The Human Shield
- 2003
- 52m
YOUR RATING
In February 2003, 60 volunteers from all walks of life embarked on an incredible journey from London to Baghdad where put their lives on the line for peace.In February 2003, 60 volunteers from all walks of life embarked on an incredible journey from London to Baghdad where put their lives on the line for peace.In February 2003, 60 volunteers from all walks of life embarked on an incredible journey from London to Baghdad where put their lives on the line for peace.
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Pacifism What Is it Good For ?
Where were you on the 15th Of Febuary 2003 ? You must remember it ? That was the day everyone in the world got off their backsides and marched through the streets of every Capital city of every democracy on Earth to protest about the on coming Anglo American invasion of Iraq . I was totally against the invasion myself and had no qualms about signing every online petition I came across on the internet . Attending an anti war rally was somewhat different . After all why would I want to leave my warm flat and go on a long train ride to Glasgow to listen to speakers who were either apologists for the Iraqi regime or listen to hypocrites who were against the war because it wasn't sanctioned by the UN . I was only against the war because I failed to see what national interest there was for Britain and America invading another country . I didn't condemn any one for protesting the war but at the same time if you're against the war as I was then you're also for the Saddam regime staying in power . When people actually volunteer to go on a bus ride and offer themselves as human shields I'm afraid that's taking things too far . This documentary tells the story of these anti-war protesters who volunteered as human shields
Once upon a time there was something called " The Hippy trail " that started in Kathmandu in Nepal and finished in Istanbul in Turkey but a civil war in Afghanistan followed by a Soviet invasion while ext door a theocratic revolution in Iran put paid to anyone wanting to travel halfway across the world with lots of hash and free love . One feels poignant nostalgia for a period one missed out on and I suspect that's an element of why some people went on this trip . Truth be told many of the protesters bare a physical resemblance to the clichéd hippy , beards and dreadlocks but it's a broad cross section of Christians , pacifists , Muslims effectively led by former US marine Ken O'Keefe all ready to lay their lives down in the cause of peace
The one thing in common they all have is their self righteousness . O'Keefe states even though " I didn't kill anyone [ in the 1991 Gulf war ] I do bare guilt for that " . A driver states " I passionately supports the Iraqi people and if you kill the Iraqi people you kill us " , a lay preacher states" I will stand with my brothers of the book both Christian and Muslim in their time of danger and fear " . Actually the more one of these shields open their mouth the more they fail to understand what they're saying such as " If there's a problem we sit and talk , if we're civilised enough we can talk we can negotiate " while another shield almost bursts out crying when she exclaims " when I place myself in this situation that my life , the life of my children means no more no less than the lives of all children all people globally
And this is where the fault lies . There was a bloody war in the former Yugoslavia 1991-95 . 1994 saw a literal genocide in Rwanda where 800,000 were butchered . Round about the same time Somalia saw had seen hundreds of thousands starve to death over a four year period . In 1995 a Pakistani militia called The Taliban invaded Afghanistan and brought a brutal theocratic regime to the Afghans . After failing to wipe out the Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s Slobodan Milosevic tried to wipe out the Muslim population of Kosovo , while Britain and America was preparing to invade Iraq the Sudanese Muslim government was preparing for a war of extermination against black Africans in Darfur . The known number of human shields organising human shield movements in these war zones - 0 . Zero . Nada . None
It's a case of of Lenin meeting PT Barnum - there's a useful idiot born every minute and unfortunately they're all born in secular democracies . Orwell summed these people very cogently in his 1945 essey Notes On Nationalism . They're not anti-war , they're only anti war when it's waged by a democracy against a tyranny . When a tyrant is committing genocide or waging aggressive wars the silence from the anti-war brigade is totally deafening . It's also interesting that this documentary is easy to find online but only in a highly edited form . The fact the shields are put in to barracks and other military facilities used by the Saddam regime and not as they hoped in hospitals and schools which would never be a target by the coalition led to most of the volunteers jacking in their bizarre campaign
Once upon a time there was something called " The Hippy trail " that started in Kathmandu in Nepal and finished in Istanbul in Turkey but a civil war in Afghanistan followed by a Soviet invasion while ext door a theocratic revolution in Iran put paid to anyone wanting to travel halfway across the world with lots of hash and free love . One feels poignant nostalgia for a period one missed out on and I suspect that's an element of why some people went on this trip . Truth be told many of the protesters bare a physical resemblance to the clichéd hippy , beards and dreadlocks but it's a broad cross section of Christians , pacifists , Muslims effectively led by former US marine Ken O'Keefe all ready to lay their lives down in the cause of peace
The one thing in common they all have is their self righteousness . O'Keefe states even though " I didn't kill anyone [ in the 1991 Gulf war ] I do bare guilt for that " . A driver states " I passionately supports the Iraqi people and if you kill the Iraqi people you kill us " , a lay preacher states" I will stand with my brothers of the book both Christian and Muslim in their time of danger and fear " . Actually the more one of these shields open their mouth the more they fail to understand what they're saying such as " If there's a problem we sit and talk , if we're civilised enough we can talk we can negotiate " while another shield almost bursts out crying when she exclaims " when I place myself in this situation that my life , the life of my children means no more no less than the lives of all children all people globally
And this is where the fault lies . There was a bloody war in the former Yugoslavia 1991-95 . 1994 saw a literal genocide in Rwanda where 800,000 were butchered . Round about the same time Somalia saw had seen hundreds of thousands starve to death over a four year period . In 1995 a Pakistani militia called The Taliban invaded Afghanistan and brought a brutal theocratic regime to the Afghans . After failing to wipe out the Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s Slobodan Milosevic tried to wipe out the Muslim population of Kosovo , while Britain and America was preparing to invade Iraq the Sudanese Muslim government was preparing for a war of extermination against black Africans in Darfur . The known number of human shields organising human shield movements in these war zones - 0 . Zero . Nada . None
It's a case of of Lenin meeting PT Barnum - there's a useful idiot born every minute and unfortunately they're all born in secular democracies . Orwell summed these people very cogently in his 1945 essey Notes On Nationalism . They're not anti-war , they're only anti war when it's waged by a democracy against a tyranny . When a tyrant is committing genocide or waging aggressive wars the silence from the anti-war brigade is totally deafening . It's also interesting that this documentary is easy to find online but only in a highly edited form . The fact the shields are put in to barracks and other military facilities used by the Saddam regime and not as they hoped in hospitals and schools which would never be a target by the coalition led to most of the volunteers jacking in their bizarre campaign
helpful•10
- Theo Robertson
- Feb 12, 2013
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- £30,000 (estimated)
- Runtime52 minutes
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