One of our era’s greatest and bravest journalists, Robert Fisk of the UK, is coming to speak at Chapman University tonight (Tuesday 9/23.) He is so much more knowledgable about the Middle East, and gets so much more in-depth info than most journalists we have here, it’s not funny. He was nearly beat to death by an Afghan mob back in 2002 on account of being a Westerner; fortunately some mullah intervened. And he is so hated by the right that “fisking” an essay or article (meaning finding fault with it sentence by sentence) has become a standard expression. Here’s an excerpt from his Wikipedia which shows why I’m excited to see him in person:
Fisk is the world’s most-decorated foreign correspondent,[3] having received numerous awards including the British Press Awards‘ International Journalist of the Year award seven times. Fisk speaks good vernacular Arabic, and is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden (three times between 1994 and 1997).[4]
In the British journalistic tradition of the foreign correspondent, Fisk has developed a personal analysis of the foreign affairs that he covers and presents them in that light, often with trenchant criticism of the US and British governments and their Middle East allies. His view of journalism is that it must “challenge authority — all authority — especially so when governments and politicians take us to war”, and he quotes with approval the Israeli journalist Amira Hass: “There is a misconception that journalists can be objective … What journalism is really about is to monitor power and the centres of power.”[5] Speaking of the historical basis for the conflicts he has covered Fisk said, “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 — in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad — watching the people within those borders burn.”
Here’s the press release as it came across the metaphorical “TRANSOM,” as silly Jubal would say:
September 23, 2008, Tuesday, 7:00 p.m.
Chapman University, Irvine Lecture Hall
The Age of the Warrior
Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk reports on bin Laden, Bush and conflicts in the Middle East
Dr. Robert Fisk is Britain’s most highly decorated foreign correspondent who has received, among his many awards, the British International Journalist of the Year Award seven times. He has reported on the Middle East for the past 25 years and is currently the Beirut correspondent for the London Independent. His reports are always incisive, focusing on the reasons behind the big events.
Robert Fisk is the author of In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster, and the Price of Neutrality, 1939-1945, Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon, The Great
War for Civilisation: the Conquest of the Middle East, and most recently Age of the Warrior: Selected Essays.
Hear about Robert Fisk’s interviews with Osama bin Laden, the crisis in Lebanon, impediments to peace in Israel/Palestine and Iraq, and many details you seldom glean from the media in America. Don’t miss this rare chance to hear Robert Fisk.
Sponsored by: Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Program in Peace Studies
Parking for events is available in the Fred L. Barrera Parking Structure on Sycamore Street and the Lastinger Parking Structure on Walnut Avenue.
Permits costing $2 for two hours and $4 for four hours may be purchased at each structure.
Free and open to the public.
Wish I could go, it’s moms B’day and if she was more mobile I’m sure she would love it too.
In other words Wilsonian “self-determination” was an abject failure.
So what’s changed between 1918 and 2003?
Vern, ask him if he told McCain where bin Laden is.
Oh and does he think the borders he cited that were established after 1918 have anything in common with the US northern and southern borders that established arbitrary divisions of the North American Continent (“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 — in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad — watching the people within those borders burn.”) and does he see the people affected by these borders “burning”?
Anonyms, you should come! You can ask him your questions yourself.
I think all 3 of his Bin Laden interview were before 9/11.
And I don’t remember our borders with Canada and Mexico being quite that controversial, let alone being forced on any of us by outside colonial forces, let alone forcing ancient enemy races to live together as a nation when they don’t want to (Yugoslavia, maybe Iraq)
I would definitely join you but I have meetings until 8 or 9 tonight. Perhaps afterwards for a drink? I don’t mind second hand news.
Yeah, that borders question waqsn’t especially well thought out. I was hoping to spin it into an immigration/border security failure but its too convoluted to invest the effort into. Oh well
*We were lucky enough to interview Dr. Fisk along with Amy Goodman at the last CAIR Convention in Long Beach. He is extremely knowledgeable and puts out lots of good writing for the Independent out of London. They had called “nonsense” on the whole Iraq intervention…long ago. Whether they are right or wrong however is very debatable. They are both intelligent people who were fun to interview. Our new technology Bluetooth mic however failed due to our lack of familiarity. You can still watch it on the Cutting Edge web pages! We got both one on one interviews and also some of their prepared comments for the masses.