Dispatches goes undercover to investigate allegations that behind closed doors, Muslim secondary schools teach a message of hatred and intolerance. in some of the 2,000 Muslim schools in Britain run by Islamic organisations.
The programme also follows up allegations that, teachers regularly assault young children.
The programme is presented by reporter Tazeen Ahmad.
(First broadcast, Channel4, 14th Febuary 2011).
Fusion centers -- places for state, local and federal officials to share and analyze information -- sprang up at the local level in the wake of the post-9/11 complaints about the failure to "connect the dots." In 2003, the federal government began contributing funding; to date, the Department of Homeland Security has provided more than $420 million in funding to 72 fusion centers across the country, but some localities have funded additional centers.
Fusion centers are built upon the idea of cops on a beat -- local authorities will recognize potential threats to their communities and feed the system with intelligence about possible terrorists. But critics charge that the imperative to gather as much information as possible can lead to abuses and misinformation that can get into national databases.
Here is a map of state-level fusion centers, click on a point to learn more.
In an extraordinary alliance of TV and cinema, John Pilger's new film, 'The War You Don't See', opened in the UK mid-December. Having premiered at The Barbican on Tuesday 7 December 2010, the first Pilger film since 2007 started its UK run at Curzon Soho in London on Sunday 12 December. On Tuesday 14 December, ITV1 broadcast 'The War You Don't See' at 10.35pm. The film is available to watch on the ITV website until 14 January 2011 (UK users only).
The new film is a powerful and timely investigation into the media's role in war, tracing the history of 'embedded' and independent reporting from the carnage of World War One to the destruction of Hiroshima, and from the invasion of Vietnam to the current war in Afghanistan and disaster in Iraq. As weapons and propaganda become even more sophisticated, the nature of war is developing into an 'electronic battlefield' in which journalists play a key role, and civilians are the victims. But who is the real enemy?
John Pilger says in the film: "We journalists... have to be brave enough to defy those who seek our collusion in selling their latest bloody adventure in someone else's country... That means always challenging the official story, however patriotic that story may appear, however seductive and insidious it is. For propaganda relies on us in the media to aim its deceptions not at a far away country but at you at home... In this age of endless imperial war, the lives of countless men, women and children depend on the truth or their blood is on us... Those whose job it is to keep the record straight ought to be the voice of people, not power."
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