Need one say more?
Teaching Polanski's "Ghost Writer"
The new (2010) Roman Polanski film "Ghostwriter," has strong potential for use in the classroom. At the box office the film, unsurprisingly, did better on the foreign market than domestically. Ghost Writer is intended for adult, thinking audiences, and the film is carried along by plot and character development. So, it might be difficult for our modern ADHD audience to sit through without the normal cognitive crutches of CGI, 90% seat time fighting, f*****g, cars crashing, etc. But for those who still remember when movies were not under the shadow of video games, this is a film to watch.
The other group that will no doubt suffer through the film belongs to those who support the Global War on Terror, invasion/occupation of Iraq, torture, etc. For example, the New York times review (and they did support the invasion of Iraq) tried to divert the attention from the context of the film and focus our attention on Polanski's private life (here). Certainly, there are interesting parallels. During the making of the film Polanski was under indictment and the threat of extradition (here)as is Prime Minister Lang. Both are in exile, attempting to escape justice. But by focusing on this (art as personal confession), the NY Times attempts to take our eye off the story (art as engagement with the cosmos).
"Ghost Writer" courageously raises the issue of the fact that those in the West who sanctioned and ordered torture, such as Cheney, have not been prosecuted. The argument that Cheney and his ilk make is that torture is justified because it works. The old ticking time bomb argument.
However,the recent killing of Bin Laden clearly illustrates just how misguided Cheney & Ilk are. The facts speak for themselves:
* Bin Laden lived in his compound for 5 years, plenty of time to find him, and plenty of time for many within the Al Qaeda network to know where he was (in fact, over 100 USA military advisors in 2008 lived just minutes from Bin Laden!)
* We don't know how many hundreds of people were tortured, but not one person divulged his location
* The CIA eventually (almost a decade later) found Bin Laden by tracking a phone call (and not waterboarding or using the rack)
Of course, there is reason to be relieved that Bin Laden is gone. But we will not have closure until those who perpetrated illegal acts of torture are brought to justice.
Perhaps it is time that we dug out a DVD of "Ghost Writer" and asked our citizenry (the oldest democracy in the world), if our political leaders should be held accountable for their actions? The standard answer from either wing is - "that would tear the country apart". Well - isn't democracy a messy business? Don't well functioning democracies hold their politicians accountable? Here's a list of countries that have prosecuted or pursued former leaders:
Peru - here
Pakistan issues arrest warrant for Musharraf- here and here and here
Taiwan - here
Philippines - here
France - here and here
Italy - here
In addition to "Ghost Writer", instructors may want to have their students watch:
Fair Game
Frost/Nixon
Time to Bring the 9/11 Era to a Close - Trial of Bush and Cheney
After eight seasons, the show 24 finally came to close. When you wrap up a show, there shouldn't be any cliff hangers. We should know what happened to the main characters. What about in the bigger "Truman Show" that we all live in? Here is how the script should go. But, instead of paralleling the 8 seasons of 24, we'll need to add 1 final season before we move on:
Season 1: "Attack on America"
Season 2: "Striking Back - The Invasion of Afghanistan"
Season 3: "The Treasure Hunt - The Invasion and Occupation of Iraq"
Season 4: "Weapons of Mass Destruction Exposed"
Season 5: "The Strangling of Civil Society and the Attack on Civil Liberties"
Season 6: "The Torture Chronicles"
Season 7: "Yes We Can - Hope out of Darkness"
Season 8: "The Killing of Bin Laden"
Season 9: "Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld on Trial at the ICC"
How Important is Bin Laden's Death?
The last few days there has been quite a bit of jubilation over Bin Laden's death. But how important is it? We find it interesting that the American media has avoided this question and instead focused on the tactical side of the raid.
Robert Fisk makes an excellent point that Al Qaeda was defeated by millions of Muslims as part of the Arab Awakening (Tunesia, Egypt) and still fighting on in places such as Syria and Lybia. Fisk points out that Al Qaeda was overtaken by the events. Watch.
Spiegel Online has an interesting article, positing that the death of Bin Laden comes 10 years too late. Read more. The author argues that America is not the same country is was before the 9/11.
The Guardian published an article where the author argues that Bin Laden's strategy, to suck the USA into major wars throughout the Islamic world, has worked. Read more.
Apparently the estimated total financial and human cost of the hunt for Bin Laden is valued at over 3 trillion dollars. Read more here and here
Juan Cole reports that the Taliban are fleeing their stronghold in Qunduz and that his death has been a real blow to their morale. here. One short term outcome is that the Taliban, freed from their pledge of hospitality, may sever ties with Al Qaeda (the Taliban were always a local movement and not a global network). If so, this would render a huge blow to Al Qaeda in South Asia.
The Dalai Lama discussed the death of Bin Laden. He said: "whether in some situation ensuring justice is more important than being compassionate to the perpetrator of a crime. It referred to the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden and the celebrations of it by some, and asked where compassion fit in with this and ethics. In his response, His Holiness emphasized the need to find a distinction between the action and the actor. He said in the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people. So his action must be brought to justice, His Holiness said. But with the actor we must have compassion and a sense of concern, he added. His Holiness said therefore the counter measure, no matter what form it takes, has to be compassionate action. His Holiness referred to the basis of the practice of forgiveness saying that it, however, did not mean that one should forget what has been done." Learn more
Robert Fisk makes an excellent point that Al Qaeda was defeated by millions of Muslims as part of the Arab Awakening (Tunesia, Egypt) and still fighting on in places such as Syria and Lybia. Fisk points out that Al Qaeda was overtaken by the events. Watch.
Spiegel Online has an interesting article, positing that the death of Bin Laden comes 10 years too late. Read more. The author argues that America is not the same country is was before the 9/11.
The Guardian published an article where the author argues that Bin Laden's strategy, to suck the USA into major wars throughout the Islamic world, has worked. Read more.
Apparently the estimated total financial and human cost of the hunt for Bin Laden is valued at over 3 trillion dollars. Read more here and here
Juan Cole reports that the Taliban are fleeing their stronghold in Qunduz and that his death has been a real blow to their morale. here. One short term outcome is that the Taliban, freed from their pledge of hospitality, may sever ties with Al Qaeda (the Taliban were always a local movement and not a global network). If so, this would render a huge blow to Al Qaeda in South Asia.
The Dalai Lama discussed the death of Bin Laden. He said: "whether in some situation ensuring justice is more important than being compassionate to the perpetrator of a crime. It referred to the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden and the celebrations of it by some, and asked where compassion fit in with this and ethics. In his response, His Holiness emphasized the need to find a distinction between the action and the actor. He said in the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people. So his action must be brought to justice, His Holiness said. But with the actor we must have compassion and a sense of concern, he added. His Holiness said therefore the counter measure, no matter what form it takes, has to be compassionate action. His Holiness referred to the basis of the practice of forgiveness saying that it, however, did not mean that one should forget what has been done." Learn more
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