No More Tears Sister
Aug. 6th, 2005 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chickenfeetTo my considerable annoyance , I missed No More Tears Sister when it played at Hot Docs but, fortunately for me, it was shown this afternoon as part of the South Asian festival that is on here this weekend.
For those who don't know, the film is a documentary about the life and death of Tamil academic and human rights activist, Rajani Thiranagama, who waged a very personal struggle against human rights abuses by all sides in the communal conflicts in Sri Lanks and was eventually assassinated for drawing attention to the reign of terror that the LTTE had imposed on the people it claimed to be liberating. It's mostly talking heads and most of the heads are Rajani's close relatives which makes it especially poignant. It's a moving film which had me thinking a lot.
I think the main stream of thought it stirred up in me is about what happens when an initially well intentioned political movement turns to violence. The imperatives of the armed struggle drive out the shading and nuances that are the lifeblood of political thought. What is left is a Manichean us;good vs them:evil dichotomy which not only serves to "justify" human rights abuses but which is incapable of admitting any kind of compromise or even dialectic, and thus cannot have a resolution short of the elimination of one side or the other. This is well illustrated by the role of the Indian Army "peacekeepers" who, though no doubt intended to be neutral, are (ironically) forced into a war with the LTTE. Parallels with other conflicts of the present or recent past are too obvious to need extensive drawing out.
For those who don't know, the film is a documentary about the life and death of Tamil academic and human rights activist, Rajani Thiranagama, who waged a very personal struggle against human rights abuses by all sides in the communal conflicts in Sri Lanks and was eventually assassinated for drawing attention to the reign of terror that the LTTE had imposed on the people it claimed to be liberating. It's mostly talking heads and most of the heads are Rajani's close relatives which makes it especially poignant. It's a moving film which had me thinking a lot.
I think the main stream of thought it stirred up in me is about what happens when an initially well intentioned political movement turns to violence. The imperatives of the armed struggle drive out the shading and nuances that are the lifeblood of political thought. What is left is a Manichean us;good vs them:evil dichotomy which not only serves to "justify" human rights abuses but which is incapable of admitting any kind of compromise or even dialectic, and thus cannot have a resolution short of the elimination of one side or the other. This is well illustrated by the role of the Indian Army "peacekeepers" who, though no doubt intended to be neutral, are (ironically) forced into a war with the LTTE. Parallels with other conflicts of the present or recent past are too obvious to need extensive drawing out.
