Photo of John Pilger by Maggie Hannan, licensed under Creative Commons attribution licenceI wanted to share with you a recent article by Australian whistle-blowing journalist John Pilger (I've blogged about him before) about the aftermath of the destruction of Cambodia in the 1970s by the Americans and then the Khmer Rouge. Pilger was one of the first journalists to enter this poverty-stricken country, where 2 million people had been murdered. He describes what he witnessed in haunting imagery. But what really caught my eye was when he mentioned that his news reports, along with the photos taken by Eric Piper, prompted readers of the British newspaper the Daily Mirror to send aid to 70,000 children in the first aid convoy from the western world.
In 1979, Pilger made a documentary about Cambodia, Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia. The ordinary British public donated £20 million to the Cambodians. Not the government - the people. This is a lot of money, but it was a HELL of a lot of money in 1979. The support helped to end the American/British blockade of Cambodia.
What I'm seeing in some of your blog posts is that you think a photographer has an ethical duty to publicise suffering so that people will act. I personally feel the same, and I think this amazing story provides outstanding support for that thesis.
I highly recommend reading this article - I think you will see why I admire Pilger so much.
"Are you a friend? Please say." a stunning ending. That's for sure. In today’s world it's hard to know who your friend really is. Me as a Turkish citizen I'm very glad to have an education in a University where the top priority is an integration of different cultures and very pleased to meet instructors from different cultures with different world views. However, it is difficult to mention that it should expand in every category in life because nobody would ever want to go through things that Cambodians experienced. Without going any farther from the real subject, wanted to add that I also admired John Pilger as Sonja did. He had a helpful brief explanation of Cambodian history with connections to the superpowers. Also he had an impressive manner of telling which for instance, draws a picture on my mind. I’ll also watch the video to go deep in that subject. Thank you very much Sonja…
ReplyDeleteI'm so pleased you read it and found it valuable, Begüm. All of Pilger's work keeps the "forgotten" people of the world at the forefront of our minds.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had such a person like Pilger.. Someone who is effective in deed not only in thought
ReplyDeleteSonja, I've found out why your blog is not so popular. I mean it's a great site but you always put old guys faces and the blog is full of them right know.
ReplyDeletewell, Pilger may not be the most gorgeous man on the earth, but damn! what a mind, what a heart... :)
ReplyDelete