Dear class,
I initially thought of showing you this documentary during our class, but each part/espisode is far too large to allow for any discussion afterwards. Adam Curtis wrote and produced this large documentary for the BBC in 2004. It has since generated a fair ammount of controversy, and it was not made available in the US because of it. Basically, it is all about the politics of fear that we have discussed. Curtis uses interviews and a lot of archive material to great effect, essentially trying to do 3 things: (i) presenting a history of the radical/conservative political movement within islam since the 1960’s (what we could call Salafism), and at the same time a history of another radical/conservative political movement in the US, since roughly the same time (Neo-conservatism). He then tries to (ii) establish parallels between both movements, and advance the proposition that both were using fear (especially fear of each other’s ideology) for gaining political ground and achieving a degree of legitimacy before their constituencies. Finally (iii) he tries to show how both decisively influenced American foreign and security policy (and indeed, American domestic politics) and actually helped “create” an al-Qaida that had previously not really existed as such (as Mr. Krieger & Mr. Roesler already explained in their presentation on the subject).
Watch it here (several ways to watch/download it, but just click Play this Video on the initial screen and wait for the vid applet to load)
You can also watch it on You Tube (although in more parts and lower quality, just search for “BBC power of nightmares”), and learn more about the program here, at the BBC website, or alternatively read about it (and its reception and critiques) on Wikipedia.
Once again, as with all materials, I urge you to be careful and use your critical skills. Like all narratives about complex political issues, this documentary tends to tell one particular story. Watch it, but keep asking the tough questions about it. In some things the movie is quite good, in others sloppy. In other words, this movie is not “the real truth about al-Qaeda” (or neo-conservatism, or Osama bin Laden), it is Adma Curtis’ informed comment on those topics. Having said that, hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you thought of it.
P.S. -Given that this is a documentary (and a 3-part one at that) it is NOT up for review as part of your evaluation, OK?
