Documentary About Peaceful Revolution in Baku Azerbaijan

[mik 0]

I saw some good TV on BBC (in the UK) on thurs. night, it was documentary about the efforts of two young political activists, Murad and Emin, trying to make peaceful revolution happen in Azerbaijan during the election there last year. They were inspired by similar uprisings in Serbia, Georgia and then the Ukraine (the orange revolution), where mass protests following rigged elections removed authoritarian regimes from power. However, unlike those revolts they didn't have the backing of the West, so instead of overthowing the government after their rigged election, they got bashed on their heads with police batons.

 

What made documentary so brilliant was that the film makers started filming the two activists long before they had any organization going, just when it was a vague idea activists had barely thought of. It is exactly as if you and a friend were talking one day at college and decided that together you wanted to start a peaceful revolution to overthrow the repressive regime that was governing your country. How would you go about it?

 

So all along in the film they were learning how to make a revolution happen and of course you were learning too. In fact early on in the film there are the words "How To Plan A Revolution" stretched across the screen in big letters, just to make the point abundantly clear. Now I know how to make a big uprising in my local town if I want.

 

Another thing that made it into a good film was that camera was able to get to lots of places were filming wasn't allowed. This was because the police seemed a bit dozy and slow to react. They were usually standing around in groups looking sheepish - but eventually something would click and they would suddenly become brutal maniacs, lashing out and beating people senseless with their big wooden sticks as if there was no tomorrow.

 

So the camera was able to catch a lot of dubious police and corrupt-politician action from right close up. Some of it was comical. For example - at the front door of a polling station on election night, where a VERY BIG vote rigging exercise was underway. The voting had finished and boxes with fake ballots were being delivered by van, and inside the building the boxes with the real ballots were being dumped. The front entrance was locked and barred and guarded by aggresive police with dogs - very intimidating - and there was a small angry crowd of election observers that had been thrown out and were trying to get back in. The camera person making the film tries to get closer and gets roughed by the police for his efforts ... so he wanders round the back of the building, which is all quiet and deserted, filming all the time, and just wanders into building through the open back door. He walks into very large room full of people with ballot papers all over the place and men lugging big boxes away to hide them while they wait for new boxes with fake ballots to be delivered. And everyone looks, nobody in the room can understand who this camera person is, where he came from. They stand and stare, meanwhile more filming, nosing around, getting every little detail. They take a long time to realize something is wrong, but when they do they all want to push camera person out the door at once. It was like watching herd of cattle trying to push camera person through very small gap, a caricature of an "angry mob" scene. No-one had the sense that what they should be doing is confiscating the camera, if they didn't want people to know about election fraud, that is.

 

Forgot to say, you can watch the film at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/default.stm

 

just click on the green "Watch Now" button.

Edited April 23, 2006 by mik (see edit history)

[Artem ZHI 0]

"Now I know how to make a big uprising in my local town if I want." The Revolution - very complex thing, about this it is impossible speak: "if I want." It Therefor require year, tens or hundreds of the years.Very interesting film, do you remember, as this is identified?

[serverph 0]

type "people power revolution" in google... and read how it was made possible (twice in 15 years) in one nation. the "color revolutions" in other countries which followed it, started as a "yellow revolution" in that country. first was to topple a dictator, second was to dislodge a corrupt president, and at the time of this writing, that country is teetering on another attempt -- this time to "unseat" a predominantly-viewed "illegitimate" president (widely accused of election rigging as the case in Azerbaijan where political activists Murad and Emin seemed to have it on video).

 

i'm not familiar with politics in Azerbaijan, but i'm familiar with the politics of the nation described above since i am a citizen of the place all my life. i will not name it, i will make you research it. from our experience, it takes a right mixture of popular support (working middle-class mostly) + military and police support + church/religious groups support, all with a single goal to end an oppressive/repressive regime, in a continued (days at end) mass action, which hopefully results to a bloodless (and relatively peaceful) revolution. it also helps to have a vibrant (and truth-focused) media (even if it is under constant threat by the people in power). international support does not come usually in play early on, until those three ingredients have catalyzed in such a way that no option is available left for the "people in power" other than to give in to "people power".

 

technology plays a vital part in revolutions too: TV/radio is one (as exemplified in people power #1). Communication systems like cellphones and internet (emails, online protests/campaigns) is another (as exemplified in people power #2) [short anecdote: SMS/txting played a major role in fasttracking the fall of one president. he is supposedly the first person brought down from power by short messaging (SMS). ]

 

maybe Murad and Emin, and peace-loving people from Azerbaijan could learn from our nation's experience, at least for a start. the only problem is, even after a successful and peaceful revolution, results may not be always what the people want if the same old faces linger in the shadows waiting to prey again. and it's hard for a nation to stand up as a whole again (there will always be oppositions, whichever side you're on), and it would take long to achieve reforms originally envisioned. but the struggle for peace and progress should continue, even if it takes a long time. at the end of the day, what's best for the country is what they should have in mind always.