Why democracy

Why Democracy

'국가 재건 정당' 에 동조하는 러시아의 한 공동체, 국가 재건이라기 보다는 제정러시아로 돌아가자는 듯한 아이디어를 가진 이들은 민주주의, 평등은 환상이며 신과 황제가 우리의 주인이며, 러시아는 러시아인에게로 라는 모토로 외국인들은 몰아내야 된다고 말하고 있다. Reality라는 말은 과거에는 우리가 구체적으로 생활하는 현실이 아니라 이데아든 신이든 그것을 넘어서는 실재를 뜻하는 것이었지만 현대에 들어오면서 일상에 나타나는 현상, 또는 현실에 가까운 뜻이 되었다고 한다. (이정우 개념-뿌리들) 그러면 '다큐멘터리'라는 말은 어떨까? 다큐는 사전에 정확한 사실을 전달하는 목적으로 실재사건을 보여주는 또는 재구성하는 영화 또는 텔레비젼 프로그램을 말한다고 되어있지만 그것은 이제 특정한 아이디어를 전달하기 위한 목적으로 현실의 단편들을 자의적으로 재구성하는 작품이라고 불러야 할 것 같다. 그럼에도 그 속에 포함되어 있는 '실재, 현실, 사실' 같은 단어들 때문에 쉽게 다큐멘터리는 진실할 것이라 믿게 되기 싶다. 그래서 다큐멘터리는 이미 '상상'이라고 생각하고 들어가게 되는 드라마나 영화들보다 훨씬 더 위험할 수 있다. 특히 '이러이러해야' 한다고 표면에 내세워 주장하는 마이클 무어식 다큐보다 현실의 사건들을 여과없이(또는 그렇다고 느껴지게) 보여주면서 가끔 질문을 던지는, 그래서 다큐 자체는 중립을 지키고 있는 듯 느껴지게 하는 작품들이 더 위험하다. 'Why Democracy'는 아마도 그런 종류가 아닐까 싶다. Why Democracy는 다양한 배경의 작가들에 의해 만들어진 10개의 독립 다큐멘터리로 여러 방식으로 '민주주의'란 무엇인가를 묻고 있는 작품이다. 민주주의란 이런 것이어야 한다고 주장하기 보단 각 나라에서 그것이 어떤 의미를 가지는 가를 그곳의 사람들과의 대화, 또는 어떤 한 집단의 모습등을 보여주면서 질문을 던지는 형식이다. 그런데 다큐멘터리를 위에서 말한 두번째 정의로 생각할때, 화살표의 일부분을 1시간 정도의 프레임에 가둔 것이라고 상상해 볼 수 있다. 그러면 중요한 것은 그 화살표가 어디서 왔으며 어디로 뻗어갈 것인지, 또 그 화살표가 놓여있는 세계의 중층적 상황과 가치는 어떤 것인지를 함께 가늠해 보아야 하는 것이다. 예를 들어 ' Egypt: We are watching you'라는 작품은 세 용기있는 그러나 평범한 이집트 여성의 활동을 다룬 작품이다. 복수정당제를 한다고 말해놓고도 선거에서 민중들의 투표를 불법적으로 차단한 이집트 독재정권에 분노하고 웹사이트를 만들어 홍보하고 그런 정부에 대항하여 일어나야 함을 민중들에게 알리기 위해 노력해왔다. 그 와중에 데모에 참가했던 많은 젊은이들이 체포되고 그들을 구하려는 노력이 계속 무산되는 과정에서 미국으로부터 연락이 온다. 부시 대통령의 참관하에 각나라의 비민주적인 상황을 알리는 컨퍼런스에 참가한 그들은 그들의 일을 돕기 위해 미국에서 날아온 실무자들에게 이렇게 말한다. ' 당신들이 이 문제를 해결하기 위해 뭔가를 해줘야 한다. 우리는 이란이라 이라크같은 위험한 나라가 아니다' 첫번째 의문, 자국의 상황을 개선하기 위해 외세가 개입해야 된다고 생각하는 것이 과연 옳은 일인가? 에 대해 고개를 갸우뚱하지 않을 수 없고 두번째 그들이 도움을 청한 부시 대통령이 과연 누구인가 하는 문제이다. 이 화살표를 조금 더 연장해 보면 다음의 다큐멘터리를 만나게 된다. 'USA: Taxi to the dark side' 는 9.11 이후 테러와의 전쟁에서 미국군에 체포되어 무고하게 고문당하고 죽어간 이들에 대한 이야기를 다루고 있다. 아마도 몇년전 아프가니스탄에서 날아온 미군에 의해 고문당한 사람들의 충격적인 사진들을 기억해 낼 수 있을 것이다. 그러나 테러리스트로 의심하여 무차별 체포한 이들에게 정보를 얻어낸다는 명분하에 행해진 비인간적인 고문수사들이 단지 의욕 넘치는 일부 병사들에 의한 것이 아니라 럼스필드 국무장과, 콜린 파월 그리고 부통령 딕 체니, 그리고 부시에 의해 고문이 아닌 다른 용어로 암암리에 용인되어왔다는, 아니 오히려 부추겨졌다는 사실을 밝혀낸다. 그러니 그 이집트 여성들은 여우를 몰아내기 위해 호랑이에게 도움을 청한 것은 아닌가? 다시 화살표를 조금 더 옮겨 보자. 'Russia: Villige of Fools' 페레스트로이카 이후 서방에 문을 열고 미국식 신자유주의를 도입한 러시아는 한때 세계의 웃음거리가 될 정도로 제 3세계로 전락했었다. 마피아가 국가를 삼켰다고도 하며 러시아 여성들은 창녀가 되어 세계 각지로 수출되었다고도 한다. 그러면서 푸틴이 정권을 잡고 러시아는 급속도로 보수화 되고 있다. 과연 서방식 민주주의가 우리에게 필요한가 라고 묻고 있는 현재의 러시아를 위의 동영상에서 만날 수 있다. 위험하다고 말했지만 그럼에도 한번은 꼭 볼만한 다큐멘터리이다. 사회나 윤리 교과서에 나오는 천편일률적인 민주주의의 정의가 아니라 과연 실재의 '민주주의'란 무엇인지 다시 스스로에게 질문해 볼 수 있는 기회를 준다. * 10개의 다큐에 나오는 10개의 질문 Who would you vote for as President of the World? What would make you start a revolution? Can terrorism destroy democracy? Is Democracy good for everyone? Are dictators ever good? Who rules the world? Are women more democratic than men? Why bother to vote? Is God democratic? Can politicians solve climate change? 여기에 요약글 내용을 입력해주세요 Please Vote For Me (China) Wuhan is a city in central China about the size of London, and it is here that director Weijun Chen has conducted an experiment in democracy. A grade 3 class at Evergreen Primary School has their first encounter with democracy by holding an election to select a Class Monitor. Eight-year olds compete against each other for the coveted position, abetted and egged on by teachers and doting parents. Elections in China take place only within the Communist Party, but recently millions of Chinese voted in their version of Pop Idol. The purpose of Weijun Chen’s experiment is to determine how, if democracy came to China, it would be received. Is democracy a universal value that fits human nature? Do elections inevitably lead to manipulation? Please Vote for Me is a portrait of a society and a town through a school, its children and its families. [edit] Looking for the Revolution (Bolivia) Che Guevara died in Southern Bolivia 40 years ago while trying to ignite the sparks of revolution throughout South America. His death at the hands of Bolivian Rangers trained and financed by the US Government, marked the beginning of the cocaine era in Bolivia. Pressed by the masses who gave him a massive mandate, the first indigenous President Evo Morales an ex-coca leaf farmer, has nationalised the oil industry and passed laws on the Agrarian reform. All the election speeches, which resulted in his landslide victory, sounded quite revolutionary, the iconography too, but looking harder into it, it emerges that the old system is pretty much alive inside the new one. Corruption, nepotism and old-fashioned populism are at the core of this movement. The more Evo does to create employment, the more the landowners conspire against him and paralyse Bolivia’s economy. As a result, no jobs are created and the poor press Evo even harder. Thus a cycle of tension threatens to crush the country and the indigenous revolution as well. Looking for the Revolution is about the inner workings of that tension as witnessed by the characters of the film. The landowners and the indigenous movement are still wrestling for power and neither has claimed victory yet. Ultimately, the search for the revolution that Che Guevara tried to start in Bolivia is now in Morales’ hands. [edit] Taxi to the Dark Side (USA) Over one hundred prisoners have died in suspicious circumstances in U.S. custody during the war on terror. Taxi to the Dark Side takes an in-depth look at one case: an Afghan taxi driver called Dilawar who was considered an honest and kind man by the people of his rustic village. So when he was detained by the U.S military one afternoon, after picking up three passengers, denizens wondered why this man was randomly chosen to be held in prison, and, especially, without trial? Five days after his arrest Dilawar died in his Bagram prison cell. His death came within a week of another death of a detainee at Bagram. The conclusion, with autopsy evidence, was that the former taxi driver and the detainee who passed away before him, had died due to sustained injuries inflicted at the prison by U.S. soldiers. The documentary, by award-winning producer Alex Gibney, carefully develops the last weeks of Dilawar’s life and shows how decisions taken at the pinnacle of power in the Bush Administration led directly to Dilawar’s brutal death. The film documents how Rumsfeld, together with the White House legal team, were able to convince Congress to approve the use of torture against prisoners of war. Taxi to the Dark Side is the definitive exploration of the introduction of torture as an interrogation technique in U.S. facilities, and the roles played by key figures of the Bush Administration in the process. [edit] In Search of Gandhi (India) In the early decades of the twentieth century Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy of non-violent revolution or Satyagraha inspired a mass movement of millions of Indians to rise up against the British colonial state and successfully agitate for the establishment of a democratic and free India. In 2007, the country is preparing to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of its existence as an independent nation. But what kind of a democracy does India have today? What does it actually mean to live in the world’s largest democracy? In road-movie style the film crew travels down the famous trail of Gandhi’s salt march, the remarkable mass campaign that galvanized ordinary Indians to join the non-violent struggle for democracy and freedom almost a century ago. Stopping at the same villages and cities, where Gandhi and his followers had raised their call for independence, the film documents the stories of ordinary citizens in India today. Although inspired by a historical event In Search of Gandhi is not a journey back in time. Instead it is a search for the present and future of democracy in India. [edit] Dinner with the President (Pakistan) What are the implications for democracy in Pakistan when secular political parties have succumbed to the Islamic agenda? What does it mean when the army appears to be the only force able to contain the opponents of democracy, the armed Islamists? President Musharraf agrees to explore this apparent contradiction over dinner at his official residence, the Army House. As the discussion moves in and out of the different worlds in Pakistan a complex tapestry emerges revealing a society unique yet universal. The filmmaker talks to diverse individuals, from labourers to intellectuals, from street vendors to religious right wing political party members, and from journalists to industrialists. What is their idea of democracy in Pakistan? What is their idea of President Musharraf’s vision of a modern Pakistan? Dinner With the President questions the role a military leader can play in guiding a state towards modern democracy. [edit] For God, Tsar and Fatherland (Russia) Mikhail Morozov is a Russian patriot, good Christian and successful businessman. He owns Durakovo -the “Village of Fools” -100 km southwest of Moscow. People come here from all over Russia to learn how to live and become true Russians. When they join the Village of Fools, the new residents abandon all their former rights and agree to obey Mikhail Morozov’s strict rules. “What we have here is a society that respects the vertical of power, this is what our country needs most of all, “ says Morozov quoting his idol President Putin. The whole spectrum of state power - political, spiritual and administrative – gathers in the village for semi-private meetings with Morozov. They discuss the future of Russia, their ambitions and their goals. For God, Tsar and Fatherland shows what drives Russian patriotism today and why they are against democracy. [edit] Iron Ladies of Liberia (Liberia) After fourteen years of civil war, Liberia is a nation ready for change. On January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was inaugurated President. She is the first ever elected female Head of State in Africa, winning a hotly contested election with the overwhelming support of women across Liberia. Since taking office she has appointed other extraordinary women to leadership positions in all areas of government, including the Police Chief and the ministers of Justice, Commerce and Finance. Can the first female Liberian president, backed by other powerful women, bring sustainable democracy and peace to such a devastated country? Iron Ladies of Liberia gives the viewer a behind-the-scenes access to Sirleaf’s first year in government, providing a unique insight into a newly elected African cabinet. [edit] Egypt: We are Watching You (Egypt) In his 2005 State of the Union address President Bush cites Egypt as the country that will pave the way for democracy in the Middle East. Three women, unable to sit by while their country is on the brink of drastic change, start a grassroots movement to educate and empower the public by raising awareness on the meaning of democracy. They name their campaign Shayfeen.com which means to “we are watching you.” This film follows the highs and lows of the first year of their movement in Egypt. Insisting that only the people can make change happen, their goal is to educate the Egyptian public on what it takes to build the most basic pillars of democracy: demanding basic human rights, freedom of speech and the establishment of an independent judiciary. Egypt: We are Watching You shows the role ordinary citizens can play in shaping and securing their democracy. [edit] Bloody Cartoons (Denmark) What do Danish cartoons tell us about contemporary democracy? A lot it seems. Freedom of expression has always been a core principle of democracy. Imagining one without the other is unthinkable to most people. But what happens when one democratic right infringes on the rights of others? Since the furore of the Danish cartoons it is clear that not everyone agrees with the idea of limitless freedom. The director films in Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Qatar, France, Turkey and Denmark, talking to some of the people that played key roles during the cartoon crisis. Bloody Cartoons is a documentary about how and why 12 drawings in a Danish provincial paper could whirl a small country into a confrontation with Muslims all over the world. He asks whether respect for Islam combined with the heated response to the cartoons is now leading us towards self-censorship. How tolerant should we be, he wonders, of the intolerant. And what limits should there be, if any, to freedom of speech in a democracy. [edit] Campaign! The Kawasaki Candidate (Japan) Can a candidate with no political experience and no charisma win an election when the political giant Prime Minister Koizumi and his Liberal Democratic Party back him? In the fall of 2005, 40-year-old, self-employed Kazuhiko “Yama-san” Yamauchi’s peaceful, humdrum life was turned upside-down. Koizumi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had chosen him at the last moment as its official candidate to run for a vacant seat on the Kawasaki City Council. Yama-san had zero experience in politics, no charisma, no supporters, no constituency, and one week to prepare for the impending election. The election was critical for the LDP, Yama-san’s loss would automatically oust the LDP from its position as the dominant political party on the council. Adhering to the campaign tactic of “bowing to everybody, even to telephone poles,” Yama-san visits local festivals, senior gatherings, commuter train stations, and even bus stops to offer his hand to every one he sees. Can Yama-san win this heated race? In Campaign! The Kawasaki Candidate, canvassing for a single seat in the city council becomes a microcosm of Japanese democracy.