The world must not forsake

Yemen's struggle for freedom

Yemenis are ready to pay the ultimate price to take on a brutal dictator. Yet the UN can't even bring itself to condemn him

• This article is also available in Arabic

• Comments (91)

• 
• • Tawakkol Karman
  • guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 November 2011 

Yemeni women in the capital, Sana'a, burn veils in protest at a government crackdown on peaceful protests. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA

 

We in Yemen are no less thirsty for freedom and dignity than our brothers and sisters in Tunis. After the fall of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, our own vigils took a new direction when thousands of young people went on to the streets. They reached their climax with the fall of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, when millions of Yemenis called for the departure of the dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Many in the Arab world were worried about our uprising. Everyone knew that the country is awash with weapons. It was feared that the revolution would descend into violence and distort the image of the other Arab uprisings.

But the Yemeni revolution surprised everyone with its astonishingly peaceful nature. This peacefulness exposed the unrestrained brutality of the regime toward the revolutionaries. They met the bullets of the regime with bare chests, preferring to guard their revolution rather than be lured into the quagmire of violence. A thousand martyrs fell and thousands more were injured, yet not one revolutionary raised a weapon in the face of the butchers.

What is truly regrettable, though, is that the world has not shown the least interest in what the Saleh regime does with Yemen and its revolutionaries. Despite this huge number of martyrs, despite the transformation of the country into a huge prison where citizens struggle to get even a drink of water for their children, and despite the use of heavy weapons against civilians, Saleh's regime did not even receive a token verbal condemnation from the United Nations or other world governments – despite our calls to impose sanctions. Yet harsh sanctions were imposed on other regimes that committed lesser crimes.

We in Yemen look forward to a clear stand from the UN, world governments and civil society organisations in condemning the violence of Saleh's regime. We would like to see definite measures to deter him from the violence he is perpetrating against his people and halt the actions of security forces that are led by his son and nephews. They have demonstrated in the clearest manner how instruments of the state can be commandeered in the interests of an individual.

Today we need a concerted international effort that would result in freezing the assets of the ruling family, which are estimated at $10bn. Saleh and his relatives plundered the public coffers during the last three decades of his abuse of power.

And there must be no let-up in the pursuit of members of Saleh's regime for the crimes they have committed against peaceful demonstrators, which can be classified as crimes against humanity. It is the duty of the European commission and member states of the European Union to uphold the principles of human rights and the rejection of corruption.

In the same vein, I call upon them to show similar concern for the suffering of the revolutionaries in Syria, where the machinery of President Bashar al-Assad's regime produces a daily harvest of dead and wounded. This is a moment of truth for the values of freedom about which our region has heard so much from the international community, without having access to them.

Now our peoples have awakened to break the chains and seize our destinies. The least we desire from the institutions of the free world, and especially the US and the countries of the European Union, is that they appreciate our struggle for freedom. We want them to discharge their responsibilities towards vulnerable people and support them in the face of the cruelty of rulers who continue to kill.

It is disgraceful that the few who claim to show an interest in the future of Yemen should be satisfied with proposing initiatives, the most outrageous of which is to give complete immunity to Saleh, his sons and senior aides from any accountability for the crimes they have committed, including the killing of hundreds of revolutionaries.

But perhaps the most basic error of the international community is to describe what is happening in Yemen as a political crisis and not a revolution. The Yemenis insist it is – not by words only, but with their blood, which the regime continues to shed.

In my capacity as a leader of the popular and youth revolution in Yemen, I reaffirm our adherence to the peaceful nature of our struggle until the end. At the same time, I ardently call upon the free people of the world to examine what is happening in my country and Syria especially, and to honour their responsibilities to confront rulers who do not hesitate to carry out the most heinous crimes against people who have the temerity to demand their natural rights to freedom and dignity.

THE ORIGINAL

SARATOGA CHIPS 

A patron at Moon's Lake House ordered fried potatoes with his meal. The diner complained that the potatoes were too thick and sent them back to the cook.

The cook at the restaurant was George Crum, who is described as Native American in some accounts and an African American in others. There is agreement, however, on Crum's disposition—he was generally ornery. Upset that someone would criticize his cooking, Crum sliced a new batch of potatoes paper-thin, fried them in boiling oil to a crisp, and then salted them.

But what was intended as a stunt turned into an instant hit – the fussy patron and his friends loved the "crunch potato slices." Soon the chips became known as Saratoga Chips. At first they were served in restaurants throughout the region. When George Crum left Moon's Lake Inn to start his own restaurant called "Crumbs House," he placed large baskets of the chips on every table. It was not long before Saratoga Chips could be found in restaurants up and down the East Coast. Soon they became known as potato chips.

NOW The Saratoga Specialties Company is proud to offer you The Original Saratoga Chips made by gourmet artisans to the exact same recipe and packaging used by George Crum in 1853. 

Original Saratoga Potato Chips are simply made, simply natural and simply delicious!

via originalsaratogachips.com

Something Else!

Featured Artist:

Stevie Wonder

Posted by Something Else! Reviews

Stevie Wonder will be honored this month as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, during a benefit concert to be held Nov. 11 in Hollywood. We’d like to add to that resume line: Messenger of Funk, Sweet Soul and Pure Unfettered Get Down.

Don’t believe us? Too young to remember? Let’s take a spin through the stacks …

LIVING FOR THE CITY (INNERVISIONS, 1973): In 1973 I was in eight grade, living in Middletown, Connecticut. My little middle school was right down the hill from Wesleyan University. Associated with the modern jazz icon Anthony Braxton, our music class used to take little field trips to Wesleyan to listen to any number of weird (or so we thought) musical groups.

Music class? Yes, we had them back then. Our teacher wasn’t some stodgy old dude with a beard and wire-rimmed glasses either. No, she was young and interested in all forms of music. A common exercise involved her playing songs on her portable turntable and having us call out the instruments that we heard. Why I remember that she used “Living For The City” is sort of beyond me. I guess I must have thought it was cool to have a teacher who cared about the music that I heard on the radio.

It wasn’t until years later, when I finally got around to buying a copy of Innervisions, that I realized just how hip that teacher was. Stevie might be presenting a gritty story here, but that doesn’t stop him from laying down that nasty funk. — Mark Saleski

NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER (WHERE I’M COMING FROM, 1971): I always feel a greater tug on my heart with breakup songs more than I do with love songs even though they are often the same thing. The sadness in the lyrics, the hurt in the vocal, and the emotions behind them are what make the best ones so powerful and those are the reasons why one of the three greatest breakup songs of all time is Stevie Wonder’s “Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer.”

Wonder has always been one of the best writers of love songs and relationships in general and this tune, written with Syreeta Wright, his wife at the time, almost makes me cry every single time I hear it.

The piece is introduced with just Wonder at the piano singing like his lover has just put him through the ringer. Then an oboe and a wall of strings build just enough sound to allow the emotions to kick in big time. It’s not sappy at all. When you think that Wonder was only twenty years old when he released this song it’s astounding that the mature imagery in his poetry, the vocal, and the arrangement could all be so perfect. (The Motown superstar sang “Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer” at Michael Jackson’s funeral.) — Charlie Ricci, from www.Bloggerhythms.com

SIR DUKE (SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE, 1976): I’m pretty sure that my high school self didn’t know that “Sir Duke” was Stevie’s tribute to Duke Ellington. Heck, I probably wouldn’t have cared even if I did know. What was important was that the song had some insanely great horn passages.

Very much like Innervisions, I didn’t purchase Songs in The Key of Life until many years later. So when the song came on the radio, I had to crank that volume knob and bathe in the fun. My ears say that this is Stevie Wonder at his nearly-unhinged, exuberant best. — Mark Saleski

“SUPERWOMAN (WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED YOU),” (MUSIC OF MY MIND, (1972): Having turned 21 and handed full artistic freedom by Motown, Stevie Wonder was ready to show the world the full range of his capabilities. That ball got rolling with 1972′s Music Of My Mind, but especially with the “Superwoman” track. Here is where Wonder spins a warm, inviting jazz melody, and sets the mold on how to use synthesizers in R&B the right way, anticipating the whole “Quiet Storm” subgenre by several years.

This is one track but two songs. “Superwoman,” with it’s gurgling Rhodes, spacey bass synth, and a damned tasty guitar by Buzzy Feiton, could have passed for premier soul-jazz fusion as an instrumental, but Wonder makes it better still with lyrics and the dubbed-in background vocals are superbly arranged. “Where Were You When I Needed You” continues the lost love story from “Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer” from the prior Where I’m Coming From LP. On this sequel, weeping synthesizers rise up and recede as Wonder begins his vocals, used so effectively to set the mood that it doesn’t sound the least bit cheesy even today. Feiten again puts in great work, picking his way around the Moog like a champ.

But everything else on that song, and the album for that matter, was all Stevie. Wonder wanted to be a supermusician, and he was sounding very much like one on this cut. — S. Victor Aaron

AS (SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE, 1976): Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, one of pop music’s greatest ever albums, is on my all time Top 10 list. One of the greatest songs from that masterpiece is a 7:08 triumph, simply titled, “As.”

It begins as a happy, pop-funk piece whose lyrics could be considered just another Wonder love song, but, oh that arrangement. The ultra-catchy, upbeat, melody is enhance by the band’s strong groove and some fine female gospel singers backing him up. It was tailor made for FM radio at the time. Then suddenly the final verse converts Wonder’s smooth voice into Tom Waits roughness as he takes on his often heard theme of peace and World harmony. Somehow his genius makes this final verse fit in well with the love song. The repetitive gospel refrain returns (Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky … Loving you, Until the ocean covers every mountain high … Loving you, Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea … Loving you) and takes the long track home.

Wonder’s ability to come up with unique arrangements saves “As” from what could otherwise sound sappy in the hands of a less skilled musician. — Charlie Ricci

A PLACE IN THE SUN (DOWN TO EARTH, 1966): Hard to believe a mere teenager could write, sing and play a song so deep, but then again Stevie Wonder was no ordinary teenager.

Wildly talented since he was knee high to a grasshopper, the multifaceted musician pours his naked emotions into this beautifully melodic tune that simply melts in your ears. The lyrics are filled with hope, faith and love. Stevie’s soulful vocals may ache with pain and suffering, but in the end the message is hang in there and never give up.

One of the most inspiring compositions of all time! — Beverly Paterson

I WISH, (SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE, 1976): Stevie Wonder’s most singular accomplishment, more so than the Grammys and the platinum sales, is his honesty.

Oftentimes, that played out on the biggest of stages. His music has been a pathway toward moral emancipation — emancipation from racial hatred, since we all listened to it, as one; and from fear, since his artistic peak arrived during a period of war and strife in this country; and from expectations, since songs like “I Wish” were only possible because he loosed himself from the music business’ hitmaking machine.

But in this moment, maybe more so than in any other, you heard the unambiguous joy with which he approached his own story (through the hard times; despite them, really) and it had a particular grace. You saw, if only for a glimpse of time, into his life, and then you saw into your own, too. That only comes through hard artistic choices, through honesty — not only about his memory of childhood, and its innocence, but also the missteps and the lessons of that time for all of us.

It was, and is, Stevie Wonder’s greatest gift. Well, that and the ability to construct this totally kick ass bassline, then this totally even kick assier horn signature, and bring it all home. — Nick DeRiso

Jay-Z + Kanye West

– Watch The Throne Tour –

Live in Greensboro, NC

10-30-11 (Full Concert)

Posted on October 31st, 2011 by HighVoltage in Jay-Z, Kanye West

After much hype, the Watch The Throne tour finally kicked off last weekend as Jay-Z and Kanye West rocked stages in Atlanta and Greensboro.  Luckily for us, a recording has already surfaced from the Greensboro show.  Here is the complete show for download (setlist is below).  Enjoy and be sure to get your tickets for when the show comes to your city.

 

Full Concert Audio Download

Link |   Alternate Link |   Alternate Link |   Alternate Link |   Alternate Link

Originally posted at Dime – Lossless Download Here… Big Thanks to the taper!

 

Setlist

1. Intro
2. HAM
3. Who Gon Stop Me
4. Interlude
5. Otis
6. Welcome To The Jungle
7. Gotta Have It
8. Where I’m From
9. Jigga What, Jigga Who
10. Can’t Tell Me Nothing
11. Flashing Lights
12. Jesus Walks
13. Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)
14. Public Service Announcement
15. U Don’t Know
16. Run This Town
17. Monster
18. Power
19. Made In America
20. New Day
21. Hard Knock Life
22. Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
23. Empire State Of Mind
24. Runaway
25. Heartless
26. Stronger
27. On To The Next One
28. Dirt Off Your Shoulder
29. I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)
30. That’s My Bitch
31. Good Life
32. Touch The Sky
33. All Of The Lights (Tease)
34. All Of The Lights
35. Big Pimpin’
36. Gold Digger
37. 99 Problems
38. Interlude
39. No Church In The Wild
40. Lift Off
41. N*ggas In Paris
42. N*ggas In Paris
43. N*ggas In Paris
44. Encore
45. Outro

• 

  BRIGHT HILL PRESS FULL-LENGTH POETRY BOOK COMPETITION (DEADLINE NOVEMBER 30, 2011)

The first place winner of Bright Hill's 17th Annual Full-Length Poetry Book Competition, chosen from finalists by a nationally-known poet, receives a publication contract with Bright Hill Press and $1000, publication in print format, and 30 copies of the printed book. We may also offer publication contracts to the top finalists. Announcement and publication in 2012 (winning book will be included in Academy of American Poets National Poetry Month promotion).

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• SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (Electronic; see below for hard copy submissions)

•  We prefer electronic submissions but will consider hard copy submissions by mail with the stipulation that, should the author's work be chosen for publication, an electronic version (.doc. or rtf) must be prepared in a timely manner and at the poet's expense. To access Bright Hill's Submission Manager, click here:  http://www.brighthillpress.org/submissions/

• Entry fee $25, payable through the online submission manager (you will need to establish an account with Bright Hill Press to use the Submission Manager)

• Online deadline: November 30; submit via the Bright Hill Press Submission Manager (you may enter beginning October 25)

• Collection of original poetry, 48-64 pages, single spaced, one poem to a page (no name anywhere on ms.) with table of contents; manuscript must be submitted in Times New Roman, 12 pt. type only.
  
• No Illustrations; no cover suggestions
  
• Bio and acknowledgments of poems in ms. that have been previously published should be included in Comments Box

• Title of your manuscript is entry/submission title

• Your ms. should be a Microsoft Word doc or rtf; or Acrobat PDF

• No translations

• Simultaneous submissions ok provided we are notified immediately of acceptance elsewhere

  SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (HARD COPY VIA USPS)

• Entry fee $25, payable BY CHECK OR MONEY ORDER

• Postmark deadline: November 30 (you may enter beginning October 25)

Collection of original poetry, 48-64 pages, single spaced, one poem to a page (no name anywhere on ms.) with table of contents and two title pages; one with author's name, one with no identification;manuscript must be submitted in Times New Roman, 12 pt. type only.
 

No illustrations; no cover suggestions.

Bio and acknowledgments of poems in ms. that have been previously published should be included as separate document

Simultaneous submissions okay provided we are notified immediately of acceptance elsewhere.

No translations.

If hard copy, bound by a single clip: no folders or notebooks, please mail no later than November 30 to: Bright Hill Press Poetry Book Competition: PO Box 193, Treadwell, NY 13846 - Results will be announced by e-mail.

Short Story Contest

First Prize receives $1,000 and publication. Second Prize receives $500. Final Judge: Justin Cronin The contest is open September 15, 2011, to December 8, 2011. All entries must be submitted by December 8, 2011.  All entries will be considered for publication. Please note: This page is for our Short Story Contest. Regular submission guidelines are here. Complete Guidelines: Short Story Contest All entries must be unpublished and 6,000 words or less. Please type and double-space. The contest entry fee is $20. You may submit only one story per entry, but you can enter as many times as you like. Before submitting a story, entrants should pay the $20 entry fee via PayPal (http://www.americanshortfiction.org/paypal.html). After the transaction is completed, you'll be directed to the Submission Manager.  Keep track of your PayPal order number. You will need this number when you upload your contest entry via the American Short Fiction Submission Manager.  The $20 fee entitles the entrant to electronic access to the contest issue. All entries should be uploaded to the American Short Fiction Submission Manager. Stories can be submitted in .rtf, .doc, and .pdf formats. Do not submit files in .docx.  In the comments box, please include your name, address, phone number, and the title of the work. Entrant’s name should not appear in the file itself.  Previously published stories and stories forthcoming at other publications cannot be considered. Entries may be simultaneous submissions, but the entry fee is nonrefundable if the story is accepted elsewhere. If your contest entry is accepted by another publication, please log in to the Submission Manager to withdraw it from consideration.  Winners will be announced on or around March 31, 2012, on the American Short Fiction website.  The first round of judging will be by American Short Fiction editors and editorial assistants. Ten stories will be forwarded to contest judge Justin Cronin for the final blind judging.  Current employees or others affiliated with Badgerdog Literary Publishing are ineligible for consideration or publication. In addition, writers who have a strong personal or professional relationship with the judge are asked to abstain from entering the contest in order to prevent a conflict of interest.  We comply with the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) Code of Ethics. Contest Code of Ethics CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believe that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. Intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree (1) to conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; (2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and (3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage. Judge Bio Justin Cronin is the author of three novels: Mary and O’Neil, which won the Pen/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize; The Summer Guest; and The Passage, named one of the ten best novels of 2010 by Time magazine and appointed to NPR's and the Washington Post's "best of the year" books lists. Having earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop, Cronin is now a professor of English at Rice University.  Questions? Contact us at editors [at] americanshortfiction.org (Looking to purchase a subscription or a copy of the current issue? Please do that through our publisher's store here.)

The Kenneth and Geraldine Gell

Poetry Prize  2012 Guidelines

 
The Kenneth and Geraldine Gell Poetry Prize is awarded annually by Writers & Books for an outstanding unpublished book-length collection of poetry. The poet will receive an honorarium of $1000, publication of the collection (in paperback, in the fall following the award, with Big Pencil Press), and a one-week fellowship at the Gell Center of the Finger Lakes.
 
Eligibility: Open to poets who are citizens or legal residents of the United States, are at least 18 years of age, and are not employees or relatives of employees of Writers & Books, Inc.
 
Judge for 2012: Douanne Laux
 
 
Guidelines:

• Manuscripts must be postmarked September 1, to November 30, 2011. Any manuscripts mailed outside of that period cannot be accepted.

• Manuscripts cannot be accepted by email.

• Submit a book-length manuscript of poems (no illustrations), 50 to 100 pages in length.

• Download the entry form from www.wab.org, fill it out, and attach it to your manuscript. To receive an entry form by mail, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Writers & Books at the address below.

• Manuscripts must be the author’s own original work. No translations, please.

• Include an entry fee of $25 (non-refundable) by check or money order payable to Writers & Books. If you send more than one manuscript, each must be accompanied by a separate entry form and a separate check.

• As work will be judged anonymously, each manuscript must include two cover pages. The first must have the book’s title, author’s name, and all the author’s contact information. The second must have the book title only, with no author’s name and no contact information. Do not include a bio note, or any other feature that might include the author’s real name or pen name.

• Format: Use regular white 8 ½ X 11” paper, black ink, with font of 11- or 12- points. One poem per page. Use double space or space-and-a-half—please no single-spaced manuscripts. Absolutely no handwritten manuscripts will be accepted.

• You must notify Writers & Books immediately by phone or by mail if your manuscript wins another competition, or is accepted for publication elsewhere.

• Poems in your manuscript may have been published in magazines, journals, on line, in anthologies, or in a chapbook. But the manuscript as a whole must be unpublished as a single book. Previously self-published books are not eligible.

• Winner will be notified not later than March 7, 2012.

• Include a self-addressed, stamped postcard if you want to be assured that the manuscript has been received.

• Include a self-addressed, stamped No. 10 business envelope if you want to receive contest winner notification.

• Once a book has been sent, do not send changes or new pages for insertion. If your manuscript wins, you will have a chance to make changes before publication.

• Manuscripts will not be returned; do not send postage stamps or mailer for the return of a manuscript.

• The foregoing information is the complete listed guidelines. Do not call Writers & Books for further information.
 
Send manuscript, check, and entry form to:
 
Gell Prize
Writers & Books
740 University Ave.,
Rochester, NY 14607.

Must See:

‘The Story of Lovers Rock,’

a Film About Reggae’s

Most Romantic Music

Tuesday Nov 1, 2011 – by Britni Danielle

I remember the first time I fell in love. I was in a backyard in Jamaica, Queens and my boyfriend had taken me to a wedding reception for a friend of his family. Me, a Yankee, was in a sea of Yardies who were deep, deep into a Gregory Isaacs tune.

As I sipped my rum punch and watched couples dance, whispering into each others ears, my man held out his hand and pulled me close. In that backyard, pressed together, we dance. I didn’t care that my heels were hurting my feet or that the smell of weed would surely get all in my hair, I just closed my eyes, and savored the moment. That night I fell in love with him, and the music my Belizean grandmother and uncles would often play.

Recently, I saw the trailer for The Story of Lovers Rock, a new documentary by director Menelik Shabazz and was instantly transported back to that Queens backyard. The film takes a look at Lovers Rock, an UK offshoot of reggae music that champions love, lust, and getting close.

Created in the ’70s against amid racial tension, London’s Brixton riots, and the struggle of many Jamaican immigrants to fit in, Lovers Rock is often called “romantic reggae.” The film, which debuted in September and is currently showing around the UK, sheds light on many of the musicians responsible for the genre.

The Story of Lovers Rock features live music and interviews with Denis Bovell, UB40, Levi Roots Linton Kwesi Johnson, Angie La Ma, Maxi Priest, and Mykaell Riley.

What’s your favorite romantic reggae song?

Their Eyes Were Watching God

GO HERE TO VIEW FULL PROGRAM

Participants talked about Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God and its portrayal of African-American and women's culture. Among the topics they addressed were the characterizations of black men and women in the early twentieth century, its depiction of relationships, and Hurston's use of language. Following their remarks they answered questions from the audience.

via c-spanvideo.org

How ‘Margin Call’ Gets It Right

About the Financial Crisis

• Daniel Krauthammer

  Daniel Krauthammer

  view bio

   

  • How ‘Margin Call’ Gets It Right About the Financial Crisis
• October 22, 2011 

Margin Call is the smartest movie you will ever see about the Financial Crisis. Debuting at a time when the Occupy Wall Street movement seeks to make caricatured villains of bankers and much of the public puts the blame for a lagging economy squarely on their shoulders, this movie offers an extremely thoughtful, fair and—for that very reason—ultimately much more powerful critique of how our financial system really works.

It tells the story of a roughly 24-hour period at a fictional investment bank on the eve of the 2008 financial collapse. In a sequence of events that mirrors what really must have happened at several real-world banks, a lowly junior analyst discovers that his firm’s dangerously high risk exposure to mortgage-backed securities could bankrupt the entire company and alarm bells ring right up the chain of command in an effort to avert disaster before it’s too late. By the movie’s finale, that effort has set in motion the inevitable system-wide collapse that we are all still dealing with today. Together with the film’s cast, the writer and director J.C. Chandor masterfully shows how each and every person up the chain of banking seniority would have to weigh difficult decisions and wrestle with the moral and financial consequences of their actions.

And herein lies the key to Margin Call’s truth: It examines the thoughts and motivations of individuals, resisting the easy narrative shortcut of lumping everyone responsible for the disaster into some monolithic, single-minded group. By doing so, Margin Call manages to do what almost no book, blog, newscast or Senate hearing has adequately done for the American people: to explain not just how the financial crisis happened (which financial giants failed in what order, which government entities bailed them out, etc.), but rather, to explain why it happened.

The standard trope about the crisis until now has generally been to point the finger at greedy banks and corrupt corporations. This isn’t an unreasonable reaction; when something as disastrous as the Great Recession happens, it is natural to want a bad guy to blame and punish. Hollywood, for its part, has always been inclined to this kind of Manichaeism—after all, every good story needs a hero and a villain. And the nefarious banker makes for a pretty perfect villain. Michael Douglas’s iconic portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street set the mold for this character, and a batch of post-financial crisis films have followed suit: from narratives like Wall Street 2 and Company Men, to documentaries like Inside Job and Capitalism: A Love Story.

The problem with this portrayal is that it simply does not reflect reality. There were no capitalist masterminds who were able to maliciously game the entire financial system, no conspiratorial “fat cats” who single-handedly brought about the crisis. That’s why there have been no major prosecutions of any of the leading figures of American finance: because they didn’t actually break any laws. (Investigations across Wall Street since 2008 have turned up a few cases of isolated fraud and some infractions of SEC regulations, but nothing that could possibly be seen as a major cause of the crisis). And this is the core dilemma that is so vexing to the American people. How can something so bad, that hurt so many people and caused so much damage, have come about without any overt wrongdoing? 

Margin Call attempts to give an honest answer to that question. There is no character in the film who breaks the law, engages in conspiracy, or does anything a reasonable person would label as unquestionably immoral. Even when the CEO of the film’s fictional bank makes the decision to sell all the company’s toxic assets—the act that literally sets in motion the complete collapse of the entire American financial system—it is an understandable, if difficult, choice. What else can he do? If he doesn’t sell first and start the catastrophe, someone else will. The outcome is inevitable, so what good could it possibly do for him to sacrifice himself and his firm and all his employees’ jobs if it makes no difference to the outcome? 

That is the core conundrum of what economists call a collective action problem. If no individual person or firm’s actions can make a difference, the only reasonable thing to do is assume everyone else will follow their most selfish (and possibly destructive) instincts. Everyone has an incentive to follow the worst path they suspect others of following, and so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. This explains not only why bubbles burst, but also why they build up in the first place. After all, why did the big investment banks start packaging and selling huge amounts of the mortgage-backed securities that eventually triggered the crisis? Because all the other banks were doing it. They were seeking higher profits, of course, but profits are the raison d’être of any company and the basis of its survival. Each bank’s employees knew that if they didn’t get in on this extremely lucrative new branch of the business, they’d fall behind their competitors, their share price would go down, they’d get fired. 

Even if they thought the securities might crash at some unknowable point in the future, it would happen regardless of their own decision whether or not to get involved, and in the meantime it was their job to get the timing right for their shareholders and lock in profits before that bubble bursts. It was by this exact same thinking that so many millions of ordinary Americans bought or refinanced homes they couldn’t really afford in the expectation of making an outsized return on their investment. Virtue this was not. But in a capitalist economy, decisions aren’t made on virtue, they’re made on self-interest. These courses of action were logical on the individual level. The problem was that collectively they made everyone worse off.