Life Inside 'Islamic State'

This was a great 17min animated short, created from the diary entries of one brave individual who kept track of daily life under Daesh rule. Where shopkeepers are taxed unlawfully, men are arrested for wearing trousers that are too long and women for failing to wear a veil. Where stoning to death is a just punishment and lashing and beheadings a daily occurrence. How can we possibly understand what it's like to live our lives like this?

bbc.co.uk

Animators Ross Plaskow and Scott Coello have done a brilliant job in portraying these scenes in ways that will not distance us as Westerners. It informs us, shows us only the humanity of the victims and does not aim to shock or turn us away from its content - which is important when all too many turn their backs on the problem. Not only are the drawings skilful, with the aid of dan Pollard's score, they are symbolic of the many meanings behind the look in a man's eye, of the acts of violence, of defiance and of despair.

bbc.co.uk

What came across most for me is the loneliness of a life in Raqqa. Attending any meetings in public places can see you accused of plotting against Daesh, you cannot see your friends, you cannot watch television to connect with the outside world, what can you do? There is nothing but the four walls of your home, and the sound and tremor of bombs dropping all around you. The world has deserted you. Our diarist is advised, 'Live your life without considering the present' - well what else can he do?

It is frustrating for me as a viewer as I too search for ways to act, to fight back, to help the civilians of Raqqa - but fail to come to any hopeful conclusion. All I can do is write this post and let someone somewhere know that I am thinking of them, that they are not forgotten, that they are not alone.

Find Life Inside 'Islamic State' on Iplayer, available until 9th April: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p03lcxh7/life-inside-islamic-state

Are We At War?

dezeen.com

Of course not, you might say. Officially, I guess not. But I'm talking about another kind of war. A war that sees innocent people forgotten about and cartoonists who dedicate their lives to making caricatures of those they disagree with, make worldwide news. 12 cartoonists are shot, and everyone's Charlie Hebdo but not once is anyone raising their hand to say anything about any of the hundreds and thousands of deaths that are happening around the world to people who have never said a word against anyone. Yes, the deaths are tragic and the killing is completely unjust. Yes, it is upsetting. Yes, free speech is important. Yes, the fact that Paris is closer to home is likely to cause a larger outpour of 'sympathy' and 'outrage' but whatever the reason for such a huge response to the Paris attack and the complete lack of response to anything else, even if that reason may seem compelling with the addition of a hashtag and more followers... IT'S WRONG.

mirror.co.uk

And David Cameron, where does he stand on all of this? Well yesterday he marched side by side with 3.5million others demonstrating their strength of feeling towards free speech and today, he decided that actually, all of that was bollocks and instead he's going to ban whatsapp.

Britain is at a turning point in modern politics where the likes of Russell Brand drive more public interaction with the subject than any politician of our time. It's a time where Twitter drives votes and UKIP is the go-to party for voters who are bored with the way things are - but then at least they bother to turn out and vote in the first place. The leaders of the parties are exasperating ridiculous ways to win public adoration, with Cameron's latest threat of refusing to appear on television debates without the presence of the Green party, either a wonderful stab at appearing to be a just and equal opponent or a step towards the naughty corner when broadcasts go ahead without him. It doesn't matter how bigoted, how ignorant or how wonderful the education at Eton was... the point is, that something is wrong with British politics and if we don't start looking for alternative ways to fix it, we're in trouble.

theguardian.com

I don't pretend to have the answers to everything, or anything in fact but I think a good place to start is the voting system. Of course, it would help if we had candidates we actually WANTED to vote for, not just ones we prefer over all of the others. But our 65% voting turnout is shameful. Almost 100yrs ago women fought for the right to vote which also caused the voting age of men to be lowered too. People lost their lives in that fight and now, most can't be bothered. Call it disillusionment, but those who don't vote allow the room for votes towards radicalism to rise. So why does the option to vote online not exist, to make it easy for them? People have jobs to go to and no time to spend queueing in a polling station. Online votes need to happen soon - either that or election day is made a public holiday for us to cast our votes, or we are allowed to take time away from work without the threat of no pay - as in some US states (California). It's a suggestion, which is far better than our current system, in MY opinion. We need to make it easy for voters.

123rf.com

As I say, I don't have an answer for anything. But I see that there is a problem and I see the worth of free-speech more than ever. There are people around the world who hate the ways of the West and hate our politics. If I'm honest, I'm beginning to hate our politics too and banning whatsapp is certainly not the way to go about changing that. 1 in 6 of our population are over 65 and by 2050, that is predicted to rise to 1 in 4. Is this society the one we want to see our elderly relatives grow old in? The one that threatens the UK's position as a haven for those in need, for refugees and for asylum seekers. The one that values bigotry over equality. The one that will vote UKIP out of indecisiveness and naivety?

In my opinion, we are at war - with morality - and somewhere along the line, we have to start voting for it. We have to stop jumping on the bandwagon of the next Twitter hashtag and look around for other issues. Issues that we might ACTUALLY care about, might ACTUALLY rally to change and change people's minds in the process. Who knows, you MIGHT even solve it, someone's got to, coz it's not looking likely to be Cameron any time soon. After all, democracy means 'power belongs to the people', so let's remind our leaders just that...just a suggestion.

The Islamic State - Vice

news.vice.com

It's always hard to set aside your own views when reviewing a politically-charged documentary with politics you disagree with. The film in question is 'The Islamic State' by Vice News. The Islamic State is a Sunni jihadist group who formerly had ties to al Qaeda. It has conquered large areas of Iraq and Syria with significant speed, with aims to expand their current powers into a viable Islamic State. The documentary follows soldiers of the IS as they build up institutions in Raqqa, the Hisbah as they enforce harsh Sharia law and an educational doctrine that supports the belief that arming 10year olds with Kalashnikovs has no bad consequence. It is clear that these extremists will stop at nothing to preserve their belief and Vice stopped at nothing to show us this.

news.vice.com

The 43min documentary is a poignant one that gave us access to one of the most inaccessible groups of modern conflict. The film has been viewed over 3million times on youtube showing just how much documentaries about conflict and human interest should very much be shown as part of mainstream television. It seems a travesty that in the face of modern conflict, major world leaders shut off their media outlets to such programming and it could even be construed as a federal crime if the US government wanted to prosecute Vice or its filmmaker Medyan Dairieh as IS gained further media attention and gained a wealth of new media material. Of course, if that happened I hope that public opinion would ensure that the decision would be rebuked as this is one of the most relevant and poignant documentaries I have seen of late and one that should certainly be deemed 'of public interest'. The question should not be 'should we show it to the public', it should be 'do you trust your own citizens with the truth'.

Down to the documentary itself, it is one that is both informative and compelling. The map graphics help us to understand the scale of IS and the voiceover is crafted well to suggest that those who offer up loyal reactions to their harsh Sharia punishments, may not be doing so of their own free well, but merely for their own good. If they speak ill of the Hisbah, they will be punished so of course they are going to compliment their oppressors and champion what they have learned. The voiceover offers us enough as an audience to decide for ourselves, which responses are questionable.

adage.com

There are some interesting shots that are offered to us without the support of a voiceover too, allowing us to make up our own minds about the extremist views we witness. Perhaps the most prominent for me, was down by the river where children were washing and swimming. A teacher is introduced, followed by his son. His son seems unsure at first of whether he should say he is from the Islamic state or from his home land...but soon turns to talk of Caliphates, an Islamic state and killing infidels. Coming from such a young boy, it is clear that the messages are enforced young. If the message were just to have their own independent state then I would not have a problem with that, but arming ten year olds with kalashnikovs, murdering innocents, pushing out the Kurds and not allowing citizens the choice, is where that all goes wrong.

businessinsider.com

The exclusive images of those young armed boys, of young boys travelling from far away villages to swear to the caliphate. It is a disturbing thing to see. There is a clip of a fourteen yr old boy angrily telling the camera how he will kill all of the infidels and he is not alone in his beliefs... is this what IS' interpretation of their own peaceful religion has come down to?

Vice filmmaker Medyan Dairieh took a risk in entering himself into the territory of filming in the state. Not only placing himself among extremists who deem the West as infidels... but also placing himself in a troubling position in providing the West with the documentary to view. In my opinion, this is what real news is. It is what real documentary is. Documentary is to document and what better document is there than one created within the subject. Dairieh is a brave man and the documented is a poignant and pressing one that anyone and everyone should watch. He gives us access to an inaccessible group of contributors and for that, I think we should applaud. More than that however, we should applaud the restraint of Dairieh in allowing us as an audience, to decide for ourselves what we think of 'The Islamic State'.

You can watch the film here.. remember to like, subscribe to the vice youtube channel and comment.