Melt Down

Film Introduction From Open Culture:
Doc Zone, a documentary series produced by CBC Television, is now airing a four part investigation into the great financial meltdown of 2008. Along the way, the CBC’s Terence McKenna takes viewers “behind the headlines and into the backrooms at the highest levels of world governments and banking institutions, revealing the astonishing level of backstabbing and tension behind the scenes as the world came dangerously close to another Great Depression.”

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Tok Piksa presents the 4 part series here, with background information taken from Al Jazeera’s English site, which also hosts the four-part series.


PART 1:
The men who crashed the world

In the first episode of Meltdown, we hear about four men who brought down the global economy: a billionaire mortgage-seller who fooled millions; a high-rolling banker with a fatal weakness; a ferocious Wall Street predator; and the power behind the throne.

The crash of September 2008 brought the largest bankruptcies in world history, pushing more than 30 million people into unemployment and bringing many countries to the edge of insolvency. Wall Street turned back the clock to 1929.

But how did it all go so wrong?

Lack of government regulation; easy lending in the US housing market meant anyone could qualify for a home loan with no government regulations in place.

Also, London was competing with New York as the banking capital of the world. Gordon Brown, the British finance minister at the time, introduced 'light touch regulation' - giving bankers a free hand in the marketplace.

All this, and with key players making the wrong financial decisions, saw the world's biggest financial collapse.

PART 2:
A Global Financial Tsunami

In the second episode of Meltdown, we look at how the financial tsunami swept the world. We hear about a renegade executive who nearly destroyed the global financial system and the US treasury secretary who bailed out his friends.

Henry 'Hank' Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and later an economic advisor to the US government; refused to bail out global financial services firm - the Lehman Brothers. Paulson said it was not the role of government to save private businesses.

Lehman's failure had repercussions around the world. Millions of people lost their life savings. Pension plans were decimated.

Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister at the time and a close friend of Paulson's, publicly described Paulson's decision on Lehman "horrendous".

Markets from London and Paris to Shanghai fell. An epidemic of fear caused the world's major banks to stop lending, ending the year in protests and industrial action.

PART 3:

Paying the Price

The third episode of Meltdown looks at how the victims of the 2008 financial crash fight back. A protesting singer in Iceland brings down the government; in France a union leader oversees the kidnapping of his bosses; and thousands of families are made homeless in California.

Hordur Torfason, an Icelandic singer, leads the way in holding protests over the country's economy, calling for the resignation of the government and new elections.

Geir Haarde, the prime minister of Iceland, was surrounded and pelted by the protestors. Haarde soon resigned and the country's government collapsed.

In France, workers fought back to claim their rights. The Continental Tire factory announced its plant would close by 2010, meaning job losses for its 1,120 employees. Workers occupied offices and trashed the place in protest. Protests spread right across France and Europe.

As the grim toll of the financial crisis continues to mount around the world, many governments are looking for the true causes of the meltdown. In many cases, what they are discovering amounts to a crime.

PART 4:
After the Fall

In the final episode of Meltdown, we hear about the sheikh who says the crash never happened; a Wall Street king charged with fraud; a congresswoman who wants to jail the bankers; and the world leaders who want a re-think of capitalism.

The financial crash of September 2008 brought the largest bankruptcies in world history, pushing over 30 million people into unemployment and bringing many countries to the brink of insolvency.

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum calls himself Dubai's CEO. He claims to run his government according to strict business principles, but now many are quietly questioning his judgement and his leadership.

In depth coverage of US financial crisis protests

In the years before the meltdown, Dubai had the biggest real-estate bonanza in the world. During the crash, the market tumbled, losing 50 per cent of its value, leaving Dubai virtually insolvent. But this did not deter the sheikh.

In January 2010, Sheikh Mohammed threw a massive party to mark the opening of the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifa - using PR strategies to suggest that the real estate crash was a good thing for the emirate.

As one world leader handles the crisis through denial, other leaders try to re-think capitalism. Even though the causes of the 2008 meltdown are now clear, there is no magic formula to stop it from happening again.

The world has to start planning for the next crisis, even as we recognise that this one is not over yet.

Text Transcription Source: Aljazeera

"MELT DOWN"
Writen and Directed by TERENCE MCKENNA
Series Producers: MICHELLE GAGNON and TERENCE MCKENNA

Indian Female Peace Keepers Show the Way in Liberia

Better alternatives to the Enhanched Co-operation Programme

If Papua New Guinea feels, that it needs policing support especially during the upcoming elections, there are better options than bringing in the Australian Federal Police (AFP) who does not have a good record performing off shore duties, as in the case of the RAMSI programme in the Solomon Islands and their own internal security programme called the "Intervention" in the Northern Territory.

Are there better alternatives to the ECP for Papua New Guinea? 

Yes there is. Perhaps the one that is catching the most attention at the moment are Regiments of female peacekeepers. The success of using Female Peacekeepers, as the New York Times reports:  

"...the United Nations is intensifying efforts to recruit women for peacekeeping missions that seek to mend what war has wrought.

The theory — which has evolved since pioneering female peacekeepers started participating in U.N. missions in the Balkans in the 1990s — is that women employ distinctive social skills in a rugged macho domain. They are being counted on to bring calm to the streets and the barracks, acting as public servants instead of invaders.

“When female soldiers are present, the situation is closer to real life, and as a result the men tend to behave,” said Gerard J. DeGroot, a history professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland who has written books about women in the military. “Any conflict where you have an all-male army, it’s like a holiday from reality. If you inject women into that situation, they do have a civilizing effect.” 

The Indian approach is perfect for PNG and they could help build a women's paramedical corps to carry on this kind of work after the Indians have gone back to other duties. 

The PNG public is quite weary of Australian neo-colonialism, and the reputation of the Australian Federal Police as a Rigue force. People can also see that after years of AUSAID assistance, there is nothing to show for it in the lives of poor people in urban settlements and in rural villages.

We need a programme that can inspire Papua New Guineans into self help and local action around its own issues.

Charting an alternative path which combines, work towards an improved security situation and engaging with the community through para-medical work is a great idea for Papua New Guinea to consider, if we are really serious about our problems with crime and corruption - and the delivery of health services.


These are good building blocks for local action.