All language subtitles for Nueva Corporacion

[uplifting
orchestral instrumental]

[relaxed exhaling]

[Wendy] What did
the Enlightenment promise us?

It promised us freedom

on the basis of being able
to think for ourselves,

and thus govern ourselves.

That was really the premise.

That if we were released
from constraints

of myth and tradition...

released to be able to think,
and reason,

and discover what was
true for ourselves...

that that was
the source of our freedom.

But something happened

at the end of the 20th century,

which was this new way

of thinking about society

and human beings as a market.

What does it mean
to rule yourself

if we are all meant
to think of ourselves

as commodities,

and everything is marketized?

What's really tragic
about the economization

of every aspect of life

is that we're really seeing
the Enlightenment dream

come to
a kind of end...

where the mandates
of a financialized society

all but extinguish
the real freedom

to make yourself
according to your own lights.

[relaxed exhaling]

[foreboding
orchestral instrumental]

[narrator]
In the early 2000s,

we made a film, The Corporation.

We argued that large,
publicly traded corporations

are programmed relentlessly
to pursue profit and growth,

and have become the dominant
institutions of our time.

We showed that
the corporation is deemed

by law to be a person

that has the same rights
as human beings,

sometimes even more.

So, we posed the question,

if the corporation
is legally a person...

what kind of person is it?

We analyzed it the way

a psychiatrist would
analyze a patient.

We found his character to be

pathologically self-interested.

Now, with the world in crisis,

climate change,
spiraling inequality,

a global pandemic...

we re-examine the corporation,

how it's changed,
how it's changing our world...

and how it's changing
our very sense of who we are.

?

To begin this story,
we take you back to the 2000s.

At that time,
the corporation was in crisis.

This meeting will come to order.

This is a case of America's
largest corporate bankruptcy.

[narrator] Enron and WorldCom
have collapsed

in corporate scandals
of unprecedented magnitude.

Corporations were
being called out

for malfeasance
that was destroying lives

and the environment.

[eerie percussion music]

Around the same time,

globalization was sparking
worldwide protests

against the growing power

and impunity of the corporation.

And our first film
had just charged

that corporations
are institutional psychopaths.

[John Coyne] I think calling
corporations psychopaths...

absolutely had an impact,

and I can say that for myself.

When... when I had to consume

that particular thought,

that was...

that was interesting,

to use a very soft word.

It was outrageous.

Has it influenced it?
Yes.

Are we on the road to recovery?

I hope... I hope we are.

About 2005, we started to see

many of the world's
biggest branded companies

suddenly making
very sweeping promises.

Promises such as
100% carbon neutrality,

zero waste to landfill,

zero deforestation,
100% recycling.

A real and significant shift.

[narrator] Since that shift,
corporations have mounted

a major charm offensive...

rebranding themselves
and rebranding

the entire capitalist system
as having changed,

having evolved into
something new and improved.

[upbeat,
delicate percussion music]

[John] I think there is
genuinely a different dialogue

that's taking place
about corporations

and the role
that they play in society.

That cult of shareholder value

has seen its day
as the narrow construct

for how companies
operate in society.

[narrator] Wait,
what did he say?

- [high-pitched rewinding]
- That cult of shareholder value

has seen its day
as the narrow construct

for how companies
operate in society.

[narrator] This idea
that making money

for shareholders is no longer

the corporation's only goal,

it's the essence
of the new story,

the story that corporations
now tell about themselves.

[airplane rumbling]

[Klaus] What is the purpose
of the company?

Is it just to make money?

[narrator]
This is Klaus Schwab,

the man who first came up
with the idea

of a new kind of corporation.

Companies recognize

that they have
a special responsibility:

how we combine

or how we blend moneymaking

and social responsibility.

[anticipatory percussion music]

[narrator]
To advance his ideas,

Schwab built the world's most
important annual gathering

of corporate titans
and world leaders.

?

[Sandra] Every year,
Davos in Switzerland

hosts one of the most
important gatherings

of the global super elite.

It's kind of the first stop
in the elites'

yearly migration route.

?

People who are successful
and make a lot of money

are a dime a dozen.

But these are the people
who are the most successful.

[upbeat synthesizer music]

[narrator] But Davos
isn't only a meeting place

for the super elite.

It's also where corporate chiefs

and government leaders
come together each year

to promote the story
of the new corporation...

that corporations
are conscientious now...

no longer greedy and selfish,

but poised to help make
the world a better place.

?

Sandra Navidi
is a Davos insider...

and author of a book

about the world's
most powerful players.

[Sandra] These financial elites
have great power,

and in some instances
this power actually exceeds

those of democratically elected
people or institutions.

[narrator]
This is Jamie Dimon.

He heads the biggest bank
in the United States,

and is a leading voice
for corporate America.

So, the Jamie Dimon reception,

there will be some introduction
to the clients, right?

[narrator]
This is Sanjay Jain,

one of Dimon's top executives
at JPMorgan Chase.

He's advising
a prospective client.

No, but I knew that
we needed to be here

because Davos is the place
where all these people

come together for a week.

It's insane what happens here.

[narrator] And here's
the client, Bibop Gresta.

Hi, Bibop Gresta.
Very nice to meet you.

[narrator] He's looking
for investors in his company

that's developing
a transportation capsule

that travels
at the speed of sound.

[Bibop] Sorry.

I'm sorry. Excuse me.

Hi, it's Bibop Gresta,

Chairman of Hyperloop.

[indistinct chatter]

Oh, good, yeah, I saw
some of your colleagues.

Thank you.
Good luck today.

[indistinct chatter]

[Sanjay] In 2009,

when the financial
crisis happened,

JPMorgan,
and Jamie Dimon in particular,

picked Detroit as the one city

in the entire country
we were going to save.

So, you need to say to Jamie,

"I just want you to know
that we are building

a Hyperloop to Detroit.

We care about Detroit
as much as you do."

- That's it.
- Okay.

- Okay, got it?
- Got it. Got it.

[Jamie] Here he is.
How are you?

[Bibop] Jamie,
thank you for inviting me.

You going to like,
a black tie tonight?

- Well, yeah. They said...
- You just dress like this.

- [Bibop laughing] No, I was...
- I was telling Tony Blair...

- [Bibop] How are you tonight?
- You guys have

- something in common.
- Yes.

[Jamie]
You were in a rock band.

- [Bibop laughing]
- He was in a rock band

before he was Prime Minister.

I don't know what
I was expecting

from a person like Jamie Dimon.

I discovered
a person that installed

a very great culture
inside their company,

they're starting programs trying

to improve society,

creating a special program
for Detroit,

reconstruct it completely,
I wasn't expecting that.

I knew what
you've done for Detroit

and all the efforts
allegedly to save it.

And it's not public yet.

But we are...
we signed a deal with Ohio

to actually build
a Hyperloop to Detroit.

You know,
we are trying to contribute,

follow your example.

Think it's a very
important project.

It's a big, big year for us.

It's exciting.

I'll see you in a couple weeks.

Okay, okay, thank you.
Thank you very much.

[Klaus] Davos is a place
of interaction, of dialogue.

We look at the ecosystem
of what's happening ...

but always with
a sense of responsibility

for us.

And us,
it means not just one country,

not just one person.

I think at the end, we are all

a globally
interdependent humankind.

[looming, anticipatory
synthesizer music]

[Valerie] So, here in Davos,
we debated the motion,

"Is the business of business
still just business?"

And interestingly,
more than 80% said "no."

In today's transformative age,

business has a wider
accountability and opportunity.

We're in a new age
of doing business.

You need to give back.

You need to be
part of the solution.

Society is demanding
that companies,

both public and private,

serve a social purpose.

[Valerie] There is
a new possibility

we can imagine
something different.

It takes courageous leadership,

and it takes people
who get it here,

and who get it here,
and who understand

that life is short and precious,

and if we're in positions
of power and influence,

that we should use that
to help shift the paradigm

and the possibility
of what it means to be

a business on the planet,

and what it means to be
a human being.

[narrator] It all
sounds so good,

this talk of a new
kind of corporation...

in Davos and everywhere else.

For many businesses,

the commitment
to the triple bottom line

of people, profit,
and planet, is real.

The problem is
the capitalist system

as a whole
is not committed to that.

[Elizabeth] There are
CEOs and corporate boards

attempting to do good
in the world.

They clearly are.

But the notion that
there is anything inherently

socially responsible
about a corporation

is a counter-intuitive
proposition.

By law, the corporation
exists for one reason:

to return benefits
to shareholders.

There is no such thing

as corporate
social responsibility.

Corporations
don't have the leeway

to sacrifice shareholder returns

for doing whatever they want

or whatever they believe
is socially responsible.

[narrator] What then do we make

of the corporations' new image...

of the claim
corporations have changed?

Since our last film

the American Psychiatric
Association has added

a new item
to its diagnostic checklist.

[John Browne] You always
have to come back

as a leader to purpose.

Why are we here?
Why are we doing business?

And we want to do business
for the long term.

Values are part
of a purpose of a company.

[narrator] John Browne
is a leading voice

in today's
new corporation movement.

When he was CEO of the world's

second largest oil company,

he professed deep
environmental beliefs

while achieving record profits
and meteoric growth.

You, basically for
the first time,

an oil company executive,
stepped forward to say

global warming is a problem.

It set BP apart.

I think people
are much more convinced now,

at least around the world,

that there is a real case

to take precautionary
action to avoid

carbon concentrations
going to beyond

a critical level
in the atmosphere.

My sense is that John Browne's
concerns are genuine.

His interest
in the environment is genuine.

His concern for workers
and for people's safety,

theoretically, is genuine.

But those desires are just
inherently conflicting

with the need to make money
because turning a profit

for those corporations
is always going to come first.

[man 1 on radio]
I need an ambulance

and EMTs right now!

[man 2 on radio]
There's people trapped

in the trailer, they need help.

[John Browne] In 2005,

when I was CEO of BP,

we had a terrible tragedy.

Fifteen people died

in a refinery explosion
in Texas City.

[news anchor] This is the
second time people have died

at this plant
in less than a year.

In that time, it has been fined

for more than
fourteen safety violations.

[John Browne] All of us at BP
are very deeply saddened

by the loss of life and injuries

suffered by so many people.

After Texas City,
we were at pains,

at pains to say

safety must never be compromised

for financial performance.

We were very concerned

to make sure that safety,
operational safety,

process safety, took primacy.

It's ridiculous for John Browne

to suggest that
he had adequately addressed

process safety in the wake
of the Texas City refinery.

It was less than a year later

his company had
a spill in Alaska

on oil pipelines which,
it turns out,

were not maintained.

[news anchor] Technicians
at Prudhoe Bay

warned it was understaffed,

lacking in routine
maintenance, leak prone,

and vulnerable to explosion.

[Abrahm] There was
a specific decision

to save money
by not running corrosion tests

in those pipelines.

It's the same
kind of thing that led

to the Texas City explosion.

[narrator] Yet BP claimed
it had learned its lesson

from Texas City.

[John Browne]
In 2007 I left BP

and I thought, "This is great.

This company
has got it."

[explosion roaring]

What was so depressing to me

was that yet again,

people died.

And while I wasn't there

and I didn't know
what had happened...

I could see some
terrible echoes of history.

[explosion roaring]

[narrator]
While John Browne had left BP,

some things hadn't changed.

[Abrahm]
The poor decisions that led

to the Deepwater Horizon
echo and track

what John Browne
instituted in the company

a decade or two before it.

John Browne pushed
the largest cost cut

that I've heard of
at any corporation

in any kind of industry,
not just the oil industry.

You can't do that
without cutting corners

on maintenance of equipment,

without pushing timetables.

And that's the culture
that he built.

[soft, pulsating
orchestral instrumental]

When given that choice
between doing good

and doing well for your company,

the fact that
publicly held companies

have an obligation to deliver
to their shareholders,

making those profits will
always be the highest priority.

Those trend lines are just
headed in opposite directions,

and I think they always will be.

?

[Jamie] We are a,
just to make it clear,

a for-profit institution.

- [audience laughing]
- And we are making

an investment in Detroit.

[narrator]
Remember Jamie Dimon

from JPMorgan Chase?

He's the CEO
who wants to save Detroit.

Detroit was devastated
by the 2008 financial crisis.

A third of its homes
were abandoned.

Over the next five years,

it spiraled towards
rock bottom.

[news anchor]
When the 2008 financial crisis

hammered North America,

long suffering Detroit
was hit especially hard.

Detroit is officially
the largest city in history

to file for bankruptcy.

[narrator] After bankruptcy,
Jamie Dimon

and his bank stepped in
with vast amounts of capital.

- Why Detroit?
- So, obviously

it's good for the bank,
but... but it's part humanity,

trying to help your city
and your people

come back and recover
from what had been

basically a terrible 20 years.

[Robert] Jamie Dimon
wants to rescue Detroit,

but what's misleading
is he wants America

to believe that he and,
by implication,

JPMorgan Chase Bank,

are somehow the good guys,

that they are leading us
in a direction

we ought to be
going in without...

without any memory

that he and the bank caused,

in part, a huge recession

that wrecked
the lives of millions,

tens of millions of people.

[reporter 1] At one point,

the market fell
as if down a well.

[reporter 2] The NASDAQ,
everything and more

has been completely wiped out.

[reporter 3]
Three of the five biggest

independent firms on Wall Street

have now disappeared.

[George W. Bush]
Major sectors of America's

financial system
are at risk of shutting down.

[narrator] The 2008
financial crisis

was the result
of corporate misconduct

and reckless speculation.

That malfeasance
nearly destroyed

the global economy.

It cost the American economy

about $20 trillion in terms
of lost housing value,

lost productivity
from the recession.

Millions of people
lost their jobs.

Millions of others were
thrown out of their homes.

People were really hurt.

[woman sobbing]

[newscaster]
The nation's biggest bank,

JPMorgan Chase,
has agreed to a $13 billion

settlement with
the US government

for misleading investors
and mortgage agencies

about the safety
of mortgage backed securities

it sold ahead
of the financial crisis.

That would be the largest
fine ever paid

by a single bank
to settle civil charges,

yet doesn't even resolve
a possible criminal case.

[narrator] But JPMorgan
Chase's caring image

helped mask
its self-interested nature.

[Anand] I think
we have to acknowledge

that as a kind of
private sector propaganda,

it has been
remarkably successful.

[narrator] This is
Anand Giridharadas,

an expert
on how corporate elites

cloak profit making in virtue.

When you have someone
like Jamie Dimon ...

who is running an institution

that paid fines...

for its role in helping to cause

the financial crisis...

that wiped out communities,

we're talking about obliterated

certain communities...

when you have someone like that

who then turns around ...

and says that it saved Detroit,

what's so amazing ...

is this kind of two-step...

that this plutocratic group

has been able to pull off.

You first create conditions

in which people
in a city like Detroit

are shattered
by your speculation decisions.

And then you have the gall

to market yourself
to those folks

as their... as their Christ.

We were here
in the darkest moments

for everybody at all time.

We didn't run, we didn't hide.

And we figure, you know,
if we can help in Detroit,

you can help anywhere.

[Anand] We participate

in this game...

that allows the very people ...

abetting harm to our society,

or actively harming our society,

to reinvent themselves
as saviors.

[audience applauding]

[narrator] But that's
part of a larger game

corporations now play:

making feelgood promises
with bright smiles...

appearing to be different
than what they really are.

[birds chirping]

If the new corporation
had a playbook...

what might it look like?

What would its key plays be?

[eerie orchestral instrumental]

[reporter] I am here
with Bill Gates.

I'd love you
to tell our readers what...

what the heck
creative capitalism is.

Can we take some of the caring

and innovation power,
the resources

of corporations
and get them to focus

more of that
on the needs of the poorest?

[narrator] Bill Gates
put his idea

of creative capitalism to work...

pouring billions
into investments in Africa,

including
a multi-million dollar stake

in a start-up company called

Bridge International Academies.

- Good morning, class.
- Good morning, Teacher.

- [teacher] How are you?
- We are fine,

thank you, Teacher,
and how are you?

[teacher] I'm fine, thank you.

[Shannon] Bridge is a flagship
of creative capitalism.

We serve children
living in poverty.

Even people
who are living in poverty,

they are earning cash.

And they're earning cash
for a reason.

They're earning it
to be able to spend it

on things they need
in their lives.

Five years ago,
my co-founder, Shannon,

and I decided that
an aggressive start-up company

that could figure out
how to profitably deliver

education at a high quality

could radically disrupt
the status quo in education,

ultimately creating
what could be a billion dollar,

new global education company.

Private schools for the poor

is a $51-billion-a-year market

no one's even thought about.

[Angelo] In the Global South,

what we've seen
is the emergence of chains

of schools, for-profit schools,

to compete against
the public education system.

One of the biggest players

is Bridge
International Academies.

Venture capitalists
invest in Bridge schools:

Pearson,
The World Bank, Zuckerberg,

Gates, and the list goes on.

We hear of creative capitalism.

But that's promoting a world

where the market
would dictate terms ...

with respect
to the provision of education.

We take lessons that other

large global
service providers use,

like McDonald's or Starbucks.

We build for scale.
We systematize. We standardize.

We call this
vertically integrated platform.

Our academy in a box.

[Anand] What is so interesting

about this social business thing

is, on the surface,
it seems incredibly noble.

They're saying moneymaking

should not be
the sole goal of a business.

It should also
have a social purpose.

But what it is also saying ...

is that the kinds of change

that we ought to pursue
are the kinds of change

that kick something
back to the winners.

But those interested
financial reasons

are good for the world.

If we succeed in serving
ten million children,

which I know we will,

it's still
only about 1% of children ...

who need improved services
in their government

and community schools.

So, I hope
we not only get there,

but far trans-cede it,
and in so doing,

be a good partner
for our shareholders

and those who've entrusted us
with their capital ...

to try to make a big impact.

[Diane] This is colonialism,
pure and simple.

Fundamentally, Bridge is saying,

"Give us your education system.

We will take care of it."

Public education

is one of the basic commitments

of a democratic society.

Education is not non-political,

it's not apolitical.

You teach a set of values
when you're teaching.

You cannot rely on
Mark Zuckerberg,

Bill Gates, the World Bank

to take over
and provide the education

that you should be
providing yourself.

Bridge is in business.

When you
want to utilize...

poor citizens of this world

as a source of income,

they're making money

out of utilizing
unqualified teachers.

[Shannon] We believe
everyone is a teacher ...

and everyone could be.

There are certain
core skills you need to have.

You've got to be able to read.

Might seem like a low bar,

but you have to start somewhere.

[narrator] It's true.

Bridge Teachers
know how to read.

But they're required
to do little more

in their classrooms
because they follow

scripted lesson plans,

read word for word
from a tablet.

[Shannon]
It's telling you

all of these different ways
to behave:

move away from the board,
circulate in the classroom,

give them one on one coaching.

You cannot have teachers
who behave as robots ...

follow a scripted curriculum
that tells you,

"Walk three steps
to the blackboard,

walk around the classroom."

And that's...

a teacher ought to be
a natural teacher.

From an investment
point of view ...

that because of a tragic failure

of our existing systems,

there's an incredible need
for services

to solve these problems.

People have just kind of said,

"Well, if hopefully
the government will fix it."

But fix it with what?

[narrator] "Government
can't fix problems."

It's a defining idea
of the new corporation...

a key play in its playbook.

And it goes back
nearly half a century.

[Ronald Reagan]
In this present crisis,

government is not
the solution to our problem.

Government is the problem.

[Margaret Thatcher] We believe
that government should be

severely limited

in the way in which they say

that they're entitled to impose

their judgment
on what the people want.

If you look at the real
problems of poverty

and denial of freedom
to people in this country,

almost every single one of them

is a result
of government action.

[Wendy] In the 1980s,
corporations were frustrated

by the limits on profits

that they felt
were imposed upon them

by the combination
of labor unions,

increasing regulation, taxation.

And that combination
of things led to

a kind of rebellion:

one that wouldn't
overthrow democracy

in some overt way ...

but choke it, leash it,

tone it down, and above all,

replace it with markets.

[narrator] Corporations
formed alliances

with governments
they had helped elect,

governments that were
in fact anti-government,

and that happily lifted limits
on corporate freedom.

Profits soared,
but a price was paid,

and not by corporations.

[Marshall] What you get
is this profound

anti-government program

to create deficits
through the combination

of tax cuts
and military spending,

so as to make it impossible

to use government in a positive

and constructive way to deal
with our social problems.

[foreboding chimes]

Mr. President,

on behalf of the business
leaders here in the room,

let me particularly
congratulate you

for the historic tax reform
passed last month ...

greatly reducing
the tax burden...

of US companies,

providing a tremendous boost

to the global economy.

I cannot wait to sign
these giant tax cuts.

It'll be
the largest tax cuts by far

in the history of our country.

JPMorgan Chase,
they just announced earnings,

and they were incredible.

Where... where are you?

They were very substantial.

Will you say,
"Thank you, Mr. President,"

- at least, huh?
- "Thank you, Mr. President"

may be in order,
apparently, he believes

he played a strong role
in JPMorgan's blowout quarter.

Best profit
for any bank ever in history.

[Tim Ryan] Corporate profits
are the highest

they've been in decades.

Fast forward a few months:

global pandemic,
the rich keep getting richer,

and our friends
on the other side say,

"What do we do now?
Let's do a tax cut."

Thirty-six million people
unemployed.

40% of families
who have a worker

that makes
$40,000 a year or less

lose their job last month.

Four million people
didn't pay their rent.

And the Republican Party says

we don't have
any money to help you.

Are you kidding me?

Where do you guys live?

[narrator] And while
corporations lobby for

and profit from
tax cuts at home...

they further avoid taxes
by stashing profits abroad.

[Sandra] The corporate elite
is best positioned

to use the system that
we have to their advantage.

And one manifestation
of that is tax havens.

[narrator] Every year,
corporations squirrel away

billions of dollars
in tax havens.

And when that's combined
with tax cuts...

guess what happens?

Sixty of some of America's
biggest companies

reportedly paid no
federal income tax for 2018,

despite earning
billions of dollars in profits.

This is my first time at Davos.

And uh... and I find it quite
a bewildering experience,

to be honest, I mean,

1,500 private jets
have flown in here

to hear
Sir David Attenborough speak

about, you know,
how we're wrecking the planet.

And I mean,
I hear people talking

the language of participation,

and justice, and equality,
and transparency.

But then, I mean,
almost no one raises

the real issue
of tax avoidance, right,

and of the rich just
not paying their fair share.

We got to be
talking about taxes.

That's it.
Taxes, taxes, taxes.

All the rest is bullshit,
in my opinion.

[woman] Thank you.

Government used to have

a lot of power to extract wealth

in the form of taxes,

and then be able
to use that wealth

for the betterment
of the society as a whole.

But what's happened now is that

we have given
more power to corporations

to control their wealth
and to take it

out of the tax system.

[Anand] So, what happens
as a result of that?

First of all,
companies and rich people

get a lot richer
not paying those taxes

you might have been paying.

Second thing that happens
is the government

has less money.

The government's capacity
is sort of contracted.

And then social problems
start to grow,

in part because
the government has less money.

Now, with that background...

rich people step onto the scene

and say, "Oh, my gosh,
this is a shame.

This situation
we see here is a shame.

We got all these
social problems.

And government, my gosh ...

you know,
the government should be

solving this stuff,
but it isn't.

That is embarrassing.

Well ...

I'm happy
to solve these problems.

But of course,
when we do solve it,

we're going to do it my way.

We're going to privatize
the solution."

[Angelo]
The privatizer's blueprint.

Often also called,
"starve the beast".

You create
a crisis of confidence.

How much money
do we need to be investing

right now in the United States
in water infrastructure?

[Susan] By 2020,
44% of all water infrastructure

in the United States
will be classified as poor,

very poor, or beyond live.

[Angelo] You deny resources
for quality public services.

[Susan] In the 1970s, there were

a lot of pools
of free federal money.

That has really,
no pun, dried up.

[Angelo] And Io and behold,
the answer is privatization.

[Susan] What we believe
is that private industry

is part of the answer,
which is very

consistent with
what the President's plan is.

[narrator]
American Water Works

is one of the world's
largest water corporations.

It takes over
public water systems

and runs them for profit.

And around the world,

there are many other companies

doing the same thing.

[Grand Chief Stewart] It's an
absolutely terrifying notion,

privatization of water ...

moving in exactly
the wrong direction.

Access to potable...

clean, drinking water
is a fundamental human right.

But it's just insidious...

that the corporate mind
could even conceive

or imagine
the notion of privatizing it.

Corporations have figured out
that there are

really big
business opportunities

in these public sectors,

in part because
they've been walled off

from corporate
influence in the past.

The private sector is voracious

in seeking to privatize
almost everything.

First, privatize
government services

as much as possible.

And also, the seizure

and the commodification
of the public commons:

your parks, your public schools,

your streets.

How can we get more money
out of the public commons?

[Diane Ravitch]
The for-profit motivation

is always a very bad reason

for providing public services.

There's a conflict
of interest between

whether you're going
to pay off the shareholders

or whether you're going
to invest in the public system.

Many responsibilities
and obligations must be public

in order to maintain
equal access

to the basic necessities
of life.

A healthy, democratic society

has a thriving private sector

and also a thriving
public sector.

And as we permit the private
sector to encroach upon,

and to literally absorb
the responsibilities

and obligations
of a democratic society,

we lose our democracy.

[narrator] In the rise
of big tech corporations,

it's now accelerating
this process.

For example, in schools.

Not only in Africa,
but elsewhere too.

[Diane Ravitch]
Corporations have decided

that they should
remake education

by using technology.

And they want to have
teacher-less classrooms.

But the teacher
is the single most important

and expensive part of education.

In the tech industry's dream,

if the teacher is removed
from the equation,

then you can
cut costs dramatically.

[Paul] These companies
monopolize everything.

First of all,
monopolize their sector,

and the next thing
is to look where's left.

These giant corporations
are frantically searching

for new sources of profit
because it's drying up.

They say we need to take
the education system,

take the health care system,
take the transport system,

and own it, or we die.

[Anand] Silicon Valley
is the new Rome of our time.

The Valley has become

this extraordinary power center

that has a huge say

over what kind of media
and information we have

in a democracy... over,
you know,

frankly, how many of our
biggest problems are solved,

over how election
campaigns are run,

etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Technology's neutral.

And in many ways it's great.

But there's a difference
between a technology

and allowing a few powerful
players to manipulate it

for their own ends.

So, we've gone
from this wide open world

that opened up
all of these possibilities

for people to create things,
to share information,

to share ideas,

and it has collapsed
into these walled gardens

that are controlled by a few,
very powerful players.

We're seeing Amazon,
for example,

gobbling up every
kind of business in sight.

They're interested in
getting into pharmaceuticals,

and they're making
a big move into food.

They capture about
half of everything

that Americans spend online,

and they're growing into
all these different directions.

They control 35% of the world's
cloud computing capacity.

They're building out shipping
and logistics infrastructure

that is scaled to take on
the Postal Service and UPS.

And increasingly,
they are the intermediary

for all of our smart devices.

Alexa, their voice system,
is 70% of the market.

And on it goes.

They're making investments
in finance, in health care,

hit movies and television shows.

Amazon is increasingly
setting the rules

for what happens
in its marketplace

and pretending like
that's a real market.

But of course, it's not.

You know, that's
a direct threat to democracy,

a very fundamental
threat to democracy.

[narrator] Though
elected by no one,

corporations are now

starting to be treated
like governments.

We're joined now live

by the world's first
ever tech ambassador.

Can I start simply by asking you

what exactly does
a tech ambassador do?

Well, we're basically trying
to treat the technology

and the tech companies
in a way which is similar

to the way we treat
our bilateral relationship

with countries
all over the world.

The value of their stocks
is more or less the same

as the GDP of France,

and we think
that that is being translated

into influence
over political affairs.

We think it is necessary
to treat them in a way

which is similar to the way
we treat other countries.

[Anand] A lot of folks
in the Valley believe

that the companies
they are building

are kind of replacements
of government.

I think if we don't push back

against the kind of agenda

that these companies have,

we're going to live in a world

in which
they are governing us privately

through the profit motive.

But governing us.

?

The deal that the corporations
want from us

is to hand everything to them,

all the value to them ...

and we get
a little bit of utility,

we get usefulness,

it becomes easier to study,

or easier to get to work,

or easier to take a health test.

That is a dangerous deal

because nobody can guarantee

what is going to be done
with the information.

We're handling our data
with no checks,

no balances, no control over it.

I think that's going to be

one of the new challenges
of life in the 21st century.

I'm going to call them

the super social
media corporations,

the entities that really run
our lives right now.

The scope of their reach
cannot be underestimated.

They know everything about us.

Every single aspect
of what we do,

who we do it with,
where we do it, what we buy,

is a goldmine for aggregators.

It lets them mold

their policies
and their products,

predicting how you are going
to live the rest of your life.

They're trying to influence
the decisions that you make

from now to when you die,

so that it will best serve,

ultimately,
the corporate bottom line.

[upbeat synthesizer music]

[Sun-Ha]
Technology provides us

such a seductive fantasy.

Our smartphones,
our data driven systems,

our social media platforms,

they are all designed to conceal

the true cost
of these technologies

to our society as a whole.

Privacy is usually the value

that we use to think
through these issues.

But for me,
it's not about privacy.

It's about control.

The drive to make
data profitable

leaves these companies
to say who we are

and define who we are
to other people.

Let me use a real-life example
of a hiring algorithm.

You'll do an interview,

they'll analyze your video
footage, and they'll say,

"You challenged the status quo.

You are a change agent.

Don't hire this person

because they are more likely

to cause trouble
at work."

As far as the algorithm
is concerned,

you are not a human being.

You are just a collection
of data points.

And this is one of the dangers
that we face today,

because we are now saying

we need to stop
using human reason

and we need to rely more

on these kinds of algorithmic
decision making systems.

[eerie buzzing]

We are increasingly
surrendering our capacity

to rely on human experience

and to trust in each other.

So, the question
that these technologies

are really raising for us

is, what does it mean
to be human?

And this kind of
technology of strangers

is one of the ways
in which we are moving away

from the genuine heritage
of the Enlightenment.

?

[Chris] We're taught
that it is all about me.

Narcissism,
the cult of the self,

the idea that consumption

can somehow help us
overcome our alienation,

make us... important.

[woman] I thought, you know,
what better way

to cure the darkness
than to go shopping?

You know,
help stimulate the economy.

These were all ...

I hesitate the word values,

but these were all consciously
instilled in the public.

It upends traditional
values of thrift...

self-effacement,
communitarianism,

and replaces them
with the values

that we now define
as American values,

but which should properly
be called corporate values.

[eerie synthesizer music]

[Michael] In recent years,
we've drifted,

almost without realizing it,

from having a market economy

to becoming a market society.

The difference is this.

A market economy is a tool,

a valuable and effective tool

for organizing
productive activity.

But a market society is a place

where almost everything
is up for sale.

We are so steeped
in this commodification

that it's hard to distinguish

between being a consumer
and being a citizen.

I'm not a much of a believer
in political citizenship.

I actually believe much more

in the power of the marketplace.

[narrator]
This is Richard Edelman,

one of the world's most
influential business gurus.

[Richard] I think companies
actually have filled a void

left by government.

Business is at the top rank.

Government and media
really are at the back end

of the trust rank.

These are big changes

in reliability of business

as potential good actor.

It's a brilliant strategy.

They're going to present
themselves as good actors,

and use that
as part of their image

and as part of their branding.

When we see a big corporation
doing something,

it creates a sense of hope ...

that maybe we can solve
the climate crisis...

or inequality,
or other kinds of problems.

We maybe even think of their
huge power as being a plus

because we know that the scale

of these challenges are so big,

and we feel so powerless
and frustrated

about the ability
of our government systems

to actually solve them,

that we start to sort of
put our faith in corporations.

But of course,
in the process of doing that,

we're going
further down the path

that led us here.

I grew up in the 1950s,

and at that time
there was a sense

that our society
would continually progress

towards greater equality,
greater opportunity,

that there would continue
to be social mobility

for those at the bottom.

The average pay for a CEO
in the 1950s

was 20 times
that of the average worker.

Today, the average pay of a CEO

is 270 times that
of the average worker.

[Narrator] In some cases,
that gap is much greater.

For example, Jamie Dimon
makes more than 1,000 times

the salary of one of
his lowest paid employees.

[Katie] Mr. Dimon, you're an
expert on financial statements,

and you run
a $2.6 trillion bank.

I went to Monster.com
and I found a job

in my hometown of Irvine
at JPMorgan Chase

that pays $16.50 an hour.

[narrator] This is U.S.
Congresswoman Katie Porter

providing an example
of a hypothetical employee,

a single mother
working as a teller,

at one of Jamie Dimon's banks.

She rents
a one bedroom apartment.

She and her daughter
sleep together

in the same room
in Irvine, California.

That average
one bedroom apartment

is going to be $1,600.

She spends $100...

[narrator] Congresswoman
Porter itemized

typical monthly expenses

and showed they greatly exceed
the employee's salary.

My question for you,
Mr. Dimon,

is how should she manage
this budget shortfall

while she's working full time
at your bank?

I ...

I don't know that
all your numbers are accurate.

That number is a start...
is generally a starter job.

[Katie]
She is a starting employee.

She has a six-year-old child.
This is her first job.

You can get those jobs
out of high school,

and she may have my job one day.

[narrator] But the widening gap

between CEOs and their employees

is just one symptom

of rising inequality
more generally.

Right now in the United States,

the richest country
on the planet,

half of American families

couldn't pay a $400 bill

that landed on their doorstep

without going into debt
or selling something.

That's because
corporate executives

and corporate lobbyists

are constantly able to change
the rules of the game

in the favor of the people

who are already wealthy
and powerful,

making it harder
to form a union,

making it easier
for mega corporations

to shut out competition
from smaller businesses,

slashing the taxes on wealthy
people and corporations,

and shifting more
of the responsibility

on working class people.

[Marshall] The result
is economic inequality.

It's a real moral outrage,

and it can't be dealt

with separate
from race and gender.

We can't really deal with these
inequalities separately

because they're all
so interwoven.

The black and brown people

who are impacted
by police brutality,

women who are impacted

by sexual harassment
in the workplace,

the enormous numbers of workers

who are struggling
with poverty and homelessness,

and all the degeneration
that we see under capitalism

for no fault of theirs.

We're talking about
a global economy

that, for all the wealth
that was generated last year,

a trillion dollars
of that new wealth

went to just 500 individuals.

- I know you have a lot of...
- [Jamie] I'd love to call up

and have a conversation
about her financial affairs

and see if we can be helpful.

[Katie] See if you can
find a way for her

to live on less than the minimum

- that I've described?
- [Jamie] Just be helpful.

[Anand] The 1% and.01%

is a group of folks
who talk an extraordinary game,

and also act
an extraordinary game

of trying to help out
in an age of inequality,

and who are willing to do
absolutely anything to help,

except stepping off the backs

of the working people
of this country

who have been screwed
and... and passed over

by four decades worth of change.

There's a great quote
that was attributed

to Justice Brandeis that said,

"You can have democracy

or you can have large
accumulations of wealth,

but you can't have both."

That wealth gives them
a tremendous amount of power,

both in promoting
our political leaders,

in promoting
a legislative agenda

in every aspect of our society.

If I want to run a campaign
that is entirely funded

by corporate,
political action committees,

is tha... is there anything
that legally prevents me

from doing that?

No.

So, now I'm elected, now I'm in.

I've got the power
to draft, lobby,

and shape the laws

that govern
the United States of America.

Are there any limits on the laws

that I can write or influence?

- There's no limit.
- [Alexandria] So, there's none.

So, I can be totally
funded by Big Pharma,

come in, write Big Pharma laws,
and there's no limits to that

- whatsoever.
- That's right.

Is there anything preventing me

from holding stocks,

say, in an oil or gas company,

and then writing laws
to deregulate that industry,

and potentially cause
the stock value to soar,

and accrue a lot of money
in that time?

- You could do that, yes.
- Okay, great.

I think we've seen
the disappearance

of independent governments

with the rise of corporate rule.

We have seen more and more

takeover of government,

takeover of electoral processes.

The problem
is a corporate system

and a political system

where governments
see their main role

as facilitating
private corporations

to basically do
whatever the hell.

Nothing more
starkly illustrates this

than our Federal Treasurer
picking up a lump of coal

and carrying it
around Parliament House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is coal.

Don't be afraid.
Don't be scared.

[man] The Treasurer knows
the rule on props.

It's coal!

Mr. Speaker,
those opposite

have an ideological,
pathological fear of coal.

Affordable energy is what
Australian businesses need

to remain competitive.

[narrator]
This is Scott Morrison.

He later became Prime Minister.

He heads a group of high-level
politicians with deep ties

to major coal companies.

Take note
of this one: Adani.

We'll return to it later.

What's happening in Australia

is just one part
of a larger global story.

It's become accepted that
corporations are in charge.

Governments
are incredibly subservient

to corporate rule.

In the United States,

we've seen under
the Trump administration,

the wholesale corporate
takeover of government

on a scale
with no historic precedent.

It's beyond the wildest dreams
of the corporate sector,

especially in the area
of deregulation.

I pledged to eliminate

two unnecessary regulations

for every one, new regulation.

We have succeeded beyond

our highest expectations.

Instead of two for one,

we have cut
22 burdensome regulations

for every one, new rule.

I'm willing to bet

that those are made up numbers.

The issue in regulation
or deregulation

is not the number.

I mean, that's really absurd.

What you want to know, you know,

do you want to have
another financial crisis?

Well, if you do,

let's get rid of
the financial regulations.

[Robert] Corporations have
said repeatedly,

"We are responsible now.

We understand
the public interest.

So, we don't have
to be regulated.

We can self-regulate."

Well, they've got an obvious
self-interest in saying that.

The reason
they can't self-regulate

is that that's not
what they're about.

They're about
trying to make profit.

Routinely, when
government regulation fails,

companies in the pursuit
of profit endanger people.

And it's not a hypothetical.

It means people get poisoned,

they get diseases,
they get sick.

Corners will be cut,
people will be injured,

and people will be killed.

We see it over and over again.

[determined electronic music]

[exhaling breath]

[music continues]

?

[music fades]

[Abrahm] Every industry
has fought regulation.

They all resist oversight
by the government

because regulation increases
their cost of operating.

But I've never seen an industry
that's fought it more

than the oil and gas industry.

[rewind cranking]

[explosion rumbling]

[narrator] Remember this?

This, too, was a consequence
of deregulation.

[foreboding orchestral
instrumental]

As a result of the
Deepwater Horizon catastrophe,

nearly 200 million gallons
of crude oil

spilled into the Gulf of Mexico,

making it
one of the worst environmental

and deregulation
disasters in history.

But deregulation
wasn't the only problem.

BP was also recklessly
breaking the law.

And they're not alone in being
corporate lawbreakers.

?

Corporations will certainly
do things

that are wrong,
that are unethical,

if they're legal
and permissible.

And all the empirical
evidence says

that they will also violate
the law routinely,

either intentionally

or because they'll just
go over the lines

if there's profits to be made.

This opioid crisis is a killer.

And it's a killer
that does not discriminate.

[foreboding electronic music]

[narrator]
Lives are being destroyed

as corporations profit
from their playbook moves...

as they play to win.

[Vandana] These corporate
forces have no limits.

And these forces ...

have put the very human
species itself at risk.

?

[Vandana] The giant
ecocidal corporations,

they're literally playing casino

with life on Earth.

Their logic of profits,

their process of profits,

is the death of nature.

[man] Whenever you mess
with nature,

you don't know for sure
what the exact impact will be.

We chop down forests, we bring
livestock into new regions,

and we spread
these new diseases.

We're at the source
of this problem.

[man 2] Major cities
all around the world

are vulnerable to a disease
arriving in the city

and then causing
a major epidemic.

And again, we're seeing that
more and more.

[woman] The rate
at which new disease

epidemics are originating...

many of them moving from forests

and wild species to humans,

is partly because of corporate
invasions into ecosystems,

and violence to animals.

The attack on other species

is bouncing back
as an attack on us.

[newscaster] All of Italy
is now effectively a red zone.

[newscaster 2] Warnings
from Sao Paolo are dire.

[newscaster 3]
In the United States,

disaster has been declared
in all 50 states.

[narrator]
When the coronavirus hit

in the spring of 2020,

it laid bare the unjust
and dangerous fault lines

of corporate capitalism.

[newscaster 4]
African Americans

have been hit hardest
by the virus.

Despite accounting for 14%
of Michigan's population,

they represent 41%
of its COVID victims.

I'm praying that it's not ...

I haven't been in contact
with nobody that has it.

[woman] We got a hospital
COVID, 52-year-old male,

10 minutes out [indistinct].

[man] I'll be honest with you,
I can barely keep track.

This is the culmination
of decades of tilting policy,

tilting public resources,

in favor
of the biggest corporations.

Fewer hospitals,
fewer hospital beds,

less capacity
to be able to respond

in an emergency like this.

[melancholy orchestral
instrumental]

[sirens wailing]

Other systems are also
breaking down right now.

Essential workers, people
who are on the front lines

of getting our groceries to us,

are really putting
their lives on the line

without any kind of real backing

from the companies
that employ them.

This is partly the product
of the absence

of labor protections,
unions, and so on.

What we're seeing
is a continuation of the ways

that corporations
have undermined

ordinary people's ability

to have any say
over their lives.

This is actually
not a crisis full of novelties.

It's a crisis
full of revelation.

For example,
the same, exact dynamic

of the 2008 financial
crisis bailout,

where the most powerful
gained power

as a net result
of those bailouts,

that is literally happening
again, maybe worse.

[narrator] As ordinary
people suffered the despair

and harsh effects
of economic breakdown,

giant corporations
were thrown a lifeline.

[McConnell] Madam President,
I have an update.

At last, we have a deal.

[Alexandria] What did
the Senate majority fight for?

One of the largest
corporate bailouts

with as few strings as possible

in American history.

Shameful.

The greed of that fight

is wrong for crumbs
for our families.

And the option that we have

is to either
let them suffer with nothing,

or to allow this greed
and billions of dollars,

which will be leveraged
into trillions of dollars,

to contribute to the largest
income inequality gap

in our future.

[Robert] Once again,
the very wealthy,

big corporations
did extraordinarily well

over the last year and a half.

They have spent
over a trillion dollars

buying back
their shares of stock

to artificially boost
their share prices.

So that the top executives and
major investors would benefit.

They could have used
that trillion dollars

as a cushion
against the big rainy day,

the storm that we now have.

They didn't.
Instead, they got bailed out.

It's socialism for the rich,
a corporate socialism,

but also the harshest form
of capitalism

for most working people
and the poor.

The crisis has highlighted

that we're absolutely unprepared

to deal with disasters like
what we're facing right now.

And we also have this other
even bigger looming crisis,

which is
the climate catastrophe.

That's not going anywhere.

[Heather]
It's no exaggeration

to say that the greed economy
is killing us.

It's killing off species.

It's depleting
our natural resources.

It's poisoning our people.

A handful of corporations

are allowed to put
next quarter's profits

ahead of the next generation.

When our children
and grandchildren

look back in the history books

and ask the question,

"Why didn't we stop

the crisis
of climate change?"

The only answer
we'll have for them

is that it was profitable
for a handful of corporations

to keep polluting our planet.

[Abrahm]
The changes that we fear

are coming
faster than anybody thought.

The impacts from them
are going to be far worse

than we thought.

It's also going to change
the entire global dynamic

around equality.

The world is going
to divide in ways

that we have a difficult
time imagining now.

We're headed for a world

that sees a protected,
privileged few

surrounded by an immensely
impoverished majority

of the global population.

[narrator] With the impacts
of climate change

now in plain view,

fossil fuel companies
have stopped actively denying

that it's happening.

They have discovered

that a better strategy
for them now,

in the age of active
climate breakdown,

is to charm us all
into believing

that they're part
of the solution,

saying, "Okay, we're going
to invest in renewables.

But meanwhile we have
to keep using fossil fuels

for a long time,

so, we can use lighter fuels
like natural gas.

But we have
to be realistic."

It is impossible,

impossible to displace
carbon fully

for a very long time.

Gas is a very good carbon fuel.

[Abrahm] You have to see this
as one more arrow

in the large quiver
of delay tactics,

and ways to preserve

what's really the core
of their business,

not the core of the best
interest of society.

We need to transition
to the cleanest form

of carbon free energy
as quickly as possible.

If we were to do this
by tomorrow,

it wouldn't be fast enough.

I mean, we'd just be stupid

if we look to the coal

and gas and oil industry

for a clean energy future.

That's not what they do.

They have a business model.

They're going to pursue
that business model

to the end of time.

And they may do that

if we're not able
to control them.

The fossil fuel industry

actually doesn't plan to stop
increasing production

and increasing extraction
anytime soon.

In fact,
they're doubling down on it.

Their goal is to extract

as much as possible

before it becomes
just completely unviable

for them to do so.

[narrator]
The fossil fuel industry

is ramping up new mega-projects.

Some companies
are pursuing profits

from even the dirtiest fuels...

like Adani.

[man] Around 2011,

there were plans
for nine new coal export ports

up and down
the Great Barrier Reef coast.

Adani's proposed Carmichael mine

would be
a 60 million ton a year,

thermal coal mine in the middle
of the Galilee Basin.

[Murrawah] It's the largest
new proposed coal project

in the world

to be 40 kilometers
by 13 kilometers ...

entirely encompassed within
Wangan and Jagalingou country.

[Sam] It is on the doorstep
of the Great Barrier Reef,

an already very stressed
and vulnerable ecosystem.

And what we're going to see

is 500 more coal ships
every year

trudging through a stressed reef

that what scientists
are telling us

is already half dead.

The Adani Carmichael mine
would drive global warming.

It would destroy habitat
for endangered species,

it would destroy groundwater,

and it would disenfranchise
Wangan and Jagalingou,

the traditional owners
of that country.

[Murrawah]
Wangan and Jagalingou,

we're a problem for Adani.

So, they're going to do
whatever they can

to try and get
rid of that problem.

We know that the mechanisms
of the state line up to work

for mining companies
and corporations,

essentially to roll over
Aboriginal people,

to get past us.

The government and the state

and the corporations
devised ways saying,

"Oh, we want to put this mine
in, we just want to do it.

We just want to put
this pipeline in.

And oh, these people
are in our way.

We need to remove them."

[chanting in Spanish]

They use our security,

they use our own Aboriginal
police against us,

they use every means they can.

[Grand Chief Stewart]
To Indigenous people,

it is clearly
a life and death struggle.

That's what you're witnessing
happening around the world.

There's this destructive
corporate agenda

that is completely
out of control.

[rapid gunfire]

[menacing electronic music]

When a society
begins to understand

that that good job
that they had,

or their parents had,
is never coming back...

that they are going to be
working 70 hours a week

and still be consumed
by crippling debt peonage,

that all of their dreams

that Oprah and everyone else
has told them

can come to fruition

are never going to arrive,

and they scream for vengeance
and moral renewal,

and they look
for the internal enemies

that have thwarted
the possibility

of their own aggrandizement.

So, then you turn on
the vulnerable.

You turn on Muslims,

undocumented workers,

homosexuals, feminists,

intellectuals, liberals ...

all of those forces
that you are told

have thwarted the possibilities

that were your right to have.

[Vandana] What you see
is a frustration

that grew
out of economic disempowerment,

turning into a new wave of hate.

There's no question
that a lot of people

around the world have a feeling
that we've lived in this age

that is incredibly
abundant in innovation

but short on progress,
if progress means

most people's lives
getting better.

I'm right wing
and I'm proud of it!

[people cheering]

[Anand] It's only
a matter of time

before... people

want to shatter the system.

[man on radio]
You must disperse now.

Riot police
will be used in this area.

There's no guarantee
when people rise up

to shatter a system whether
you get Medicare for All

or a wall
on the southern border.

[crowd chanting] Build that
wall! Build that wall!

Build that wall!
Build that wall!

[Marshall] It's akin
to the fascist movements

of the 1920s and '30s

where the alienated
can feel a sense of empowerment

by identifying
with the great leader,

often in these big rallies.

I mean, it really is like
snapshots out of the 1930s,

this kind of politics of hatred,

and reaction, and division.

[Nick] Donald Trump...
wasn't the problem.

Donald Trump was
the symptom of the problem.

The problem is a breakdown

in the social cohesion
that makes democracy

and civil society possible.

And that breakdown
in social cohesion

in turn was created by 40 years

of rising economic inequality,

by the evisceration
of the middle class.

Collectively,
the nation lashed out

by electing the candidate
who was lashing out, too.

Go fucking make
my tortilla, motherfucker!

And build
that fucking wall for me!

Trump!

[Wendy] This angry,

right-wing eruption

completely agreed

with the free market
fundamentalism

of this new order,

and represented themselves

as a people whose whiteness,

whose traditional values,

whose Christianity,
whose nativism,

should be at the heart

of the country's concerns.

Let them call you racist.

[woman translating into French]

Let them call you xenophobes.

[woman translating into French]

Let them call you nativist.

[woman translating into French]

Wear it as a badge of honor

because every day we get
stronger and they get weaker.

Parts of the population
are actually leaning

towards strongmen:
Donald Trump.

The large part
of the Turkish population

is supporting Erdogan,

or we're seeing it
in Hungary with Orbán.

We are proud to stand together
with United States

on fighting against
illegal migration,

on terrorism,

and to protect and help

the Christian communities
all around the world.

[Michael] All of these
right wing regimes

represent a continuation
of privatization

of the destruction of welfare,

the undermining of labor units,
et cetera.

Unchained by the kinds of
restrictions

that workers' rights posed,

or that environmental
protections posed,

more than even structures

for providing
for the poor posed.

So now,
corporations have freer reign.

Money has replaced the vote.

America is dominated

by a system
of legalized bribery.

Our three branches of government

are wholly captive
to corporate power.

So, you have corporate forces

that purport to pay fealty
to electoral politics,

the Constitution,
the iconography

and language
of American patriotism,

and yet internally

have rendered
the citizen impotent.

I don't think that you can ...

honestly grasp
the forces we're up against,

including the unraveling
of the ecosystem,

and not be filled with despair.

The greatest
existential crisis of our time

is to at once understand
the reality before us

and then find
the capacity to resist.

[ethereal chiming]

[Micah] So much of our lives
is about the stories

we tell ourselves.

And corporations have done
a very effective job

at defining
the limits of possibility

and defining
what we can expect out of life.

So, if we believe that we are

in a dog-eat-dog world

and it's a patriarchal machismo
view of reality,

then that constrains
how we act and how we behave.

Social movements are created

out of a contagious mood
and a new tactic.

Part of what
that new tactic does

is it wakes people up,
and part of what that mood does

is gets them to dream again.

[narrator] In 2011,
mass movements for change

swept across the globe
in the aftermath

of the 2008 financial crisis.

There was
the cycle of struggles,

sometimes called
the Movement of Squares.

It starts in Tunisia ...

and passes to Egypt.

Passing then across
the Mediterranean to Spain.

[people chanting in Spanish]

to Greece...

before it finally arrives
at Zuccotti Park

in the United States.

And what were
these movements about?

They were really
about the demand

for a new kind of democracy.

During Occupy Wall Street,
we suddenly thought,

"What, We can have
a democracy in this country

that's not run by corporate
finance capitalism?"

Be like,
"That's amazing," you know?

And the moment was so ripe
that within 24 hours,

activists in New York City
took up the idea

and ran with it.

[crowd] Resurrect democracy!

[Micah] These movements
were a kind of refusal

of corporate culture,
consumerism,

and that was their essence.

[crowd] Of New York City.

[narrator] The Occupy movement

quickly spread
from Zuccotti Park

to cities across
the United States.

And then the world.

[upbeat synthesizer music]

[Kshama] The Occupy movement
captured the feeling

that ordinary
working people had,

that when the recession
happened in 2008,

the very banks that had caused
the financial collapse

were the ones being rewarded,

and the rest of us
had got sold out.

[Robert] What was
so important about Occupy

was to crystallize
the public anger.

Occupy did that

and put an explanatory narrative

around the 99% versus the 1%.

[man] We're just trying
to figure out a way

that we can change this system,

an economic system
that is fundamentally...

fundamentally misaligned
in the corporate interests,

and against
the peoples' interests.

And that's all we're doing.

[weapons firing]

[man] Hey, back up,
back up, back up.

[man 2] What happened?
What happened?

[man 3] He was shot.

[indistinct yelling and talking]

Occupy Wall Street
was a constructive failure,

but it taught us
something very important.

We need to pair protests
with gaining sovereignty,

which means either
pairing protests

with winning elections,
or pairing protests

with winning wars.

And you can choose
as an activist.

I would advocate elections.

There's only so many times
you can have

teargas fired into your face

and get hit over the head
by a police baton

or be dragged off to jail.

And after a while, you say,

"You know,
we're going to do something

at the level
of politics now."

But all those movements
face the challenge:

What do you stand for?

Are you actually
going to challenge

the power of corporations?

This is what the 2020s
will be about.

[upbeat chiming
percussion music]

[newscaster] We turn now
to Seattle, Washington,

where a former
Occupy Wall Street activist

is being sworn in today
to the City Council.

We have shown
that it's possible to succeed

as an independent, grassroots,

openly socialist campaign,

not taking any money
from big business.

This moment belongs

to that way of organizing.

Kshama becomes
the first socialist

elected to...
to the Seattle City Council

since the early 20th century.

Her signature issue was

$15 an hour minimum wage.

[Kshama] There were
courageous workers

of McDonald's
and other fast food outlets

who went out
on a one-day strike.

"$15 and a Union"
was their slogan.

[narrator] On the 15th
of May 2014,

thousands of fast food workers
flooded the streets

of 150 U.S. cities,

striking to demand
a $15 minimum wage,

better working conditions,

and the right to form a union.

[Kshama] We organized
ordinary people:

Workers,
rank and file union members,

and activists
who wanted to fight for $15.

If you're actually going to be
true to the movement,

if you're going to be
accountable to all these people

you claim to represent
once you're elected,

it does require you
to take a bold

and strong stance against
the corporate politicians.

If they are not on your side,

then you have to fight
against them.

You're duty bound.

After over a billion dollars

of taxes that Amazon
owes to the IRS,

they now get a break

of $789 million.

[man] Her campaign
wins so many supporters

that Seattle becomes
the first major city in America

to adopt $15 an hour
minimum wage.

And that starts the ball rolling

as more and more
cities across the nation

have followed
the example of Seattle.

[Kshama] If you empower workers
by giving them

a better standard of living,

it's not going to stop there.

It raises their sights,

the confidence
of working people,

towards a different
kind of society.

You don't need
a PhD in economics

to know that your life sucks
under capitalism,

and we've got to build
a movement to fight for it.

[crowd] Four more years!
Four more years!

Four more years!

[narrator] In 2019,
Kshama Sawant

was elected to a third term
on Seattle City Council,

despite Amazon spending
$1.5 million

to try to unseat her.

[breath exhaling]

[Juan] Kshama was pioneering

the new urban renaissance

starting around 2013,

and '14 especially,

a whole new movement developed
of grassroots organizations

from various movements
that then united

to elect for the first time,

representatives of their
perspectives into office.

You had a whole wave of people,

all of whom were
not expected to have a chance.

All of them are running
on more or less

the same platform
that income inequality

is the moral issue of our time.

And they were not just
part of the U.S. movement.

But you had Sadiq Khan,

the first Muslim elected
to the mayoralty of London.

You had Anne Hidalgo,
a leading environmentalist

and socialist of Europe,

winning the mayoralty of Paris.

Carmen Yulin Cruz,

the mayor of San Juan,
Puerto Rico.

And you had
Ada Colau in Barcelona.

[door thumping and cracking]

In the wake of the mortgage

meltdown worldwide,

there were thousands
of Spanish homeowners

being evicted from their houses
by international banks,

and Ada Colau begins to lead

a resistance movement
of the homeowners.

Fundamental
rights are non-negotiable!

It was a very tough fight

to stop home evictions and
force the banks to negotiate

with these families so
they could keep their homes

or, at a minimum,
not to have a debt for life.

Why are you doing this?
We're not criminals!

This is our home!

We will stop this eviction!
We will stop this eviction!

[Juan] Through mass protests
and civil disobedience,

she gains a name for herself

as a defender of the homeowners.

The Platform for People
Affected by Mortgages (PAH)

has stopped the eviction
of a family

that was to take place this
morning.

Nobody's coming in here!

The President of the
bank can make decisions,

and until he arrives,

we're not leaving.

We encountered an
existing government

that had colluded with
the financial interests,

the banks,
and big corporations -

many of us asked ourselves,

maybe it is
necessary to step forward

and regain
control of the government.

and recover what is ours.

Many of us
wondered if the moment

had arrived to
launch a political candidacy,

to make politics a
more democratic process

than what it had been before.

Thank you!

[rhythmic clapping music]

I came to be the first
woman mayor of Barcelona.

With our arrival to city hall

all the elites in
power saw us as intruders

we had the
telephone numbers of no-one,

absolutely no-one
that was representative

of the city's economic power.

[Juan] What's different
about this movement

is that
the progressives have seen

the necessity
to actually capture office.

Then also
once they get into office,

they've understood the necessity

for continuing to be connected

to the grassroots movements
that got them there.

Barcelona is now the leader

fighting against home evictions,

more than any other government
institution in all of Spain.

We are the city that invests
the most in social programs

in the entire country.

[narrator] In 2019,

more than 200 leading thinkers

and activists endorsed
Colau's bid for re-election.

"Barcelona has become
a beacon of hope,"

they wrote,
"proving that we don't

have to be afraid of standing
up to corporate power,

that there is another way
of doing politics

that puts people
at the center."

Colau was re-elected mayor
in June 2019.

[upbeat percussion music]

Seeing the documentary,
The Corporation,

it opened my eyes.

[narrator] This is
Chris Barrett.

He appeared in our first film,

featured as one of the first

corporate-sponsored
college students.

[Chris] I saw Tiger Woods on TV

with a hat
with a Nike logo on it.

And we figured, you know,
he probably gets like,

millions of dollars
just to wear the hat

on a press conference.

And therefore, we figured

we can do that for someone else,

and hopefully get money in turn

so we can go to school.

You guys were poking fun at us,

but we were 18-year-old kids.

Seeing The Corporation,

my... my mind
just, like, kind of exploded.

It was just like,

I had never been exposed
to this mindset before.

I was having lunch
with my grandfather

and I asked him, "Who should
the Democratic nominee be?"

And he told me at the time

that Bernie Sanders
looks pretty good.

I went home and I researched

Bernie's platform and I realized

that internally, like, I align

with a lot that Bernie says.

This great nation

and its government belong
to all of the people

and not to a handful
of billionaires.

[crowd cheering]

[Chris] And I got connected
to Grassroots for Sanders.

They offered me a position

of Assistant Fundraising Manager

where I could be able to do

the fundraising asks on Reddit.

[upbeat, melodious
synthesizer music]

We were able to raise
over $10 million

directly to Bernie Sanders'
campaign.

Some of the field offices,

people would come
through the door

and they would say,
"How do I get involved?

I have never
voted in my life."

One of Bernie's messages

after he lost
his presidential run

was that local people
could take back the power

and we could run for office.

I met a local
political organizer

in my town of Collingswood.

He was putting together a slate
of progressive candidates.

I thought that was
a brilliant idea.

It was exactly
what Bernie wanted us to do.

And I signed the form,

and we were running for office.

I don't think
when I was out there

getting a corporate sponsor
that I realized

that in 16 years
I would be an elected official

in New Jersey.

I'm going to stay on this path
and I'm going to continue

down this political route
until we have

the progressive party
of the future.

Historically,
progressive movements

were more interested about
building power in the streets,

which is an important thing,
and they kind of neglected

running for office.

I think now, progressives
are starting to see

the nature of power,
where it lies,

and the reason
to contest for it.

Now we have
thousands of people saying,

"Hey, I want
to run for office."

It's common to say, you know,

that the Sanders' campaign
failed.

I think that's a mistake.

I think it was
an extraordinary success,

completely shifted

the arena of debate
and discussion,

issues that were unthinkable

a couple of years ago

are now right
in the middle of attention.

[narrator]
The Sanders' campaign

took to the larger
political stage

the kind of politics
being practiced

by local politicians...

like Sawant, Colau,

and Barrett:

electoral politics interwoven
with grassroots activism.

[Noam] Some form
of green New Deal is essential

for the survival of humanity.

Now it's part
of the general agenda.

Why?

Activist engagement,
young people,

they receive support

from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

and other young legislators

who came into office

as part of the Sanders inspired

popular wave.

I think the next
wave of revolutions

really is going to be
this kind of strange thing

where we wake up and we're like,

"Oh my gosh,
there's this social movement.

They're in the streets,

but they're
running election campaigns?

They have candidates?
And they're winning?"

[upbeat synthesizer music]

[narrator] Whatever
form it takes,

change always begins
with organizing.

2018 is going to be the year
that we take the toxic,

stultified politics
of climate change

and turn it on its head.

And it starts
with stopping Adani.

[Sam] Our aim
is to move the world

away from fossil fuels
as fast as possible.

The Wangan and Jagalingou people

have a different struggle,

which is to protect their land

and to win land rights.

[Murrawah] Adani has tried
to rip our people apart.

It's actually brought
our people together as well.

And we've been
able to think about

what is our alternative future?

What do we want to build?

And it's not
extractive industries

that governments
and other corporations

would like it to be.

What we set out to do

is support a whole range
of organizations

and individuals to work
together to achieve

much bigger change
than any one organization

could achieve working alone.

We want to lose control

of as many people as possible

headed in the right direction.

[John] We figured
that the only way

we could really stop the project

is stopping
them getting financed.

[Sam] Yes, they need
the permits and the approvals,

but Adani also needs money.

[narrator] Both stop Adani,

and the Wangan
and Jagalingou people

pushed to halt funding
of the Adani coal mine.

[Murrawah] We met
with some of the largest banks

in the world and said,

"You need to acknowledge
that any investment

in the Adani Carmichael
coal mine

will be a breach
of your obligations

to us as the Indigenous people
who have said no."

Within a month,

Standard Chartered
came out publicly

and said
that they would not be giving

any money to Adani.

That was after ...

they had already given them
$680 million.

[narrator] The two
campaigns together

succeeded in stopping funding
from all banks worldwide.

Then they won again,

blocking the Australian
government's attempt

to fill the gap
with a $1 billion loan.

It was a huge victory for us

because we were told
it was something

that couldn't be done.

[narrator] Adani
and his government allies

continue their push
for the mine to go forward.

And yet
not a single lump of coal

has been mined to date.

The resistance continues.

[Murrawah]
All of my life

I have been told

who I am through stories
about the people

that I come from.

Without their resistance
and their resilience,

I would not be here.

It's come down to me.

And I refuse to be
the broken link in the chain.

[John] The fight
over the Adani coal mine

has become a symbol
whether corporations

can continue to ride roughshod

over the wishes of the community

and create a future

that is in their
financial interests alone,

or whether the community

actually can build
enough power to say,

"No, that is not
the future we want.

We want a safe future

with a safe climate
for everybody."

[pensive electronic music]

There is this global network.

There's a big fight
brewing in Argentina

against fracking corporations,

against coal expansion
in South Africa

and the Philippines,
in India and Poland.

There's campaigns
against pipelines in Canada:

Kinder Morgan, Keystone XL,

the fight at Standing Rock.

[Kukpi7 Judy]
Our Indigenous people

have been on the front lines
way before my time.

It's about the land,
the water...

our inherent jurisdiction
as caretakers of Mother Earth.

[Grand Chief Stewart]
But it's not just

an Indigenous struggle.

It's a struggle of humanity.

We need to come together

to push back
the corporate agenda.

All people, all races

are beginning to realize
we're in this together.

[crowd] We will rise.
We will rise.

You cannot un-ring a bell.

Our civilization
is being sacrificed

for the opportunity

of a very small number of people

to continue making
enormous amounts of money.

We have not come here

to beg world leaders to care.

You have ignored us in the past

and you will ignore us again.

You have run out of excuses
and we are running out of time.

We have come here
to let you know

that change is coming,
whether you like it or not.

The real power
belongs to the people.

If we are
really wanting to address

the deep problems
of social, racial,

and gender injustice
in our society,

then we need to think
of lessons from history.

[Michael] One thing that's
remarkable is just that ...

people keep struggling.

That in the worst situations,

people always fight.

Even when you thought...

nothing was possible,

you look
at the political situation

and think how bad it is,

then something beautiful
and inspiring comes out.

[upbeat rhythmic
orchestral instrumental]

[narrator] In the spring
of 2020,

the world shut down.

But people's hearts opened wide.

?

[sirens wailing]

[bells jangling]

One of the most beautiful
things I've seen

during the crisis
is the way workers

in a variety of sectors

have refused.

Have refused to go along

with putting workers in danger.

Amazon workers striking,

FedEx workers walking out,

but also health care workers
put in dangerous situations.

This foresees
the kinds of struggles

that will emerge
from this crisis

that confront the inequalities
of this economy.

[Stacy] The pandemic
has revealed

that there is broad support

for the idea that we need
to contain corporate power...

so that we live in a society

where we reinvigorate democracy,

where we have
a sense of the public purpose,

and that we're not
simply at the mercy

of a few corporations

that increasingly run our lives.

[Robert] This can change
the way people think

about the system.

We owe one another

certain things,
certain minimum things.

That's been lost
in the last 40 years

of deregulation
and privatization

and the corporate takeover

of our political culture

and our political system.

[Kshama] It is starting
to dawn on society

as a whole that we're not

going to go back
to the old normal.

There's no such world

because the pandemic
has revealed

that the system is incapable

of addressing
even the most basic needs

of our society.

[narrator] Then, as this film
was being finished,

George Floyd
is brutally killed by police.

A flashpoint
that ignites an uprising.

[newscaster 1] Thousands
took to the streets,

demanding justice
for George Floyd.

[newscaster 2] The death
of a Black man pleading

that he can't breathe,
as a white officer

was kneeling on his neck.

Justice! Now!

Black lives matter!

[Keeanga-Yamatta]
Imagine how angry, desperate

you would have to be
to come out and protest

in the historical pandemic

that has had
a disproportionately

horrendous impact

in Black communities.

Take your knee off our necks!

[crowd] Take your knee
off our necks!

[William] The [indistinct]
just trying to breathe

because of the weight
of poverty on our neck,

and the denial
of health care on our necks.

Because what's happening is,
metaphorically,

the whole culture's saying,
"We can't breathe."

[narrator] Despite sometimes
brutal police repression,

the protests grew

and began to target
broader injustices

and distorted priorities.

[woman] Look at the gear

and the equipment that they have

compared to hospital workers

dressing themselves
in garbage bags,

being forced to use
the same N95 masks

for weeks at a time.

[narrator] The protests
quickly became

about more than racist policing:

confronting the echoes

of corporate capitalism's
racist past.

Capitalism is racial capitalism.

The industrial revolution,
which pivoted

around the production
of capital,

was enabled by slave labor
in the U.S.

[crowd cheering]

[newscaster] There are
calls to rethink

who we choose
to honor from our past.

Monuments to men
who were once honored,

now viewed
by a new generation as symbols

of racism and colonialism.

[William] People are
protesting because they know

it don't have to be like this.

People only protest what
they believe can be changed.

If folk didn't protest,

that meant
we really would be in trouble.

[woman] I don't believe
these are just protests

against police brutality.

We're seeing the convergence
of a class rebellion

with racism at the center of it.

I believe without a doubt

that change will come
from this protest.

It is not just Black people.

[William] We can't be
the same coming out of this.

Too many people are suffering.

We must make
our political system respond.

We must do it
in our deepest moral

and [indistinct] traditions.

But it must not be weak.

It has to be strong.

It has to last for an election

and beyond an election.

[breath exhaling]

There is a whole
new spirit out there

that's saying, "500 years
of colonialism is enough.

200 years
of corporate rule is enough.

200 years of the building

of a fossil fuel age
is enough."

I see people who are waking up
to the realization that,

no, you don't go start an app

if you want to change the world.

You actually try
to change the world and de-rig

a rigged system.

And in a moment like this,
if you're not working

at that level
on those kinds of things,

you have to really ask yourself,

"What was your role
in this moment in history?"

We've been here before.

We've been at a place
where my ancestors

were bought and sold for profit.

We've been at a place

where people routinely died
on the job,

and over time,

movements of ordinary people
have broken the chains,

and have held corporations

and powerful people accountable,

and changed the rules
so that more people

can flourish
and feel truly free.

I think we are
in the midst of another one

of those movements right now,
where a lot of people

all across the world are saying,

"Enough is enough."

[breath exhaling]

[upbeat electronic music]

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