IT HAS COME TO THAT

There is a deep sorrow pervading around my brain. That is not to say that I am depressed to any great degree, but there are things going on around the world which are disturbing to say the least. In trying to distract my thoughts towards a brighter outlook I turn to the BBC podcasts and other soundscapes to entertain one’s little grey cells. I listen to a lot of Poirot with the wonderful John Moffat as well as the various Simon Brett series, No Commitments and his Charles Paris Mysteries.

On browsing through the Drama category of listening on offer I came across a piece entitled The Film by Martin Jameson with the flowing caption:

April 1945. A Ministry of Information army film crew enters Bergen-Belsen to record the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust that many were already refusing to believe. But faced with all this footage, the head of the unit - Sidney Bernstein, is overwhelmed. He needs to get a film out there as soon as possible, but how to do justice to such suffering? So he summons his friend Alfred Hitchcock from Hollywood. And Bernstein - who later establishes Granada Television - determines that together they can create an irrefutable cinematic testimony.
Sidney Bernstein.........................................Henry Goodman 
Alfred Hitchcock.........................................Jeremy Swift 
Richard Crossman…………………………........Geoffrey Streatfeild 
Mrs Haig.......................................................Fenella Woolgar Secretary.......................................................Hamilton Berstock
 

Over the years I have seen pictures of the Holocaust. Images impossible to forget; however, I was not aware of the Sidney Bernstein and Alfred Hitchcock connection. Appallingly, their work of 1945 was actually shelved for 40 years until an edited version, produced through the Imperial War Museums broadcast by PBS Frontline in 1985 as Memory of the Camps. It was originally entitled German Concentration Camps Factual Survey. Apparently the full length version of the film was restored in 2014 by scholars around the world and is in the Imperial War Museum, London.

The PBS Frontline edit can be seen at:  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/camp/

Clearly this is not something to pull one out of sorrow, and rather the opposite, but I was curious to hear what Mr Jameson had made of the Bernstein/Hitchcock encounter. I had no knowledge of the collaboration or their friendship, and certainly had no idea that their very difficult work had been shelved for so many years. I also had no idea of the involvement of Richard Crossman as writer. The effort and trauma that they had gone through to educate the world of 1945 as to what had just occurred, to lay out the facts of what can happen to a society that allows a madman to take control of the state, must have taken a great toll on their own lives. For it to be shelved for what is practically 7 decades is extraordinary. Not only did the British Government at the time take the view that it was ‘not the right time’ for the film to be shown, but the premise was to emphasise that all manor of dissidents, catholics, communists had been killed as well as jews and homosexuals. The fact that 6 million jews had just been exterminated  was not the immediate issue. 

A lot of the footage taken by a variety of soldiers and serving officers from the allied armies was of course shown at various times over the years, but Bernstein had gathered  over 75 thousand feet of film to work with, about 14 hours worth. It was a very painstaking and difficult assignment to complete. The resentment and confusion they must have felt as a result of the decision to shut them down must have been agonising in the extreme. Taking in the realisation that, the hours, days and months of looking at such horrors, trying to collate it all together into some form of explanation as to why, how and what had happened to the German people and the rest of the world over the previous decade, was for nought, must have been soul destroying. In addition, when later in the year the revelations of what had occurred in Japanese Prisoner of War camps in the far east was revealed, their efforts would have given even greater perspective on the insanity of imperialism. 

None of the above is in anyway distracting or strategic topic drift; however, it is a glimpse of a small event in the continuing history of human activity. It is a clear indication that we have all been here before. Historical events are repetitive, but they do not appear to be educational. We seem not to learn from mistakes. We remember the calamity resulting from mistakes, but we seem to forget the events and activities that brought about the calamity. At times comparisons are made between current and past events, but for some reason they are dismissed as being distinguishable and no longer relevant. Trump’s rants, raves and diatribes against immigrants and enemies of the state, when compared to fascism are dismissed. The actions of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, when likened to the GESTAPO is considered inflammatory, unpatriotic and exaggerated, even although they are exactly that. The very idea that their actions could lead to a holocaust is derided and mightily condemned.  The miscreants even demean the opponents of their activity by using the fact of the holocaust as an example of preposterous exaggeration with scornful claims of ‘it can’t happen here’. 

 

Having started with a radio drama called The Film, I reference another film Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). There is a scene in the film between Judge Dr. Ernst Janning (played by Burt Lancaster) and Chief Judge Dan Harwood (played by Spencer Tracy) which is rather relevant and appropriate:

PERHAPS IT'S THE PILLS I'M TAKING, BUT WHAT'S NEXT?

On the 4th October 2024 I posted an item entitled Protection of the People 2 - Nothing seems to have happened in the last nine months to change my view. If anything it is clear the situation has got worse. The shameful refusal of western leadership to strongly condemn Mr Netanyahu for his behaviour and activity is appalling. The level of his deceit is gargantuan. Calling for the Iranian citizens to revolt against their current government, all the while conducting a vicious campaign against what are claimed to be “military targets” without any care or concern over “co-lateral damage” (euphemism for he does’t care who he kills). He does this with the knowledge that the Iranian regime is not popular with his supposed allies, who will of course not interfere with his actions, and are effectively suckered into saying nothing and continuing to support him. What is even more disturbing is the extraordinary amount of time the Israeli secret services seem to have taken in preparing for this war through subterfuge and insertion of agents into the Iranian Regime. 

The levels of his chicanery are even greater than either Trump or Putin. Machiavelli has nothing on Netanyahu. He seems intent on dragging the entire world into conflict, or not caring if he does. I stated in my previous blog (see below) that he was not to be trusted. I fear I was underestimating how dangerous he actually is. His perfidy appears to come at just the right time, as most of the leaders around him are perfidious men.  Herewith is that entry from October 4, 2024:

PROTECTION OF THE PEOPLE 2

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh in respect of the ongoing situation in the middle east, but the attempts at reconciliation and movement towards a peaceful and fruitful co-existence in the area has not been helped by the general treatment of the Palestinians by the Israeli authorities. Division and suspicion breed nothing but division and suspicion. The problem has persisted my entire lifetime and I was born in 1942. Is it not about time that vendetta and vengeance be set aside?

There is a very good point of view from Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/04/israel-israelis-gaza-war-7-october-anniversary
 

Nonetheless, the question “who started it?” is no longer relevant. It should not matter anymore, and the grownups must step up and out of the playground mentality that seems to pervade any talks leading to settlement and compromise. An accommodation must be found. What is so difficult to understand? So long as the posturing and blaming carry on, so long will all the people of the middle east continue to suffer. Leadership requires rational intelligent thought, with a view to the future. Why must I continue to put myself in other people’s shoes to see a point of view. I can see and sympathise with people’s suffering from demolition, disease and death. I do not want to watch this anymore.  It has surely gone on long enough.

I have taken a view on the insanity which may not be to everyone’s liking; however, the current arms rattling and bristling between the Israelis and the Iranians is endangering the entire world, now so full of governments that see nationalism and populism as the preeminent form of coping with domestic as well as international affairs. Repression and control under the guise of maintaining order in society, is still repression and control. So long as the likes of Netanyahu puff out their chest, there will never be closure. His position is to remain in control, that’s it, and so long as military action persists, he will exploit it.  Do not be fooled by his posturing as protector of the people. He is merely protecting himself. His trial on corruption charges is still ongoing. It hovers in the background and he will do anything to make it fade into the distance. He is not to be trusted.

That is not an anti-Israeli point of view. It is merely what the images and reporting from the region indicate is the case. I know ordinary Israelis as well as ordinary Palestinians are desperate for peace. Their so called protectors are the problem. The leaders have become entrenched in their religious and fanatical enmity and are blinded and made dumb. The irony is that the same God hovers over them and permits the slaughter to continue.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ISAIAH ?

Insanity upon insanity. The criminals are let loose on the world and all we get is ridiculous analysis from pundits and journalists who are meant to be experts and fully briefed on the activities of these miscreants. What is absurd is the lack of spine in the restraining from condemning the obvious outrage of their actions. The spurious reasons given by Mr Netanyahu for launching yet another attack is flatly accepted without reply by western leaders and journalists alike. It is no longer a question of being evenhanded and non partisan. The decisions being taken by Trump, Putin, Netanyahu et al deserve condemnation from every civilised human being on the planet. The insidious false claims of emergencies should be roundly denounced. Most of these people have already been charged and summoned before the International Criminal Court,  so why are they not in the dock. 

The fact that violence breeds violence is a fact. It is not opinion or speculation. It is an established fact. The destruction that pours out of Russia, Israel, Iran, the United States and other areas of conflict is clearly there to be seen. There are real pictures, not photoshopped or computer generated imagery. Violence is a virus seemingly without a cure. The only method is to disempower the perpetrators. Its effects are real. How many times does it need saying?

Consider the notion of banning the bomb and so called non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, part of the excuse of Mr Netanyahu’s attack on Iran. How twisted an argument is that? If having access to nuclear weapons is a deterrent, then how is it that so many non nuclear weapons, every bit as lethal, in enormous supply by most countries, is not a deterrent? How successful has being armed to the teeth been a deterrent to the violence being perpetrated throughout the world? Having weapons of mass destruction is a misrepresentation of the facts. We already have weapons of mass destruction in operation all over the world. What else can one call machine guns that fire thousand of rounds a second and aircraft that carry computer guided very explosive and devastating bombs? 

What difference has the possession of nuclear weapons made to the differences between India and Pakistan in Kashmir other than to threaten and supposedly excuse the lethal weaponry already being deployed. It is insanity upon insanity. 

In the bible, the book of Isaiah 2:4 states:
    He will judge between the nations
        and will settle disputes for many peoples.
    They will beat their swords into plowshares
        and their spears into pruning hooks.
    Nation will not take up sword against nation,
        nor will they train for war anymore.

That was supposedly over 3000 years ago, and written in the promised land. How has it worked out so far? Clearly Mr Netanyahu missed out on his bible classes. 

Isaiah - Sistine Chapel -Michaelangelo

Wikipedia states:

“Isaiah was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet",[12] but the exact relationship between the Book of Isaiah and the actual prophet Isaiah is complicated. The traditional view is that all 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah were written by one man, Isaiah, possibly in two periods between 740 BC and c. 686 BC, separated by approximately 15 years.
Another widely held view suggests that parts of the first half of the book (chapters 1–39) originated with the historical prophet, interspersed with prose commentaries written in the time of King Josiah 100 years later, and that the remainder of the book dates from immediately before and immediately after the end of the 6th-century BC exile in Babylon (almost two centuries after the time of the historical prophet), and that perhaps these later chapters represent the work of an ongoing school of prophets who prophesied in accordance with his prophecies”

The fact of the matter is that we have had the word of God for over 3 millennium. It has been made available in almost every hotel room around the globe. It is by far the world’s best selling book with over 5 billion in sales, from a world population of almost 9 billion souls, and still nations take up swords against nations. What price deterrence?

As the planet grows older it hosts a number of nations that have developed some form of democracy organised around what, in most cases, is called the rule of law. That law is founded on the principle that individuals do not harm other individuals either by violence or dishonesty. There is no doubt that so long as nations citizens elect dishonest and violent people as their representatives, He will not be able to fulfil Isaiah’s prophesy; whoever He or they may be. Elections and representatives clearly matter. Think very carefully before you vote or pick a side to line up with. You would do well to steer clear of people who claim to speak for the wants of “The British people” or “The American people” or any of such populist crap. That sort of talk usually just represents their own personal agenda without any real regard for the desires of anyone else, let alone “the people”. 

We are living in a turbulent time. I can only blame my generation who have failed to live up to our initial promise of care, freedom of expression and equality for all, and allowed bigotry, prejudice and narrow mindedness to continue to flourish and infect our children and grandchildren. How did that happen? How is it that mob and corrupt rule can still occur? The racist and xenophobic outbreaks in Northern Ireland, the actions of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in the US and California, the Israeli Defence Force in the middle East and many more such agencies, are all symptoms of a society we have failed to inspire. We have been no more effective than Isaiah. Je suis désolé.

.

THE BEE'S KNEES

It’s the apoidea’s hinge joint, the moggy’s night ware, the feline’s face fungus or the canine’s scrotum. There are different idioms to describe how good someone or something can be. As I pondered whether these idioms could be translated, I wondered whether google translate would use straight word for word translations or be sophisticated enough to translate the meaning of the idiom. For Italian and Latin it would appear word for word. For the French, it would seem the bee’s knees had been given an anglo-french version “le top du top”. As for the German, there was a variety of translations, although the bee’s knees did cause differences depending on where it came in the list.

My fanciful foray into idioms has been interrupted by an act of piracy in the Mediterranean. The Israeli Military forcibly took control of a British Flagged Yacht, the Madleen, in international waters, making its way to Gaza to deliver much needed aid. This action was in complete violation of international law. The Israeli Government has long ago ceased to understand the rule of law. Under its current leadership there is no respect for laws of any kind. The country is beyond any semblance of a civilised society. It has lost all sense of its own traditions and any claim that it adheres to the Jewish faith and beliefs has been eradicated in the bloody violence it now seems to embrace. There is no faith of any kind left in Israel. It has built new idols in the shape of tanks and other military hardware. That is their new golden calf. What was once a nation dedicated to education, civilised society and a firm grasp of the rule if law, has abandoned all its principles and become a savage rigid and intractable brute. A nation that prided itself on turning desert into gardens of green shoots and fruitful cultivation has turned the land  into such devastation that even the word desert is insufficient to describe it. What has become of that promised land? 

The other disturbance is the complete nazification of the United States in allowing the President of the United to deploy a National Guard unit on the streets of Los Angeles, in a sovereign state, usurping the power of the legal authority in California, with the addition of the threat of federal marine military units being deployed as well. A federal defence force being used to quell legitimate demonstrators exercising their constitutional rights. If that is not the Geheime Staatspolizei in action, what is? Respect for the rule of law seems to have dwindled across the globe. Piracy and violent dictatorship abound. What was the United Nations created for? 

Not only is Trump being allowed to flout the constitution with impunity, he has effectively walked away from any attempt at bringing an end to the fighting in the Ukraine as well as in Gaza. How can any right minded, clear thinking individual have anything to do with this man? He his considered a dolt and a swindler by almost every leader across the globe, or more probably the greatest blowhard ever elected President of the United States, subject to easy flattery to be pulled by the nose by those he professes to admire. When will the American people wake up and get rid of him and his cohorts? Surely there is a constitutional mechanism which can accomplish the necessary steps to be taken. I can only call on the constitutional lawyers of America to unite and find a solution. Please get it together now. If you do, you would become, without question, “Le top du top”.

EYES OF THE LADY ON TOP OF THE CAPITOL DOME

What has become of America? The situation is more dangerous than ever. The harassment of Miles Taylor  (former Trump advisor or appointee to the Department of Homeland Security during Mr Trump’s first term) by Trump’s Department of Justice on his specific executive order is more than an outrage. It is indicative of his leadership which is contrary  to  every principle of humanity and democracy proposed and upheld by the United States government since the First United States Congress convened on the 4th March 1789. 

How the current  majority of members of Congress and heads of the various Departments of Government can adhere to this psychotic narcissist’s agenda is beyond all understanding. The arrogance they display towards any criticism of their actions and the outright misrepresentations and twisting of the law to allow for wholesale criminality, emphasised by the pardoning of convicted fraudster and violent criminals, is appalling. The grifting and corruption in play are now the norm. 

I can recall a time when there used to be respect for education in America. Integrity and upholding the rule of law where revered principles constantly being expressed is a variety of ways, particularly in the arts. Mr Smith Goes to Washington is an instance in point. A film released in 1939, directed by Frank Capra. Capra was born in a village near Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was the youngest of seven children of a catholic family. In 1903, when he was five, Capra's family immigrated to the United States. He won three Academy Awards for best direction. As to his politics, there is an entry in Wikipedia which states:

“Capra's political views coalesced in some of his movies, which promoted and celebrated the spirit of American individualism. A conservative Republican.  Capra railed against  Franklin D. Roosevelt during his tenure as governor of New York and opposed his presidency during the years of the Depression. Capra stood against government intervention during the national economic crisis. Nevertheless, the Los Angeles FBI chapter in May 1947 regarded Capra's film It’s a Wonderful Life as glorifying “values or institutions judged to be particularly anti-American or pro-Communist.”
 

The screenplay of Mr Smith Goes to Washington  was written by Sidney Buchman, born in 1902 in Duluth, Minnesota, USA in a jewish family. His wikipedia entry includes:

“Buchman was one of the most successful Hollywood screenwriters of the 1930s and 1940s. His scripts from this period include The King Steps Out (1936), Theodora Goes Wild (1936) and Holiday (1938). He would go on to receive Academy Award nominations for his writing on Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Talk of the Town (1942), and Jolson Sings Again (1949), winning an Oscar for Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941). He also did uncredited work on various films during this period, notably The Awful Truth. He was the 1965 recipient of the Laurel Award of the Writers Guild of America, West. Buchman's refusal to provide the names of  American Communist Party members to the House Un-American Activities Committee led to a charge of contempt of Congress. Buchman was fined, given a year's suspended sentence, and was then blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio  bosses.”

Here is a scene from the film:

 

There is another entry in wikipedia on Capra:

“Within four days of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, Capra quit his successful directing career in Hollywood and received a commission as a major in the United States Army. He also gave up his presidency of the Screen Directors Guild. Being 44 years of age, he was not asked to enlist, but, notes Friedman, "Capra had an intense desire to prove his patriotism to his adopted land. Capra recalls some personal reasons for enlisting:
‘I had a guilty conscience. In my films I championed the cause of the gentle, the poor, the downtrodden. Yet I had begun to live like the Aga Khan. The curse of Hollywood is big money. It comes so fast it breeds and imposes its own mores, not of wealth, but of ostentation and phony status.’ “

Clearly there is a strong connection between the two men who created work that reflected what was good about American Democracy and the values deeply felt by such a mixed population. That the son of a jewish Russian émigré clothing merchant and an Italian immigrant whose family travelled steerage to the United States on the steamship Germania should come together to make this film is just what the American experience was all about. Both came out of poverty, from close families. Buchman graduating from Columbia University in New York in 1923, and Capra from the California Institute of Technology studying chemical engineering graduating in 1918. One leaning to the left of politics and other to the conservative side within the same country.

Both benefited greatly from education. Apparently “Capra later wrote that his college education had "changed his whole viewpoint on life from the viewpoint of an alley rat to the viewpoint of a cultured person”.  As to Buchman, a year after graduating he travelled to England and worked as an assistant stage manager at the Old Vic. He was also a member of the Communist Party between 1938 and 1945.

Yet both worked on producing films that reflected what were the better values of American society and were, a the time, lauded for it. An entry on the Internet Movie Database states: 
“Along with Frank Capra, he helped raise the studio's prestige and shake off the stigma of having once been a 'poverty row' outfit.”

The dialogue from Mr Smith may seem a bit cheesy but worth a read:

“ Just get up off the ground, that's all I ask. Get up there with that lady that's up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands for liberty. Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something. And you won't just see scenery; you'll see the whole parade of what Man's carved out for himself, after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so's he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter what his race, color, or creed. That's what you'd see. There's no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties. And, uh, if that's what the grownups have done with this world that was given to them, then we'd better get those boys' camps started fast and see what the kids can do. And it's not too late, because this country is bigger than the Taylors, or you, or me, or anything else. Great principles don't get lost once they come to light. They're right here; you just have to see them again!”

There are indeed voices in the United States that can still speak coherently and with passion on both sides of the political spectrum, without recourse to insult and disparagement. They  also  listen with concentration and a willingness to compromise for the mutual good of the nation; however, the Maga stalwarts are either vicious and inflexible, or feeble and pusillanimous  toadies. They loudly flatter and fawn on a leader  who proudly proclaims “I love the poorly educated”. Their ignorance  allows him to gaslight the public and openly scam the public with his corruption and double dealing. Such are the current Republican congressmen and women who never take the time to look at America with the lady atop the Capitol dome.