Monday, August 24, 2009

Genocide Denied. Genocide Begotten.


























I think I have developed a knack for testing myself with all the grossness of historical documentaries. Each time I think I have escaped the clogging of my own head with the images and screams and ugliness, something more unimaginable comes up. I landed upon
SCREAMERS (Click here to follow on YouTube) , feat. System of A Down, the idea of the film was to cover something few documentaries put so wholly into picture..... 'GENOCIDE' or the killing of genos (races) is truly a 20th century phenomenon.

Starting with the 1915 Genocide of the Armenians in Turkey, The Holocaust, Pol-pot's Cambodia, Kosovo, Serbia, Rwanda and Darfur! Each time the world forgets people in their miseries, each time this comes up again.

The graphics were all real archive footage of these times and these places. More horrifying were stark inconsistencies in the way the world has responded or not responded. The figures speak for themselves, 1500000 Armenians. 6000000 Jews. 200000 Bosnians. 600000 Rwandans. 400000+ in Darfur. Each time political and ideological pressure originates from a majority under threat, the minorities suffer.

Sometimes you often wonder if these acts are even possible for a human to commit, sometimes you feel ashamed of the species! Like when you hear descriptions of survivors from such carnages!

Armenia is a country we would know or bother little about as some far off God forsaken land. The fact that Turkey denied the occurence of a genocide there is further unknown to most of us. But the entire documentary, filmed alongside 'System of A Down' band with members of

Armenian descent presents a grim picture at how the west and particularly the U.S. and U.K. have failed to recognize the cause of the Armenian people for the more important tactical location of Turkey.... Russia's underbelly!

I never really liked the said band's music that much and sticking to a cause and promoting it through concerts is nothing new for bands. But having seen and read about some of these genocides before seeing this film, theres hardly anything to disagree with in the film.

For a major part in me, life goes on as usual. You work, you carry on and nothing changes. But having knowledge of such stuff, I guess would make me more conscious about what are the threats to us in our society, because each time we forget the tragedy of millions.... they come back to haunt us again in another 'Genocide'.

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