New Videos

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  Ten Years of mediaburn.org

  July 6, 2016 at 4:00 am / Blog

  July 2016: Celebrating ten years of Media Burn online It’s been ten years since we launched mediaburn.org. Since then, our videos have been viewed in almost every country in the world, by more than 13 million people. This photo was taken on July 6, 2006, at the newly unveiled Cloud Gate (“the Bean”) sculpture at Millennium Park as our core group prepared for the official launch of mediaburn.org, which was nearly three years in the making. Top row: Jesse Weinberg, Judy Wallenstein, Russell Porter, … Continue reading →

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  Rostenkowski on Politics 101

  June 29, 2016 at 1:55 pm / Blog, Rostenkowski

  “The game is compromise. That’s politics.” -Dan Rostenkowski This month The Atlantic published an article titled “How American Politics Went Insane,” diagnosing the cause of the pervasive political disintegration in Washington, D.C. as “chaos syndrome.” Joining the choir of complaints about the chaos undermining American politics, the author, Jonathan Rauch, offers a new tune: “Our most pressing political problem today is that the country abandoned the establishment, not the other way around.” Rauch contends that in the course of reforming … Continue reading →

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  What’s Uptown?

  1981-01-01 / Chicago Collection

  A look at Uptown in 1981 from the point of view of the everyday people who live and work in the neighborhood. In addition to on-the-street interviews with working class people about their opinions on their neighborhood, the documentary also spends a significant amount of time talking to gang members. The footage in mostly in color, although a few sections are in black & white. Continue reading →

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  Love Wins

  June 24, 2016 at 2:00 am / Blog

  “That is what I think family values are all about. Love.” -Studs Terkel This Sunday, June 26th, marks the one year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling, Obergefell vs. Hodges, which guaranteed the fundamental right to marry to same-sex couples throughout the United States. This decision is the culmination of decades of activism, and is an important moment for human rights, especially for the couples and families directly affected all across the country. Throughout June, gatherings, marches and protests occur across the … Continue reading →

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  [Unknown performance]

  Chicago Collection, Kartemquin Films, Outside Agitators, Roots of Video

  Fragments from what appears to be some sort of staged performance. The footage is sparse and cuts in and out, sometimes with loud feedback noises. Continue reading →

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  A Gary Tape

  1971-09-16 / Chicago Collection, Kartemquin Films, Outside Agitators, Roots of Video

  An organizing workshop led by activist Staughton Lynd at Indiana University Northwest on 9-16-71 to discuss organizing around tax policy and investigating grocery pricing in Illinois and Indiana. A month earlier, President Richard Nixon had issued an executive order freezing wages for 90 days. In response, supermarkets were pressured to suspend price increases, although this group felt they were not adhering to this promise. Continue reading →

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  The Mother #1

  Chicago Collection, Kartemquin Films, Performance, Roots of Video

  Footage from a performance of an English-language version of the Bertolt Brecht play “The Mother.” This performance appears to be at a smaller theatre, with very minimal set and prop design—many of the setting details are conveyed by the chorus saying the scene’s expository text out loud in unison. This tape contains the first four of the play’s fourteen scenes. Continue reading →

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  Dave Meggysey, tape 2

  Chicago Collection, Eclectic Sports Collection, Kartemquin Films, Roots of Video

  A talk by Dave Meggyesy, an American football player turned union organizer and author of Out Of Their League, an autobiographical look at football that was critical of the sport’s dehumanizing aspects and pro-capitalist values. In this tape, Meggyesy gives specific examples of the ways in which he feels organized sports in America dehumanize people, and also answers some questions from the audience. Continue reading →