The petition
Since the illegal war and occupation of Iraq in March 2003,a shocking total of 655 000 Iraqis have been killed. In this country however, we are rarely given the chance to view directly the people our taxes are killing, and the devastation and desperation of those they leave behind. Through the media filters we occasionally hear of innocents murdered as "collateral damage" with most atrocities habitually blamed on "sectarian violence". But the British media continues to distort and censor its news reporting and commentary in support of the line that terrorism is somehow organically grown within Islam and not influenced in any way by our foreign policy.
Jo Wilding's film "A Letter to the Prime Minister" tracks one woman's journey to accurately and truthfully portray the effects, of first the economic sanctions, and later the abominable war imposed by our government, upon the ordinary innocent families living in urban and rural Iraq. It is an astonishingly affecting film, painfully and unforgettably bringing home the unthinkable and horrible reality that these ordinary civilians have literally had their lives blown apart; lost their families, lose their homes, lost all their freedoms and all without a hope of any compensation from any government.
Watching this film really is a life-changing experience: bringing into sharp relief the absurdity of our Westernised apathy to the plight of those far away. To sit back and allow this to continue after watching this film is to admit that we do not consider these people to be human beings. This is the single most important and timely documentary I have ever seen. But are the rest of our population being given the chance to view this film on their television screens? No. The proposal has met with closed doors at every attempt to spread this film to more than a select audience.
We believe the broadcasters' refusal to even consider screening this film on our televisions is an absolute disgrace. We in the UK have a right to know exactly what the "collateral damage" of our government's illegal and immoral war looks like. This knowledge will bring us closer to understanding the sort of extreme situation that could make even our homebred citizens plot revenge. A climate that breeds suicide bombers is only stoked by the disgraceful apathy of the public, which in turned is encouraged by the complicity of the "free" media with the government to hide the true impact of irresponsible foreign policy. Being allowed to watch this film on our televisions, however harrowing, is a much less painful way to wake us up to the truth of ordinary people's pain on the other side of the world, than for ourselves to become bomb victims.
Please sign this petition to get our broadcasters to think again about allowing its public at least the choice of whether or not to view the truth.
For background reading on the importance of public access to honest documentary, see this Guardian article by award-winning independent film-maker, John Pilger: http://film.guardian.co.uk/fea...
and now sign the petition!
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