Horrific Documentary on Channel 4.

[pastradamus]

I just saw a documentary on the uks channel 4. It was about the very recent and very unreported events in Sri Lanka, the clamp down and eventual elimination of the Tamil tiger resistance movement and I must say it was the most graffic, brutal and shocking documentry I've ever seen.

Pictures of mutalted bodies, dead rape victims and attrocities one can only describe as genocide. They even show film of government troops executing captured tamil tigers.

To be quite honest I didnt know much about the conflict before the documentary but I found it to be channel 4's best work in a long time. Fair play to them and I suggest you guys check it out should they show a repeat of it.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields/episode-guide/series-1/episode-1

[Bronco]

Oh thanks for reminding me, I meant to watch this but forgot all about it, I'll make sure to have a watch on 4od tomorrow

[pastradamus]

Oh thanks for reminding me, I meant to watch this but forgot all about it, I'll make sure to have a watch on 4od tomorrow

No problem man. I might check it out again on channel 4 on demand also. It was that impacting.

[SHORAS]

I remember thinking at the time how suddenly it was in the news that they had been defeated or however they termed it. This civil war was going for decades then suddenly one prolonged attack and its all over? Bearing in mind the Tigers supposedly were the biggest and best equipped guerilla army in the world which had a navy of sorts? So I can very well imagine the utter brutality and terror which was used to kill them and 'ordinary' Tamils. Especially if past history is anything to go by, Colombia, Nicaragua, Vietnam etc

[pastradamus]

Well its up. you can watch the entire documentary here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields/4od#3200170

[praxis1966]

Well its up. you can watch the entire documentary here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields/4od#3200170

Well, it looks like I'll be in a shitty mood the rest of the day... Because you know I have to watch it.

[Bronco]

I've just seen it.. fucking horrible, cant remember when I last saw a documentary that shocked me as much, the worst thing about it is that I bet the Sri Lankan government end up getting away with it..

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

Haven't seen it yet, know someone who worked on the show though. Will definitely check it out, I've heard some really terrible things about Sri Lanka.

[brigadista]

uk making moves to deport 40 tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13790033

[human strike]

Anybody know if the UK is still selling weapons to Sri lanka?

Channel 4 has to be given a lot of credit for covering the plight of Tamils not just in this documentary but for years now

[SHORAS]

Although some images were horrific and the events needed to be told I didn't think it was that good a documentary film. The original Winter Soldier (1971) although doesn't show any images in my opinion is far more effective and agitational. Obviously it is much more political. The testimony from the soldiers themselves is truly horrendus and the way they tell their stories adds to the overall effect of the film. I recommend watching it, it's probably on You Tube or Google Videos if it's not there I image there are torrents around.

The Channel 4 film was quite laughable (in a sick way) when they ended with the thing about getting justice or whatever from the UN after the ship has sailed especially since it seems they could have (and probably were) complicit in the tragic and gruesome events.

[pastradamus]

The Channel 4 film was quite laughable (in a sick way) when they ended with the thing about getting justice or whatever from the UN after the ship has sailed especially since it seems they could have (and probably were) complicit in the tragic and gruesome events.

Yep, that was the only thing that really pissed me off about that documentary. They put the whole "international pressure" issue forward like it was a solution.

[pastradamus]

Anybody know if the UK is still selling weapons to Sri lanka?


Yes they are. They dont do it on an official basis though. Instead they use private arms dealers to sell weapons to Sri Lankan officials. They wont sell UK-manufactured weapons as it would be too obvious and instead sell old soviet weapons, such as kalashnikovs and artillery to Sri Lanka.

Israel is one of the main states openly selling advanced weapons to Sri Lanka. I have my suspicions that the tactic of bundling the tamil population into small area's and then shelling them wasn't originally a Sri Lankan idea as it reeks of Gaza.

http://adamite.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/sri-lanka-israels-dirty-secrets/

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=22056

[Pulasthi]

m from Sri lanka and already this documentry has turned on a huge controversial response.The government for the past two years since the war ended refused charges on war crimes,but as credible evidence is brought up now they are struggling.This war was carried out in the most secretive manner,no indepented monitors/media were allowed to the battle front.The government controled the press strongly and the sinhalese south was brainwashed about what's happening.The government created an image like "Here the LTTE "terrorists" have taken tamil civilians as hostage so we are gonna kick them off and rescue them blah blah" and the complete sinhalese south believed it.Government even called this battle as a "humanitarian operation".But the truth cannot be hidden and here it comes out,and all myths about humanitarian operations etc have begun to collapse.Since Mahinda Rajapaksha the present president is in office sinhalese nationalism became so dominant,still the hegemonic ideology is sinhalese nationalism in the political south,therefore the government through promoting "patriotism" against the "evil LTTE" which came to destroy the "motherland",got the chance of misleading the people.But since the war ended the scenario is slowly changing.Now the workers have begun to forward their demands.Students are fighting for better facilities and the "patriotic image" of Rajapaksha has begun to deteriorate.Struggles of socio economic nature are slowly erecting.This documentary will make that de "nationalist" process much rapid.People will begin to understand the truth of the so called "humanitarian operation" and that will bring Rajapaksha a hard time.

Having said that I have to point out - that the story has another side which was untold.

Although this documentry was intended to reveal the crimes of the Sri lankan state,it neglects another important side of the story.The LTTE was equally brutal when it comes to their tactics.In 2002 the ex SL premier entered in to a peace pact with the LTTE and that became a great releif to the tamils in the north who were been suffering within the conflict for ages.A process of negotiation went forward but in 2006 LTTE quit the process.It saw the ceasfire process as a threat to it's military supremacy on the tamil people.In 2005 presidental election LTTE didn't allowed tamils in the north to vote,(the majority of the tamils were expected to vote for the pro negotiation candidate Ranil Wickramasinha not Mahinda Rajapaksha) and what the LTTE wanted was to quickly move in to a war scenerio once again.They thought that with Rajapaksha - A sinhalese hardliner- in office it would be easy for them to gain international support in achieving their goal - a separate Tamil state.After Rajapaksha came in to power even after that there were some negotiation rounds due to the international pressure.but the LTTE abandoned it,carried out an assassination attempt on the cheif of the Sri lankan Army
(When this happened the ceasefire was still there.This assassination attempt was clearly a clear provocation.LTTE wanted the war!Not peace.)

Later the LTTE carried out a seiris of murderous attacks against civilians,many buses were blown with civilians inside in southern sub urbs.One such incident happened in a rural place called Kebithigollawa,the LTTE blewed up a bus full of civilians - most of them were ordinary (sinhalese) rural peasents women and children.This was a horrific incident at that time as the ceasefire was still there.(Unfortunately I'm not allowed to post links here,otherwise you'll see equally horrific images of LTTE targets)
The LTTE strategically through these attacks on civilians aimed to provoke a racist response among the Sinhalese - as in 1983 july - such a riot agaisnt tamils in the southern sub urbs at that point would have been very advantageous for them as it will attract international sympathy.So when the documentary says that "everything was fine until 2008" that is factually incorrect.When kilinochchi fell,many moderate Tamils urged the LTTE to come in to a negotiation process.They refused stubbornly and finally as a military tactic held thousands of Tamil civilians as a human shield (This was mentioned in the documentary too) They shot civilians who tried to fled the LTTE controlled areas to government controlled areas.This made the destruction much worse.Both the state and the LTTE didn't gave a DAMN about the civilians.

And another brief point - Rajapksha government unlike the previous regimes has a strong affection towards the Chinese-Russian bloc.Not because the guy is an "anti Imperialist" ( He is the greatest opportunist I've ever seen among the Sri lankan Bourgeoisie politicians,honestly) but strategically China and Russia was much supportive of the government during the civil war.Obviously the anti Rajapksha mindset which the western super powers have today is closely related with this fact.West is not in good terms with Rajapaksha due to his flirtation towards China and Russia.Anyway I don't think Channel 4 will broadcast a pro gramme with a title "Killing fields in Afghanistan" or "Killing fields in Ireland".If Rajapaksha was pro US rather than a pro Chinese lad then I like to bet anything - "sri lankan killing fields" would never been have produced.