The Silence

When I wrote this post earlier today most of the media had ignored the Tamil protest. As soon as I finished my wife said have a look at the Independant. And here http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/a-fight-to-the-death-in-westminster-1666825.html an excellent article by Jerome taylor. As it was written for a deadline they missed a new fact. I have since passed that info on to the independant but who knows if the news desks ever read unsolicited E mails.

The The silence of the lambs the slaughter of innocent tamils

Robin Wood,” The film's title derives from Starling's definitive childhood memory: the young girl's unsuccessful attempt to save one lamb from those waiting to be slaughtered, whose frantic bleating distressed her.”

I started taking photos of 3 Tamil demonstraters at the recent put people first protest. I knew very little of the conflict in Sri Lanka and even now my knowledge is very limited. Since then I have followed the Tamil community as they protest the threat of genocide against their home community back in Sri Lanka.

Innocent civilians are dying. They have no food, they have no medicines and bombs fall on what are designated as safe zones. Where is Clarice starling to save them.

Here in London where I grew up I try to hear but there are so few sounds. Where is the political establishment? Where is the media? Where are the liberal intelligentsia?

Gaza has some similarities and the noise was formidable. On a day to day basis the bells and whistles ring loud and clear.

In the last few days the media only gave reasonable space to the protest when there was a rather minimal clash with the police and a few arrests.

Here is an amazing news story of a Tamil community in Great Britain. Go to the protests and you won’t see hordes of young white students and far left newspaper sellers. In fact you will hardly see any. What you will see is row after row of Tamil families. I have never seen so many prams at a protest.
I went to the demonstration on Westminster bridge at 2 in the morning. There were as usual lots of families as well as quite a few you men in hooded tops etc. Normally at that time in the morning in central London the sight of hoodies would wake up my street survival techniques. Shock and horror for a Londoner everyone was friendly. People were nodding, smiling and asking me who I worked for in the media.

This is remarkable. Yet for the media it is a non story. Sensationalism and celebrity are what they print.

I saw the so called anarchists at the put people first march with their I am hard look and attempts at gross forms of masculinity was supposed to put fear in the establishment. The media photographers were all over them waiting for some little act of violence to provide a nice little story.

Here with the Tamils I see a community of human beings showing the best of what it is to be human. Kindness,warmth, enthusiasm, care, heart, and so much more. I looked at the hunger strikers yesterday and I had trouble not crying for these two young idealistic men. They were not attacking anyone, not strapping a bomb onto their body . They were injuring themselves in order to try and get a respite in the killing for their people.

A questioning and vital fourth estate is a vital part of the democratic process. What is going on.