The makers of the critically acclaimed film All Governments Lie take us through a timely and poignant trip into the annals of corporate America in The Corporate Coup d’État. Together, White Pine Pictures and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Fred Peabody dissect America at a troubling crossroads, offering piercing insights from journalists, authors, philosophers, and activists on the current state of democracy. Chris Hedges, John Ralston Saul, Maude Barlow, Cornel West and others describe President Trump as a symptom of a broken system where power now lies with corporations, not citizens. Following a successful International festival run in Washington, Bermuda, Toronto, Oslo, Amsterdam, and more, The Corporate Coup d’État will have its broadcast premiere on Super Channel Fuse on August 23, 2019 at 9PM EST.
“It could be argued that we are now in the midst of a coup d’État in slow motion,” argues Canadian philosopher John Ralston Saul who first coined the term in 1995 in reference to the growing control corporations have over our democratic systems. “Democracy is weakening; Corporatism is strengthening; Yet none of us has chosen this route for our society, in spite of which our elites, quite happily, continue down it.”
A democracy should protect its citizens, especially the most vulnerable, but increasingly the United States is failing to do so – now more than ever. This investigative documentary tells heartbreaking stories of the suffering of citizens in “sacrifice zones” such as Camden, New Jersey and the U.S. Rust Belt. In Youngstown, Ohio, the steel industry once flourished, but plant closures and outsourcing have left the area desolate and helpless. It’s here that Donald Trump found some of his most fervent supporters when he, in effect, ran against both parties. Rust Belt voters were fed up after decades of corporate-friendly policies by Democratic and Republican politicians.
“Donald Trump is not an anomaly. He is the grotesque visage of a collapsed democracy,” says journalist Chris Hedges in the film. “The creeping corporate coup d’état that began 45 years ago is complete. It has destroyed the lives of tens of millions of Americans no longer able to find work that provides a living wage, cursed to live in chronic poverty.”
