The poetry of the documentary

Paul Chan made this beautiful documentary of Lynne Stewart in 2006.

Here is an excerpt:


Watch the whole video.

a Chilean September 11th

We were on our way to a barbecue, to commemorate the day that the Pinochet took power in 1973 and many people went missing, were killed, tortured ... The idea of this happening is foreign to me. The smiles and lollipops land warns of terrorism and "fights" it abroad so that it will never reach our soil. It is so removed from my consciousness.


So the bus we took passed by Estadio Nacional: one of the torture camps run by the dictatorship. The stadium is still used today for soccer games. To me, I thought that was horrible - the American that I am who must sensationalize everything, but the Chileans explained it as "moving on", not allowing the past to dictate what we do in the present. Anyhow, we were passing the stadium and the bus stopped and I said, This is what September 11th is - as we watched the vigil. Do you want to get off?, Mati asked me. We jumped out of our seats and out the door.

Politics

While traditionally I am not a political person, I feel that the results of the election require a comment, especially after reading a note a friend of mine posted on Facebook:


How come you supported Obama?

I'm not trying to start a fight. I'm just curious. I've already had a few people drop me from their friend's list because of different political beliefs, and I've been called a racist several times because I don't support Obama.


I am SURE that someone out there can do better than that. So could someone please tell me on what issues they side with Obama? I ask because I cannot find a single issue that anyone would rationally say, "yes, I agree with him and I believe that is the best course of action for our nation".


Or does it really just boil down to one of the following:
-yes, we can
-change
-a vote for Obama is a vote against Bush

Please, give me hope that we voted him into office for reasons other than those.


This was my response (which didn't fit on one comment space, so I had to post two!):

They may have dropped you because of how you are making your comments, rather than your support of McCain.

I, too, am a registered independent, and I voted for someone who I believe can actually change our country back to what we grew up believing it was. I have felt completely estranged from American politics and America for years (hence my constant living abroad). In the past few days I have received emails from non-US friends of mine encouraging me to vote for Obama and also congratulating me after Tuesday night. I think that the world's perspective of our country and us as Americans is important; it is quite amazing how much an effect our president has on other countries and on how they view us - whether or not you feel that is a valid relationship, that is a relationship that the world makes. This election and hence the results are about so much more than just who we want in office for the next four years. I don't necessarily support all of what Obama supports, nor do I think that he will be able to complete all of the promises that he has made, but I believe in him. I believe that he (and, let's be honest, his team) will be able to help us through this financial crisis, find a way for us to pull out of Iraq successfully and peacefully, and find our place in the world not as a THE world power, but a power among many, which is our place.

I hope that makes sense to you. I am sorry that your heart has broken and that someone who you supported so whole-heartedly didn't win. But, I hope that you can come to terms and realize how historical these results are - not just because he is our first black president. He had so many supporters from all walks of life, all races, all ages ... yeah, sure some of the people who voted for him voted blindly for change or an African-American, but some people who voted for McCain made similar decisions. Many people who voted for the first time because they have felt disenfranchised with the political system and voted for Obama now feel that their vote truly can make a difference. This is important to the future of our country. A country where the people (all the people) matter is the country that I thought I grew up in, but as I became an adult I did not see it that way.

P.S. i would never drop you from my fb friends, in fact even though some things you have written infuriate me, it is wonderful to hear your opinions because they would absolutely NEVER occur to me.


This event is not about race, but about opportunity and the since defunct American Dream. There is a new energy in the American people. Even though I don't like to repeat rhetoric (especially political rhetoric), but it is about hope. A hope that was lost when JFK was killed. A hope that died when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. A hope that some Americans never even knew they had.