DEMOCRACY NOIR at the Elmwood Theater, Berkeley

As Viktor Orban dismantles Hungary’s democratic institutions, three women – a journalist, a politician, and a nurse – work tirelessly to fight for their country’s soul.   A rousing portrait of resistance and a chilling mirror image of the current crisis of democracy in the US. Revered by Donald Trump and the Heritage Foundation, Orban’s influence helped shape Project 2025 and the current policies of the Republic Party. The film is a timely lesson on how the rise of autocratic politicians around the world, and an increasingly emboldened far right politic, pose dire consequences for us all.

Fact award Nominee CPH:DOX, Tim Hetherington Award Nominee, Sheffield,

Best Documentary and Impact Award, Boston Film Festival;

Jury Award, One World Festival Prague; Best Documentary, Sebastopol Film Festival;

Best Human Rights Film, Chicago International women’s Film Festival

Democracy Noir provides a sweeping account of one of the most consequential regimes of this century. It paints an incisive portrait of how Viktor Orban used a free and democratic election to install authoritarian rule in Hungary, enjoying widespread approval from Hungarian nationalists as well as global conservative neighbors inclined to his illiberal views. He changed the constitution, took over the courts, dismantled the rule of law, and took over the media. Revered by Donald Trump and the Heritage Foundation, Orban’s influence helped shape Project 2025 and the current policies of the Republic Party. The film is a timely lesson on how the rise of autocratic politicians around the world, and an increasingly emboldened far right politic, pose dire consequences for us all.

Democracy Noir tells this story through the activism of its three subjects, – opposition politician Timea Szabo, journalist Babett Oroszi, and nurse Nikoletta (Niko) Antal� detailing how unchecked power can quickly remove rights that were once taken for granted. It shows the women fighting their country’s unravelling social and cultural landscape.

Democracy Noir’s inspiring protagonists offer lessons in resistance against long odds that can serve to arouse increased resistance by Americans to the dismantling of democracy and the rule of law in our own country. By 2019, the Hungarian opposition to Orban, that began nearly a decade earlier with street protests, unified and won the mayoral race in Budapest where 20% of the nation’s citizens reside. It was this Mayor who led the courageous Pride march in defiance of Orban’s ban in 2025.   In 2020, a new party, Tisza, was formed and gained prominence when a former member of Orban’s party, Peter Madgar, became its leader in 2024.  Tisza is an actual threat to Orban’s power, making the elections of 2026 important dates for Hungary and the United States.

Green Sunday: Join Zoom Meeting:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85449203697

Karl Grossman and Harvey “Sluggo” Wasserman will join California safe energy activists in a deep dive into how to shut the Diablo Canyon nukes and convert the state to 100% renewables.

Gavin Newsom has sabotaged the 2018 omnibus agreement to do just that.  We want to plan here how to revive that agreement & make it happen.

We hope to have representatives from the Mothers for Peace & others at this event, which will be aimed at tangible results.

Also, here is a link to an article entitled, “Putin’s UnPeaceful Atom”, which we published in Counterpunch today:  https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/10/06/putins-unpeaceful-atom/
Karl Grossman is the author of “Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power.” He is the host of the nationally broadcast TV program “Enviro Close-Up with Karl Grossman” ( http://www.envirovideo.com )

Harvey “Sluggo” Wasserman wrote “Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth,” and co-wrote (with Norman Solomon, Bob Alvarez & Eleanor Waters) “Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America’s Experience with Atomic Radiation.” His Green Grassroots Election Protection ( http://www.grassrootsep.org ) zooms on most Mondays at 2 p.m. PT.

Green Sundays are a series of free public programs & discussions on topics “du jour” sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party follows at 7:00 pm. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.

• Save the Date – No Kings Day, October 18th: MAGA thinks their rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings, and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty. Grow our movement and join us.
  • San Francisco – Sue Bierman Park, Washington St. & Drumm St., 1:30-4:30PM
    • Volunteer for SF No Kings Day, click here
  • Oakland – Wilma Chan Park, 810 Jackson St., 12-2PM
    • Volunteer for Oakland No Kings Day, click here
  • Pleasanton – Pleasanton Tennis & Community Park, 5801 Valley Ave, 1:30-3PM

Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com a few days beforehand for the online invite.  All are welcome!

For our October, 2025 meeting we will be reading and discussing the first three chapters of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart (The CBC Massey Lectures) by Astra Taylor (Amazon) (Verso Books).  For our November meeting we will finish the book.

Finalist, 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction
Finalist, 2024 Writers’ Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing

These days, everyone feels insecure. We are financially stressed and emotionally overwhelmed. The status quo isn’t working for anyone, even those who appear to have it all. What is going on?

In this urgent cultural diagnosis, author and activist Astra Taylor exposes how seemingly disparate crises―rising inequality and declining mental health, the ecological emergency, and the threat of authoritarianism―originate from a social order built on insecurity. From home ownership and education to the wellness industry and policing, many of the institutions and systems that promise to make us more secure actually undermine us.

Mixing social critique, memoir, history, political analysis, and philosophy, this genre-bending book rethinks both insecurity and security from the ground up. By facing our existential insecurity and embracing our vulnerability, Taylor argues, we can begin to develop more caring, inclusive, and sustainable forms of security to help us better weather the challenges ahead. The Age of Insecurity will transform how you understand yourself and society―while illuminating a path toward meaningful change.

Strike Debt Bay Area hosts this non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Our first book was  Doughnut Economics, and our most recent book was Elinor Ostrom’s Rules for Radicals”. For the rest of our reading list see here.