Connie Field

¡Salud!

Connie Field

A timely examination of human values and the health issues that affect us all, ¡Salud! looks at the curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country with what the BBC calls 'one of the world's best health systems.' From the shores of Africa to the Americas, ¡Salud! hits the road with some of the 28,000 Cuban health professionals serving in 68 countries, and explores the hearts and minds of international medical students in Cuba -- now numbering 30,000, including nearly 100 from the USA. Their stories plus testimony from experts around the world bring home the competing agendas that mark the battle for global health-and the complex realities confronting the movement to make health care everyone's birth right.

Have You Heard From Johannesburg: Hell Of A Job

Connie Field, Connie Field

ANC Deputy President Oliver Tambo escapes into exile and embarks on what will become a 30-year journey to engage the world in the struggle to bring democracy to South Africa. With resistance inside South Africa effectively crushed by the brutal apartheid regime, the fate of the liberation struggle is now in Tambo's hands. He first finds allies in the newly independent countries of Africa, and with their collective strength behind him, he approaches the U.N. for support, insisting that the apartheid government can be forced to the negotiating table if the Security Council will sanction and isolate the regime. But the western powers refuse to act, forcing Tambo to search for new support. He successfully petitions the Soviet Union for help in building a guerilla army, a decision that lands Tambo in the vice of the Cold War and haunts his global efforts for years to come.

Have You Heard from Johannesburg: The Road to Resistance

Connie Field

This first story in a six part series covers almost twenty years of history. It is a story of escalating violence and repression, one nation on a collision course with the rest of the world. When the United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, South Africa marches in the opposite direction and begins to implement a series of laws segregating its people by race in every aspect of life, prompting the non-white majority led by the ANC to protest. The non-violent movement picks up supporters all over the world, starting first with a network of Gandhites in Britain, Sweden, and the United States. But Apartheid hardens in the face of this resistance. By the fateful year of 1964, Nelson Mandela is jailed for life, and the entire leadership is forced underground, imprisoned or killed. The movement is effectively shut down in South Africa as hundreds escape into exile.

The Whistleblower of My Lai

Connie Field

An examination of one incident in one man's life: Army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson and his discovery and exposure of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

Have You Heard from Johannesburg: The New Generation

Connie Field

It is youth, both inside and outside, who next join the growing movement against apartheid. Buoyed by new support in western countries, Oliver Tambo returns to the United Nations to try to convince the world body to sanction South Africa. His efforts gain new public support as the brutal suppression of a youth uprising in the South African township of Soweto and the murder of freedom fighter Steve Biko turn South Africa from a country into a cause, a worldwide emblem of injustice. A significant victory is won when the United Nations issues a mandatory arms embargo: the first in history. But South Africa's strongest trading partners in the West still will not sanction it economically. and as Tambo heads to Zambia to minister to the ANC's growing guerrilla army, a bloodbath seems inevitable. But even as the most powerful western governments refuse to heed Tambo's calls for cultural and economic boycotts, the citizens of those western nations will help turn the tide.

Have You Heard from Johannesburg?: Apartheid and the Club of the West

Connie Field

This story traces the complex and fascinating drama of the anti-apartheid movement in one of South Africa's most important allies, the United States. The US is a key battleground, with African-Americans at the center of the struggle. The campaigns take place in boardrooms, universities, embassies, and finally in the US Congress itself, where a stunning victory is won against the formidable opposition of President Ronald Reagan. African-Americans, for the first time in history, have turned the tide and altered the direction of US foreign policy. The US, once the backbone of support for the apartheid regime as her ally in the Cold War, finally imposes sanctions on Pretoria. This is part 4 of a 6 part series on the global anti-apartheid movements, stretching from 1946-1990.

Freedom on My Mind

Marilyn Mulford, Connie Field

In 1961 Mississippi was a virtual South African enclave within the United States. Everything is segregated. There are virtually no black voters. Bob Moses, enters the state and the Voter Registration Project begins. The first black farmer who attempts to register is fatally shot by a Mississippi State Representative. But four years later, the registration is open. By 1990, Mississippi has more elected black officials than any other state in the union.

Have You Heard from Johannesburg?: Nelson Mandela, Free at Last

Connie Field

In the final story of this six part series, we switch perspectives, taking viewers into the heart of the conflict as our South African characters tell the story of the most important non-violent effort in the anti-apartheid campaign -- the mass movement inside South Africa. The country is in a permanent crisis as it tries to convince the world of the merit of its piecemeal reforms and to win allies internally. The regime struggles to suppress open revolt, at times using savage secret tactics The protest climaxes in a fierce campaign of defiance. Meanwhile, Nelson Mandela becomes a household name as the campaign to free him ignites a worldwide crusade. Caught between international campaigns that succeed in both politically and economically isolating the Apartheid state, and an unstoppable internal mass movement, the regime is finally forced to the negotiating table. After twenty-seven years in prison, Nelson Mandela is released, triggering a global celebration.

The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter

Connie Field

Documentary about women's experiences of labour, in factories, mines and dockyards, in the USA during the second World War and how it affected their work and career aspirations once they were encouraged to give up such employment in peacetime.

Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine

Kamel El Basha, Connie Field

Ramzi Maqdisi, Georgina Asfour

An African American gospel choir is the Greek chorus for a Palestinian play on Martin Luther King, Jr. which tours the West Bank, preaching nonviolence. The devoutly Christian choir grew up in churches strongly allied with Israel. On their first trip to the Holy Land they witness the harsh realities of life under occupation, a nonviolent movement for justice, and an assassination. Our story is a unique view of a crucial human rights conflict. Mixing the excitement of foot-stomping gospel music and creative theater it reveals the power of art to communicate, heal, and give voice to communities living in fear. It is a cultural exchange of immense depth and far-reaching implications, where, during the course of the journey, people's preconceptions are radically changed.

Forever Activists: Stories from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Connie Field

Interviews with seven American veterans of the Spanish Civil War who fought for the Loyalist cause during the war and went on to live lives of activism.

Have You Heard from Johannesburg?: The Long Walk of Exile

Connie Field

In part two of this six part series Oliver Tambo is sent abroad to run the ANC after it is banned in South Africa in 1960. This episode traces Tambo's efforts to bring the injustice of apartheid to the world's attention. He insists that the apartheid regime can be brought to the negotiating table if the governments would sanction and isolate South Africa, which economically and culturally depends on its links to the western world. Major allies are found, most notably the nations of Africa, and the governments of Sweden, Norway and the Soviet Union. The ANC's efforts are boosted in South Africa by the Soweto uprising and the murder of Steve Biko. South Africa becomes more than a country; it is a cause, a worldwide emblem for injustice. A major victory is won: a United Nations mandatory arms embargo, the first in history. But no one will sanction South Africa economically and by the time the story ends a bloodbath seems inevitable

Have You Heard from Johannesburg: From Selma to Soweto

Connie Field

Long one of South Africa's most important and powerful allies, the United States becomes a key battleground in the anti-apartheid movement as African-Americans lead the charge to change the government's policy toward the apartheid regime. A grassroots movement to get colleges, city councils, and states to divest their holdings in companies doing business in South Africa spreads across the entire nation pressuring the U.S. Congress to finally sanction South Africa. This stunning victory is won against the formidable opposition of President Ronald Reagan. African-Americans significantly alter U.S. foreign policy for the first time in history. European sanctions follow, and with them, the political isolation of the apartheid regime.