Film: The War You Don't See

For today, the best option was another Sands Films offering. Their latest showing was The War You Don't See, a documentary on war propaganda, written and co-directed by John Pilger. Right down my alley. The intro starts nearly nine minutes in (they should learn to crop the film), when we find out that it's a co-production with the London Socialist Film Co-op, who also give an intro - from a political perspective. The film itself starts after about 15 minutes.

Once upon a time, bards were employed by the local chieftains to sing their praises. If it wasn't flattering to their boss, it didn't get heard. And all through history, the story has been written by the victors. Hey, I can't even watch Shakespeare's Henry V, it's so damn jingoistic! So it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that, as mentioned in this film, Lloyd George got chummy with the editor of The Guardian during the First World War. As he remarked, if the people knew what was really happening in the war, they'd call an immediate end to it..

An interesting slideshow shows the increasing percentage of civilian casualties throughout international conflicts - 10% during WW1, 50% for WW2 (where we're also reminded that Japan surrendered BEFORE the atomic bombs were dropped), 70% for Vietnam - 90% of casualties were "collateral damage" during the Iraq War, which was still dragging on when this was made. 

Frankly, it's infuriating - so much so that I had to post to Facebook before the film was even over, I was so enraged! Scene after scene shows Pilger challenging executives at the BBC and ITV, whose heels are so firmly dug in that they're immovable - Pilger's face at one point is priceless, as he's at a loss to find a response to what he's just been told!

"Our duty is to report what government spokespeople tell us. Then the public decides."

Pilger: "But that's not really fair on the public, is it? They're not getting the full story."

"Neither are we. We have to wait for someone with the time and energy to analyse it afterwards."

Oh for goodness' sake, if all that the news media is good for is parroting what the powers-that-be tell them, what use are they?! And of course, "embedded" journalists will never say anything that goes against the agenda of the people they're embedded with - as one explained, if you don't toe the party line, you'll be denied access. If you play along, they still dictate where you go, and when - and what you see. In some cases, they also tell you what you're allowed to write. Fox News, while briefly mentioned, is dismissed as "cartoonish" - which is fair comment, demonstrated by the example "news" article where the reporter spends her time asking the helicopter pilot to show her how he steers..

We also get to hear from journalists who tell us how events were stage-managed for the press - like the enthusiastic reception for US troops entering Baghdad. And there's a worrying report on how endangered non-Western journalists are if reporting against the Israeli military - we see footage of the Israelis shooting at a cameraman. 21 years old; he lost both legs in that attack. Not to mention the deliberate US bombing of the Arabic Al-Jazeerah offices in Kabul - they were kind enough to ring first, to warn them to get out. Oh, and I remember the Israeli attack on the aid convoy to Gaza, and how the footage they released had been doctored - they killed several people, that day.

Never fear, there's one ray of hope - Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, is also interviewed, and provides the highpoint when he describes how, despite being hounded by the US, he has no problem with the UK - the Official Secrets Act apparently prohibits retention or destruction of the information.. but he's perfectly free to publish it! :-D

Remember - believe none of what you read, and half of what you see. Or indeed, believe nothing until it's been officially denied. The reasons for going to war in Iraq were totally spurious, and this misinformation has happened over and over again. Even just this week - mind you, on a different topic: the journalist regularly interviewed on This Morning - speaking about Harry and Meghan winning their court case against the Daily Mail - totally defended the newspaper's position! Well, she would, she works for them. What made me laugh though was when (not for the first time) she came out with the daft phrase "we have standards in this country". Her implication was that this was an example of British journalistic standards ensuring that when "someone gets it wrong", they get "rapped on the knuckles". Yeah, not really - this was an example of people being wronged, and having the money to go after the perpetrators. Not everyone is able to do that - so, for every court case won against them, I do wonder how many times they get away with it.. (As usual, the presenters didn't challenge her - not in their job description, I guess.)

On Saturday - wow, at last, Meetup is running things early enough in the day for me again! Up in the Cheap Seats is watching a couple of contemporary dance shows by Grupo Corpo - Bach and Lecuona, each streaming on Vimeo and available to rent for 48 hours for £3.95. So I've signed up - will rent closer to the time, and we'll be chatting about them on Saturday. Phew, it'll be great to see these folks again, it's been ages!