Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Thursday, 10pm and Saturday, 7pm. Ph 9565 5522.
Access News — Melbourne community TV, Channel 31, has excellent coverage of industrial, environmental and community actions throughout Victoria. Access News broadcasts every Monday at 8pm. Ph 9525 3551 to contact the producers or make a donation.
Rule 61: A Case Against Radovan Karadzic — In this documentary, film-maker Ivo Burum journeys to the Balkans he knew as a child. He asks Karadzic's friends and family why this trusted psychiatrist and neighbour destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Muslims, Croats and Serbs in the name of nationalism. ABC-TV, Saturday, February 7, 9.30pm.
Afghanistan's Year Zero — Since the Taliban army seized control of the Afghan capital, Kabul, a curfew has been imposed, women are forced to wear a veil and denied the right to education, and musicians have taken to burying their instruments for fear that their playing might be deemed "un-Islamic". SBS, Sunday, February 8, 2.30pm.
Hitler-Stalin: Dangerous Liaisons — Describes the period leading up to the Nazi-Soviet Pact and its aftermath. SBS, Sunday, February 8, 8.30pm.
Toxic Queen — Fiona Cunningham Reid's documentary incorporates candid interviews with artist David McDiarmid, the confessed "toxic queen" of the Australian gay scene, with examples of his work, his artistic direction of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and his high profile as an AIDS activist. SBS, Monday, February 9, 9.30pm.
Bolivar's Road — The 19th century anti-colonialist leader Simon Bolivar's dream of a free and united Latin America is the starting point of this two-part documentary, which gives an overview of the people, events and influences which shaped the political, social and economic realities of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. SBS, Wednesday, February 11, 4pm.
Movie: The Making of the Mahatma (1996) — An epic by director Shyam Benegal, which focuses on Gandhi's period in South Africa as a young lawyer, profoundly shocked by the country's racism. His defence of civil rights culminates in a great march of Indian workers across the country. SBS, Thursday, February 12, 9.30pm.