Knowledge Network Documentary about privatization of mother earth. Stars a couple of scholars and is brought to you in full colour... *
Some call it a winner-take-all opportunity. Others call it the exploitation of scarcity in its most extreme form. This program challenges big business’s alarming rush to commodify the world’s common resources—things as basic to life as drinkable water and human genes. Proponents of the common good square off against promoters of "business as usual," speaking out on controversial issues including exporting water from Canada, creating hybrid crop seeds and imposing their use on farmers, patenting the BRCA1 gene sequence, fighting against the free dispensing of generic versions of patented HIV medications, and drafting international trade agreements that create negative precedents that override existing environmental laws. (53 minutes)*
A documentary by Carole Poliquin
Just as God created the World in seven days, today the All Powerfull Businessman is intending to
sell it -in seven days. His ultimate goal: to declare the Total Market.
Using an effective parody of the "Voice-Of-God" documentary style, the film shows the consequences
of the world is submission to private interests: a Canadian farmer is sued by Monsanto because
patented seeds brought by the wind were growing in its fields; traditional knowledge is being patented
in India; American people without insurance are denied healthcare, businessmen want to sell the
Canadian fresh water to the highest bidder while thousands of people in the world are desperately
needing it... etc.
Can the human community survive if all elements essential to life (water, healthcare etc.) and all
elements forming the very basis of life itself (genes) become commercial goods? Will human rights
prevail on corporate private profits?
http://www.lesproductionsisca.ca/en/films.htm
see also: Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine (2007) *
