Beating The Bomb

[richardfamous]

Just had this eMail from the good folk at Maddmovies, whose film 'Beating The Bomb' has been out and showing for a few months now, and just thought I should pass it on. There are some Poison Girls tracks used in the soundtrack (and of course the film is very good!)

Dear Beatingthebombers,

Not only did we have some public television outings in the US since our last update. We've also been online now less than 10 months and have received over 100 000 youtube hits. On this occasion we would like to again send a big thank you to everyone who made this film possible. Still no blockbuster, but someone is receiving our electronic peace message in a bottle every day, every hour, in every country in the world.
For stats buffs, here are the top 25 countries and the respective hits:

1.
United States
23,871
2.
United Kingdom
9,876
3.
Canada
7,646
4.
Germany
5,379
5.
India
5,052
6.
Australia
3,453
7.
Philippines
2,596
8.
Saudi Arabia
2,320
9.
Pakistan
2,038
10.
Malaysia
2,009
11.
Netherlands
1,649
12.
France
1,602
13.
United Arab Emirates
1,589
14.
Japan
1,393
15.
Sweden
1,307
16.
Singapore
986
17.
Israel
983
18.
Thailand
926
19.
Indonesia
836
20.
Ireland
830
21.
Austria
800
22.
Finland
786
23.
Spain
761
24.
Turkey
760
25.
Denmark
757
Germany used to be in the somewhere between 15 and 20 till we put German subtitles on. Last month Germany was number two behind the US.
Soooo: More subtitles would be great. Technically it is quite simple. We can send out the English script with the timecodes. All a translator would have to do is write over the text below the timecodes in their language. It's about two days work for one translation. Anyone up for it, or anyone know someone who might be interested?

We're particularly keen on Arabic, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.
 
Peace, love and happiness!
 
Wolfgang and Meera
www.beatingthebomb.com
 
Update for documentary: BEATING THE BOMB

[richardfamous]

And also thought this was important to pass on

Dear friends,
 
Many of you helped us by contributing your skills, talent & time for free in the making of our documentary, Beating the Bomb.
 
I thought the following information may be of interest to you, regarding a good friend - Helen John (who also featured in our film):
'Helen John returned to indefinitely camp out at the caravan she has set up opposite the Waddington RAF base in Yorkshire, with her dog Charlie – where for the first time British personnel will be guiding drones from British soil.' 
I have sent a PRESS RELEASE (copied below) regarding this subject to a number of organisations.
 
For those who do not know: 'drones' are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), armed & unarmed, that are controlled via satellite communication to launch missiles and bombs, often at distances of many thousands of miles.
 
If anyone supports Helen's protest and would like to help, then here are a few things that can be done:-
• Pass on word of this protest - talk about it, e-mail it to friends...
• Send the Press Release to your local paper, campaign groups...
• See if any artists you know would want to do some banners or posters for this protest
• Or any graffitti artists want to go up to the base and paint up Helen's caravan
• Any film makers want to shoot a clip / short film
• Visit Helen & offer your solidarity
Many thanks for your time. Wishing you all well,
Meera
 
PRESS RELEASE:
 
75 YEAR OLD BRITISH WOMAN SETS UP CAMP OPPOSITE THE WADDINGTON RAF BASE IN YORKSHIRE IN PROTEST AGAINST DRONES.
 
23/11/2012
 
Helen John, 75 year old peace activist, returns today, alone with her dog Charlie, to indefinitely camp out at the caravan she has set up opposite the Waddington RAF base in Yorkshire – where for the first time British personnel will be guiding drones from British soil.
 
This issue was recently covered in The Times (20/11/2012) in a front page story: “British use of drones at heart of ‘Secret War’”.
 
Helen says, “What America is doing is tying the British into its murderous and illegal programme by getting British personnel to direct drones from British soil…And although we are told that it’s only for surveillance purposes every pilot has been trained to operate armed drones. It makes a nonsense to say the pilots are only engaging in observation. You know, you can have drones the size of a little bird for observation or you can have them the size of football pitches like reapers which can carry up to 14 hellfire missiles.”
 
According to The Times: ‘The RAF is doubling its fleet of armed Reaper drones in Afghanistan to ten and shifting their base from the US to Britain’.
 
Helen – an ex Greenham Common woman, proponent of non violent direct action, who has been arrested a number of times in the past - has also actively campaigned against the US Menwith Hill base in Yorkshire since the 1990’s.  Highly concerned about the issue of drones, she set up camp opposite the Waddington RAF base in August 2012 where she has since lived - only returning to her home for a short spell in November.
 
“We have to stop young men becoming assassins!” she declares. “The British will become war criminals – the use of drones where war has not been declared amounts to a war crime.” She wants to bring more focus to the Waddington RAF base and to draw public attention to its operations there.
 
With cold weather warning alerts ahead, she says, “Although I’m not much looking forward to returning, it’s not too bad once you get there.”  She believes the government can not be relied upon to act reasonably towards these “murder weapons” and that it’s up to the ordinary citizen to stand up and say no.
 
Hats off and thank you to Helen John! - who’ll be back at the camp by now, facing the cold front with Charlie, fighting for the rights that we should all be fighting for. She’s taken her banner with her which she composed herself and which goes like this:-
 
Grim Reaper Drones
that smash flesh & bones
in oil rich lands far away.
Guided by geeks, computer freaks,
ASSASSINS.
Killing by stealth is a Nazi trait,
simply brought up to date,
breaking International Humanitarian Law.
 
FACT: Murder is always illegal.
 
 
Contact: Helen John on 07971675776; or e-mail Meera Patel on [e-mail]

[sinogs]

Thanks for the info Richard - I've taken the liberty of posting notice of Helen's protest over at members5.boardhost.com/medialens/

All the best