The Occupation of the American Mind
NARRATED BY ROGER WATERS
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THIS IS A FILM THAT DEMANDS TO BE SEEN! IT SHOWS, WITH DEVASTATING PRECISION, HOW EFFECTIVE PROPAGANDA CAN HIDE CRIMES THAT ARE EPIC IN SCALE AND HAVE CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES.”
Ken Loach, Filmmaker & Activist
WATCH THE FILM FOR FREE NOW
Despite receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from those who have actually seen it, The Occupation of the American Mind has been repeatedly attacked and misrepresented by right-wing pressure groups and outright ignored by virtually all mainstream media outlets and North American film festivals. To bypass this campaign of misrepresentation and suppression, we’ve decided to make the film available for FREE online so that people can make up their own minds about its analysis of U.S. media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Please watch and share widely!
Support for the free distribution of this film was provided by the Wallace Action Fund of Tides Foundation, advised by Randall Wallace. If you’d like to help support the effort to provide free distribution of The Occupation of the American Mind, please consider a donation.
MEDIA
The Occupation of the American Mind in the media.
PHOTO GALLERY
EXTENDED INTERVIEWS
Extended interview clips from experts featured in The Occupation of the American Mind.
PRAISE
Acclaim for The Occupation of the American Mind
One of the most compelling and important documentaries in recent years because it helps us make sense of the lies, mayhem, and injustice in the heart of the Middle East: Palestine. Never has propaganda, or 'public relations,' been such a lethal weapon as it is in the hands of Israel, its apologists, and manipulators. To reach behind the facade that is 'news,' watch this film."
John Pilger, Journalist and Filmmaker
A stunning exposé on how propaganda drives public opinion and, in turn, our understanding of reality. Here’s the story of how American perceptions of the Middle East — as well as resulting legislation and military strategy — are engineered: from focus group to talking points to mortar fire."
Douglas Rushkoff, Professor, Media Theory, CUNY, and Media Commentator for CNN
A remarkable achievement. Anyone who wishes to understand the deeper reasons for America's utter failure to bring peace to the region should begin by watching this powerful film."
Avi Shlaim, Professor Emeritus, Oxford University
A powerful film that exposes an infuriating reality. You cannot watch this film without grieving for the Palestinians, for the propaganda we've been subjected to, for the terrible mistakes we've made supporting horrific Israeli policies that have caused such suffering."
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink
This terrific and memorable film comes at just the right time, when the lockstep mentality that promotes Zionist sympathies in the U.S. is eroding fast. The film lays bare the fictions that underpinned this mentality for so long, and shows us why these fabrications are now being challenged so confidently."
Andrew Ross, New York University
This hard-hitting, fact-based documentary is a must-see for anyone who wants to understand the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and how the American public has been systematically lied to again and again. An indispensable resource for both the novice and the expert."
Deepa Kumar, Associate Professor, Rutgers University
The Occupation of the American Mind is one of the most brilliant and important documentaries I have ever seen. If you’re a university librarian or faculty member who cares about open debate and free inquiry on American college campuses, you absolutely have to make sure this film is in your school's collection. It’s mandatory viewing for students who want to understand how powerful interests manipulate the news and politics in a 'free' society. It will change the way they understand the world."
Robert W. McChesney, Professor of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
As courageous as it is informative, brilliantly produced and faithful to its search for the truth, The Occupation of the American Mind makes clear how the current right-wing government in Israel has weaponized knowledge, eviscerated a range of critical interpretations, and obliterated the voices of reason in the interest of controlling the media and public relations apparatuses in the United States. Everyone should watch this film, debate its assumptions, and test its insights against the issue of what education and public relations should look like in a democracy."
Henry Giroux, McMaster University
Every American needs to watch this film in order to understand how the culture industries and the political pundits have shaped a one-sided narrative of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and erased the basic human dignity of the Palestinians from the American media landscape. The Occupation of the American Mind seeks to restore that dignity for American viewers. It is an essential film."
Vijay Prashad, editor of Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation
Why is Israel/Palestine the world's most intractable conflict? One key part of the answer is U.S. public support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This incisive film explains how Israeli public relations and a compliant U.S. media keep the American people confused and co-opted, derailing a serious debate about international law and moral principle."
Robert Jensen, Professor, School of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin
A superb documentary that makes a devastatingly persuasive case that the U.S. public is being systematically subjected to disinformation from its media on the Israel-Palestine conflict. For audiences who have relied on U.S. television and the press, the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation shown in this film is likely to be deeply shocking."
Jonathan Cook, journalist, author of Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair
Compelling, revealing, and chilling. Not only demonstrates how hasbara — Israeli propaganda — became American common sense, but it offers one of the best accounts of Israel's violent dispossession and occupation of Palestinian lands. For over half a century, Americans drank the Kool-Aid concocted by the Israel lobby, the U.S. media, and virtually all elected officials because there were no alternatives. This film — like the movements that inspired it — is the antidote."
Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
A cutting, carefully argued expose of the decades-long campaign of Israel and its defenders to deceive the U.S. public about the historical roots and present realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. … The film also offers a measured analysis of the role of the pro-Israel lobby in forming U.S. Middle East policy and the complicity of the United States in the perpetuation of the conflict. Let's hope the filmmakers are right that the tide of public opinion is turning in favor of equal rights for all and that U.S. policy will eventually be forced to follow suit."
Chris Toensing, Executive Director and Editor, Middle East Report
Not only land, but also minds can be colonized. The brilliance of this documentary is that it manages to tell the story of both forms of colonization simultaneously. The first story reveals how Palestinian land was colonized and how the Palestinian people have been struggling for self-determination ever since. The second story uncovers how the American media has colonized the minds of its audiences and inverted the concrete relations of subjugation by transforming Israelis into victims and Palestinians into oppressors. The Occupation of the American Mind is a must see for anyone who is against colonization."
Neve Gordon, Professor of Politics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
This is a film that demands to be seen. It shows, with devastating precision, how effective propaganda can hide crimes that are epic in scale and have catastrophic consequences. Please see this film, hire it, screen it, talk about it."
Ken Loach, Filmmaker & Activist
I wish every American would watch this powerful documentary. Not only every person of conscience, but every taxpayer, must see it — and then ask themselves if the status quo is acceptable and can continue deep into the 21st century."
Gideon Levy, columnist for Haaretz newspaper of Israel
Amazing! Brilliantly exposes how American media is an active partner in the ugly and illegal occupation of Palestine."
Marc Lamont Hill, CNN political analyst and host of VH1 Live
Harrowing and incendiary! The Occupation of the American Mind is a vital and unmissable film."
Dave Zirin, The Nation magazine
CONTROVERSY
When The Occupation of the American Mind has been screened and broadcast on TV around the world, it’s generated intense controversy and provoked the very kinds of organized attacks by right-wing groups that the film itself explores at length.
HOST A SCREENING
Join educators, organizers, and students using this film to spark critical thinking and discussion about American media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If you’d like to bring this film to your campus or another community venue, we would love to work with you to help you host a virtual or in-person screening!
If you’re interested in hosting a screening, please fill out the form.
ABOUT
Polling shows strong global opposition to Israel’s illegal 50-year occupation of Palestinian land, and mounting outrage over Israel’s ongoing slaughter of unarmed Palestinian civilians who are fighting for their rights. Nevertheless, public sympathy and support for Israel within the US continues to hold strong. The Occupation of the American Mind zeroes in on this critical exception, breaking down the devastatingly effective public relations war that Israel and right-wing pro-Israel advocacy groups have been waging for decades in the US. Narrated by Roger Waters and featuring leading observers of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the film explores how the Israeli government, the US government, and the pro-Israel lobby have joined forces, often with very different motives and interests, to shape American media coverage of the conflict in Israel’s favor. The result is a stunning look at how — and why — American media coverage of the conflict regularly minimizes the occupation, vilifies critics of Israeli policy, and dehumanizes the Palestinian people.
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