Robert Fisk – Beirut To Bosnia

Filmed in the 1990s, this series takes journalist Robert Fisk through Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and Bosnia. He warns that the crimes of the West and Israel are breeding a culture of resistance, resentment and religious radicalism in the Middle East – a warning that the last decade has surely vindicated.

(3 episodes, 52 mins each. h/t Israel’s 60th Birthday)

1. The Martyr’s Smile

2. The Road To Palestine

3. To The Ends Of The Earth

The BNP Wives

BNP Wives is a documentary that demonstrates the fascists have learnt nothing from previous embarrassing encounters with the media.

(go to Google Video)

A more apt title for the programme would have been BNP Women as only one of them is married to a BNP member, and though a lot of it is old material in comedy terms (you think they’d be prepared for some of the questions and be a little more polite with members of the public!) it’s worth watching to compare what the women say with the glowing review on the BNP website, where the three are described as “fine ambassadors” for the party…

Jesus in Islam, Jews in Iran

I don’t intend to promote the Semitic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) or anything, but in these days of Clash of Civilisations rhetoric it’s worth reminding ourselves of their compatibility and their long histories of peaceful coexistence. Here’s two documentaries, both from Reclaiming Space, that do just that.

The Muslim Jesus (45 mins)

For all my suspicion of the Great Alpha Male In The Sky, I have no real problem with Jesus – or Issa – who, with his compassion, humility, and intolerance for money-lenders in the temple, was very much a man after my own heart. A version of him, along with his mother St. Mary, are among the Quran’s central characters.

The Jews of Iran (17 mins)

We’ve had to put up with a relentless propaganda campaign this year, suggesting that the Islamic Republic of Iran is in fact the Fourth Reich, on a mission to kill all the Jews. This is nothing but baseless scaremongering; just ask Tehran’s thriving Jewish community.

In spite of many family ties to Israel and the West, and Israel’s desperate attempts to bribe them into defection, most Iranian Jews identify with their country as proudly as with their faith.

Part Two follows

The Power Of Nightmares

Do you believe in al Qaeda?

In this seminal 2004 documentary series (3 episodes, 60 mins each), Adam Curtis traces the intertwined histories of two ideological movements – the neoconservatives and the radical Islamists – and the political reality they helped create. For rather than following the most inspiring dreams, we now select the leaders with the most terrifying nightmares.

1. Baby, It’s Cold Outside