Eavesdropping Stasi agent, before digital surveillance, from the movie: The Life of Others
On Sun, Oct 27, 2013 at 6:23 PM, GZ wrote:
Have you heard of and/or seen this movie, The Lives of Others (2006)?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others
If so, any comments? GLZ.
On Monday, October 28, 2013 11:21:40 AM UTC+2, Joseph Zernik, Human Rights Alert (NGO) wrote:
http://inproperinla.blogspot.Sure!I have seen it first when it came out in Santa Monica, in 2007, when I was already in the semi underground. And I have thought about it often afterwards, relative to life today, both in the US and Israel, which is not that far different from the reality in the movie.Already in 2008, a close friend in LA told me I could not email, phone, or visit him at home (we could still meet in coffee shops through complicated arrangements) for fear of consequences... He also started engaging in double speak, often said the opposite of what he really thought, believed, depending on where and when we were sitting...In Jerusalem, I have for a year and half a snitch glued to my butt... My way of handling it - as usual, simply publishing, waiting to see if anybody will sue me, and in parallel, filing complaint with police when such snitches engage in criminality, to document their impunity.Here, in Occupy Tel Aviv, there are numerous snitches as well. And when it comes to organizing protests, it is taken for granted that someone among the organizers may be a police snitch. Simply recognizing reality. It creates some level of chaos, since what happens is that final details and actual conduct are often left unspecified, and happen on the ground with no final planning.In contrast with the movie, both in the US and Israel, there is heavy reliance on semi- or fully criminal elements for such snitching, probably in return for impunity...Similarly, it was recently published that one of the central activists in OWS was exposed as an undercover copy, when he was busted as one of the motorcycle gang that attacked a family in an SUV. In OWS he was known for his mild manner... :)And Prof Erwin Chemerinsky published a column in the LA times already a couple of years ago, repudiating the infiltration of OWS by police...as chilling legitimate political organization.One little detail from the movie that stuck in my memory permanently: The reality of the movie is prior to today's cellphones and computerized surveillance. Therefore, the protagonists have full time 24/7 Stasi agents eavesdropping on their apartment and phone. And one of them spends the boring hours reading Bertolt Brecht poetry...Germany should also be recognized for the manner in which it handled the Stasi archives, which led to the production of works like this movie. Following long public debate, it was decided that none of the records would be destroyed, and that each individual is entitled to see the records in his/her own file, including the names of the persons (often close friends, family members) who were snitching on him/her...The outcome was an avalanche of amazing discoveries - senior people in the Catholic church, dissidents, etc, who all worked for the Stasi..JZLINKS[1] 12-10-13 Dispatch from Jerusalem: SHMUEL/HAIM/YOEL - a stinker![2] The Clean Dealer/Informer/provocator, the Dirty Hippie, and the Israel Police in Jerusalem
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=369_1346281948
[3] 12-08-31 Shmuel/Haim/Yoel - שמואל/ חיים/יואל - now popular also in Japan!
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An regarding the conduct of family members both in the US and Israel under such conditions, I would not like to comment here, except for noting that it was my US born sister in law, who turned out to be the brave one in the US, and my elderly uncle in Israel - same.
jz
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