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Disappointing Documentary on 1968

Vince Eremos | 26.11.2000 15:33

The "Demo- Doc" is starting to become a genre in itself. This one, "Days in the Life" ( title lifted from the Beatles song ), broadcast Sat eve BBC2, 21:00, was about the Grosvenor Sq protest over Vietnam.

It was an important event, be sure, perhaps the first modern demonstration in that it set the pattern for those which have occurred since. It has also started to slip into the realm of folklore, and for those who werent there, a serious documentary is welcome.
But this wasnt it: although interviewing Tariq Ali, the still active de facto "leader" of the action, it also included many less welcome, indeed pointless people with spurious recollections. This is the "I was there too" approach, and it is flawed; it assumes that any bemused passer by or dweller in Mayfair has a valid point of view, even coppers. Moreover, this documentary sought to bury the impact of the action and subsume it into a "shared" experience- a grandad's tale that brings us all closer together.
Was it Howard Jacobson who remarked that another way to expunge an experience from the record is not to pretend that it didnt happen (a crude and exposable ruse), but to pretend that it happened to everyone. This documentay seems to put 1968 in that mould.

Vince Eremos

Comments

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They trampled on all the flowers!

27.11.2000 07:54

I thought it was pretty good for a BBC documentary. The upper class woman was hillarious!

Lemming
mail e-mail: lemming@grandtheftcyber.com
- Homepage: http://www.grandtheftcyber.com


Tariq's picnic in the park

27.11.2000 19:04

It should not be forgotten thsat in October 1968 there was a 100,000 strong march towards Grosvenor Squaure which Tariq Ali - and other assorted trotskyist illuminati - diverted away from the embassy to a harmless picnoic in Hyde Park where they listened to speeches opposing imperialism while a few hundred yards away anarchists and Maoists were battling with the cops in Grosevenor Square. So much for Tariq's professed enthusiasm for attacking the embassy as expressed in this programme. If 100,000 had attacked the embassy who knows what might have happened. Maybe it's about time the anarchists who were there got to tell the real story of Trot cowardice in the face of the enemy.

Ret Marut


Grosvenor Sq 1968 [NewswireRepost by imcuk]

28.11.2000 16:44

Following a disappointing documentary on BBC 2 Sat eve, I would suggest some alternative background.

"Demonstrations and Communications", A penguin paperback pp 1970 by Halloran, Elliot and Murdock. A whole book about the action.

Vince


diversions

11.12.2000 12:08

regarding the diversion away from Grovsner square, what source is it from? I'm not at all trying to say that you're wrong, but would be interested to know more, as it is surprising that Trotskyists would avoid clashes, and contradicts what I've seen in other events. What reason did tariq Ali give for the diversion?

olie
mail e-mail: oliebrice@hotmail.com