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This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
I'm Nel Hedayat. I'm from London but I watched the news as revolutions spread across the Arab world | 0:00:05 | 0:00:10 | |
with young people right at the heart of them. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:14 | |
I've been amazed by how people | 0:00:14 | 0:00:16 | |
came together to overthrow governments and change their world. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
Now I'm going on a journey to meet them. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:22 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:00:22 | 0:00:24 | |
I've never been around when they've celebrated with live gunfire! | 0:00:24 | 0:00:27 | |
-Do you feel bad for the people you killed? -No. They had it coming. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:32 | |
They tortured your son? | 0:00:32 | 0:00:34 | |
This is four hours away on a flight from London. | 0:00:34 | 0:00:38 | |
I find the revolutions are still going on... | 0:00:38 | 0:00:41 | |
-They'll get shot! -GUNSHOT | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
The police are shooting protesters. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
It's all flowing this way. It feels like burning. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:50 | |
..and I'll get caught up in the heart of events... | 0:00:50 | 0:00:52 | |
The Syrian army's seen me. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:00:54 | 0:00:55 | |
We are being killed, being slaughtered. | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
..as I find myself alongside people still fighting for freedom. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
Just to be standing here in the middle of a revolution - | 0:01:03 | 0:01:07 | |
this is what it is! | 0:01:07 | 0:01:08 | |
I've seen riots on the streets of Egypt and Bahrain. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
Now I'm going to look at Libya and Syria to see what happens | 0:01:13 | 0:01:17 | |
when people pick up guns and start shooting back. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:22 | |
Oh, my God. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:23 | |
This is Tripoli, the capital of Libya. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:34 | |
So far it's the only country in the Arab Spring | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
to overthrow their Government with a civil war. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
I'm here to find out | 0:01:40 | 0:01:42 | |
how they can rebuild their lives and their country. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
I'm at Tripoli University today | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
and I'm meeting a guy called Tommy who I met on Facebook. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
He's going to show me round Tripoli and tell me what it was like | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
during the war for everyone here. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:01 | |
I'm trying to find him but the students are still in protest mode. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:06 | |
Like many here, when the uprising started, Tommy quit his studies, | 0:02:07 | 0:02:12 | |
picked up a gun and joined the revolutionary fighters. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:16 | |
Oh, wicked. I've seen so much graffiti. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
-How does it feel to see this every day when you come to uni? -It's cool. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:25 | |
Before, we hated it. Now the walls all look cool. I'm enjoying it. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:30 | |
-That's amazing. -This is our shoes stepping on the rats. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:35 | |
-You know who's the rat? -Um, no(!) Who's the rat? | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
-I don't know who the rat is. -Well, we just killed him! | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
'The rat is Colonel Gaddafi, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
'the ruthless dictator who ruled Libya for 42 years.' | 0:02:44 | 0:02:48 | |
But what did you learn in school about Gaddafi? | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
-What was taught to you? -History was all about Gaddafi. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
Every time Gaddafi does something, like the announcement of... | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
I don't know. He makes a lot of announcements! | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
We had to memorise all the dates. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
-You grew up having to worship a man you hate. -Yes. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:09 | |
In the house we have to hate him. In the school we have to worship him. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:14 | |
It was really, really confusing. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
PROTESTERS CHANT | 0:03:17 | 0:03:18 | |
Tripoli is full of protesters. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
They all want a share of the new Government. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
If they'd tried to protest under Gaddafi, | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
they'd have made the same trip I'm making and ended up here, | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
Abu Salim, a top security jail where political prisoners were sent. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:49 | |
When you go to Abu Salim prison, you're going into the unknown. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:55 | |
There is no trials, no nothing. Your family wouldn't know about you. | 0:03:55 | 0:04:00 | |
-You just disappear. -If you end up in one of the cells, what happens to you? | 0:04:00 | 0:04:04 | |
You will just be forgotten, you know? | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
No-one will remember you. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
Your family will go to every place and ask about you, | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
like internal security, external security, | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
and they will be like, "Your son is not with us. We don't know what happened to him." | 0:04:16 | 0:04:20 | |
POUNDING | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
Now they're ripping up the floor, | 0:04:24 | 0:04:26 | |
trying to find the bodies of loved ones. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
Hundreds are rumoured to be buried here after a notorious massacre. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:33 | |
The story says they just buried them under the cement. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:37 | |
-Just put their bodies... -Like a mass grave? | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
They didn't tell anybody about it. They just killed the 1,200 people. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
-1,200! -They just kept shooting people for three straight hours. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:51 | |
Gaddafi has the most criminal, twisted mind ever, I think. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:55 | |
Yes. | 0:04:57 | 0:04:58 | |
What's happened in Abu Salim is just a small part of the torture, | 0:04:59 | 0:05:03 | |
abuse and misrule of Gaddafi's regime. | 0:05:03 | 0:05:06 | |
Inspired by the Arab Spring elsewhere, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
Libyans took to the streets to protest against the hated Government. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:15 | |
A vicious crackdown by Gaddafi led boys like Tommy to arm themselves | 0:05:15 | 0:05:19 | |
and a civil war broke out. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
Tommy went home to fight in the mountains. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
We hijacked tanks from Gaddafi troops. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
We took it out to the mountains and we were just 20 years old. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:33 | |
-Oh, my God. -Nobody told us how to drive it. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
We just figured it out by ourselves. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
Like, "Thank you, Russians. We don't need the manuals." | 0:05:38 | 0:05:41 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:05:41 | 0:05:43 | |
When you have your CV and you're applying for a job, | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
do you write down, "I have a license to drive a car. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:49 | |
"P.S. I can drive a tank should the occasion call for it"? | 0:05:49 | 0:05:54 | |
So do you like living in a town? Do you like the mountains? | 0:05:57 | 0:06:01 | |
If I had work and opportunity like I have in the city, | 0:06:01 | 0:06:05 | |
I would totally move to the mountains. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:07 | |
Everybody knows each other. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:08 | |
You know your grandfather and that guy's grandfather | 0:06:08 | 0:06:11 | |
and they know each other and you are sometimes like cousins. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:15 | |
That's the deal here and I like it. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
Tommy's militia was largely made up of his family tribe, the Rijbani. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:24 | |
Libyans are split into different Arab tribes and loyalties run deep. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:28 | |
Which tribe you belonged to affected who you supported in the war. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:32 | |
Tommy and I have come to the spot where he was stationed for months. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
He and his mates fought from these mountains all the way to Tripoli. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:45 | |
Tommy even filmed some of the fighting on his phone. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
GUNFIRE AND SHOUTING | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
SHOUTING | 0:06:52 | 0:06:54 | |
MACHINE-GUN FIRE | 0:06:54 | 0:06:56 | |
We used to watch the Gaddafi troops from here | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
and they were stationed over there, the gas station we just passed. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:12 | |
Any car not identified trying to go up the mountain, we just shoot it. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:18 | |
'One night, they made a surprise raid on Gaddafi's troops.' | 0:07:18 | 0:07:22 | |
Only 106 of us from Rujban went down | 0:07:22 | 0:07:26 | |
and I think what happened is they told us we were like 10,000. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:31 | |
They were scared and they retreated and we defeated them. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:37 | |
People sometimes use really sanitised words | 0:07:37 | 0:07:40 | |
like "We defeated them," or "We got rid of them," | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
but in reality what that means is you killed people. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:46 | |
That's what you guys had to do here. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
Between you and yourself, you had to deal with that. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
After the battle, you're, like, happy, you know? | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
We had to do something because we were shelled every night for two months. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
-Do you feel bad for the people you killed? -No. I don't. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
They had it coming. They deserved that. They deserved that. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:09 | |
'Like so many Libyans, | 0:08:09 | 0:08:11 | |
'Tommy lost close friends and relatives in the fighting. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:14 | |
'The war went on for more than eight months | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
and the battles over the towns and cities along the coast | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
'cost thousands of lives.' | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
I can't understand how you can ever get over that. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
So how does Libya move on? | 0:08:34 | 0:08:37 | |
How can it build a new country from all the violence? | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
To find out, I want to go to where the worst of the fighting happened. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
And I'm starting in Benghazi, where it all began. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:58 | |
GUNFIRE AND CAR HORNS | 0:09:00 | 0:09:03 | |
I've never been around when they're celebrating through live gunfire! | 0:09:05 | 0:09:09 | |
They're just shooting into the air and everyone is cheering | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
because they must have been proper fighters in the war. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:17 | |
God, that was so scary! | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
CAR HORNS BLARE | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
I'm in the main square. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
Now called Freedom Square, it honours the town's dead. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
THEY CHANT | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
Tonight, there's a rally to celebrate the victorious fighters. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:39 | |
THEY CHANT | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
They're chanting, "We will never forget the people that have died." | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
It's just an amazing atmosphere. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:48 | |
SHOUTING AND CAR HORNS | 0:09:48 | 0:09:49 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:09:51 | 0:09:53 | |
LOUD GUNSHOTS | 0:09:55 | 0:09:59 | |
I know they're all ecstatically happy | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
but I'm just not used to seeing guns on the streets. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:06 | |
For these kids, it's a normal thing over the past eight months. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
They're excited, they're relaxed. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
Why are you here? | 0:10:14 | 0:10:15 | |
To celebrate the revolution? | 0:10:21 | 0:10:23 | |
-Are you not scared with the guns and everything? -No. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:26 | |
-So you're not scared when you hear the guns? -No, no, no. -Not at all? | 0:10:28 | 0:10:33 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
It all started in Benghazi | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
with peaceful demonstrations which Gaddafi tried to crush with force. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:51 | |
Within days, the rebellion spread to the rest of Libya. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:56 | |
But this revolution wasn't just won by men with guns. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
Young women my age took up the fight too. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
Atem's an 18-year-old student and, like me, she's a Facebook addict. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:15 | |
She and her friends used every form of social media | 0:11:16 | 0:11:20 | |
to show the world what was happening here. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
All I knew about Libya was this one wacky guy, Gaddafi, | 0:11:23 | 0:11:29 | |
who was, like, a bit crazy. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:31 | |
I don't think anyone had an idea of what it was... | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
Yeah, it's not just you. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:36 | |
When you talk to someone online and say, "I'm from Libya," | 0:11:36 | 0:11:40 | |
they're like, "Do you live in a tent? | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
"Do they have cars there? Do you have camels everywhere?" | 0:11:43 | 0:11:46 | |
No, I don't live in the fricking desert! | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
I've never been more proud to say I'm from Benghazi. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
'Freedom Square looks very different in the daylight. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
'The place is covered with tribute pictures of dead fighters.' | 0:11:56 | 0:12:01 | |
So who gets these pictures up here? | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
Mostly their friends and their families. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:07 | |
They just print put them out. They come and hang them. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:11 | |
These are normal Libyans. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:12 | |
-Are they coming to see who's on here, who's died? -Yeah. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:15 | |
They're all young, just a few years older than me. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:19 | |
So it's really sad seeing this | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
because they did it for us and for our country to be free, you know? | 0:12:22 | 0:12:28 | |
Before being fighters, before taking up arms, what were they? | 0:12:28 | 0:12:33 | |
Just normal kids, you know. A guy from my class died in Sirte. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:40 | |
It was a very emotional day when we heard about it. We all cried. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:46 | |
Just like me, he was 18 years old, just studying to be a doctor. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:52 | |
Just normal kids. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
Last night, I saw a city rejoicing. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
But today all I see is a city in mourning. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
There are so many people that have died, so many kids, | 0:13:07 | 0:13:10 | |
so many young boys. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:12 | |
It's a huge, huge penalty to pay. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
They knew that. They knew it wouldn't be easy. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
They went there knowing they might not be coming back to their families | 0:13:18 | 0:13:22 | |
but they still did it. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
-It's really hard not to get emotional. -I'm crying right now. -Aw. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:30 | |
They fought to win the freedom Gaddafi denied them. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:38 | |
And freedom now means they can say whatever they like | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
about the man they hated. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
It's really strange, | 0:13:44 | 0:13:46 | |
but you get things like that where Gaddafi's face is actually... | 0:13:46 | 0:13:51 | |
-Someone's put a cross on his face. -No like Gaddafi. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:56 | |
-Is this your car? -No, it's my car! | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
It's a revolutionary car! | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
This guy is making a point to throw all the rubbish on Gaddafi's face. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:09 | |
They need to make sure that they get it. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:11 | |
You can really tell that they hate the guy. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
What will all this new freedom mean | 0:14:13 | 0:14:15 | |
besides being able to insult Gaddafi? | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
Hello. Hi. I'm Nel. Nice to meet you. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:22 | |
'Atem is taking me for a night out with some of her friends at a cafe in town.' | 0:14:22 | 0:14:26 | |
-I don't know what any of this is. What does it say? -Hot drinks. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:31 | |
What changes do you want to see? | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
-Education, better roads, everything. -No, what changes do YOU want to see? | 0:14:33 | 0:14:38 | |
-Personal to you, what changes do YOU want to see? -Franchises. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:42 | |
I really want a mall here, seriously. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
NEL LAUGHS We all do! | 0:14:45 | 0:14:46 | |
I want a mall before anything, seriously. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:49 | |
We can introduce you to Starbucks. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
"I always wanted Starbucks and Gaddafi would never let it happen. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:57 | |
"Now we can have Starbucks!" | 0:14:57 | 0:15:00 | |
When you think about it, | 0:15:00 | 0:15:02 | |
when we want to go to a mall or have fun, we leave the country. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:06 | |
-Yeah. -You go other places, you go even to Egypt. | 0:15:06 | 0:15:10 | |
So that's why saying we need a mall, | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
it means that we should be able to have fun here. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:17 | |
-In our own country. -Exactly. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
We don't have to go away to have fun or do some shopping, | 0:15:19 | 0:15:23 | |
or do some decent shopping anyway. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:25 | |
So all your H&M stuff isn't even from Libya? | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
"Mum, I'm going to H&M. Book the tickets to Lebanon." It's crazy! | 0:15:29 | 0:15:34 | |
-THEY LAUGH -Wow. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:37 | |
Atem and her friends may have to wait for their shopping mall. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
A lot of Libya is still in ruins. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
Benghazi was lucky. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:48 | |
It was protected when Britain, France and others | 0:15:48 | 0:15:51 | |
started a bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
I'm heading further up the coast, | 0:15:54 | 0:15:56 | |
to where the worst of the fighting happened - Misrata | 0:15:56 | 0:16:01 | |
Holy shmokes. Check it out. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:05 | |
Every single window in that place is gone. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:07 | |
This city was under siege. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
For 70 days, Gaddafi's forces pounded it. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
It's so hard to watch, so hard to see. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
This isn't the same as Benghazi. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
Hello! | 0:16:34 | 0:16:35 | |
Oh, be careful! | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
Are you OK? Where do you live? | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
Which one? Show me. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:44 | |
'These kids tell me they were trapped in their house | 0:16:52 | 0:16:54 | |
'as Gaddafi's troops shelled their neighbourhood.' | 0:16:54 | 0:16:57 | |
Were you scared? | 0:16:57 | 0:16:58 | |
-There? -Yeah. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:10 | |
'The boys tell me they were even held as human shields.' | 0:17:12 | 0:17:16 | |
What did you feel when all of this was happening? | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
How did you feel when the older boys were going to fight? | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
Did you want to join them? | 0:17:37 | 0:17:38 | |
HE REPLIES | 0:17:38 | 0:17:40 | |
It breaks my heart that these kids | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
already know what it means to be a martyr. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
They're the same age as my little brother. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
Tommy's connected me with Alla, his friend from Tripoli University. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:20 | |
When Gaddafi's secret police came knocking on her door, | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
she fled here to be with her family. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:26 | |
-Life is bad now here. -Life is bad? | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
Yeah, life is bad, with all the destruction and everything. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:33 | |
That's massive. Whatever blew that apart was massive-er. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:38 | |
They weren't here to, like, scare you. They were here to kill you. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:48 | |
The war has left its mark everywhere. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
From the shattered cities to the hopes and dreams of Libyan girls. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:03 | |
Lots of boys still wearing their uniforms and stuff. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:08 | |
You know, your mind changes. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
Before we were looking for guys that had, like, a big house, or doctors. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:16 | |
But now there is a Facebook page called | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
"Libyan girls who want to marry Libyan fighters." | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
NEL LAUGHS | 0:19:23 | 0:19:25 | |
That's every girl's dream nowadays. | 0:19:25 | 0:19:27 | |
But lots of fighters returned from the battlefield injured. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:32 | |
Alla is a medical student. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:34 | |
She's brought me to the hospital where she worked during the war. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:39 | |
Most of the badly injured fighters have been sent abroad for treatment. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:42 | |
But 28-year-old civil servant Waleed | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
is one of the few who can be taken care of here. | 0:19:45 | 0:19:49 | |
At any point, did it cross your mind, "Oh God, what have I done?" | 0:20:04 | 0:20:08 | |
Is he ever going to be able to use his one leg and his arm again, properly? | 0:20:17 | 0:20:22 | |
Can he ever type or use a phone? He can never do this? | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
No, no. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:26 | |
Waleed is happy that he fought and sacrificed himself for his country, | 0:20:35 | 0:20:39 | |
but not everyone is happy, are they? | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
All patients are... | 0:20:41 | 0:20:43 | |
No, that can't be true. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
I don't believe that, I don't believe that. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:58 | |
That's just what you want to tell me. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:00 | |
That's what you want me to think. I appreciate this. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:04 | |
His entire body has been maimed, | 0:21:23 | 0:21:27 | |
but he's like, "You know what? It's fine. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:29 | |
"I did what I had to do." It's just... | 0:21:29 | 0:21:32 | |
I know, it's hard for you, to imagine that, to believe it. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
Most of them are thinking that there are going to be dead, | 0:21:35 | 0:21:40 | |
so when they're losing a leg or arm for freedom, | 0:21:40 | 0:21:45 | |
for the country, they are really proud. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:47 | |
We get rid of Gaddafi, we have our freedom. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:51 | |
-We'll struggle to... -Do better... -..have a better life now. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:56 | |
Everyone says what you expect them to say | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
and it's only in like, whispered conversations, | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
in minutes when they don't think I'm listening, or don't think I can hear, | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
when you get the true sense that they're in shock. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
But I don't see it like Alla does. I can't see it like she does. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:16 | |
She's like, "Oh, it's OK. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
"The whole country loves him. He'll be fine. Everyone will be fine." | 0:22:19 | 0:22:23 | |
Misrata is next to Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:32 | |
And it was there that he was captured and killed. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:38 | |
That's Gaddafi. | 0:22:38 | 0:22:40 | |
They're just punching him, kicking him. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:44 | |
Anyone who can get a bit of him is at it. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:49 | |
'I know by now how bloody revolutions are, | 0:22:49 | 0:22:53 | |
'but after looking at this footage I'm worried about the young men here | 0:22:53 | 0:22:57 | |
'when they've taken part in such violence.' | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
'Now I want to meet some of these fighters.' | 0:23:06 | 0:23:09 | |
Hi! Hi! | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
'So Alla's taking me on a day trip to Sirte.' How are you? | 0:23:12 | 0:23:17 | |
'It's still a dangerous journey, | 0:23:17 | 0:23:19 | |
'so her cousin Mohammed has arranged for a militia from Misrata | 0:23:19 | 0:23:22 | |
'to protect us from any rogue pro-Gaddafi forces.' | 0:23:22 | 0:23:27 | |
-They're coming with us? -Yes. -OK. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:29 | |
Sirte was the home of Gaddafi's tribe | 0:23:34 | 0:23:38 | |
and the people there supported him. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
So if you come from Misrata, you had plenty of reason to hate them. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
This is the first time Alla is going to Sirte since the end of the war. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:50 | |
Just before entering the town, they have a surprise for us. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:57 | |
They've brought us to the spot where Gaddafi was captured. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
This is a bunch of cars that Gaddafi was in when NATO hit it. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:09 | |
-Oh, man! These were NATO strikes? -Yes. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:13 | |
Yes, NATO. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
And Gaddafi was in one of these cars, and he ran away. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:21 | |
'Gaddafi and a group of die-hard supporters were escaping from Sirte | 0:24:21 | 0:24:25 | |
'when their cars were hit by an air attack. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
'He ran away. They're taking me to the very spot he was found.' | 0:24:28 | 0:24:34 | |
Check it out! | 0:24:34 | 0:24:37 | |
Oh, my God. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:38 | |
-How do you feel? -I don't know. -You're excited? -Yes. It's amazing. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:43 | |
I didn't believe this moment would come. He was captured in this way. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:49 | |
And I'm standing here and... Oh, my God! | 0:24:49 | 0:24:52 | |
In the beginning of the revolution, he called us rats, | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
so now he's the rat, he's the one who's captured from... | 0:25:05 | 0:25:10 | |
-I'm speechless. -I've never seen Alla so happy. She's just... | 0:25:10 | 0:25:14 | |
She's speechless. She's taking photos | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
and is just over the moon about it. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:19 | |
I finally feel like I'm at the centre of what this was all about. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
Thousands of people that died, teenagers bearing arms, | 0:25:22 | 0:25:27 | |
all of it was for that moment. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:29 | |
Gaddafi called his people rats, | 0:25:29 | 0:25:32 | |
but ultimately he was the one who was found in a sewer. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
GUNSHOTS | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
SHOUTING | 0:25:49 | 0:25:51 | |
See, this is what happens when you get a bunch of... | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
GUNSHOTS | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
See now they're just getting all trigger-happy, | 0:25:56 | 0:26:00 | |
and just deciding it's really funny to shoot guns everywhere, | 0:26:00 | 0:26:04 | |
because they've got one and it's just around, so, | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
"Why not? Hell, I'm going to shoot it off in the air." | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
Oi! You're an old man. Why are you doing that? It's not good. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:14 | |
-He's just greeting you. -No. Why don't you shake my hand? | 0:26:14 | 0:26:18 | |
I will greet you by shaking your hand. Yeah? | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
Shake my hand. Don't shoot your gun in the air. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
-There's no need for that craziness! -OK. -Pointing it at me... | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
-You see this is why... -GUNSHOTS | 0:26:27 | 0:26:31 | |
Are we done? Are we done being men? Are we done? You guys feel good now? | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
With no proper army in Libya, these men are one of the many militias | 0:26:41 | 0:26:46 | |
taking law and order into their own hands. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
I'm not sure I'd feel that safe with these guys in charge. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
I want to see the town itself, the scene of terrible fighting | 0:26:55 | 0:27:00 | |
and the final battle to overthrow Gaddafi. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
Jeez Louise. Oh my God! | 0:27:08 | 0:27:11 | |
Holy mo. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
Entire walls have been knocked down, | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
not with massive artillery or bombs, but with sheer force | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
of the number of bullets that have gone through them. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
Sirte was a small fishing village, | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
but became a symbol of Gaddafi himself. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
He was born here and he pumped in loads of money to develop it. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:39 | |
If you lived here, you had lots of reasons to support Gaddafi. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:44 | |
Now, they're the people we don't hear about. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
The people who lost the war. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
During the worst of the bombing, the people here fled. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:57 | |
It's like a ghost town. There's no-one here. | 0:27:57 | 0:27:59 | |
You can't believe someone actually lived here | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
or this was a city where people did stuff. | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
There were schools, people went out, and there were cafes and stuff. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:08 | |
Some say that this town was destroyed AFTER Gaddafi was caught, | 0:28:13 | 0:28:17 | |
in an act of vengeance. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:19 | |
Hello! Hi. Give me your hand. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
'We find a family who returned to salvage their shattered life.' | 0:28:25 | 0:28:30 | |
THEY SPEAK IN ARABIC | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
I ask Mum, Khadija, | 0:28:33 | 0:28:35 | |
what she feels about the fighters who tore her town apart. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:39 | |
What did you think about that? | 0:29:23 | 0:29:26 | |
-She was completely pro-Gaddafi. -I feel sorry for her. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
I don't blame her. There were a lot of media channels for Gaddafi. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:35 | |
What she was saying is exactly what has been said on those channels. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:40 | |
It's like brainwashing. | 0:29:40 | 0:29:42 | |
No, hold on a minute, that's not true. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:44 | |
Listen, she might be brainwashed, | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
but the fact that her son died at 19 isn't brainwashing. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
The fact that she lives in a dead shanty town isn't brainwashing. | 0:29:49 | 0:29:52 | |
-I appreciate that, yeah. -You know, she was quite clear. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:56 | |
She said, "When the fighters did come here, they were excessive. | 0:29:56 | 0:30:02 | |
"Everything they did was more than they needed to do." | 0:30:02 | 0:30:05 | |
No, it's not about revenge. | 0:30:05 | 0:30:06 | |
I believe that when they came here they're not coming for revenge. | 0:30:06 | 0:30:10 | |
They came to fight the last of Gaddafi's people here. | 0:30:10 | 0:30:13 | |
She will always feel sorry about her son | 0:30:13 | 0:30:17 | |
and we will always feel sorry about our brothers, cousins | 0:30:17 | 0:30:21 | |
killed by Gaddafi. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
So we have to open our hearts and just forget the past. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:28 | |
The divisions in Libya run deep, | 0:30:30 | 0:30:33 | |
and it's not just the split between those who loved Gaddafi | 0:30:33 | 0:30:36 | |
and those who hated him. | 0:30:36 | 0:30:38 | |
I'm on my way back to Tripoli, where there's a new government in place, | 0:30:38 | 0:30:43 | |
made up of the different groups that won the war. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:46 | |
It's promised elections later this year | 0:30:46 | 0:30:48 | |
but that's not going to be easy with heavily-armed militias | 0:30:48 | 0:30:52 | |
from different tribes and regions still in place. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:55 | |
Back in Tripoli, I get caught up in another demo. | 0:31:07 | 0:31:11 | |
It's right outside my hotel. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:12 | |
It's a good example of how volatile things still are. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:19 | |
I'm here to meet up with Moez, a Libyan doctor from Manchester, | 0:31:19 | 0:31:24 | |
who came over to patch up the wounded during the war | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
and he stayed on to help rebuild his country. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:30 | |
-How are you doing? -What are they doing there? What are they saying? | 0:31:30 | 0:31:33 | |
Not sure exactly but they went there and 15 of them died. | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
'It turns out 15 locals have just been shot dead | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
'in a carefully-planned ambush by Gaddafi loyalists.' | 0:31:39 | 0:31:44 | |
It just shows you how volatile it is here. | 0:31:44 | 0:31:47 | |
You can see the cracks forming. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:50 | |
You can see what's going to... | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
The way this thing might end up, | 0:31:53 | 0:31:54 | |
which is, like, one region going to another region and fighting | 0:31:54 | 0:31:58 | |
or this person thinks this person is pro-Gaddafi, | 0:31:58 | 0:32:00 | |
or this town had a better life under Gaddafi and this town didn't. | 0:32:00 | 0:32:03 | |
It's fair enough the revolution and war is over | 0:32:03 | 0:32:06 | |
but people still don't feel like they've got what they wanted. | 0:32:06 | 0:32:09 | |
Libya may now be a place where people are free to protest, | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
but the country's totally packed with guns, | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
so there's a danger demonstrations like this could turn nasty. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:21 | |
Obviously there's a lack of law and order at the moment. | 0:32:22 | 0:32:26 | |
You just saw the protest that was outside. All these people have guns. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:31 | |
There is a huge amount of guns and weapons on the streets. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:34 | |
I've met plenty of young boys, particularly who are now heroes | 0:32:34 | 0:32:39 | |
and they go back to their towns and cities or villages | 0:32:39 | 0:32:42 | |
and they are seen as heroes. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:44 | |
I think it's going to be highly unlikely | 0:32:44 | 0:32:46 | |
that they're willing to just give up their guns. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:49 | |
I think if we had an amnesty now, you're right, it's very unlikely. | 0:32:49 | 0:32:52 | |
No-one's going to hand in their weapons. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:54 | |
If I had a weapon, I probably wouldn't hand it in myself. | 0:32:54 | 0:32:57 | |
The people who have guns on the streets, | 0:32:57 | 0:33:00 | |
the young people with weapons, | 0:33:00 | 0:33:03 | |
the weapon is an insurance policy for their future. | 0:33:03 | 0:33:06 | |
A lot of them have an education but don't have jobs, | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
They won't hand in their weapons unless they can secure their future, | 0:33:09 | 0:33:12 | |
and they fought for their future with these guns. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:15 | |
This revolution was carried out by young people, | 0:33:15 | 0:33:18 | |
young voices who actively risked their lives. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:21 | |
How will the voices of the fighters be reflected in the government? | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
Before, it was very much the regime who were in the driving seats. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:29 | |
Now it's the people on the ground. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
There has to be a bit of patience from their side. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
They can't expect to see changes overnight, | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
but if the officials aren't able to deliver, they will come out | 0:33:36 | 0:33:41 | |
and they will say so because at the moment they are fearless. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
Libya's future looks difficult to me. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:48 | |
Lots of young men with guns in a divided society. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:52 | |
I'm probably a bit more pessimistic than most of the people I've met, | 0:33:52 | 0:33:56 | |
who seem full of hope. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
Things may look rocky ahead, but the Libyans have overthrown | 0:33:58 | 0:34:02 | |
a hated dictator and they've now a chance to build a new country. | 0:34:02 | 0:34:06 | |
Things seem a lot worse in the place I'm going to look at now. | 0:34:08 | 0:34:13 | |
My next stop is Lebanon. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:18 | |
I'm going there because it's next to Syria, where security forces | 0:34:19 | 0:34:24 | |
have been attacking protesters for almost a year. | 0:34:24 | 0:34:27 | |
Syria is a very dangerous place and if you go there officially, | 0:34:29 | 0:34:34 | |
you're restricted on what you can see. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:37 | |
So I'm staying in Lebanon but will try and get as close as possible | 0:34:40 | 0:34:44 | |
to what's going on. | 0:34:44 | 0:34:45 | |
Thousands of Syrians have been sneaking into Lebanon as refugees, | 0:34:49 | 0:34:53 | |
so I'm heading right up the border to try and find some. | 0:34:53 | 0:34:57 | |
It's quite risky. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:01 | |
Syrian soldiers have shot dead people trying to run away | 0:35:01 | 0:35:05 | |
and the area is covered with landmines. | 0:35:05 | 0:35:08 | |
'And, suddenly, I see Syrian troops right there in front of me.' | 0:35:10 | 0:35:14 | |
Basically, that, right there, across that tiny little river, is Syria, | 0:35:14 | 0:35:20 | |
and this is one of the places where the refugees cross. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:24 | |
I'm just a bit nervous now cos the Syrian army has seen me | 0:35:24 | 0:35:28 | |
and the car and now they're shouting to each other. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:33 | |
I kind of want to get out of here now. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:37 | |
OK, yeah. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:40 | |
We're going to a local school which has been turned into a refugee camp. | 0:35:58 | 0:36:02 | |
It's estimated over 6,000 Syrians have escaped into Lebanon | 0:36:07 | 0:36:12 | |
and ended up in places like this. | 0:36:12 | 0:36:15 | |
The conditions are incredibly tough. | 0:36:15 | 0:36:18 | |
Oh, my God, it's so cold in here. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:22 | |
Salam alaikum. Salam alaikum. | 0:36:24 | 0:36:27 | |
'I'm meeting Amani, her husband and their two-month-old baby Farhad.' | 0:36:27 | 0:36:32 | |
'She's cooking now but her fuel supplies are running out | 0:36:36 | 0:36:39 | |
'and there's no money to buy more.' | 0:36:39 | 0:36:41 | |
This is absolutely no way to be living. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:45 | |
That's probably every single thing they own in that corner right there. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:49 | |
It's like her kitchen is just half of her living room | 0:36:49 | 0:36:56 | |
but with a few sheets separating them. | 0:36:56 | 0:37:00 | |
I mean, this can't be easier than living in a prison. This is prison. | 0:37:01 | 0:37:07 | |
'Suddenly, it hits me.' | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
Sorry. | 0:37:29 | 0:37:31 | |
'Amani's story is just like my mum's.' | 0:37:31 | 0:37:34 | |
I'm from Afghanistan | 0:37:34 | 0:37:37 | |
and when I was a baby, like your son, | 0:37:37 | 0:37:42 | |
my mum took me from Afghanistan | 0:37:42 | 0:37:45 | |
and she did what you did and brought me out of there. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:50 | |
So, I'm looking at you | 0:37:52 | 0:37:55 | |
and I'm seeing history repeat itself in a different way. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:59 | |
'But it turns out that Amani's story is worse. | 0:38:04 | 0:38:08 | |
'Much worse than anything my mum had gone through.' | 0:38:08 | 0:38:11 | |
The family had to walk for four days and nights over the mountains | 0:38:14 | 0:38:17 | |
to make it to safety. | 0:38:17 | 0:38:19 | |
Her husband was on the run from the Syrian army. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:26 | |
Oh, my God. How did you lose your son? | 0:38:34 | 0:38:37 | |
They tortured your son? | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
Who tortured your son? | 0:39:00 | 0:39:02 | |
That woman is 25 years old. She's a year older than me. | 0:39:13 | 0:39:18 | |
She's had one baby murdered | 0:39:18 | 0:39:20 | |
and another one that's sleeping in her arms in a refugee camp. | 0:39:20 | 0:39:24 | |
And this is happening in this world, you know. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:36 | |
This isn't the moon, this is nowhere. | 0:39:36 | 0:39:39 | |
This is...four hours away on a flight from London! | 0:39:39 | 0:39:43 | |
I can't confirm what Amani has told me, | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
but her story is similar to many others coming out of Syria. | 0:39:56 | 0:40:01 | |
Back in my hotel in Beirut, I want to know more. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:10 | |
For 40 years, Syria has been ruled by a repressive regime | 0:40:15 | 0:40:19 | |
headed by the Assad family. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:21 | |
The Assads belong to the Alawite sect of Islam, | 0:40:22 | 0:40:26 | |
unlike most Syrians, who are Sunni Muslims. | 0:40:26 | 0:40:30 | |
CHANTING AND SHOUTING | 0:40:30 | 0:40:32 | |
Last year, many took to the streets protesting for more freedom. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:37 | |
CHANTING AND SHOUTING | 0:40:37 | 0:40:40 | |
They were met with shocking violence from the government. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:47 | |
The regime says it's fighting terrorists and criminal armed bands. | 0:40:48 | 0:40:53 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:40:53 | 0:40:55 | |
Some estimate the death toll is now approaching 10,000. | 0:40:55 | 0:40:59 | |
Nobody really knows the number but most of the casualties are Sunnis. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:06 | |
SHOUTING IN ARABIC | 0:41:06 | 0:41:08 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:41:08 | 0:41:10 | |
The battle lines have been drawn | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
between the different religious communities. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:16 | |
And, just like Libya, the country is heading for an all-out civil war. | 0:41:19 | 0:41:23 | |
Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, | 0:41:29 | 0:41:32 | |
has a reputation as a city of spies and political intrigue. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
And the biggest game in town at the moment is Syrian government agents | 0:41:36 | 0:41:40 | |
trying to track down anti-Assad activists. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:44 | |
It's a matter of life and death. | 0:41:44 | 0:41:46 | |
I want to meet some Syrians who have escaped into Lebanon. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:51 | |
For their own safety, they needed to check I am who I say I am, | 0:41:53 | 0:41:56 | |
and that I'm not being followed, | 0:41:56 | 0:41:59 | |
so they're sending a contact to suss me out. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:02 | |
I'm going to meet a bunch of people, Syrians, | 0:42:02 | 0:42:06 | |
who are...having a virtual war, basically. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:11 | |
They're fighting, but on a virtual level. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:14 | |
They're using the internet, Twitter and Facebook and things like that, | 0:42:14 | 0:42:18 | |
to find a way to show the world what's happening in Syria, | 0:42:18 | 0:42:23 | |
because no-one really knows, and I can't get in. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:26 | |
These people are a way for me to see for myself what's happening there. | 0:42:26 | 0:42:30 | |
'My contact is Bisan.' | 0:42:31 | 0:42:34 | |
-Hi. -Hi. I'm Bisan. Nice to meet you. | 0:42:34 | 0:42:37 | |
'Ten months ago, she was studying in London | 0:42:37 | 0:42:40 | |
'but when the Syrian uprising started, she came over to Lebanon | 0:42:40 | 0:42:44 | |
'to do her bit with the cyber revolutionaries.' | 0:42:44 | 0:42:48 | |
This is a relatively safe area where we work in. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:52 | |
It's not dominated by the Syrian embassy | 0:42:52 | 0:42:55 | |
or the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:57 | |
-OK. -So we're not likely to get beaten up. | 0:42:57 | 0:42:59 | |
That's always a good thing. I look for this in areas. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:02 | |
But, at the same time, everyone is watched | 0:43:02 | 0:43:05 | |
so there's an element of risk no matter where you are in Beirut. | 0:43:05 | 0:43:08 | |
What do you mean everyone is watched? What's this, a spy movie? | 0:43:08 | 0:43:11 | |
-It's really weird. -Phones are tapped. | 0:43:11 | 0:43:14 | |
Areas generally belong to a certain party or a certain militia, | 0:43:14 | 0:43:18 | |
so they watch us, they know what we're doing. | 0:43:18 | 0:43:20 | |
Everyone's actions are watched. | 0:43:20 | 0:43:23 | |
But they've chosen to leave us alone for now. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:26 | |
I'm not the one that's at risk, really, because I'm Lebanese. | 0:43:26 | 0:43:29 | |
Shaqib, the person that I'm taking you to meet, he's at risk | 0:43:29 | 0:43:33 | |
because he's wanted inside Syria for crimes punishable by death. | 0:43:33 | 0:43:36 | |
Oh, God. | 0:43:36 | 0:43:37 | |
And the Lebanese ministries have a tendency to arrest Syrians | 0:43:37 | 0:43:42 | |
and deport them where they can get killed. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:45 | |
'The other cyber activists are busy looking at footage from Syria | 0:43:50 | 0:43:55 | |
'before passing it on to the worldwide media.' | 0:43:55 | 0:43:58 | |
-Hi, I'm Nel. -Shaqib, this is Nel. -Hi, Shaqib, nice to meet you. | 0:43:58 | 0:44:03 | |
-Yara. -Hi, Yara, nice to meet you. | 0:44:03 | 0:44:05 | |
'For the past year, the world has relied on people like this | 0:44:07 | 0:44:10 | |
'to find out what's actually happening on the ground.' | 0:44:10 | 0:44:15 | |
What is being done to us | 0:44:15 | 0:44:17 | |
is much worse than being denied our basic human rights. | 0:44:17 | 0:44:21 | |
We're being killed, we're being slaughtered, we're being raped. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:25 | |
And we think it's important for this to be documented. | 0:44:25 | 0:44:30 | |
Even if it's not going to invoke sympathy in the world, | 0:44:30 | 0:44:34 | |
we want to make sure that Assad's crimes are on the record. | 0:44:34 | 0:44:39 | |
This is a video from earlier this morning, from the shelling of Homs. | 0:44:39 | 0:44:44 | |
OK. | 0:44:44 | 0:44:46 | |
That building is totally like... | 0:44:46 | 0:44:47 | |
EXPLOSION IN VIDEO | 0:44:47 | 0:44:49 | |
ARABIC COMMENTARY FROM LAPTOP | 0:44:52 | 0:44:56 | |
It's just a bit of it is falling off. | 0:44:56 | 0:45:01 | |
They cracked the building in half? | 0:45:01 | 0:45:03 | |
No, no, they just took down a couple of floors. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:06 | |
EXPLOSIONS AND SHOUTING | 0:45:06 | 0:45:11 | |
'Shaqib is getting raw footage direct from the front lines. | 0:45:13 | 0:45:18 | |
'The next video shows a man who's been hit by a rocket grenade.' | 0:45:18 | 0:45:22 | |
-It's really bad. -Oh, for f... | 0:45:24 | 0:45:26 | |
Is he alive?! | 0:45:29 | 0:45:30 | |
Yeah, he's still alive. | 0:45:30 | 0:45:32 | |
'It's much worse than anything I've seen on the news back home. | 0:45:33 | 0:45:37 | |
'But some Syrians have had enough. | 0:45:38 | 0:45:40 | |
'This tank was destroyed by rebels | 0:45:40 | 0:45:43 | |
'who are now fighting fire with fire.' | 0:45:43 | 0:45:47 | |
I think Assad has shown that he's willing to fight | 0:45:47 | 0:45:50 | |
to the last drop of Syrian blood. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:52 | |
So, I think, erm, the pattern we've seen now, | 0:45:54 | 0:45:58 | |
which is the militarisation of the revolution, | 0:45:58 | 0:46:02 | |
I think it's going to continue. | 0:46:02 | 0:46:04 | |
And we're helpless to stop it. | 0:46:04 | 0:46:06 | |
You can't tell somebody, "No, shut up and die." | 0:46:06 | 0:46:10 | |
But do you agree with it? | 0:46:10 | 0:46:12 | |
I can't make this decision for other people... | 0:46:12 | 0:46:16 | |
..who are at significantly more risk than I am - I am here. | 0:46:17 | 0:46:21 | |
I'm not being shelled. My house still in one piece. | 0:46:21 | 0:46:25 | |
I have not been arrested, I have not been raped, | 0:46:25 | 0:46:28 | |
I have not been tortured. | 0:46:28 | 0:46:29 | |
So, I-I live a different reality than they do. | 0:46:31 | 0:46:34 | |
Syria's armed rebels call themselves the Free Syrian Army | 0:46:38 | 0:46:42 | |
and I want to meet some of them. | 0:46:42 | 0:46:44 | |
So I'm heading out of Beirut | 0:46:44 | 0:46:46 | |
and back up north towards the Syrian border. | 0:46:46 | 0:46:49 | |
I'm about an hour away from Beirut and closer to the Syrian border | 0:46:56 | 0:46:59 | |
and the people here are much more affected by what's happening in Syria. | 0:46:59 | 0:47:03 | |
You can tell that this place is just a little bit more dangerous, | 0:47:03 | 0:47:08 | |
because of the number of guards, policemen and army people | 0:47:08 | 0:47:11 | |
out in the streets. | 0:47:11 | 0:47:13 | |
I've arranged to meet a Sunni Muslim cleric called Sheikh Bilal, | 0:47:15 | 0:47:19 | |
who's running a network in support of Syria's uprising. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:22 | |
Hi. | 0:47:22 | 0:47:24 | |
GREETS HER IN ARABIC | 0:47:24 | 0:47:26 | |
Nice to meet you. How are you? | 0:47:26 | 0:47:27 | |
'He's helping the rebels because they're mainly Sunni Muslims, just like him.' | 0:47:27 | 0:47:33 | |
So what do you do in terms of the fighting, how are you involved? | 0:47:33 | 0:47:37 | |
IN ARABIC: | 0:47:37 | 0:47:39 | |
The Free Syrian Army is fighting Assad's army. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:04 | |
Assad has tanks, grenades, everything! | 0:48:04 | 0:48:09 | |
Massive arsenal. | 0:48:09 | 0:48:11 | |
You have like, guns, rifles, how can you win? | 0:48:11 | 0:48:14 | |
Wow, OK. | 0:48:25 | 0:48:26 | |
Holy gosh. | 0:48:29 | 0:48:30 | |
Wow, does he have more? | 0:48:31 | 0:48:34 | |
TRANSLATOR REPEATS IN ARABIC | 0:48:34 | 0:48:36 | |
-"Lots more"! -Well... -SHE LAUGHS | 0:48:36 | 0:48:39 | |
That's a grenade launcher, I know what that is. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:47 | |
I've seen that in Four Lions. | 0:48:47 | 0:48:48 | |
That's definitely not a little rifle, | 0:48:48 | 0:48:52 | |
that's serious hardcore stuff. | 0:48:52 | 0:48:57 | |
That's the biggest... heaviest weaponry I've seen so far | 0:48:57 | 0:49:01 | |
on this whole thing. | 0:49:01 | 0:49:03 | |
So Sheikh Bilal's network is buying arms inside Lebanon | 0:49:03 | 0:49:08 | |
and shipping them off to the rebels. | 0:49:08 | 0:49:11 | |
Is it possible you could take me to meet some of the defected soldiers | 0:49:11 | 0:49:14 | |
who are fighting against Assad's army? | 0:49:14 | 0:49:17 | |
Do you know any, can you take me? | 0:49:17 | 0:49:19 | |
The Sheikh says he can arrange everything, | 0:49:27 | 0:49:30 | |
and is sending two of his people ahead to set up a secret rendezvous with the rebels. | 0:49:30 | 0:49:35 | |
To meet them, | 0:49:41 | 0:49:43 | |
I've got to travel to Lebanon's mountainous northern border zone. | 0:49:43 | 0:49:47 | |
It's not going to be easy. | 0:49:50 | 0:49:54 | |
All traffic in and out is being checked at this army roadblock. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:58 | |
It's taken the better part of about four hours to get across like, | 0:50:02 | 0:50:08 | |
less than a mile of road, going back and forth. | 0:50:08 | 0:50:12 | |
Someone needs to stamp something, someone needs to see something, | 0:50:12 | 0:50:16 | |
someone needs to take all of our equipment, | 0:50:16 | 0:50:19 | |
it's just been mental getting here. | 0:50:19 | 0:50:21 | |
But...we finally made it. | 0:50:22 | 0:50:24 | |
There's got to be something happening here for sure. | 0:50:24 | 0:50:27 | |
The Sheikh's contacts are waiting for me. | 0:50:36 | 0:50:39 | |
-Hello. -Hi. -Salam alaikum. -Nice to meet you. How are you? Good. | 0:50:39 | 0:50:44 | |
My name is Nel... | 0:50:44 | 0:50:45 | |
'I'm finally going to meet Syrian soldiers who have defected to the rebels' side.' | 0:50:45 | 0:50:51 | |
I've just been rushed into this room by about 15 men. | 0:50:53 | 0:50:57 | |
because it has to be that hush-hush. | 0:50:57 | 0:51:00 | |
I'm literally sitting next to some of Assad's ex-army people | 0:51:00 | 0:51:06 | |
who've now joined the other side, | 0:51:06 | 0:51:08 | |
and they are the Free Syrian Army and they are now fighting Assad. | 0:51:08 | 0:51:14 | |
Even though they were once part of what he did, part of his campaign. | 0:51:14 | 0:51:19 | |
What kind of things did you see in Damascus in those first few days? | 0:51:19 | 0:51:23 | |
What did you see the army do? | 0:51:23 | 0:51:25 | |
HE SPEAKS IN ARABIC | 0:51:25 | 0:51:28 | |
What did they do to you because you wouldn't fight for Assad, what happened to you? | 0:51:56 | 0:52:00 | |
'The other defector asks to hide his identity to protect his family, | 0:52:37 | 0:52:42 | |
'who are still in Syria.' | 0:52:42 | 0:52:43 | |
What about yourself, what role do you play in the Free Syria Army? | 0:52:43 | 0:52:47 | |
HE RESPONDS IN ARABIC | 0:52:47 | 0:52:49 | |
Those men were going back to fight the regime | 0:53:24 | 0:53:27 | |
and might end up paying with their lives. | 0:53:27 | 0:53:30 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:53:30 | 0:53:33 | |
Although the Free Syria rebels are now occupying parts of the country, | 0:53:33 | 0:53:38 | |
Assad shows no signs of giving up. | 0:53:38 | 0:53:40 | |
And Syria's immediate future looks painful and bloody. | 0:53:44 | 0:53:47 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:53:47 | 0:53:49 | |
I'm coming to the end of my journey now. | 0:53:53 | 0:53:56 | |
I can see the twists and turns along this Arab revolutionary road. | 0:53:56 | 0:54:02 | |
It may be the way towards a brighter future, but it's littered with broken lives. | 0:54:02 | 0:54:07 | |
Amani - the refugee mother, | 0:54:07 | 0:54:10 | |
who's firstborn son was murdered by Assad's militia. | 0:54:10 | 0:54:14 | |
Tommy, the 21-year-old, fun-loving student | 0:54:18 | 0:54:21 | |
turned freedom fighter, gunman and killer. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:24 | |
It's a sad thing that you have to kill someone, | 0:54:24 | 0:54:27 | |
but you have to look to the bright side and you do what you have to do. | 0:54:27 | 0:54:32 | |
Either you kill or be killed. | 0:54:32 | 0:54:35 | |
Alla, the medic, ecstatic at the killing of the dictator Gaddafi. | 0:54:38 | 0:54:44 | |
In the beginning of the revolution, he called us rats, | 0:54:44 | 0:54:47 | |
so now he is the rat, he is the one who's captured. | 0:54:47 | 0:54:51 | |
It's like a dam has burst in the Middle East. | 0:54:51 | 0:54:54 | |
Emotions - pent-up for decades - are running free. | 0:54:54 | 0:54:57 | |
It's exciting...and it's dangerous. | 0:54:57 | 0:55:00 | |
I'm meeting Bisan again. | 0:55:08 | 0:55:09 | |
Ten months ago, she came over from London to help the activists. | 0:55:12 | 0:55:17 | |
Despite all the suffering and the violence, | 0:55:20 | 0:55:23 | |
she's still hopeful about the future. | 0:55:23 | 0:55:25 | |
From the experience I've had and the countries I've been to, | 0:55:27 | 0:55:31 | |
it doesn't seem that this is going to die down any time soon. | 0:55:31 | 0:55:36 | |
You guys are in it for the long run. | 0:55:36 | 0:55:37 | |
People will not stop fighting. They've tasted freedom. | 0:55:37 | 0:55:40 | |
You've got liberated cities, people speaking their minds. | 0:55:40 | 0:55:43 | |
So, I mean, I get despondent, | 0:55:43 | 0:55:45 | |
but there's so much to be optimistic about. | 0:55:45 | 0:55:49 | |
That's one of them - the fear is broken. | 0:55:49 | 0:55:51 | |
Fear that controlled a couple of generations. | 0:55:51 | 0:55:54 | |
Their children are able to speak now. | 0:55:54 | 0:55:56 | |
And they will be able to speak in the future. | 0:55:56 | 0:55:58 | |
We take our freedom for granted in Britain | 0:55:58 | 0:56:02 | |
and get concerned with everyday things - | 0:56:02 | 0:56:04 | |
wanting a new phone or a new pair of shoes. | 0:56:04 | 0:56:07 | |
But the children of the Arab Spring, | 0:56:07 | 0:56:09 | |
they want to be able to say what they think without being tortured. | 0:56:09 | 0:56:13 | |
To be able to walk down a street without being shot at. | 0:56:13 | 0:56:16 | |
Young people saw what they were missing and said, | 0:56:18 | 0:56:21 | |
"We deserve better." | 0:56:21 | 0:56:23 | |
And I think they do. | 0:56:23 | 0:56:25 | |
But their journey will be a long and hard one. | 0:56:25 | 0:56:28 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:56:53 | 0:56:56 |