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| Juliana Ruhfus |
Our job is to uncover the stories of how power is applied, for better or worse, in all corners of society, in all parts of the planet.
Documentaries are the heart of our show.
They're the people part of People & Power - snapshots of human experience which grab you through strong stories and unforgettable pictures.
We work with independent producers and reporters around the world to take you to the grassroots, drawing on their local knowledge and expert understanding of the issues on their home turf.
| Coming up this week on People & Power: |
Fear and loathing
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Over one third of Fijians still
live in poverty |
In December, 2006 the chief of Fiji's armed forces, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, led a coup against the country's elected government. The coup followed a bitter dispute between Bainimarama and Laisenia Qarase, the country's ousted prime minister, over the treatment of the engineers of a previous coup in 2000, in which Fijian nationalists ceased power.
Bainimarama, who is deeply suspicious of the nationalists, was infuriated by Qarase's decision to give cabinet posts to two of the plotters and pardon a number of others involved.
Last month Bainimarama announced that "Fiji will be ready for a general election and a full restoration of parliamentary democracy in 2010".
People & Power travels to Fiji to find out how the country is faring under Bainimarama's rule. The programme explores the impact of the coup on business, tourism and the island's sugar industry.
Fiji's only mine, the Emperor gold mine, has already been forced to close following of the coup. Over one third of Fijians live below the poverty line and there are fears that many more will join them as companies begin to lay off workers.
Now kill us all
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Italians unite against Mafia
violence |
Thousands of people have died in violence blamed on mafia groups in the south of Italy since the end of the Second World War. Last year Romano Prodi, the Italian prime minister, announced that "Lawlessness is the greatest obstacle to economic growth in southern Italy," at a conference against organised crime in Rome. However, many people feel that the central government has not done enough to crack down on mafia groups.
A People & Power team travels to Calabria to speak with people forced to live with the reality of mafia violence and intimidation. However, they find that a new kind of citizen is emerging – one that is young, bold and fighting to restore people's right to live without fear of the mafia.
The programme speaks with the founders of a growing youth group - Ammazzateci Tutti or Now Kill Us All – which is working to mobilise a non-violent resistance against the mafia.
One of the group's leaders, Aldo Pecora, tells People & Power why it is so vital that they beat the mafia. "Once people used to emigrate because they didn't have a job, now they leave the South because they can't live with the Mafia … we're losing our best people … we have to stop this bleeding!"
The programme speaks with different people – farmers, policemen and other citizens – who have been harassed, intimidated and had family members killed by the mafia. But they find that increasingly people are no longer willing to live in fear of the mafia, and are fighting to restore a peaceful and just society in this beautiful, remote region of Italy.
Iraqi oil mixing money and blood
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| Tariq Shafiq |
With 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves – and at least another 100 billion barrels as yet untapped – Iraq is a major player in the world's future energy market.
Reporter Chris Frederick investigates the controversial background to Iraq's Oil Law, which critics say will effectively hand over control of the country's prized oil industry into the hands of a handful of foreign companies.
People & Power talks exclusively to Tariq Shafiq, a senior Iraqi technocrat and 'oil grandee' who was the original author of the controversial law.
Iraq's oil minister Dr Hussein Al-Sharastani invited Shafiq in June 2006 to draw up the blueprint for the fledging Oil Law. Nine months later, Shafiq tells Al Jazeera he's "extremely disappointed and concerned" at how his draft law has been changed in several critical ways. He tells People & Power that the law, if passed as expected, could lead to the "disintegration" of Iraq as a nation state.
Chris Frederick talks to Kim Howells, the British foreign office minister, who strongly defends his department's role in arranging meetings between Iraqi ministry officials and western oil companies, and in influencing the Oil Law.
From Basra, which has some of Iraq's biggest oil fields, trade union leader Hassan Juma'a Awad explains why he and thousands of his members are fearful of the consequences of the Oil Law. He tells the programme it's a form of "neo-colonialism, an attempt to impose a permanent economic occupation to follow the military occupation".
This segment is a
Grace Production for Al Jazeera.
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