// War Literature

I want to focus on the depths of evil human nature can reach when it comes to war.  In both the movies, “Paths of Glory” and “Syriana,” there are instances when authority takes advantage of its power.  In Kubrick’s movie, Mireau places all of his men in danger for the possibility of a promotion.  By the same token, in Gaghan’s movie, the radicals brainwash their “pupils” to commit suicide to pursue their own beliefs.  I want to compare these class materials with psychological experiments that further show how quickly one can abuse their authority once given the circumstances.  The Stanford County Prison Experiment required a number of volunteers in which some where given the role as prisoners and the others as guards.  Surprisingly, the participants adapted to their characters surprisingly well.  The guards abused their power as well as the prisoners.  They tried to diminish their feeling of identity by simply calling them by numbers.  The Milgrim Experiment designated the participants as the “teachers”, while the actors we the “learners.”  The teachers had to shock the learners every time they answered incorrectly and the voltage they needed to use got increasingly higher.  The number of participants that continued the experiment till maximum voltage was quite astonishing.  When one has power, he/she often abuses it, just as when someone is being commanded by authority, he/she often blindly obeys it, as seen in both of the movies from class.

Bibliography in the Making

I’ll be completely honest.  I’d be scared out of my MIND to go to the Gaza strip.  Because I’m afraid I’ll be hurt or worse, die?  Surprisingly….no.  I’ve always been extremely weak hearted when it comes to seeing other’s in pain.  It’s rather superficial of me, but sitting here in New York, away from all the pain, loss, and torture the people of both Palestine and Israel are going through…it’s just much easier to sit here in denial.  Sounds horrible right? I know, but it’s the truth.  Such is the case with many people in this country, as we’ve been lucky enough to seldom witness or go through a war in our nation.    The closest we get is probably through a television special featuring bomb blasts and the deaths of innocent civilians.  That being said, I’d love to gather the courage and go to the Gaza strip and witness what is really happening in the world and quite possibly, even be part of a change.  It’s important for people like myself to wake up and smell the plutonium.  The world today is anything but a bed of roses, and unless we start taking such world conflicts seriously…there won’t be much to look forward to in this world.

I’m thinking of focusing on the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan for the past 60+ years.  Specifically, I’d like to write about the fight over the Kashmir territory, which has been a war in itself for many decades now.  I want to write about this because not many people know of this conflict and how severe and terrorizing it really is for the people living there.  In many ways I feel the conflict in Kashmir is worse than a war, as it isn’t something that lasts a few years or so, but has kept residents of this state terrorized and terrified for many years now.  I’d like to use the film we watched in class, Waltz with Bashir in order to show a comparison between the civilians affected in this film and those in Kashmir.  I’d also like to use the book “Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War.”  Lastly, I’d like to use the Bollywood film “Mission Kashmir” as a source.  Though this a completely commercial film (focusing on a love story, as all Bollywood films do), it creates a very believable portrayal of those affected by the conflict in Kashmir.

Bibliography:

Mission Kashmir. Dir. Vidhu Vinod Chopra. By Vikram Chandra. Perf. Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta. 2000. DVD.

Waltz with Bashir. Dir. Ari Folman. Perf. Ari Folman and Ron Ben-Yishai. 2008. DVD.

Schofield, Victoria. Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War. London: I. B. Tauris, 2003. Print.

Before being presented with the hypothetical proposal of being given the chance to visit Gaza for a week, I had actually contemplated on the idea of travelling to the general region of Israel/Palestine and what it could possibly mean to me as an American, privileged with the safety of being a citizen of a country that is not only at peace, but free of the social and economic turmoil that has plagued Gaza for years. 

My initial thoughts on such a trip were a bit selfish. Already provided with the land of opportunity and that commonly referred to concept(though slightly complicated these days) of the ‘American Dream,’ I fantasized about the Middle East and considered what all the fuss was about with this Zionest concept and why people were treating eachother so terribly. I thought about what it would mean if some group of people had occupied Staten Island, where I’ve lived since I was 8, and over time driven me, my family, and my friends out with the explanation that this was their land as their birthright.

I had also thought of the lengths at which people have fought to protect what was theirs or believed was their own. Joe Sacco’s ‘Palestine’ opened my eyes to how serious these situations actually are. Illustrated with accounts of a side of this war that I haven’t seen or heard about until having picked up the graphic novel, ‘Palestine’ opened my eyes to many personal accounts of terror faced by those affected by all the hostility of the region.

Considering what thoughts ‘Palestine’ was able to introduce to me, I feel if I were given the opportunity to travel to Gaza and get a first hand experience of what was going on, I could educate more people like myself with my experience. I don’t believe I deserve a privilege over the people of Palestine and Israel to live in safety because in my opinion all the violence and segregation created by this war is made against humanity as a whole and I am not exempt from that.

Hate and violence may always exist in this world, as suggested by history, but awareness and respect are the first step in making some kind of difference in this world. And I hope that one day the danger and other stigma surrounded by Gaza which would turn away most people offered with the chance to visit, will be just part of the past.

I found Syriana to be a bit of a letdown and quite a bit confusing.  There were so many different characters and subplots that don’t quite fully connect by the end.  While expecting an action-packed thriller, I found the movie’s focus to be more about power and oil.  The main big shot oil companies are Killen and Connex and these big businesses seem to control the vast population.  It is comparable to the how wars begin.  The top officials never get their hands dirty but call the shots, like declaring war.  The big businesses tend to be the real decision makers.  Killen made bribes to get the sole rights to dig in oil fields in Kajikistan.  Due to this expansion, the merger of Killen and Connex took place.  While Jeffrey White acts as the scrutinizing lawyer to uncover any ambiguities about the merger between the two oil companies, he is unable to stop the corruption.  They end up framing a lawyer in the law firm that was hired to get the merger approved by the government. 

An interesting part of the movie is that the younger brother receives the Gulf emir throne over his older activist brother.  While the younger prince favors relations with the United States, the older prince is trying to maximize profits by accepting the highest offer from the Chinese for the oil.  The older prince wants to revolutionize Iran by creating a diplomatic government and giving women the right to vote.  He wanted to run oil pipelines to Europe to get oil to them at a cheaper price and higher profit.  Eventually, the younger prince receives the title as king.  Meanwhile, the CIA had hired George Clooney to kill the older prince for their best interests.  Yet, because he failed the CIA had someone else finish the job.  This movie displays how much corruption takes place.  Since the younger prince was a friend of the USA and provided them the best option for oil, the older prince was considered an enemy.  The rivalry between the two brothers would probably eventually lead to the murder of one of them.  I believe the CIA wanted to wipe out the older prince to prevent his revolutionary ideas from taking place.

Simultaneously, a ton of Pakistani oil field workers are laid off in the Persian Gulf.  A lot of people have nowhere else to go so they join these Islamic schools where they are fed and given shelter.  Consequently, one of the young workers, Mazhar Munir, with nowhere else to turn joins an Islamic school that is run by extremists.   The young boys are taught about Allah and the Koran, discussing the bridge between religion and politics.  These radicals believe that it shouldn’t be separate because the answer is always in Koran.  Their view is that all political decisions should be based on faith and the Koran.  They preached that this is the reason why the West has not succeeded because we keep our religion and politics as separate entities.  One of the missiles George Clooney sells, under the supervision of the CIA, mistakenly ends up in the hands of a leader for this terrorist group.  That same leader intrigues Munir and his friend by showing “them something really cool.”  It is an American-made missile, shows them how to use it, and warns them of its power.  It becomes evident how content the leader is with these boys’ interest and fascination with the dangerous weapon.  The leader continues to mold these young boys and eventually, into jahadists.  He gives Munir a prep talk advising him that he is ready, as in to die to “spread the true faith.”   Munir and his friend begin their suicidal mission as they got onto a boat with the missile loaded onto it and intentionally drive right into an oil tank.  It is dreadful to see these young boys’ demise.  It is clear that initially Munir display characteristics of honor, loyalty, and strong family values.  He showed that he was a hard worker as he persisted to find a job to support his family and defends his father.  However, the radical groups spread their message so effectively that they completed brainwashed him.

When posed with the question of whether or not I would take advantage of the opportunity to stay in the Gaza strip for some time as a journalis
t or an activist, my first reaction was no. And to be honest, my answer is still no. I am just not the kind of individual to enjoy “real life” experiences like those that would be too common in that environment especially when considering that my life would be in danger (greater danger) daily. This is just me though, and says quite a bit much about individuals such as Joe Sacco who consciously decided that conditions in both Palestine and Israel were significant enough to him–an American–to explore further on a first hand basis. Making a decision like this shows that a person believes either one of two things–that the experience that is to be held will have a lasting affect on him/her, or that he/she will create/make a way for change in that particular situation. In addition to desiring change for either himself or others, putting his life in danger for “journalistic purposes” proves that there is definitely a great deal of passion in his heart for the conflict that is present. These three things (amongst other possibilities) are definitely necessary for any individual to partake on such a journey.

I must say, before elaborating on the topic of “paralyzed peace” we discussed in class, that Palestine was indeed different from any other material I’ve read on Middle East conflict, especially from mass media sources. Somehow, all big words such as religion, war, politics, ethnicity and even hate, while constantly present, were in the back of my mind, and I quite often caught myself focused on the simplicity of human nature. And by saying “simplicity”, by no means I intend to degrade our superiority over other leaving species, but rather emphasize our ability to adapt to a given situation in order to survive, situation where even death sometimes is not an option.

But enough of philosophy, here’s a quote from the book, “The soldiers rotate every 15 days. At first they have stereotypes about prisoners. They act tough… After seven days they see things differently… the moment they start to relax and act as humans… we get another bunch of bastards.” Now, obviously there is a reason for this, and it is to maintain the delicately structured circle between prisoners and the guards. But I must ask myself, what would happen if guards weren’t rotated every fifteen days, but rather every thirty days, so to say. First answer that comes to me is they would see the prisoners as humans. Indeed, I’m not qualified to tackle the Middle East issue and seek answers, and nonetheless, just by visualizing the “15 day” circle being utilized within larger and much similar structures, I can’t help but realize that there is no intention to un-paralyze the “peace” and this conflict is very carefully constructed to stay here for a very long time.

            S is a horrifying story that starts out bad and only gets worse. After the invasion of S’s village Muslims were taken to camps. These prisoners had no information on where they were headed or for how long. Even after they arrived at the camp everything they knew about their future was rumors, after days of working on the physical aspect of their new home they had come to realize they would be there longer than they hoped. I feel this made the prisoners a lot less at ease.

            They knew people there were being tortured, raped, and killed, but it wasn’t in any systematic way. It was described almost as the acts of cruelty that were occurring were purely based on the mood of the guards, for example when the father was forced to rape his son while the guards watched and laughed. These prisoners became a cruel form of entertainment for these sadistic guards.

            The absolute absence of any details about there future must have made their situation way more terrifying, than if some knowledge or assurance was present, rather than their ideas of their future being purely based on hope. If they had arrived and were given a time when they would be killed or released could have provided some solace. The suspense of not knowing if they would be there for a week or a year, shot in the middle of the night or never, raped or left alone tortured everyone even those who weren’t physically harmed.

I would like to examine the fact that it is mandatory for Israeli citizens to join the army, and relate it to Tim O’Brien’s “On the Rainy River” and Waltz with Bashir. It would be interesting to tie that into Obama’s current stance on the middle east and what his plans are for the future regarding that region. I would utilize soldiers’ personal accounts of having fought in the Israeli army, focusing mostly on the Lebannon War so as to further involve the film. I’d compare the mandatory policy with that of the US, and delve into what would happen if there were a draft.