An evening with Robert Fisk

[Mikethehack]

I have been to a couple of Le Monde gatherings before and they aren't bad,although the questions from the audience tend to be lame most of time,like most Q&A's because most of those who attend are merely curious, while there is always a couple who really know their stuff.

Btw,who is Bob's current girlfriend these days? It used to be Lara Marlowe but didn't someone tell me he has a new flame?

Friends of Le Monde Diplomatique and The Frontline Club are pleased to invite you to

“Tradegy and betrayal in the Middle East: How to escape history with Iraq”

AN EVENING WITH ROBERT FISK

Middle East Correspondent for The Independent, and author of The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East

Saturday, 15th October – 6.30pm

“Fisk’s unblinking eyewitness testimony to the horrors of war places him squarely in the tradition of the great frontline reporters of the Second World War. His searing descriptions of lives mangled in the chaos of battle and of the battles themselves are at once dreadful and heartrending.”

Winner of more British and international journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent, Robert Fisk has been reporting from the Middle East for nearly three decades. In this time, he has covered every major event in the region, from the Algerian Civil War to the Iranian Revolution, from the American hostage crisis in Beirut to the Iran-Iraq War, from the Russian invasion of Afghanistan to Israel’s invasions of Lebanon, from the Gulf War to the invasion and ongoing war in Iraq. Now he brings firsthand experience and intimate understanding of the Middle East to a book that addresses the full complexity of its political history and its current state of affairs.

The Great War for Civilisation is the story of journalists in war: of their attempts to report the first, impartial drafts of history; to monitor the centres of power; to challenge authority; to battle an increasingly partisan worldwide media in their determination to report the truth.

Unflinching, provocative, brilliantly written, this is a work of major importance for today’s world.

The event will take place at The Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London

Admission for non-members £7, members £5

Seats are limited, please RSVP to jessica.linzey@thefrontlineclub.com



ALSO:
Screening – ‘Reporters at War: Episode Three – War, Lies, and Videotape’
Monday 10th October – 7.30pm
Followed by Q&A with director Jon Blair, and producers Brian Woods and Pat O’Mahony
Duration –46 minutes

‘Reporters At War’ is a three-part series that takes a long hard look at one of the most dramatic and dangerous careers of modern times: that of the war correspondent.

It’s often been said that truth is the first casualty of war. Episode three goes behind those well-known, iconic stories and images from modern war journalism to scrutinise how such factors as patriotism, censorship, impartiality, propaganda and taste impact on the stories that we read, see and hear during times of conflict. If the journalists themselves are rarely happy with what passes for news in such circumstances, how can we ever believe their blood-stained dispatches from the front?

Culminating in the war in Iraq, this programmme looks at the attempts by both the coalition and the Iraqis to control the media, while also examining the ever-present, inherently confrontational relationship between the media and the military and how with each conflict, the two sides have tried to outfox and outflank each other.

‘Reporters at War’ won an Emmy for News and Documentary in the Historical Programming category. It was originally broadcast on Discovery Europe and Discovery Times (US) in 2003 and early 2004.

[nowonmai]

I recommend maximum strength airsickness bags and industrial strength ear defenders.

I'd been on an ASBO in 5 minutes if I got within range of that gathering.

[Mikethehack]

I just get really tired of the naive questions such as:
"What was it like?"
"Was it really dangerous?" and the hordes of poseurs and wannabes that go there just to be seen (this is London and being elitist/cool is what it's all about).
A sick bag is a good idea Nowonmai, and I'll probably bring along a whoopee cushion and use it to make farting sounds every time someone asks a dumb question or makes a lame statement,or those who go there with personal axes to grind and will get all hysterical.
Now where the hell do I get an indusrial whoopee cushion?

It will be cool to watch grumpy Bob get even grumpier. I wonder if Robert Fox will be there? Mr Fox is always great fun,especially when he is drunk,although given the history between the two of them,I doubt it.

[Mikethehack]

Oh yeah,for those who are into trivia. Don McCullin is 70 today and John Pilger is 66 today. McCullin has a 2 year old child,btw. He looks great for his age. I met him a few weeks ago.

[nowonmai]

Now where the hell do I get an indusrial whoopee cushion?

I find a few pints of this usually does the trick.

[Penta]

Report of another debate with Fisk last night:

Published on Thursday, October 13, 2005 by The Independent
Iraq has Descended into Anarchy, says Fisk
by Nigel Morris

Most of Iraq is in a state of anarchy, with insurgents controlling parts of Baghdad just half a mile from the so-called Green Zone, an Independent debate was told last night.

Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, whose new book The Great War for Civilisation: the Conquest of the Middle East has just been published by 4th Estate, painted a picture of deepening chaos and misery in Iraq more than two years after Saddam Hussein was toppled.

He said that the "constant, intensive involvement" in the Middle East by the West was a recurring pattern over centuries and was the reason why "so many Muslims in the Middle East hate us". He added: " We can close doors on history. They can't."

Fisk doubted the sincerity of Western leaders' commitment to bringing democracy to Iraq and said a lasting settlement in the country was impossible while foreign troops remained. "In the Middle East, they would like some of our democracy, they would like a couple of boxes off the supermarket shelves of human rights as well. But I think they would also like freedom from us."

Recalling the sight of an immense US convoy rolling into the country's capital, he said: "A superpower has a visceral need to project military power. We can go to Baghdad, so we will go to Baghdad."

He told the debate in London: "The Americans must leave Iraq and they will leave Iraq, but they can't leave Iraq and that is the equation that turns sand to blood. At some point, they will have to talk to the insurgents.

"But I don't know how, because those people who might be negotiators ­ the United Nations, the Red Cross ­ their headquarters have been blown up. The reality now in Iraq is the project is finished. Most of Iraq, except Kurdistan, is in a state of anarchy."

He said that the portrayal of Iraq by Western leaders ­ of efforts to introduce democracy, including Saturday's national vote on the country's proposed constitution ­ was "unreal" to most of its citizens. In Baghdad, children and women were kept at home to prevent them from being kidnapped for money or sold into slavery. They faced a desperate struggle to find the money to keep generators running to provide themselves with electricity. "They aren't sitting in their front rooms discussing the referendum on the constitution."

With insurgents half a mile from Baghdad's Green Zone, Fisk said the danger to reporters from a brutal insurgency that did not respect journalists was increasing. "Every time I go to Baghdad it's worse, every time I ask myself how we can keep going. Because the real question is ­ is the story worth the risk?"

He attacked television reporters for flinching from depicting the everyday bloodshed on the streets of Iraq. "You can go and see Saving Private Ryan or Kingdom of Heaven ­ people have their heads cut off. When it comes to real heads being cut off, you can't. I think television connives with governments at war." He added: "Newspapers can tell you as closely as they can what these horrors are like."

Asked if the "anger and passion" he felt over the events he witnessed had affected his objectivity, he said: "When you are at the scene of a massacre, you are entitled to feel immense anger and I do."

He rejected suggestions that graphic pictures of the dead in newspapers took away their dignity. He said: "My view is the people who are dead would want us to record what happened to them."