Jared Diamond – How Societies Fail-And Sometimes Succeed – Long Now Foundation

Jared Diamon is a captivating and articulate speaker whose are ideas are a type of common sense that just makes sense, even without the countless hours of research. From the description:

Jared Diamond articulately spelled out how his best-selling book, COLLAPSE, took shape.

Black Power – Pandora’s Box

With a fairly interesting premise for an educational show, this episode of Pandora’s Box focuses on Kwame Nkrumah’s plans for Ghana after colonialism. From the description:

A look at how former Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah set Africa ablaze with his vision of a new industrial and scientific age. At the heart of his dream was to be the huge Volta dam, generating enough power to transform West Africa into an advanced utopia. But as his grand experiment took shape, it brought with it dangerous forces Nkrumah couldn’t control, and he slowly watched his metropolis of science sink into corruption and debt.”

I especially enjoyed the hindsight from active participants of both sides; the businessmen from the West betray profit-motivated decisions, i.e. importing raw materials for the Akosombo Dam instead of building the infrastructure for fear of nationalization, and the former government officials provide a glimpse into the dissapointment of not realizing a quick African rising.

Democracy, Governance, and War in Oil-Exporting Nations

A very indepth panel discussion at the University of Chicago on the state of oil-exporting nations.

Africa Addio

Africa Addio is a controversial film shot in 1964 about the process of European decolonization in Africa. An edited version was released in the United States titled Africa Blood and Guts (sounds right), but a more direct translation is “Farewell Africa.” I personally feel that this Italian documentary is just as intriguing and well-shot as that other Italian documentary from the 1960’s, the Battle of Algiers.