Join us for a screening of The Ransom followed by a Q&A with film director Rémi Lainé in conversation with former chief foreign correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph Colin Freeman.
The Ransom dives into the secret system of Kidnap & Ransom, designed by major insurance companies in response to the 30,000 kidnappings committed every year around the world. International insurance companies have created kidnap & ransom, ultra-confidential contracts that are experiencing an unprecedented boom. Following a pending case in Venezuela, The Ransom, filmed in Africa, Europe and the USA, features insurers, negotiators and ex-hostages who speak out for the first time.
With exclusive access to leading hostage recovery agents, The Ransom reveals the cat and mouse games employed to bring a hostage out alive.
By following a few central characters in this interconnected world – often expressing themselves for the first time – The Ransom questions the price of one man’s life and reveals the impact of this vast global organisation on countries with a heightened risk of kidnapping such as Venezuela or Somalia. By emphasising prevention and increasing protection devices, aren’t we just increasing the vulnerability of those who don’t have the means to protect themselves?
“and the price of a man’s life has been determined by the price of things” (Saint-Just)
]]>On July 5th the Frontline Club will be screening in collaboration with The Tax Justice Network – Michael Oswald’s and John Christensen’s new film, ‘The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire’.
The Spider’s Web’ is a documentary film that shows how Britain transformed from a colonial, to a global financial power. At the demise of empire, City of London financial interests created a web of offshore secrecy jurisdictions that captured wealth from across the globe and hid it behind obscure financial structures in a web of offshore islands. Today, up to half of global offshore wealth may be hidden in British offshore jurisdictions and Britain and its offshore jurisdictions are the largest global players in the world of international finance. How did this come about, and what impact does it have on the world today? This is what the Spider’s Web sets out to investigate.
With contributions from leading experts, academics, former insiders and campaigners for social justice, the Spider’s Web reveals how in the world of international finance, corruption and secrecy have prevailed over regulation and transparency, and the UK is right at the heart of this.
Join us post-screening for a panel discussion with some of the creators of the film and leading financial experts.
Chair: Oliver Bullough. Oliver is an award winning investigative journalist and chair of all the Kleptoscope nights at the Frontline Club. Bullough writes extensively for the Guardian on topics of tax evasion, dirty money and money laundering. Before this, Bullough lived in Russia working primarily for Reuters and has written extensively on the country.
Speakers
John Christensen: John is the co-producer of ‘The Spider’s Web’ and Chair of the Tax Justice Network. He is a former economic advisor to the government of Jersey. His research in offshore finance has been widely published.
Dr Abby Innes: is the Assistant Professor of political economy at the LSE European Institute. Before her PhD, Dr Innes worked as a political analyst in the Office of the Government, Czechoslovakia; as Assistant to the General Secretary of the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry and as a researcher for the Policy Studies Institute.
Will Snell: from Tax Justice UK, is a newly launched sister organisation of the Tax Justice Network, but also independent from it. Focused on the UK, it’s just released an analysis of general election political party manifestos from a tax justice perspective http://www.taxjustice.uk/
http://www.taxjustice.uk/
Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uM2cdhfAGA
Run Time: 1 hr 19 minutes.
You can get a sneak preview of the film and hear an interview with the director Michael Oswald in the Taxcast, the Tax Justice Network’s monthly podcast: http://www.taxjustice.net/2017/05/24/britains-second-empire-may-2017-tax-justice-network-podcast/
Listen to the Guardian Audio: Offshore in Central London, the curious case of 29 Harley Street, by Oliver Bullough here: https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2016/may/06/offshore-in-central-london-the-curious-case-of-29-harley-street
Over the past five years the economic crisis has focused attention on capitalism and its shortcomings. Secret City uncovers the hidden history of the institutions at the heart of the crisis in the UK. The film investigates the power wielded by the Corporation of London and exposes the secret governance of the City of London through which London’s position at the centre of global finance is sustained.
Against the backdrop of the London Occupy protests, directors Lee Salter and Michael Chanan expose the inner workings of the City. The history of London is recounted by Maurice Glasman; Robin Blackburn explains key aspects of the City’s economic history; David Joel of Kings Court Galleries presents the growth of London through historic maps; Doreen Massey considers the relationship of the City to the metropolis; and we are taken on a City tour by Occupy LSX tour guide Liam Tailor.
Secret City engages with the different narratives that connect to the City through a range of London imagery, including rarely seen archive footage, and extracts from two films about London by independent filmmakers: Anthony Simmons’ ‘Bow Bells’ (1954) and William Raban’s ‘About Now MMX’ (2010).
Directed by Michael Chanan
Written by Lee Salter
Duration: 72’
Year: 2012
By Nicole Hunt
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meets in Vienna on Monday, with Iran likely to be high on the agenda following last week’s report expressing increased concerns over ‘undisclosed nuclear related activities’ in the country.
Bouthaina Shaaban, political adviser to Syrian President Bashar al Assad, is in Moscow, where she is scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and hold a press conference for international media. Shaaban was one of three Syrian officials slapped with sanctions by the US Treasury Department at the end of August.
The African National Congress is expected to wrap up disciplinary proceedings against controversial ANC youth leader Julius Malema on Tuesday, having recently moved the hearing from the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House to an undisclosed location in Johannesburg following violent protests last week. Malema is accused of bringing the ANC into disrepute and sowing divisions within ANC ranks after he encouraged the overthrow of Botswana’s government.
In Brussels, the OECD publishes its annual Education at a Glance report, analysing the education systems and performances in member states. For the first time, this year’s report also looks at education in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg hears a complaint on Wednesday brought by four people who say they were illegally deprived of their liberty without justification while they were held in a police ‘kettle’ during the 2001 May Day protests in London.
In New York, the UN Security Council holds a debate on drought-stricken Somalia, where security issues have compounded problems as aid struggles to get into the country and people struggle to get out.
Parliamentary elections take place in Denmark on Thursday. Recent polls say Helle Thorning-Schmidt could be the country’s next Prime Minister, as her opposition Social Democrat party looks poised to win the most seats.
A court in The Hague is due to rule on Apple’s application to ban sales of Samsung’s Galaxy phones. A temporary injunction banning sales and distribution throughout much of Europe was issued on 11 August, but is not due to come into effect until 13 October.
Following debates this week in several European parliaments on new powers for the European Financial Stability Fund, European finance ministers begin a two-day meeting on Friday.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague holds a confirmation of charges hearing for Callixte Mbarushimana, a former UN employee charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009. Mbarushimana is alleged to have been the executive secretary of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and directly responsible for at least 32 deaths in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide while still employed by the UN, but has never been charged.
Libyan schools are scheduled to re-open on Saturday, with a brand new curriculum devoid of Gaddafi-era subjects such as the Green Book.
At the Dead Sea in Israel, photographer Spencer Turnick stages another mass nude photoshoot, hoping to bring awareness to the fact that the famously salty lake is drying up.
The week wraps up with state elections in Berlin, the sixth in Germany this year. The regional elections have generally proven disastrous for Angela Merkel’s CDU party, which has suffered losses country-wide to the Social Democrats, a trend that many expect to continue into the 2013 federal election.
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