The Road to Guantanamo
I am breaking my long silence on this journal because I have to tell as many people as possible about the film The 'Road to Guantanamo', shown on Channel4 last night. I thought I knew how bad the detainees were being treated, but this film has brought it home more forcefully than anything else. I had to switch over in the middle because I couldn't bear it, but I turned back and watched the last hour. I think what is devastating me is that I have so many contacts in or from America, I see TV programmes showing good people from there all the time, the country has such close links with the UK in every way, and yet this torture, this utter inhumanity, this incomprehensible stupidity and cruelty is going on with the complete sanction of the US government and the silence of most US people. One review says:
"The result is an utterly devastating, gripping portrayal of innocents abroad falling foul of both large-scale international events and a US policy that seems cruel, inhuman and willfully blind, with the three men's testimonies a stark reminder that the awful, often darkly surreal events unfolding on screen actually took place." (http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=154608)
I am galvanised. I usually find it easy enough to sympathise with political campaigns but not do much, bar the odd march, donation or discussion with friends. This time I have to do something. The first thing that comes to mind is to join Amnesty International. The second is to cancel the trip to NY state that I have planned for a Quaker conference in April. I am not sure about the latter, because perhaps going there would be a way to find out what ordinary Americans (eg Quakers) are doing to campaign against all this. But right now I can't bear the thought that my money will be going to the government that has done this. And the third thing is to talk about it everywhere I can think of (I think I'll try the Channel4 forum now).
If you didn't see the film last night, it is available for download at £4.99 at http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/features/road_to_guantanamo/index.html (or £2.99 to rent) (I am disappointed that they aren't making it available free, but no doubt it is other places on the internet now for those who want to find it).
"The result is an utterly devastating, gripping portrayal of innocents abroad falling foul of both large-scale international events and a US policy that seems cruel, inhuman and willfully blind, with the three men's testimonies a stark reminder that the awful, often darkly surreal events unfolding on screen actually took place." (http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=154608)
I am galvanised. I usually find it easy enough to sympathise with political campaigns but not do much, bar the odd march, donation or discussion with friends. This time I have to do something. The first thing that comes to mind is to join Amnesty International. The second is to cancel the trip to NY state that I have planned for a Quaker conference in April. I am not sure about the latter, because perhaps going there would be a way to find out what ordinary Americans (eg Quakers) are doing to campaign against all this. But right now I can't bear the thought that my money will be going to the government that has done this. And the third thing is to talk about it everywhere I can think of (I think I'll try the Channel4 forum now).
If you didn't see the film last night, it is available for download at £4.99 at http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/features/road_to_guantanamo/index.html (or £2.99 to rent) (I am disappointed that they aren't making it available free, but no doubt it is other places on the internet now for those who want to find it).