Diogenes

Eight episodes from the foreign affairs magazine Diogenes, broadcast every month by the VPRO. Each episode consists of three or four reports which tackle one theme in the time span of 60 minutes. 16 September 1990 Opium of the people provides a picture of the power of the Islamic mullahs in the Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. In The Spokesman, this is discussed with Genadi Gerasimov of the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, who also gives the Soviet viewpoint on the Gulf Crisis. The Planned Economy is about pollution, drying out and silting up of the Aral Sea. Fathers and Daughters registers the reunion of Russians who have emigrated to the USA with their family in Leningrad.14 October 1990 Unity 1, Arab unity. Egyptians flee Iraq across the desert while in Cairo, rich Kuwaitis wait for the liberation, while the spokesman of an opposition party talks about Arab unity. Unity 2 is set in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korean where American soldiers and rebellious Korean students exercise. In Unity 3, the Russian cameraman Boris Sokolov returns to Berlin where he first arrived in 1945 serving in the Red Army.11 November 1990 In Old Nobility an East German village prepares for the return of the Von Bismarck family which claims its estates around Schönhausen. The Old Church sketches a picture of the influence of the Catholic church in Poland. The Old Owner portrays an expropriated Hungarian gentleman farmer. The New Future follows a Rumanian family on its first steps in the USA.16 December 1990 The War is Past shows an interview with the Iranian president Rafsanjani about the pure Islamic doctrine. The War Preserved gives a guided tour of the Imperial War Museum in London. The War is a registration of the situation in Afghanistan after the departure of the Russians.3 February 1991 For The Frontier in the North film was shot in Norwegian Kirkenes, where a flood of Soviet people is expected. The Frontiers in the East provides an impression of the journey Baghdad - Amman - Jerusalem just before and during the Gulf War. The Frontiers in the South looks at the (il)legal passage of North Africans to Spain.3 March 1991 Despair looks at the question of whether the USSR has become more conservative. A censor is again walking around at Moscow TV news. American congressman argues in Security for the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the Gulf War. The Palestinian- Israeli actor Barki goes in search of his father, a transvestite and philosopher in Doubt.31 March 1991 Telford Taylor, prosecutor in Neurenberg trials, argues in Justice that any Gulf-War tribunal should look at both sides. In Work, an ex-miner and an industrialist talk about the Borinage area of Belgium. Capital shows Hong Kong businessmen who are settling in Canada because of `1997'.28 April 1991 Picture of South Africa elaborated on the basis of the items History, The Land, Politics, The Church, Hatred, Race and The Future.