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| (Un)Covering the War By Gloria Williams Shocking
and Awful: IF YOU WANT to see what the mainstream media have not been showing about the war in Iraq, check out the Deep Dish TV series, Shocking and Awful: A Grassroots Response to War and Occupation. The 13-part series opens with a look at the occupation from the point of view of Iraqi citizens who experience first-hand the ongoing presence of U.S. troops. “The Real Face of Occupation,” the first 30-minute segment, shows a scene at a Baghdad checkpoint where we hear an American soldier shouting, “Stop, you better stop or I’ll fucking shoot you! Get out of the goddamn car or I’ll shoot you!” Another soldier says to the people in the car, “Anybody speak English?” In a living room, a fragile grey-haired man sits with his granddaughter and tells how his son was on his way to work when the soldiers opened fire on him. The family is gathered together holding a photo of the dead man as the brother explains that his brother had a medical exemption from military service. “My brother was not holding a pistol in his hand. He had no weapon, he wasn’t a soldier,” he says, “We ate breakfast all together. We were sitting talking and he got up to go to work.” “The Americans started shooting everywhere,” the father says. “My son was standing waiting for a taxi, so he was killed.” At a demonstration held at Firdaus Square in Baghdad, Yanar Mohammed of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq tries to explain to a U.S. soldier that they are demonstrating to bring attention to the abduction of Iraqi women. The soldier interrupts and, speaking over her, says, “Yes, yes,” dismissively and insists they need a permit. “Nobody has ever asked us for a permit before,” Yanar tells him. “Hundreds of women…” “Shut your mouth!” he yells at her. Later Mohammed explains, “Tens of thousands of Iraqis had to give away their lives for reasons still unclear to them. It’s a very terrifying new world order when the most tremendous military machine has a blank check to bomb any place in the world as a show of power to prove to the whole world that they are the only police.” This rare look at the faces and lives of Iraqi people living under U.S. occupation is a perfect organizing tool for antiwar activists. Deep Dish TV’s Brian Drolet developed and coordinated Shocking and Awful with Dee Dee Halleck, founder of Paper Tiger Television and Deep Dish TV. Nearly a hundred individuals and organizations produced the various segments that make up the series. After its initial broadcast on Free Speech TV in 2004, Shocking and Awful is now distributed internationally on DVD. Though some PBS stations have expressed an interest, none has aired the series. Phone calls and letters might make them reconsider. The last program in the Shocking and Awful series, “World Tribunal on Iraq,” covers the New York Tribunal, one of a series of hearings held around the world that concluded in Istanbul, Turkey, in June 2005. Produced by Alpa Patel, a multimedia video activist who worked at Democracy Now!, the one-hour segment features testimonies regarding war crimes committed in Iraq. Sarah Leah Whitson from Human Rights Watch, Roger Norman of the Center for Economic and Social Rights, and Jennifer Ridha, an Iraqi-American attorney, are among those who gave testimony. While reporters from all over the world came to cover the final tribunal held in Istanbul, Deep Dish TV was the only U.S. network to cover the event by hooking up a live satellite uplink that has been edited into two DVDs that are also currently being distributed. Activists can get Shocking and Awful or other Deep Dish TV programs shown on their local public access channels, and set up screenings at libraries, churches, colleges, or community centers. For friends and family who watch too much mainstream television, Shocking and Awful could be the perfect holiday gift. For more information on Shocking and Awful and Deep Dish TV: Deep Dish TV; 339 Lafayette St.; New York, NY 10012; 212) 473-8933; website: deepdishtv.org; email: www.deepdish@igc.org. To contact your local PBS station about airing this series, go to: www.pbs.org. Gloria Williams is a long time media and peace activist now studying journalism at the University of Iowa. |
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