(Airs Monday Feb 12, Sunday Feb 18 and Wednesday Feb 21, 5:00 PM PST on DIRECTV channel 375; The DISH Network channel 9410)
San Rafael, CA February 8, 2001 – Globalization: The
Great Divide takes viewers to the epicenter of a worldwide dispute
in a groundbreaking interactive program that uses "video bridge" technology
in a failed attempt to find common ground between two different visions
of globalization and its effects.
The world's most powerful people gather every January in the small Swiss skiing
town of Davos; this year, the more enlightened Davos stalwarts agreed to talk
to a parallel gathering of anti-globalization protestors in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Sparks flew, and it was all captured by Link TV, which will air the highlights
of the discussion starting next week. While accusations and lectures fly, the
viewer is left with the sure understanding that the future of globalization
is not yet decided and that real dangers lurk everywhere.
Main Participants:
In Davos:
Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development
Program
George Soros, International financier and Chairman of the Open
Society Foundations.
Bjorn Edlund, V.P. for Corporate Communications for Asea Brown
Boveri (ABB).
John Ruggie, Advisor to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
In Porto Allegre:
Rafael Alegria, Director of the International Movement of Landless
Peasants.
Walden Bello, Executive Director of Focus on the Global South.
Hebe de Bonafini, President of the Argentinian Mothers of the Plaza
de Mayo.
Njoki Njehu, Director of Fifty Years is Enough.
After the recent protests in Seattle, Bangkok, Prague and Nice, this unique
documentary represents a tentative first step toward public dialogue on
the future of globalization. In a wide-ranging discussion, the two sides
come to grips with such issues as the unequal distribution of wealth and
power, the plight of agricultural workers and the elimination of Third
World debt.
Although generally civil, the dialogue became contentious at times. The
activist audience in Porto Alegre cheered when Walden Bello told the Davos
panel, "You are on the planet of the super-rich ...we are on the planet
of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed�It would be good for the
thousands of businessmen in Davos to be loaded into a space ship and for
that space ship to take off." Financier George Soros was a lightning rod
for accusations, including charges of hypocrisy and of being a "monster"
by Hebe de Bonafini. He surprised many by declaring his support for a
tax on international investments of the type that made him a billionaire.
Gobalization: The Great Divide is a co-production of Article Z, Link
TV and InterAct. Link TV is the first nationwide television network providing
Americans with global perspectives on news, events and culture. The channel
was launched in December 1999, on DIRECTV and added to EchoStar's DISH Network
a few weeks later. Currently, the channel is available as a basic service in
over 14 million U.S. homes that receive direct broadcast satellite television
(DBS). Link's 24-hour programming consists of first-run documentaries on global
issues, foreign feature films, current affairs series and the best of World
Music.
Article Z was founded in 1998 by Patrice Barrat and six other associates
to bring innovation and openness to the production and distribution of
international television projects. InterAct (Internews Interactive) is
a non-profit organization created to develop interactive dialogue in the
digital age.
Contacts were in Davos and Porto Alegre during the production:
Kim Spencer, President, Link TV
[email protected]
Evelyn Messinger, Director, InterAct
[email protected]
Patrice Barrat, President, Article Z 33 (1) 55 33 52 60 [email protected]
For background information on Link TV, please visit http://www.LinkTV.org/about/background.php3
