a problem I can solve, it’s something the government will have to do at a national level, working with our neighbours. It’s an international matter.”

Iraqi farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet and impoverished rural areas are slipping further into destitution. Iraqi politicians, government officials and local leaders warn that such developments will serve only to undermine fragile security gains and could provide a breeding ground for insurgents.

There are even suggestions that water shortages could trigger a new international conflict between Iraq and its neighbours. Allegations are increasingly being made, in particular against Turkey and Iran, that water has become a weapon to keep Iraq on its knees.

“Iraq’s water crisis has put us in a precarious position and could even lead us into a war with one of our neighbours,” says Tayseer al Mashadani, a member of parliament from the Iraqi Accord Front. “The new war on Iraq is a war of water. There have been agreements with our neighbours about sharing water resources but they have not stuck to them.”

He predicts the current situation will worsen as the region’s countries all try to increase their consumption of dwindling water supplies. A senior official within Iraq’s water ministry expresses a similarly bleak view.

“In Europe they may settle water disputes through calm negotiations but my fear is that we don’t have that same attitude in this part of the world,”t he official says, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I hope this will all end peacefully but I suspect it won’t. I’m not optimistic.”

But while many Iraqis blame Turkey, Syria and Iran for creating their current water problems, Nibras al Mamouri, a professor of water resources at Baghdad’s College of Agriculture, says domestic causes should not be ignored.

“This is not a new crisis in Iraq but this time it is more dangerous than ever before,” she says. “Iraqi politicians are quick to throw blame at our neighbours but our problems are also due to an increasing food consumption, poor irrigation techniques and a lack of incentives to stop wasting so much water.”

Improved farming methods and education programmes have been introduced by the Iraqi authorities, with religious leaders asked to advocate water conservation in their sermons. Plans to increase the cost of water and to meter its use by households are also under discussion, as are reforestation schemes that would help to reverse desertification.

“We have projects under way and they are successful up to a point,” says Mr Firas, of the governmental water unit. “But we have only about 10 per cent of the funding we need and it’s not enough to solve the problem. We have not done enough and most of the projects have not been implemented yet.

“We must move quickly. We have already started too late and there comes a point where you cannot undo the damage that has been done.”


This Is Where We Take Our Stand - New Episodes

Release Date: 8/24/2009

GIs Speak Out on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
The IVAW Winter Soldier Project



In March 2008 Deep Dish TV was privileged to participate in the live television broadcast and internet streaming of Winter Solder, three days of hearings on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at the National Labor College in Silver Springs Maryland. Over 700 invited active duty and vertans and supporters listed while over 70 GIs recounted their experiences as "boots on the ground" in the U.S. invasions and occupations.

Now a new film series based on those hearings is being released as an online series by Displaced Films and Northern Light Productions. . Be sure to tune in to the This Is Where We Take Our Stand website or watch here at Deep Dish TV.

Watch Episode 4: Broken Soldier

Broken Soldier from Displaced Films on Vimeo.




Watch Episode 3: Why We Fight

Why We Fight from Displaced Films on Vimeo.



Watch Epidsode 2:For Those Who Would Judge Me

For Those Who Would Judge Me from Displaced Films on Vimeo.



Watch Episode 1:Rules of Engagement

Rules of Engagement from Displaced Films on Vimeo.



Watch the Trailer for the Film:

This is Where We Take Our Stand - Trailer from Displaced Films on Vimeo.



The series producers write:

Where’s the debate?

Are we watching passively while Barack Obama carries out the same policies as George W. Bush?

When an American bombing raid this May killed over two hundred civilians in a village in Afghanistan, it was met with a deafening silence. When Obama’s promised “withdrawal” from Iraq leaves 130,000 troops there for at least two more years and 50,000 permanently, it’s hailed as an end to the occupation. And who is demanding to know just what the mission really is when 30,000 more troops are sent to Afghanistan?

Where’s the debate?

In March of 2008, two hundred and fifty veterans and active duty soldiers marked the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by gathering in Washington, DC, to testify from their own experience about the nature of the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. It was chilling, horrifying, and challenging for all who witnessed it. Against tremendous odds, they brought the voices of the veterans themselves into the debate. That was then.

This is now. Today, we present to you This is Where We Take Our Stand, the inside story of those three days and the courageous men and women who testified. And we present this story today, told in six episodes, because we believe it is as relevant now as it was one year ago. Maybe more.

Here is our challenge to you: Watch the series; spread it far and wide; and ask yourself is this about the past, or the present and future. Then add your voice.

If you are a veteran or active duty, present your own testimony. If you are not, but you are still a living, breathing member of the human race, then do whatever you can to join and fan the flames of debate.

Displaced Films and Northern Light Productions


A Summer Not To Forget Wins Jury Award at Sole Luna Festival in Palermo, Italy

Release Date: 7/16/2009

Carol Mansour's film one of the five documentary films in the Deep Dish TV series Nothing Is Safe - Israel's 2006 War on Lebanon

Sole Luna (www.soleelunadocfest.com) is a Mediterranean and Islamic International Documentary Festival in Palermo. It presents the world's best documentary films dealing with the Mediterranean region, Islam, nature, adventures, and travels to the Middle East and to the East.

This year (July 6-13, 2009), the festival screened films from Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Slovakia, Spain, Syria, Israel and Lebanon. Carol Mansour was there to receive the Jury?s Award. A Summer Not To Forget was screened in the closing ceremony to a wide international audience.

About the Film
On July 12th, 2006, Hezbollah captured 2 Israeli soldiers. For the following 34 days Lebanon witnessed continuous Israeli bombardment.

This documentary takes you beyond the news headlines into the harsh realities of war. It explores the devastation of a nation and a people caught under the siege.

Through powerful and often disturbing images, this documentary tells the story of yet another war on Lebanon: 1200 civilians killed and 4,000 injured, more than one million people displaced, 78 bridges destroyed, 15,000 homes damaged, the environmental disaster of 15,000 tons of oil spilled on 80 km of Mediterranean coast, and many more catastrophes. In footage not shown by the Western media, the film also exposes the devastation of 57 collective massacres in an attempt to capture the horror of its victims and their families.


Click here to purchase a copy of A Summer Not to Forget

Click here to purchase the entire series


Speech by Carol Mansour at the Closing Ceremony of the Film Festival

Good evening everybody,

I would like to thank you all for giving my documentary a chance to be seen here in Palermo.

A Summer Not to Forget is a documentary on the Israeli war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Israel bombarded Lebanon for 34 consecutive days; 1,200 civilians were killed and 4,036 injured, more than one million people displaced, 78 bridges destroyed, 30,000 homes damaged, 57 collective massacres carried out and many more atrocities; while the international community of politicians, the so-called leaders, was watching and while we were waiting for the Israelis to put an end to this horrific war.

The western media failed to tell the story the way it happened so it was the anger of not seeing the truth that pushed me to make this film. It was my way of resisting and protesting the condition of war that was imposed on us.

I am not involved in any political party; I am just a human being who wanted, through this documentary, to show the world the horror of the Israeli war on Lebanon.

What happened in Lebanon in 2006 has been happening everyday for decades in Palestine. It is difficult to accept that despite all the advancement in science and technology, everyday, somewhere, the most cruel brutality is committed. It is not acceptable that in 2009, we are allowing all those crimes of war to happen in front of our own eyes.

I want to thank the festival to have had the courage to show such a documentary. I want to thank the jury for giving it an award and I thank you all for being here.

View the trailer:


Winter Soldier: IVAW Vets Denounce Occupations

Release Date: 3/19/2008

Hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans met in Washington DC March 13-16, 2008. They provide courageous eyewitness testimony to the horrific brutality and destruction that the Bush Administration, Congress and the corporate media have inflicted on those two countries and their people - and the damage inflicted on the bodies and minds of tens of thousands of men and women they have sent to invade and occuply those countries. Deep Dish TV helped to organize the live television and web coverage of the event, broadcast for 12 hours on both Friday and Saturday on Free Speech TV and webcast on all four days.

View Winter Soldier Videos at IVAW Website