Counter Terror: Build Justice

THE DVD

Reviews:

LABOUR LEFT BRIEFING, April 2005:

“Are governments pursuing policies that reduce the risk of terrorism or increase it?” asks Milan Rai at the start of this new DVD from Justice Not Vengeance.

Tony Blair was warned by the security services that invading Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attack – but he went ahead anyway. This short film uses interviews with Bruce Kent, Labour MP Michael Foster, and Dr Tariq Rajbee to look at the causes of terrorism and why Britain is a target.

“How effective are our protests?” the film asks. In 1969, the Vietnam Moratorium demonstration in Washington DC did not appear to have much effect on stopping the Vietnam War. Yet later President Nixon revealed he had planned to drop a nuclear bomb on North Vietnam, but his advisors dissuaded him because of the size of the protest it would provoke.

Likewise, had it not been for the protests all over the world in 2003, the smaller countries on the UN Security Council might have caved in and voted for a resolution authorising the invasion of Iraq. The fact that they did not and there was no second UN resolution deprived the war of any shred of legitimacy.

The British government even warned the US that it might not have the votes necessary to authorise war. The message from this excellent film is that protest really does make a difference.

Review by Mike Phipps

VOICES IN THE WILDERNESS UK, April 2005:

An excellent, short, thought-provoking primer, explaining why the UK Government's "war on terror" is not only wrong but actually endangering UK citizens.

"Counter Terror: Build Justice" demonstrates clearly how al-Qaeda draws upon legitimate grievances to create a reservoir of support – and therefore what a real "counter-terrorism" strategy, draining that reservoir, would actually involve.

Highly recommended.

Review by Gabriel Carlyle

Hugh Warwick, Journalist:

In this short film the people at Justice Not Vengeance have managed to present an argument for an end to terrorism that transcends the political and religious rhetoric of the practitioners of terror.

This is an intelligent and rigorous challenge to the vicious cycle of terror met by yet more terror: it presents something we all need; a vision of hope.

HOW TO ORDER:

The DVD is available for £5 plus p&p from JNV, 29 Gensing Road, St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex, TN38 0HE. For orders in the UK, please add £1.50 p&p.

An order form is here.