Our dear friend and fellow monk Radha-Vallabha Dasa (Christopher Timm) is inches away from finishing his excellent documentary film "Today We Have The Power", a look at the bridge between social activism and spirituality via the issues and events of the famous/infamous 1999 WTO Seattle demonstrations.
How he traverses those last few inches depends on your generosity and mercy.
Using the website Kickstarter, he is trying to raise $11,500 to fund his post-production work. As of right now, he has raised $3779 through the help 0f 43 generous backers.
He has until June 1st to reach his goal, and the unique nature of Kickstarter is that if you don't raise your full funding, you don't get any of it. It's an all-or-nothing system designed to really "kickstart" the fundraising.
As some of you know, Radha-Vallabha is a supremely dedicated soul and this film is his heart's work. We sincerely pray you can help him to reach his goal. Any donation is kindly appreciated and reciprocated.
The Kickstarter page where you can donate
http://todaywehavethepower.com/ (The film's website)
"Today We Have The Power" on Facebook
Here's more about the film below:
Today We Have The Power is a feature documentary that delves beneath the mayhem and madness of the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, examines the economic and social issues that brought people to Seattle, and then dives into the spiritual crisis at the root of the problems. The goal of this film is to facilitate conversation about the connection between activism and spirituality that many people have come to see as essential for our societies progressive evolution.
For one week in 1999 the sight of Seattle police brutally attacking ordinary American citizens that came to protest the World Trade Organization transfixed the world. The story most people remember is that a peaceful protest was disrupted by a small band of masked anarchists intent on violence, forcing the police to intervene.
Ten years later, people still don't know why unprecedented numbers of people from all walks of life came to protest the WTO. Ten years later most people still don’t know what the WTO actually is. The blasts of tear gas, rubber bullets and shattered windows may have obscured the reasons for the protests, but the reasons for the clash have not gone away: denigration of human life, species extinction, environmental destruction and social decay remain the heavy tolls we pay for the way we have gone about globalization.
Now in 2011, the Seattle protesters seem like prophets, as the effects of globalization continue to take their toll on our world. But still missing in the public discussion is the strong belief held by many that at the real problem—and the solution to it—is not an economic or political issue, but a spiritual one.
Today We Have the Power challenges us to consider the deep spiritual issues at the core of these events. The film achieves this by drawing out the spiritual angle from the people engaged on all sides of the Seattle WTO protest event, who reiterate and expand upon the eternal spiritual truth best expressed by Mahatma Gandhi: You must become the change you wish to see in the world.
The film features interviews with David Korten, Norm Stamper (former Chief of Police in Seattle), Mike Moore (former Director-General of the WTO), Vandana Siva, Jagadish Bhagavati, John Zerzan, Tom Goldtooth, Sister Catherine Pinkerton, Radhanath Swami and many more.
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