LAKEPORT, Calif. – “John Perkins: Speaking Freely” will be Second Sunday Cinema's free film for December.

The film will be shown on Sunday, Dec. 11, at the Clearlake United Methodist Church, 14521 Pearl Ave/, in Clearlake.

Doors open at 5:30 [/,/ for socializing and snack-grabbing. The film begins at 6 p.m.

This fascinating and shocking 52-minute documentary is all the more impressive due to the quiet, even congenial manner in which John Perkins, former economic hit man, shares just how huge corporations, with the help of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the CIA (not to mention the School of the Americas) seize control in “developing” countries.

He quit in disgust years ago and now confesses the truth.

Perkins is the NYT’s best-selling author of “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.”

In his high-level job he would approach the head of state (and his cronies) in a poor country with lots of raw resources.

He would bribe them to allow US or multi-national businesses to exploit their resources in ways that benefited the corporations and the ruling class, but impoverished and sometimes poisoned their people.

If the ruler was unconvinced by the bribe, he would be told that next “the jackals” and then an assassination team would appear. Most often, the leader was convinced by this threat, usually with CIA help.

But not every leader has caved. In 1953, for example, Iran’s democratically elected President Mossadegh resisted and was forced out of office by Kermit Roosevelt and the CIA, to be replaced by the dictatorial shah.

Later, democratically elected President Allende of Chile, who wanted Chile's riches for his people, was assassinated at his desk with much CIA involvement on Sept. 11, 1973. He was replaced by the dictator Pinochet.

Kam Williams, writing in EURweb, says of this documentary, “Despite death threats, in this revealing expose John Perkins details exactly how America goes about cheating less powerful nations, exploiting their citizens while helping itself to their natural resources.”

This free documentary will help viewers prepare for Chris Martenson’s three-disc “Crash Course,” which Second Sunday Cinema will screen over three Sundays in January.

On Dec. 11, Second Sunday Cinema will show the first two chapters (only 17 minutes) of the “Crash Course.”

Using official US and UN graphs and numbers, this course shows why Martenson, a research scientist, believes “the next 20 years will be completely unlike the last 20 years.” This is due to the convergence of stark environmental realities, resource depletion, and capitalism's need for exponential growth.

For more information about Second Sunday Cinema call 707-889-7355.