Cysfilm

Drinking the Tigris: A New Day for America

I feel great. The sun is rising here in Iraq. In eight hours the sun will rise in D.C. and later today Obama will swear in.

George Bush’s photo was still up as I entered the Air Force chow hall a few minutes ago. The two young Airmen that watch the entrance every morning are both happy about the political changes, but added a caveat. “There are so many problems he’s going to have to deal with,” they told me cautiously.

I, on the other hand, think we’ve already dealt with the biggest problem. His picture comes down tomorrow.

Drinking the Tigris: Coffee

10 weeks on the night shift now. I am wrapped in night. Crushed by 12 hours of fluorescent whitish – green hum 7 days a week. I am a mushroom. An owl. A dung beetle. A big bleary eyed night wrapped marsupial. I know the stars by heart and where they are at all hours. I know the moon’s phase and I measure the weeks by it. I forage, growl, drag from the fridge to the phone to the door to the computer to my chair. When I drive I bounce my head on the headrest to stay awake like a fat baby in a high chair. I’m a wreck.

The wind outside is always dead except for the cutting vibrations of helicopters when they land. Even after they’re gone, there’s a constant low frequency vibration in my head and in my hands that I understand to be a call for coffee – I throb for caffeine at all times. I want to take my bones out of my arms, unscrew the caps on the ends and fill them up with the milky heat then shake them like martinis. I’m am a slogging sack of night worms, wanting for light and slow sandy heat. But for now, all I’ve got is a Styrofoam cup of coffee, twice per night.

I need to go home now.

Drinking the Tigris: Indentured Servitude at BIAP

Finally!!! This is starting to get out or Iraq. My favorite CNN reporter, Michael Ware does a report on labor abuse committed by KBR and their subcontractors in Baghdad, specifically in the airport area where I live. This is something I’ve been pressing people about for a year and a half. FBI, Border Patrol, State Dept, nobody is willing to take a stand on this. Meanwhile thousands of migrant laborers, almost all from S.Asia are living without full civil rights, no labor protections, and arguably – in debt bondage. All those jobs soldiers used to do: laundry, cooking, construction, water management, trash removal, in this neo-con war is being done with cheap labor out of S.Asia. The guys who work in our cafeteria make between one and two dollars and hour. They work seven days a week, 12 hours a day. In a month they make less than 700 dollars and they have to PAY to get the jobs. Keep in mind, these guys are working INSIDE American bases. These are the guys who put the food on the soldiers plate. How much did they pay to get here? Most have paid labor brokers between three and five thousand dollars. They sell their family farms or take loans from loan sharks in their home countries at usary interest rates. THIS IS INDENTURED SERVITUDE. WRITE YOUR CONGRESSPERSON(S). This is not my America, but this is all in our names.

Bush League: New Shots from Malawi – Vmbuza

Vmbuza is a healing dance. It happens at the traditional healer’s compound once a week, usually on a Friday night and lasts all night.

The women play a rhythm with wooden sticks. A couple guys play a second rhythm with hand drums. It’s LOUD and it’s POWERFUL. The traditional healer led the songs, which I think are partly or wholly improvised and can last 15 or 20 minutes.

The patients dance until they can’t dance any more. I have no doubt that it makes people feel better. It makes me feel better every time I go!

Bush League: New Shots from Malawi – Futbol

Some shots from the football pitch. It’s the first time I’ve seen Malawi’s dry season, it’s really beautiful in it’s own way.

Drinking the Tigris: Relief!

What an astonishing moment in our history. From my perspective here in Iraq, while I love the message of hope and I believe in that whole heartedly, mostly I feel relief. Ethan Bronner wrote this in the NY Times from Palestine. It sums it up for me:

“But wonder is almost overwhelmed by relief. Mr. Obama’s election offers most non-Americans a sense that the imperial power capable of doing such good and such harm – a country that, they complain, preached justice but tortured its captives, launched a disastrous war in Iraq, turned its back on the environment and greedily dragged the world into economic chaos – saw the errors of its ways over the past eight years and shifted course.”

Bush League: New Shot from Malawi – Church

A shot from the Catholic Church service in Zolokere, Malawi where I shot Bush League.

Drinking the Tigris: The World is Watching

Just back from Malawi yesterday. A lot to report from there, but on the eve of the election, I want to share this instead:

From the Economist:

http://www.economist.com/vote2008/index.cfm

The whole world is holding its breath!!!

Bush League: Shooting THE END

I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. I start the trip back to Malawi tomorrow. It’ll take five days to get from Baghdad to the village. I’ll have a full week to shoot the epilogue for Bush League then Jake and I will make our way to the south of the country.

I’m really excited to see everybody and really hoping there isn’t much bad news. Gama, the guy who took care of us in the village, died last autumn of HIV/AIDS. I’m a little worried about who else might be sick, or worse.

It’s been two years since I started shooting the film. I don’t know how much longer it will take, but I hope it doesn’t end too soon. I love that place and I’ve learned a great deal from its people.

Drinking the TIgris: New Shots from Baghdad

Some new shots from Baghdad.

This, for me, is the untold story of this war. All the labor; cleaning, cooking and washing is done by S. Asian laborers. Their pay is meager. The guys who clean at the Dining Facility work 12 hours per day seven days a week and make, in total, $350.00 per month. If Nike or Coca Cola made a fat profit off their backs the way KBR (Halliburton) does, people would be up in arms. But nobody knows about this, and it’s happening at every base in Iraq. In our Dining Facility there are NO Americans serving food. Maybe one now and then. The staff is well over 25 guys per shift and they serve thousands of meals per day. They clean the floors, take out the trash, pour the coffee, they work the registers at the PX, they do everything except fight.

The truth is, for many of these people it’s a great opportunity but what I wonder about are their labor rights and how many of them are indentured servants.