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International Politics and Foreign Policy
- “Marshall McLuhan: the global village”
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1252949571735(opens in a new window)
In this CBC program from 1960, Marshall McLuhan—who coined the term “global village”—is interviewed about electronic media, the shrinking of the world, and the way this affects our view of others. Note that, in a film from over 50 years ago, the host speaks of “electronic man” who can “push a button, and the world is theirs.” “Gadgets” in the “appliance” store may have been a half-century-early reference to modern Smartphones and online retailers. Is the “renaissance man” of the book (“it’s all we used to have”) endangered? The commentary in this video is not that different than today.
- “Migrant caravan arrives at US-Mexico border”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5_B3iYUcOw(opens in a new window)
In this CNN video, Leyla Santiago reports on the caravan of migrants that reached the US-Mexico border in April of 2018, after a monthlong trip from Central America.
- “Fighting at the table: Conflict as successful integration”
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/fighting-at-the-table-conflict-as-successful-integration-1.4183842(opens in a new window)
In this CBC video, Sociologist Aladin El-Mafaalani sees anti-immigrant sentiment, and hate-fuelled politics from a different perspective: a sign that integration is working.
- “Noam Chomsky on the Occupy movement”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2012/jul/06/noam-chomsky-occupy-movement-video(opens in a new window)
MIT professor Noam Chomsky is a prominent advocate against injustice, with a legacy of over 50 years of challenging authority and writing on topics like war, politics, and media. In this guardian.com video, Chomsky discusses the origin and effect of the global Occupy movement. He suggests that the movement is linked to other protests that are decades old, but that it took a different tack than other mass protests.
- “Discovery Channel – End of the USSR Part 1”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g6arFbKZ60(opens in a new window)
Discovery Channel’s documentaries are available on youtube.com. In this first in a series, the end of the USSR is explored in historical and political context. The Cold War pitted the United States and the USSR—along with their respective allies—against each other in rhetorical conflict. Yet that ended “with the stroke of a pen.”
- “Discovery Channel – End of the USSR Part 2”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FS9WYyKN3Y(opens in a new window)
In Part 2 of the series, End of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin’ rise to power is chronicled and with it the reform, and ultimately, demise of the authoritarian state.