Review Dawn: Documentaire We Will Block You

DAWN review

Dawn newspaper

KARACHI, April 7: As such critical global issues as the financial crisis, climate change, the growing gap between the world’s haves and have-nots and other such grave matters spiral out of control, it has been noticed that the frequency and intensity of protests targeting multilateral talk-fests are growing. Perhaps the latest example of this was the violence that accompanied the recent G20 summit in London.

However, though the protesters are mostly portrayed as violent, clueless louts in the mass media, Dutch film-maker Suzanne Hogendoorn’s highly watchable documentary We Will Block You presents the other side of the picture. The nearly hour-long film – screened on Tuesday at the Goethe-Institute – portrays the anti-Capitalism/anti-globalisation demonstrators as largely committed, peaceful young activists often provoked by law-enforcement personnel into violence.

The setting of the film is 2007’s G8 summit, held in the German seaside resort of Heiligendamm, as well as the nearby town of Rostock. The director follows two groups of Dutch university stu dents who make the journey from the Netherlands to Germany in order to take part in the protests.

The young demonstrators first gather in Rostock, pitching tents and organising themselves, as they meet up with likeminded comrades from the rest of Europe, all aligned against the G8 and what it stands for. The first protest is a cacophonous gathering of the tribes, with socialists, anarchists, environmental activists and anti-war campaigners coming together to denounce what they consider to be an unjust world order.

There is music, dancing and much revelry, as the young marchers bang pots and pans, strum guitars and raise chants against Bush, Blair et al. However, things soon turn ugly as the cops seemingly provoke a few protestors. This leads to general bedlam, as rocks, tear gas canisters and other projectiles fly (a scene we in Pakistan, sadly, are all too familiar with). However, a little later and further away from the scene of the riot, the protesters are merrily swaying to pop tunes at a concert.

The confrontations with the cops continue off an on, but the mother of all pro tests is planned for the meeting of the G8 leaders at a swish seaside hotel in Heiligendamm. The demonstrators plan to block all the roads leading to the hotel – which is surrounded by forest – in order to paralyse the summit.

The ensuing operation is nothing short of marvellous, as the young protesters fan out to achieve their goal, working like a well-oiled machine, while the riot police are determined to block them.

We Will Block You – a crafty play on the title of British rock group Queen’s popular anthem We Will Rock You – is a very well-made film, with great pacing and a narrative that keeps the viewer involved from the beginning till the closing credits roll. The film-maker and her crew took great risks in filming incendiary situations, standing firm in the midst of flying rocks, the police’s clubs as well as the blinding mist of pepper spray.

Speaking at the viewing, Ms Hogendoorn said she made the film as an alternative to what was being shown in the mass media regarding antiCapitalism protesters. Answering questions, she said 16,000 cops had been deployed in and around the venues of the summit to keep the protesters at bay, the biggest deployment, she claimed, since the Second World War.

She said it was the G8’s “biggest mistake” to hold the 2007 summit in the middle of fields, as it made getting to the venue easier for the protesters. Ms Hogendoorn said making the film was a major challenge as there were no proper sanitation facilities, while the crew had to rough it out with the protesters in tents.

She added that during the final protest, they had to walk 12 miles through the fields, while watching many of her comrades get pummelled by the cops was very difficult, as she had to keep the cameras rolling and not get involved for the sake of the film.

She claimed that the police at times instigated the protesters so the violence would attract negative media coverage, taking away the focus from the demonstrators’ demands. She added that if 50,000 people were protesting, the possibility that there would be 1,000 troublemakers could not be ruled out.

This is the first time the film has been screened outside of Europe.—QAM

Saddar & Empress market in Karachi

Laal - Habib Jalib - Mainey Uss Say Yeh Kaha

The images you see in this clip are taken on the day Bhutto was killed and are a part of a new documentary that will come out soon about Pakistan
www.democracyinflames.com.

An evening on Media and Activism

07 April 2009, 
5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Goethe Institute, Karachi

Do media and activism always go together. How does an activist media fill the gaps. How do the new technologies fit in this picture. What does this increased access to information mean for our culture and society. 

In a timely note Rob van Kranenburg observes the present age of acceleration. Suzanne Hogendoorn presents her film on European activists at the G8 Summit 2007. Awab Alvi gives us a behind-the-web look at citizens covering the Long March in March 2009 using internet & cellphones. Journalists from news channels will talk about how they use new media in their work. Discussion on linkages on these themes will follow.

Programme

Welcome by Goethe Institute
Introduction by Mauj Collective

'On the Need of Bureaucracy: slowing things down in the age of
acceleration'
Rob van Kranenburg


'We will block you'  (documentary film)
Suzanne Hogendoorn & Mark Kulsdom

Break

Tracking the Long March
Awab Avi

New Technologies in Journalism
Journalists from News agencies and TV channels

Open Discussion

First couple of days in Karachi

Hello everybody, So my first 3 days in Karachi where really wonderful. Planning the filming schedule, meeting lots of people and places. So even i'm not yet shooting interviews and other events it's already quite busy. On Friday i went to a play at the Art council in Karachi. The play is based on the story of 1001 nights but adapted to themes that are important today, especially focussing on improving and discussing woman-rights. The group that performed are doing some really good and brave work in Pakistan. Al of there plays are around woman issues and they travel through the rural areas of country to perform and through there cultural work opening ways for discussing this issue. You can imaging that this sometimes brings some confrontation with old conservative ideas.

On saturday i had a busy day starting at the Karachi University to see Amar's movie about the Thar-dessert. A beautiful portrait about the diversity and landscape of the area and the different groups living there in extremely basic conditions. After the movie and some chats with people.

After that i went with Yasir, Nameera and Atteqa to a 3 hour interactive workshop about Iqbal. Khurram Ali Shafique author of The Republic of Rumi: A Novel of Reality, Did the workshop mostly in english so i could follow the workshop also. The workshop was about interesting views from sufism combing it to arts & literature discussing individual ego and collective ego and connecting this to the pakistani situation historically & now. So following in this sufism thoughts in the night we went to a concert of Qavvaali Ka Safar featuring Fareed Ayaz & Brothers in the Indus valley organized by T2F.

So sunday was there to relax and we went to the beach with a part of Atteqa's family. A nice day of swimming, talking and eating (everything in this country is around eating .. so i wonder with how many more kilo's i will come back :).

Today will be the first day of shooting, this midday at around 16.00 there will be a Mauj Collective meeting to arrange al the things that will happen the coming weeks: Sahnaakth festival, art critics workshop with Rob van Kranenburg, a workshop in Goethe institute the 7th of April around new media & activism where also our (me and Mark Kulsdom's) documentary will be shown (We Will Block You) and besides this many other things will be coming, but tell you later more on that.

To Karachi end of March

End of March i will go to Karachi- Pakistan for shooting a documentary on . I will stay there for around 3,5 weeks visiting Karachi and also Lahore. This specific trip is made possible by the Mondriaan foundation in the Netherlands. One of the weeks i will be accompanied with Rob van Kranenburg and Usman Haque who come here to exchange ideas with Mauj and other people from Karachi about DIY cities, bricolabs, dorkbots you name it! In this weeks besides shooting i will do a guest workshop on the Karachi University and go with Mauj on a new media workshop and talk to youngsters about filmmaking. An exiting program and a new opportunity to know the people and the country a little bit better.

Mauj the documentary

On this blog i will update about the progressions and adventures in making the documentary 'Opening Up'. Opening Up will be a documentary about the Mauj Collective in Karachi, Pakistan. Mauj is new media collective focussing on the use of new technology on society, arts & culture. By following 3 members of the collective the documentary want to bring a light and focus on the struggle to create progressive developments trough arts and technology in Pakistan. through the main characters we come a cross the many layers this country embedded. We encounter groups of progressive and social people striving for a better society but also facing the many difficulties and uncertainties this people have to deal with.

Opening Up will be a documentary that lights up the other side of the positive possibilities this country and it's people have. And the potential of positive change, if we all put an effort.