04/06/2016 Witness


04/06/2016

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Hello. Welcome to Witness at the British library in London. This

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month we have another five people who have witnessed extraordinary

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moments in history first-hand. We will hear from a woman who led a

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protest against the contraceptive and in Ireland. A student who took

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past in the legendary protests of May, 1968, in front. And a Cuban who

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protested. And for many years, two giant Buddha is carved into cliffs

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in central Afghanistan dominated the surrounding landscape. -- Buddhas.

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That changed in 2001 when the Taliban ordered the destruction. A

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local farmer was forced to help destroy the ancient Buddhas.

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And he still lives in the valley there. In May, 1971, a group of

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Irish feminists staged a protest calling for legalisation of

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contraception. This woman spoke to us about what became known as the

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contraception fight. I was one of the 12 founders of the Irish Women's

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Liberation Movement. We wanted to legalise contraception in Ireland.

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It was forbidden at that time. If we were caught in possession we faced a

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fine or a jail sentence and social and disgrace. We were all Catholic.

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Church and state where hand in hand. A Catholic state for a

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Catholic people. It was a license for sex, they said. If you had sex

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you had babies. 1971, the average family size was 12. Not unusual to

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have 13 or 15 children. Northern Ireland was under British rule. We

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thought, right, we will get the train to Belfast, break the law, get

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the contraceptives, and come back to Dublin. The contraceptive train.

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Some people call it the condom train. I say no. It was never that.

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We were never going to give control of our sexuality to main. If you

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call it the condom train you are drawing attention to the penis and

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sex. There were 40 of us. We went to the shops. I go up to the counter. I

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am the leader of the pack. I said, I would like, please, a contraceptive

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packet. And he said, where is your prescription? And I said, what

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prescription? I don't have one. He said you can't have any. But I said,

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well then, give me one. And then I had the idea, customs officers, they

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had never seen it. We ordered 1000 aspirin and we stripped them out of

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their packets. We got back on the train. We get to Dublin and the

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customs men are standing there at tables. I have that and I am not

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giving it to you. You are not getting it. Open up your bag. The

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rest of us lined up and they did not raise a hand. We hear shouting. Let

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them through! Let them through! People agreed with us. And that was

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massive. We were against the church. We were no longer afraid.

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You were touching a popular nerve. It resonated with women who thought,

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I do not need to get pregnant. But that day, the shouting was let them

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go! Let them go! And there was joy! I am not sure I have ever had an

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experience as joyful as that in my life. Nell McCafferty. A lifelong

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women's rights campaigner. In 9091, at the end of Ethiopian's long civil

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war, they did a deal to bring some Jews to Israel. -- 1991. It was

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called Operation Solomon. Daniel, 11 years old, was one of those

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airlifted according to the operation.

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The airlift of the Ethiopian Jews continued around the clock. The plan

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to reunite them with their families in Israel. Israel was eager to get

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all of them out of Ethiopian as quickly as possible.

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At least 15,000 were flown to Israel in the operation, which lasted less

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than 24 hours. The seats were taken out of civilian airliners so that

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the refugees could be crammed on board. One jumbo jet carried more

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than 1000 passengers. It is a great, historical moment for us. It

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is one of the greatest humanitarian relief operations of all time. One

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of the greatest, one of the swiftest, and one of the most

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successful. Daniel Nadawo, who still lives in

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Israel. Remember, you can watch Witness every month on the BBC News

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Channel or you can catch up on over 1000 radio programmes in our online

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archive. Just go to BBC .co .uk /witness. In 1968, disaffected

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students and workers in France came together to protest badly run

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universities, the war in Vietnam, and low wages. Our next witness

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helped to produce posters to illustrate the frustration of the

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country's youth. Paris, the worst street fighting in the French

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capital since the liberation in 1944. Students and police clashed

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following extremist action following the war in Vietnam.

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Paris was full of young people in 1968. The protest came because too

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many people were at the same moment unhappy. The strike, the university

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were on strike, everybody decided to go down in the street at 6pm, it was

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the 13th of May, that is when the workers and students were together.

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During the early hours of this morning, the student leaders were

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meeting in Sorbonne to plan their next moves. The most solid evidence

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of course of the political tie-up between the students and unions was

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when a crowd marched through Paris. They were fighting for their rights.

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They were fighting to get a better life. I met my friend, and we

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decided to go back and try to get involved with doing posters to

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illustrate the movement. The first thing we did was to organise

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meetings and give paint and brushes and paper to all the people coming

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to the Beaux-Arts. The Beaux-Arts became very famous, and everybody

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wanted to get posters to stick on the wall. My job was to work at the

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Beaux-Arts, get the paper and the posters out. Get the posters on the

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wall, get contact with the factories, and we had a meeting, a

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special meeting so we could decide which one was good, was not good,

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and everybody has to say something about it. We did the posters at

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night, the next morning it was on the wall. We worked like workers. We

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can make late 2000 posters, make one big poster, with UUU. That was the

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beginning of the saying that the workers on the street are going to

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work together. What the government was trying to separate the people.

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They thought it was the end of society, instead of that, the young

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people, the young students and workers, think they can do a new

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republic, we can work together. Philippe Vermes is a renowned

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photographer still based in Paris. And for our final film witness has

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travelled to Cuba. For almost 20 years the Nobel prize-winning author

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Ernest Hemingway had a house on the Caribbean island. Alberto Ramos

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worked there at as a cook. Now in his 80s, he shares his memories of

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the novelist. Alberto Ramos, remembering one of

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the great American authors. And that's all from us this month. I

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hope you will join me next month, a care at the British library. We will

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have five more extraordinary account of history through the eyes of the

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people who were there -- back here at the British library. But for

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now, from me and the rest of the team at Witness, goodbye.

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