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Our film for
February was a killer!
 On Sunday 10
February SPRING
presented:
The documentary follows
British Journalist, Comedian and Activist Mark Thomas on his journey to
Latin America to find out about how Coca-Cola operates in that region.
From advertising to paramilitary death squads acting at the behest of
the real thing, Thomas documents some well known, but nonetheless
shocking facts about a gruesome cycle of murders, kidnappings and
torture of union leaders in Latin America. As well as this he
details Coke's Nazi connections and the reasons behind the creation of
Fanta. He looks at advertising and media strategies employed by the
company and takes the Coca-Cola-Pepsi challenge.
As Thomas
is one of the wittiest, most entertaining and funniest comedians on
television combining humour with the genuinely shocking to
ruthlessly expose the immorality and corruption of politicians and
their corporate bosses everyone who attended had a great time.
The evening began with the main feature followed by exerpts from one of
Thomas's stand up shows in which he berates Coca-Cola. While
participants from the UK rocked with laughter at most of what Thomas
delivered and members of the audience from other English speaking
countries enjoyed the repartee, it was somewhat difficult for Japanese
and speakers of other languages to follow everything that Thomas had to
say given cultural differences pertaining to humour and social
references. This didn't spoil the atmosphere however, as many Japanese
participants commented on the humour and expressed their surprise that
Thomas regularly appears on British television and was even popular! It
was noted that nothing approaching the level of critique that comedians
like Thomas present in their performances sees the light of day on
Japanese TV.
The purpose of showing the stand up section was to lighten the
atmosphere and to openly mock the corporate establishment while at the
same time drawing the audience into a sense of frivolity before
Thomas's finale, which brought everyone down to earth with a bump as he
talked about a trade union leader and his family being killed by death
squads a few weeks after he had been with them making his documentary
"On Coca-Cola". The ploy had the desired effect and an interesting and
engaging discussion followed where new participants and old exchanged
views on Political Economy, Capitalism, consumer choice and boycotts,
union busting, the power of advertising, the legal defintion of a
corporation and a host of other topics. Needless to say the most
important aspect of the event was that a message that activism in
tandem with political theory is essential if people are to begin to
challenge the corporate world effectively.
Overall everyone who attended got something positive from the event!
If
you are interested in attending a Film & Discussion session
watch this space! In addition scroll to the bottom of this page for a
brief note on the basics.
Please
note that anyone is welcome to attend our film and
Discussion events
regardless of their political persuasion, except for fascists and those
who espouse racist views.If you'd like to come
along, events are usually on the 2nd Sunday of the month at the same
location in Shimokitazawa.
Usually, a short introduction to the group is given to newcomers and
then a brief introduction to the film follows. After the film there is
a 10-15 minute break after which open democratic discussions follow
once a chair has been appointed. Everyone gets the chance to speak and
to learn from one another.Participants are from a variety of
backgrounds with different political viewpoints and differing degrees
of
knowledge and experience.
If you're interested in social,economic and political issues in general
or want to become an activist of some sort, then this is a good place
to meet people-
everyone is friendly and
welcoming!
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