The first feature-length documentary by radical filmmaker Frank Lopez, EndCiv is an urgent and withering attack on the moral foundations of industrial civilization. Based on the book EndGame by radical environmentalist Derrick Jensen, the film brings the author’s words to life with visual footage that lays bare the depravity of western capitalism and the shallow hypocrisy of the mainstream environmental movement.

Perhaps one of the film’s greatest contributions is its dissection of North American pacifism. Through interviews with figures such as Ward Churchill, Peter Gelderloos, John Zerzan, Gord Hill and Lierre Keith, EndCiv effectively challenges the primary myths surrounding Gandhian non-violence. While much has been written about the role that widespread acceptance of pacifism has played in the marginalization of popular struggle in the years since WWII, EndCiv makes these arguments much more accessible to a larger audience - something that desperately needed to be done.

Plans are currently in the works for a North American tour sometime in the coming year. Until then, those interested can watch clips of the film online at http://EndCiv.com

The Dominion shows that there is more to be told; critical coverage that moves from the boardrooms to the global streets, clears the gas clouds, takes off the masks and confronts the forgotten and un(der)-reported issues. The mainstream media portrays these summits as rigid dichotomies of mask-clad protesters clashing with faceless riot police in a cloud of tear gas, all while world leaders try to right the global economic ship.

The Dominion is a project of Canada’s first media cooperative, jointly owned and democratically controlled by its readers, contributors and editors. The Dominion is affiliated with the Toronto Media Co-op, a grassroots media project taking aim at forgotten, skipped over, and poorly reported stories that reflect the reality of life in the metropolis. During the G8 and G20 summits, the Toronto Media Co-op aims to be a hub for independent, critical coverage.

The Dominion remains one of the best media sources about social and political issues in Canada, and this special issue once again shows why.

http://www.dominionpaper.ca
http://www.toronto.mediacoop.ca

In Parecon: Life After Capitalism, author Michael Albert proposes a radical alternative to contemporary economic systems.. Parecon is an important contribution to the broad movement working to change the world. By infusing libertarian anarchist economic principles with the idealism of the New Left, Parecon directly challenges determinist declarations of “the triumph of capitalism”, and assertions that we have reached “the end of history”.

The underlying values that Parecon seeks to implement are equity, solidarity, diversity, workers’ self-management and efficiency.(Efficiency here means accomplishing goals without wasting valued assets.) It proposes to attain these ends mainly through the following principles and institutions:

- Workers’and consumers’ councils utilizing self-managerial methods for decision making,
- Balanced job complexes
- Renumeration according to effort and sacrifice
- Participatory planning

Albert stresses that Parecon is only meant to provide an alternative economic theory and must be accompanied by equally important alternative visions in the fields of politics, culture and kinship.