25 years ago I got together with some friends and made a documentary about the international banking and financial system and the protests against them. Breaking The Bank Someone has digitized it, now you can watch it online. I’m curious what folks today, especially the nostr bitcoiners in 2025 think of it.

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kinostr's avatar kinostr
Breaking The Bank (2000) image After a string of popular protests in Seattle against the World Trade Organisation in 1999, tens of thousands reemerged to challenge the International Monetary Fund and World Bank at their April 2000 meeting in Washington DC. Once again, media activists were on the spot to provide the non-corporate coverage you just won’t find anywhere else. Breaking the Bank provides an informative background on the history and impact of the IMF and World Bank, and features extensive coverage of the events in Washington against the powerful organisations that are killing the planet. #documentary #kinostr #documentaries
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Trivium's avatar
Trivium 4 months ago
I'll give it a watch it tonight....
Just watched the first 30 minutes of this and there's two things that immediately come to my mind in regards to bitcoin. First is that it starts with people occupying a physical intersection. In contrast, today protests have for the most part moved online. We'll comment and repost our outrage, but most people - particularly in bitcoin - rarely take to the streets. The idea is that bitcoin will help you escape this system, so many don't see a need to protest. This is good for the exploiter class, because it doesn't actually make life uncomfortable for them. Second, it's that raging against the IMF and World Bank used to be a socialist cause. Their protests were an act of solidarity for others who suffered under these policies. The goal wasn't profits, but a fair and just world for all. In bitcoin, the majority of talk on IMF and World Bank policies is not born out of solidarity. Rather, we cheer on autocrats like Javier Milei and Nayib Bukele, who in turn promise to make life easier *for us*, all the while cracking down on the poorest in society. Don't like it? Well they, too, can just buy some bitcoin and stop concerning themselves entirely with their fellow human beings. The sentiment seems to be that we don't need to care for the people around us. Bitcoin is a lifeline that has somehow turned a community cause into one of pure self-interest, where anything is warranted as long as it pumps the bag – ultimately strengthening the very institutions that we claim to oppose. I wish more people existed that did what the people in this film were doing. View quoted note →
Sobering and unsurprising that the vampires twisted a promising proposal into yet another blood-sucking bastardization of an aid program. Props to you and your friends for pulling back the flap on the circus tent that was/is the IMF.
Ares's avatar
Ares 4 months ago
25 years ago I got together with some friends and made a documentary about the international banking and financial system and the protests against them. Breaking The Bank Someone has digitized it, now you can watch it online. I’m curious what folks today, especially the nostr bitcoiners in 2025 think of it.
JD's avatar
JD 4 months ago
This is good to digitize. A good document to refer back to. Global banking is a wild, terse subject to study. ☹️
Great documentary. This message and broader understanding remains vital! Good work then and thanks for posting now.
Trivium's avatar
Trivium 4 months ago
Major props for talking about the IMF four years before John Perkins.
JD's avatar
JD 4 months ago
@rabble 1312 sats. Took me a second. 🫥🥷