In just one year in Bosnia, thirty of my colleagues died. There is a little Somme waiting for all innocent journalists.
Interpretation
Journalists often face danger in their pursuit of truth, sacrificing their safety for the greater good.
This quote by Robert Fisk highlights the perilous nature of journalism, particularly in conflict zones. It serves as a sobering reminder of the sacrifices made by those who seek to report the truth, as they risk their lives to uncover the realities of war and injustice. The reference to the 'little Somme' evokes the memory of the devastating World War I battle, suggesting that journalists are often caught in a similar battleground where their lives are at stake.
In practice
During a speech about press freedom, one could use this quote to illustrate the risks journalists face.
The [Israelis] believed - they were possessed of an absolute certainty and conviction - that 'terrorists' were in Chatila. How could I explain to them that the terrorists had left, that the terrorists had worn Israeli uniforms, that the terrorists had been sent into Chatila by Israeli officers, that the victims of the terrorists were not Israelis but Palestinians and Lebanese?
War is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.
U.S. journalists I don't think are very courageous. They tend to go along with the government's policy domestically and internationally. To question is seen as being unpatriotic, or potentially subversive.
The biggest problem I have in journalism is being quoted or misquoted and then being asked to defend something I haven't said.
There is nothing so satisfying as to be shot at without effect.
After the allied victory of 1918, at the end of my father's war, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career β in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad β watching the people within those borders burn.
The ability and inclination to use physical strength is no indication of bravery or tenacity to life. The greatest cowards are often the greatest bullies. Nothing is cheaper and more common than physical bravery.
Freedom from fear and injustice and oppression will be ours only in the measure that men who value such freedom are ready to sustain its possession - to defend it against every thrust from within or without.
People respond differently to people who are grieving. They reach out. But depression is so very isolating. It's hard to explain to anyone who has never been depressed how isolating it is. Grief comes and goes, but depression is unremitting.
This fear bears no analogy to any fear I knew before. This is the basest of all possible emotions, the feeling that was with us before we existed, before this building existed, before the earth existed. This is the fear that made fish crawl out onto dry land and evolve lungs, the fear that teaches us to run, the fear that makes us bury our dead.
Let us form one body, one heart, and defend to the last warrior our country, our homes, our liberty, and the graves of our fathers.
I just figured that, for me to get the best out of myself and do the right thing by myself, I really just needed to step away and find out what I really wanted to do and hopefully getting back to where my people are from and getting out bush could really re-energise me and help heal those wounds.
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