We Are the Giant

I wish everyone in the US would watch this film. We Are The Giant is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, problematizing the use of violence for political resistance. The stories stretch across various Arab Spring scenarios--Libya, Syria, Bahrain, etc-- humanizing a part of the world that we so often see reduced to "the Other" in our newscasts. Not only can we feel their outrage, but one marvels at the commitment to resistance and the unrelenting demand for freedom and human rights.

A lot of the footage is graphic, real shot-from-the-hip (or cellphone) video as young people are shot by soldiers and police. Agonizing screams of friends and relatives as they watch the horror unfold, and first hand accounts of surviving activists as they discuss the conflicts. I found myself crying at several points. At the same time, this film is genuinely inspiring, and is very well edited, interspersing quotes from MLK, Gandhi, Mandela, and other notable human rights activists, with archive footage from other movements which succeeded--and succeeded by peaceful means.

I cannot recommend this enough. At present, it is available through Amazon. Worth the few dollars to see it or own it.