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Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream
Memory of the Camps
Sixty years ago, in the spring of 1945, Allied forces liberating Europe found evidence of atrocities which have tortured the world’s conscience ever since. As the troops entered the German concentration camps, they made a systematic film record of what they saw. Work began in the summer of 1945 on the documentary, but the film was left unfinished.
FRONTLINE found it stored in a vault of London’s Imperial War Museum and, in 1985, broadcast it for the first time using the title the Imperial War Museum gave it, ‘Memory of the Camps.
Watch the full documentary now
Slavery: A 21st Century Evil
Stepping into the lives of men and women who until recently were slaves demands the softest of treads.
The experience of being enslaved – forced to work for no pay, often under the threat of violence and with no hope of escape, burns deep and leaves wounds which take a long time to heal.
From impoverished and often illiterate Thai farmers to women forced into prostitution; from men tricked into servitude in Brazil’s brutal charcoal industry to entire families trapped as bonded labourers in Pakistan’s feudal brick kilns; we met and filmed dozens of slaves for this series.
Food Chain Slaves. It is a nation built on the abolition of slavery, but there are at least 40,000 slaves in the US today. In the opening episode of Slavery: A 21st Century Evil, Al Jazeera’s Rageh Omaar investigates food chain slavery in the US.
Sex slaves. There are an estimated 1.4 million sex slaves in the world today and international trafficking is on the rise.
Bonded Slaves. It is a form of slavery that is passed down from one generation to the next, enslaving millions.
Child Slaves. There are at least 8.4 million child slaves in the world today, many of them held as forced labour.
Charcoal Slaves. Poverty-stricken men from the north of Brazil are often lured to remote camps where they are used as slave labour.
Bridal Slaves. In the midst of widespread poverty, fueled by economic inequality and rampant corruption, a new form of slavery – bridal slavery – has flourished in India. Women and young girls are sold for as little as $120 to men who often abuse them.
Prison Slaves. Over the past 20 years China has become the world’s biggest exporter of consumer goods. But behind this apparent success story is a dark secret – millions of men and women locked up in prisons and forced into intensive manual labour.
Bonus: Al Jazeera slavery debate. Luis C d’Baca from the US State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons; Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves; David Batstone, president of Not for Sale; and Joy Ezeilo, UN Special Rapporteur for Trafficking in Persons.
Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 3 hours, 42 minutes)
Extradition
Extradition is a film that explores the injustices of the Extradition Act 2003 through the suffering of two individuals and their families.
Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmed held without charge can be extradited according to the European Court of Human Rights. They have been held without charge for over 14 years collectively.
The court concluded that “there would be no violation of the applicants’ rights if extradited to stand trial in the United States”.
These men have been let down by the British justice system and now face being incarcerated in one of America’s toughest prisons. It may be four more years before these men face trial in the United States all the while they will be kept in Prison.
These men are UK citizens; they were born in this country and paid their taxes in this country. There is not enough evidence to charge these men in Britain.
The UK police have admitted that they have not seen the bulk of evidence seized from Babar’s home but it was instead sent to the US authorities and which now forms the bulk of the indictment against Babar and Talha.
Watch the full documentary now
Renegade Jewish Settlers
Israeli settlers have been slowly nibbling away at Palestine’s West Bank territory for four decades.
300,000 setllers now occupy outposts that range in size from plywood shacks to full-blown suburban housing complexes.
Their abundance has grounded the much-ballyhooed two-state solution to a halt.
VICE correspondent Simon Ostrovsky travels from Tel Aviv to the remote West Bank outposts where young Israelis squat for the sake of their heritage.
But first, Simon pops in for some quick counter-terrorism training with a member of Israel’s Special Forces, just in case.
Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 35 minutes)
Sex Crimes and the Vatican
Created in 1962, a now infamous document was issued in secret to bishops. Called Crimen Sollicitationis, it outlined procedures to be followed by bishops when dealing with allegations of child abuse, homosexuality and bestiality by members of the clergy. It swore all parties involved to secrecy on pain of excommunication from the Catholic Church.
This document was reissued in 2001 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and sent to all bishops. Yet rather than ordering more openness and cooperation with the authorities as demanded by both law enforcers and the victims, he reiterated its policies and ensured that the Code of Silence be applied to all cases of child abuse involving a priest. Cardinal Ratzinger also instructed that all cases should now be referred to his office directly and that he would maintain ‘exclusive competence’ over the handling of allegations. This is the Catholic Church’s policy to this day and Cardinal Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI.
The policy laid out in the above document has led to systemic failure by the result that a significant number of priest have, in effect, been allowed to abuse again, and further children have been put at risk.
As the documentary explores, Colm O’Gorman is the man responsible for breaking open decades of abuse by Catholic Priests in Ireland in the BAFTA award-winning BBC special Suing the Pope. He links international ‘systemic evidence’ to argue the Vatican has a policy to cover up the sexual abuse of thousands of children across the world.
In Sex Crimes and the Vatican O’Gorman explores four separate cases internationally of widespread clerical abuse, putting the Roman Catholic Church on trial for the reckless endangerment of children. O’Gorman raises the question, ‘Is the Church in default of its obligation as a signatory to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child?’ (Excerpt from news.bbc.co.uk)
Watch the full documentary now
America’s Prison Problem
The US locks up more people than any other country in the world, spending over $80 billion each year to keep some two million prisoners behind bars.
Over the past three decades, tough sentencing laws have contributed to a doubling of the country’s prison population, with laws like the ‘Three Strikes and You’re Out’ mandating life sentences for a wide range of crimes.
Why does the US put so many people behind bars and what lies behind California’s new push for leniency? But a clear sign that Americans are rethinking crime and punishment is a voter’s initiative on California’s November ballot called Proposition 36 that seeks to reform the state’s three-strikes law.
Some 27 states have three-strikes laws patterned after California’s version, which was one of the first to be enacted in the country.
Activists who are campaigning to change the three-strikes law in California are also trying to raise awareness about conditions inside prisons. They are targeting the use of special security units at maximum security prisons
Watch the full documentary now
How to Get Away with Stealing
This short documentary looks at how easy it is to make fake passports and scam the rich into trusting you with thousands of dollars.
If the fraud industry were its own country, it would have the fifth strongest economy in the world, just ahead of the UK.
Meet the fraudsters who’re making a killing from the fastest growing crime on Earth.
VICE showcases the British fraud industry and the unapologetic mindset of the type of people who turn to that life to make a living.
It’s interesting to see it from their perspective, but it’s nothing short of violating to know that these are the types of people who think identity theft, credit damage and stealing are viable ways to make a living.
Watch the full documentary now
