reporting on genocide
via jeremy scahill bsky post [https://bsky.app/profile/jeremyscahill.com/post/3lbk5aeczac2q]:
Virtual event today at 2pm ET on the wars against Palestine and Lebanon. Register here: linktr.ee/HGSUBDS
notes/quotes from zoom:
[@larajbitar, @MariamBarghouti, @sharifkouddous, @jeremyscahill]
youtube channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkyd6vmrJzXhHf-p7Eyp4mQ]
sharif: known jeremy for 20 yrs.. recently working together on dropsite.. genocide happening in gaza.. somewhere none of us can go as journalists.. palestinian journalist have shouldered all coverage.. yet.. 1 killed every other day..t so how to coop w/journalists in gaza.. and everywhere
mariam: (latest on the ground and challenges of reporting).. nice to have people committed to doing the work.. communications blackout was very strategic.. for israel to carve out a narrative to defend itself.. taking documentation and proving otherwise.. means a lot of us had to help journalists get info out.. every piece of info is a miracle because of lengths have to go to.. 18 villages depopulated in last year.. settler violence in places like jerusalem.. not covered.. because too scared to speak out.. israel has legalized prison for as young as 12.. ethnic cleansing unraveling.. settlers are embolded/mad.. we’re being ethnically cleansed and having to report that in real time..t
mariam: genine is a hub rising out of ashes.. we’re supposed to wear gear as journalists.. not just bullet proof for protection.. not going to protect me from a drone.. or sniper shooting at my neck.. or bulldozer.. but we wear it because it has the press insignia.. and our cars have insignia.. that is to prove that israel knows who they are hitting.. and gear is heavy.. but continue to carry it because people have a right to know.. gear means nothing.. but for flow of info means everything
sharif: people afraid to stand next to journalists in gear.. because at risk
lara: (reporting from ground in lebanon) press vests/helmets.. used to be dedicated to long/slow journalism.. 2 months ago.. shift gears to report on what’s happening.. impossible to ignore.. independent journalists getting vests.. takes like 2 months.. in beginning of war in ukraine.. tons of resources.. stark diff.. because military equip.. challenge to secure even just helmet and vest.. and won’t protect you.. ie of 2 journalists killed at night when gear off.. very intentional and not first time.. 14 media workers killed since oct last yr.. most intentionally.. escalation started sept 17.. 1/5 of population displaced.. people very disoriented.. 1st week people afraid to use phones.. thinking every electronic device could be detonated.. so wanted to make sense of this for readers.. viewed work we do as archival.. would be used in future.. not just lives stolen but lives that are sacrificing everything they have.. volunteers, med workers, cooking, et al.. record of how lebanese reacted to this moment.. lot of agitation/division.. normally hear about all the fighting amongst them.. that is true but not the full story.. trying to present aspects of this other story.. and focusing on acts of resistance.. people are steadfast.. supporting each other.. deviant.. and paying price w/their lives.. large part of population paying a very high cost
sharif: lot couldn’t exist w/o us support.. jeremy you’ve covered a lot of that.. how is this covering compare to some of wars you’ve covered in past.. why founded dropsite news
jeremy: i think all of us an incalculable debt of gratitude to the immensely brave journalists on location.. i can’t fathom what it must be like.. living your life.. living under siege.. reporting on your neighbors, self.. on a calorie restricted diet.. entire existence is to be an act of resistance.. i feel such immense shame when i turn on any american news outlet.. and none say a word about their colleagues are being hunted/murdered.. so when i get asked to do these events i feel embarrassed because i’m no there.. every fiber of our being now.. has to be upholding our colleagues on the ground.. ies of the injustice.. ie: no one should be accepting an award.. they should be asking their colleagues to stand up .. words matter.. using horrific on some an dnot others.. our colleagues are being hunted.. against backdrop of their own people.. ismael’s beheading.. why wasn’t that horrific.. et al.. i often wonder.. what does his family think as they watch him on tv.. these journalists need to be protected.. people saying ‘no real journalist would use word martyr’.. what i actually think is it’s a journalistically accurate term.. in what world is it that simply to live is a matter of resistance.. so when palestinians killed.. all are martyrs.. childrens are martyrs too.. because created a reality where simply to live is an act of resistance.. the world has woken up because of palestinians daring to live thru this.. the world sees that state for what it is.. there’s already victory in this for people who have had the audacity to keep living.. the war.. must come to an end.. t
jeremy: on dropsite news.. i’ve been supported palestine all my life.. but i also wanted us to build something that doesn’t exist in us media landscape..i’d throw away all my credentials/awards if we could do this.. reporting on the most important story of our life time.. an attempt to erase people from the earth.. t
sharif: 22 yr old.. talks to me everyday.. that doesn’t eat.. his teeth hurt.. can’t go to dentist.. so young.. managing to do his work everyday.. resorted to eating canned pet foods at times.. brazenous ness of bombing journalists is increasing.. now putting out hit lists.. saying these journalists are terrorists..
sharif: want to touch on archiving.. last year when started i felt paralyzed as journalist.. thinking if people see what’s happening it will stop.. yet.. in some places.. i was in ny at the time.. it was being cheered.. found maybe only way to be effective is to work in conveyer belt of coverage.. so working at democracy now.. as factory.. just put it out w/idea that it is being documented/archived.. how i feel at dropsite.. not that it will make change.. but documented..
mariam: the amt of times i’d just stare at my colleagues and ask.. why are we doing this.. ie: documenting shades of blood we see.. why on locations are punished.. because they push people to do fact checking and documenting.. even the littlest things.. even if not for now.. for future.. only war happens over night.. it’s a long process.. part of strategy is to exhaust people.. it took so long to unearth real stories written by white men.. so what pushes me is to keep going.. this isn’t just israel committing genocide.. it’s a cause.. i asked fighter.. why do you keep fighting if seems no winning .. ‘if i am killed.. if every palestinian killed.. if one child lives and child able to taste freedom.. worth it’..t
lara: let me start w gaza because it changed everything.. we were also asking ourselves what should we do.. devoted almost exclusively to lebanon.. so .. let’s open up to palestinians.. et al.. we invited a lot of palestinians to share.. in 3 wks realized that’s not what was needed.. so shifted war crimes investigations.. what keeps our work going is this sense of responsibility esp when people are trusting you with their stories.. counting on you to share
lara: 7 lost lebanese villages (1947).. [https://thepublicsource.org/lebanon-lost-stolen-villages] we wanted to report elders memories before they past away.. this history is not well documented.. israelis are constantly falsifying history.. negating what we see with our own eyes.. this is psych warfare.. a long standing strategy .. every journalist now had to become omnipotent journalists.. we had the duty to push back.. correct.. document..t
sharif: when talking about interviewing and getting voices out.. in us press hardly ever get.. and if are.. painted as terrorists.. i think dropsite kicked off w sr hasad official.. when talking about this kind of assault.. right at beginning a small event.. ‘every colonial project has a metro pull’.. part of war needs to be won here (in ny).. so what do you think about covering the us and its role in this assault
jeremy: it is total malpractice not to interview people from hasad.. et al.. we are being programmed to believe that the story is: ‘palestinians wake up and think i want to murder a jew’.. palestinians (painted) in western english language media.. not a real effort to understand what is motivating them.. but this is basic journalism.. t so i’m not going to act defensive about speaking to (mohammad alhim).. he told me last time he spoke to western journalists was in 1980s.. he himself is a physician.. these are incredibly well educated, articulate people, not afraid of ‘gotcha’ questions.. if actually talk to them.. have to grapple w what motivates them and no one wants to touch that.. ie: narrative that he had been stealing all the aide but autopsy showed he hadn’t eaten in 3 days.. this is the story of not just him but of gaza.. grew up in camp.. yrs in prison.. studied in prison.. want to portray him that he just wakes up and wants to kill jews.. the fact is.. for 76 yrs palestinians have been told you don’t have a right to non resistance.. only right to live is if you bend knee to us.. and we might still shoot you.. so i didn’t view talking to officials from hamas as anything special.. i did it because i didn’t see anyone in my country doing this.. malpractice.. when i started covering.. many wrote me and said.. we’ve tried to do that and not allowed.. if haven’t tried.. not engaged in journalism..
jihad (doc).. khan filling the gaps law.. et al
jeremy: my fam came from ireland.. gparents put on bought because govt starving them.. repeatedly reported as terrorists.. it’s the same play book.. if you pretend no one can articulate why they’re doing it.. is the very defn of journalistic malpractice
sharif: i don’t want to respond to their horrible coverage.. that reflects mine.. that i am covering them.. that’s not our role.. because they are so dehumanizing.. you can feel like doing that.. so how we as journalists covering arab world.. in between space of wanting to do what i want to do.. i don’t want western mainstream to decide how i cover..t
any re ness
lara: we don’t let western or even mainstream determine how we do our work.. once in a while .. if something particularly infuriating we intervene..
mariam: i’ve been very heart broken over way media has operated this last yr.. really reached criminal lengths.. tried to just focus on documentation.. but then i’d see white house dinner.. glamourizing israel.. those are times i’d put interventions to remind my peers of journalism.. to maintain integrity.. but mostly i just do my job
jeremy: on dorothy day ‘she lived as if the truth were true’.. that’s great advice for us.. we know the truth is true.. but we also believe in high editorial standards.. in fact checking et al.. that what we are saying is fully protected speech.. that era is dying
jeremy: what mariam has done is speak to people on ground who have decided they are going to take up arms.. one thing that stands out.. often hamas/jihad mentioned.. portrayed as separate from people.. say ‘if hamas stop hiding behind civilians it would stop’.. context we don’t often get..
mariam: it is true it is cartoon ville.. i have a background in sociological research so i try to incorp that.. context of place/environ they grew up in .. where grew up et al.. heavily surveilled?.. these all contribute to what comes out.. i’d be sitting by several fighters at once since hard to get access.. so i’d have guys from all diff places sitting next to each other.. and i ask.. what does the faction mean to you.. constantly they’d answer.. this facilitation is to get a gun to fight back.. we aren’t fighting for ideology.. we are fighting for freedom.. so if given gun to fight back.. never project what you think.. ask what does it mean to you.. and they say.. who is allowing us to fight back.. these are the context people don’t get.. can’t leave home/refugee camp.. because drone hit them or arrested.. so constant bombarding asking ‘talk to me about hamas’.. is not kind.. obsessed with asking kids about political position.. they are people that found themself brave enough to get a gun to fight for right to live normally.. this is what journalism is and what we’re supposed to do.. related how it is .. not how we want it to be
lara: (death toll triple from 2006.. what do you think is being missed) unfortunately ‘reshaping’ the borders et al.. we are preparing ourselves for a very long war.. all this media/manipulation of potential cease fire.. et al.. all the talks et al.. good outlook for cease fire.. this is manip of public opinion.. this is an existential war for israel as well as for us.. ravaged villages.. 3500 killed.. 15000 injured.. everything/body is a target at any given moment.. going to cost a lot of lives.. but .. i think ultimately we are inching closer to ultimate demise of projects.. 20-40 yrs more.. hard to tell.. but israel is losing a lot of its legitimacy.. that it had before..
sharif: maybe this is beginning of end.. have we entered new horrifying phase of war.. ie: bombing of hospitals normalized.. happens almost every day.. killing of over 17 000 children.. i constantly have to fight against this normalization.. how do we deal with that..t
jeremy: if think back.. all that has happened in last yr.. large news orgs have participated in this normalization.. should be studied as master class in propaganda.. journalists should have been banging pots/pans ‘this is a huge lie’.. t
jeremy: what’s going to happen in us discourse.. saw w bernie sanders to cut off certain weapons to israel.. first bernie against a cease fire.. but then .. last nov year plus into genocide after trump elected saying ‘must cut off netanyahu weapons.. offensive weapons’.. our job is to not let (forgetting) happen.. we are going to witness more horrors to come.. rhetoric more violent .. from us end of it.. means we all need to keep faith in reporting.. ie: mariam saying.. got to document.. the work must continue.. most important this you can do is promote palestinian journalists.. what can ordinary person do.. elevating voices of people whose actual lives are affected.. watch reports from palestinian/lebanese journalists on the ground
sharif: felt like a convo amongst my friends.. thank you
elizabeth: if student at harvard.. please join the union.. we need to org
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be you. 