He blogged from the heart of the conflict

Daily updated body count, pictures of mass graves and stories about people looking for their loved ones in the rubble of destroyed buildings. Blogger Sameh A Habeeb was the voice inside of Gaza during the attack.

The day of the ceasefire PHOTO: Sameh A Habeeb

– I don’t get sad when I see dead bodies any longer, it is almost part of the normal life. I get frustrated because their stories are buried with them.

“And so and so, a severed leg here, a chopped off hand there, slivers in the head”, writes Sameh A Habeeb in a detached reporter tone on his blog about the life in Gaza. The 23-year-old, who has studied literature and worked as a journalist for a couple of years, has turned into a true war correspondent during the last few weeks. In despite of constant power cuts, rocket rain and threats to his life, he managed to update his blog Gaza str, the untold story every day, starting with the first day of the attack until ceasefire.

- Since the international media was not allowed to enter Gaza, I saw it as my mission to try to spread the information about what is happening here the only way I could, he says.

Blogging from a region in conflict has proven to be very difficult. Sameh A Habeeb lives in the Toffah area, in eastern Gaza, which was exposed to daily rocket attacks. In order to find material for his posts, he got out of the house armed with his camera, talked to people and documented the destruction.

During a two-week blackout he walked for four kilometres every day to charge his computer at a friend’s house.

- It was not very safe but it gave me two golden hours to write down and post all the information on the blog and mail my contacts. I had to work fast, he says.

With his persistent blogging, Sameh A Habeeb has made a name for himself in the blogosphere. Gaza strip, the untold story has over 300 followers from all over the world and Sameh gets ten or so phone calls from journalists and sympathizers every day. Proclaimed a hero, he has been interviewed several times in international media reporting on the situation.

The question is: how many knew about Sameh A Habeeb before the attack on Gaza? He actually started blogging almost one year ago, with the mission to convey a picture of the conditions in Gaza few months after the border was closed and the supply of electricity and raw materials was cut back. His posts from that time showed the life in the “outside prison”, as he calls the Gaza strip, where the siege was impossible to ignore.

When outside he heard the children pretending to be Fatah and Hamas. When he took a cab he got upset with the driver who raised the price because of the acute shortage of gas. When he sat down in front of a computer to apply for a master program, there was a power blackout and he risked missing yet another deadline.

- We live like animals in a cage, he says.

Even if he supports a peaceful solution to the conflict and renounces any type of violence, he can understand those who support Hamas.

- We are living under a siege. Considering the situation we are in, it is only natural that there is some sort of resistance. People are desperate, he says.

In one of his older posts he writes: ”Frustration among Palestinians stems from a feeling of invisibility, that our welfare has been ignored by the Israel and its western allies”.

During the 22 days of attack, Gaza has become more visible than ever before. But it took over 1200 dead men, women and children before that happened. Hopefully this time, the world is not quick to forget.

Story published in Swedish in  Göteborgs Fria Tidning

Continue reading Sameh A Habeebs blog

To be a journalist: Sri Lankan editor knew he was going to be killed

Would you die for your work?

Lasantha Wikramatunga would. As the editor of the secular, liberal and democratic Sunday Leader in Sri Lanka, a country in the midst of a civil war, he knew that his devotion to reporting the truth would lead to him eventually paying the ultimate price. In despite of that, he continued because, as his self written obituary says, “...there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.”

Last week his obituary was published.

 

Lasantha Wikramatunga had a wife and three children. He had many opportunities to leave journalism for a safer profession. Still, with complete disregard for his own safety, he continued to publish stories that revealed the truth about the government of Sri Lanka and went beyond presenting the simple explanations for the complex reality in his country:

…we have consistently espoused the view that while separatist terrorism must be eradicated, it is more important to address the root causes of terrorism, and urged government to view Sri Lanka‘s ethnic strife in the context of history and not through the telescope of terrorism. We have also agitated against state terrorism in the so-called war against terror, and made no secret of our horror that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens.

For this, Wikramatunga had to pay with his life.

Reading about his view on the situation in Sri Lanka, in the shadow of the events in Gaza these past weeks, certain parallels emerge between the two seemingly very different conflicts. In Gaza as in Sri Lanka, the war-on-terror-rhetoric was used to validate the actions of the government. The concept, it seems, is leaders’ secret formula that makes uncomfortable ethical considerations, as the possible deaths of civilians, disappear. As the number of dead in Gaza passed 1200 and the public opinion in the world turned more negative towards the actions of the Israeli government, it is overwhelmingly evident that the formula did not work this time. The attack itself did nothing to combat Hamas in the long run either. It targeted the symptoms while feeding the disease.

Some of us, including myself, are lucky enough to live in countries where criticizing the actions of our own or of any other government (both in media as in private life) does not mean putting our lives on the line. How are we using this privilege? Most of us conform anyway. We read other (Western) media, reformulate their version of the truth and if possible, avoid using our own common sense to draw conclusions. We play it safe, afraid of being viewed as terrorist sympathisers, anti-Semites, leftist, idealists or just being proved wrong. We don’t put anything on the line.

The work of Lasantha Wikramatunga proves what fearless journalism is about. Even if most of us would not sacrifice our lives for our job, it would not hurt to take some pointers from him when it comes to thinking one step further and voicing even controversial opinions. In stead of recycling and thus reproducing concepts like “war on terror” or “clash of civilizations” with all of its implied meanings, or any other preconceived notion or label for that matter, we could follow his example and try to understand the causes behind terrorism, nationalism, religious conflicts… Hopefully before the situation escalates into a fullblown war. After all, most of us only risk to occasionally have to defend our views.

As for the Sunday Leader, its former editor writes:

If you remember nothing else, remember this: The Leader is there for you, be you Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, low-caste, homosexual, dissident or disabled. Its staff will fight on, unbowed and unafraid, with the courage to which you have become accustomed. Do not take that commitment for granted. Let there be no doubt that whatever sacrifices we journalists make, they are not made for our own glory or enrichment: they are made for you. Whether you deserve their sacrifice is another matter. As for me, God knows I tried.

Read the whole obituary: And then they came for me

Thanks to my friend and colleague from the US for forwarding the link.

How did the media report about Gaza in your country before and during the attack? What did you lack?

How did the story of the Sri Lankan editor affect you?