Darcus in Davos C4 Tonight

Auguste | 22.08.2001 13:15

Darcus Howe, self proclaimed "Devil's Advocate", is proving to be one of Britain's most incisive commentators. His current series "Slave Nation" will cast a critical, sympathetic eye on the recent action in Davos; Channel 4, Wedensday, 21:00.

Last week, Darcus looked at three strata in Britain, one self employed, one middle management and the employees at "Egg" finance. He concluded that all three were in fact modern slaves every bit as oppressed as his own ancestors (Darcus is from Trindad). The only difference is that while the slaves of former times were aware of being exploited, our modern examples were not, least of the all the woeful "Egg People" as the company insists they be called(did they never hear Lennon's song, I wondered ?). Darcus went even further. It is not so much the amount of money these people accummulate for themselves, but how much they generate for OTHERS. This, stated simply, is Marx's critique of "Surplus Value" (akin to profit, but more abstract). Clever Darcus. Watch tonight, for its sure to be as good...

Auguste

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

darcus is the man

22.08.2001 15:45

I reckon darcus is one of the few saving graces of mainstreammedia when it comes to politics. especially now mark thomas has gone. where is he?

tommy

On tour.

22.08.2001 19:25

I believe he is on tour.
If you go to Undercurrents web page you'll see a link for him there.
It'll also have news about his show too.

dee

A couple comments

22.08.2001 22:19

Don't forget John Pilger...

I saw Darcus tonight and thought the show was great. Darcus is a very intelligent, articulate and passionate man.

I think these sorts of shows (Pilger, Howe, etc.) could contribute greatly to helping sway public opinion on Globalisation/anti-Capitalism. Therefore, I think it would behoove us all to try to publicise these shows as much as possible to all our colleagues and acquaintances.

After all, this is a battle, first and foremost, for people's minds.

Thing A

Davos

23.08.2001 02:18

Yeah it was pretty good, as were the other 2 Slave Nation programmes, but they should have shown some of the actual protest! Believe it or not, despite all the police harassment there was a sizeable demo.

Lemming
mail e-mail: avlemming@hushmail.com

indeed!

23.08.2001 10:02

Yeah, agree with lemming here, great show in many ways, but he could have shown the demo that actually happened and he could have put in bigger recent demo stuff, so it didn't seem quite so pessimistic about our sides ability to take them on...but all in all a good show - the cracks are definatley beginning to appear...

noel
mail e-mail: noel@desiderium.org

Free Darcus!

23.08.2001 12:03

Yes, he could have shown more footage of the protests and i was surprised when the show ended without any but perhaps it was an editoral decision. They could have shown the footage of that girl forcing a police line backwards in prague using the power of dance, but they didn't.

Perhaps he just wanted to give his own angle, on his own experiences. The footage of balaclava'd armed police goons hijacking a bus where the most lethal weapon was a potato gun will stick in my mind for a long while.

I bet it was a real eye-opener to the uninitiated.

townie
mail e-mail: cant_cope@hotmail.com

dissenting voice

23.08.2001 15:42

I thought it was pretty disappointing, especially after the previous one. quite a few non-political people I know watched the Egg People programme and thought it was great.
I agree with his assertion about having to fight to maintain your freedom, but Davos means very little to most people, even though the world leaders that gather at such summits make decisions that rebound on all of us. this is the main problem, as I see it, with the anti-globalisation movement - most people do not make the link to their own lives. surely a programme like this should have tried to make these links rather than just (rightly) talking up the courage and conviction of the protestors.
In contrast the previous programme showed the very obvious psychological slavery/conformism/self-destruction caused in the modern workplace - something anyone can identify with.
That said it is one of the best things I have seen recently.
Maybe they should put Darcus in The Office!

Tom

I think this documentary will be repeated

24.08.2001 14:44

Check the latest TV guide when it comes out. Darcus' documentary may be repeated about 4AM (Tweety bird breakfast time!) on Monday.
Set the VCR or get the coffee ready!

P Layton

I think this documentary will be repeated

24.08.2001 14:45

Check the latest TV guide when it comes out. Darcus' documentary may be repeated about 4AM (Tweety bird breakfast time!) on Monday.
Set the VCR or get the coffee ready!

P Layton