Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote
Brave New Films is a nonprofit film production company producing independent documentaries about threats to democracy and social justice. Their latest documentary Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote is part of their new voter education and turnout campaign to get 30,000 Wisconsin voters out to the polls with statewide screenings leading up to Election Day. These statewide screenings target Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The documentary details the lengths to which former president Trump, Republicans and the MAGA movement have taken their unfounded voter fraud conspiracies, resulting in 19 states enacting voter restrictions in the form of harsher voter ID requirements, shorter time frames to vote by mail, fewer ballot boxes and more ways to purge voters.
Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote began production after Democrat Stacey Abrams lost the 2018 gubernatorial election to Republican Brian Kemp, after which the folks at Brave New Films investigated widespread voter suppression in that state. Since then, the documentary has been extended and modified for relevance in the upcoming 2022 election.
Brave New Films president and director Robert Greenwald explains what he’s seeing when talking to disenfranchised voters. “It’s only gotten worse,” he said. “Dr. Carol Anderson says it very well in the film, saying, “This is not a question of one person hiding behind a white cape (also known as the Ku Klux Klan). This is organized and this is systemic.” And it’s often legal even though it’s morally and democratically wrong. It’s being done and it’s spreading, and there’s lots of money and effort. Rather than the voters choosing the politicians, the politicians are trying to choose the voters.”
“We’re seeing this voter suppression mixed in with lies and deceit and awful systemic racism, but we’re also seeing tremendous activation by people who realize how important their vote is. It’s a wakeup call and a fight for something that we never thought we’d see be fought for again. It’s tragic—but there’s something we can do.”
Wisconsinites are encouraged to host viewing parties for Suppressed and Sabotaged 2022 whether it’s online or in person. Brave New Films hope to turnout over 150,000 voters in the targeted five states. Watch the documentary on YouTube here. Visit Brave New Films’ website here.
