We should not think that we are the only ones trapped under the spell of violence (for our case ethnic violence). Other people have been victimized too by various manifestations of violence. Perhaps, by understanding these other forms of violence, and learning from them, we might have new perspectives of investigating the reality surrounding our Turkana-Pokot-Merille ethnic violence. I encourage you to watch this documentary.
Synopsis: This is an approach to the subject of violence. A multiple, complex, fractured approach, where both speech and form are taken to its limits. These piece connects the different speeches of a group of teenagers and experts on some aspects of the matter. The whole movie is surrounded by some questions: who is speaking about the violence? Who are those here speaking? What experiences have they had? How have these experiences constituted them? These questions enable the possibility of univocal communication of the audio-visual image, introducing subjective elements there where we would expect objectivity: expert speech, conventional setting and recording, synchronized sound. This is, of course, a critical attitude toward current media, but not against the people speaking themselves, though somehow they are recovering their complete personality with this structure. Sound and image are directly related to the sense and meaning of the words but not distinguishing between it and its form.
Quotes from the Documentary
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It has been thought that the violent or people who performed violence at a given point were a small group of people, easy to portray… Well, it’s not like that. Violence is something which is absolutely closer to all individuals. It’s in their reach.
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“Possibly the main modification that Michael Foucault highlighted and that he believes characterizes modern societies is the fact that nowadays societies don’t work by favoring the model of violence, they don’t basically work from repression, against what is usually thought in some cases, but from the model of surveillance. They have prioritized the sensations related to fear because one of the main fears of today’s societies is, according to Foucault, the fear of being continuously surveilled.”
“Security is a delicate thing…. I mean, full security isn’t going to exist.”
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Politics has used fear, has used torture, to keep people obeying, and to keep people, well resigned and shut up.
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“I think that anger should be expressed because any submission means killing creativity and freedom, but anger doesn’t to be exactly violent. I mean, you can truly and excitingly express the things you want to change, and this you can also express in certain moments. Of course I think there has to be a self-defense violence, if you’re attacked you must defend yourself.”
“To me, fear, the neighborhood people’s fear, fear of insecurity, comes from the fact that they lost their chance to have a neighborhood according to them. And here responsibility falls not only on spectators, but also on the people of the neighborhood.”
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We must learn to express anger and not think that anger is something irrational. The person who expresses his feelings is more rational than the person who doesn’t.
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“The person who doesn’t can have, has a frightening tendency, to rationalize, getting away from the problems, and, therefore, they are more dangerous, they’re the ones which later become dictators.”
Long Mouth Social Commune 