Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism and Its Triumphs

by John Pilger (Editor)

A wide-ranging anthology of investigative journalism from the liberation of Dachau in 1945 to the Florida elections scandal of 2000. Taken together they form a “secret history” of the last fifty years, revealing the truth behind the period’s most important events.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Journalism, Nonfiction, Politics, History, War, Essays, Anthologies

448 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

About the author

John Richard Pilger was an Australian journalist and documentary maker. He had twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US. Based in London, he is known for his polemical campaigning style: "Secretive power loathes journalists who do their job, who push back screens, peer behind façades, lift rocks. Opprobrium from on high is their badge of honour."

Pilger had received human rights and journalism awards, as well as honorary doctorates. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York.

Reviews

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.

A comparison of official coverage with articles from decades reveals contradictions.

The exceptional value of Singer's work lies in the possibility of a retrospective. Covering an arc of almost 70 years, the articles are drawn to illustrate inspirational, investigative journalism. The applicability of a parallel or even multi-stage analysis and comparisons is terrific.

If one compares the official history and the official reporting with the articles, one finds mistakes and lies even without specific previous knowledge. These are good teaching examples of how the levels of historiography and media representation are coordinated. Free after the classic saying that the winners write the story. And not only after a war but also in times of peace. And if there are no guard dogs of another pack to regulate, maybe forever.

In the past, it was much more difficult and dangerous for these journalists to gather material, conduct interviews and research on site. And to find a medium that was ready to print the uncomfortable truths too. Today, however, such a plethora of digitized newspaper archives, critical books, and knowledge are at their free disposal that the still disproportionately small number of critical journalists is a shame. To speak of a dying of the free press would be exaggerated. But it is underrepresented given the opportunities available to it.

It would be rewarding for the future and revealing for established media to conceive this kind of book form as an annual series. To compare the best, independent reports with those of the conventional press each year. This would work out the contradictions, logic errors, and pure lies even more and drag them into the limelight. Unfortunately, journalism often uses defamation and a creative interpretation of the truth. Exaggerations, while encouraging the sale of articles and books to reporters, are somewhat counterproductive to the lofty idea of independent, objective reporting.

The established media are happy to take such black sheep, such as fake news, as examples of citizen journalism and investigative journalism being populist and frivolous. In many cases, they are unfortunately right. Thus, the excellent idea is taken it´s momentum. It would require even stronger associations of independent reporters to impose very stringent quality criteria to minimize that risk. If the research is so clean and the conclusions drawn are so precise that there are no longer any targets, there is only the usual procedure of the established state and private media to overcome. They ignore the reporting. And this policy can be used as a criticism against them.

Ein Vergleich der offiziellen Berichterstattung mit den Artikeln aus Jahrzehnten offenbart Widersprüche

Der besondere Wert von Singers Werk liegt in der Möglichkeit der Retrospektive. Über einen Bogen von fast 70 Jahren spannen sich die Artikel, die zur Veranschaulichung von inspirierendem, investigativem Journalismus heran gezogen werden. Dabei ist die Anwendbarkeit für eine parallele oder gar mehrstufige Analyse und für Vergleiche grandios.

Wenn man den offiziellen Geschichtsverlauf und die offizielle Berichterstattung mit den Artikeln vergleicht, findet man selbst ohne spezifische Vorkenntnisse Fehler und Lügen. Diese sind gute Lehrbeispiele dafür, wie die Ebenen Geschichtsschreibung und mediale Repräsentation aufeinander abgestimmt werden. Frei nach dem Klassiker, dass die Sieger die Geschichte schreiben. Und dass nicht nur nach einem Krieg, sondern auch in Zeiten des Friedens. Und wenn es keine Wachhunde eines anderen Rudels gibt, um das zu regulieren, vielleicht für immer.

Wobei es für diese Journalisten früher viel schwieriger und auch gefährlicher war, Material zu sammeln, vor Ort Interviews zu führen und zu recherchieren. Und dann noch ein Medium zu finden, das bereits war, die unbequemen Wahrheiten auch zu drucken. Heute hingegen steht ein derartige Fülle an digitalisierten Zeitungsarchiven, kritischen Büchern und Wissen zur freien Verfügung, dass die noch immer unverhältnismäßig geringe Zahl kritischer Journalisten eigentlich eine Schande ist. Von einem Sterben der freien Presse zu sprechen, wäre übertrieben. Aber sie ist angesichts der ihr zu Verfügung stehenden Möglichkeiten doch deutlich unterrepräsentiert.

Für die Zukunft lohnend und für etablierte Medien entlarvend wäre, diese Art von Buchform als Serie zu konzipieren. Pro Jahr die besten, unabhängigen Berichte mit denen der konventionellen Presse zu vergleichen. Dadurch würden die Widersprüche, Logikfehler und schlichten Lügen noch viel stärker heraus gearbeitet und ins Rampenlicht gezerrt werden. Leider wird in dieser Form von Journalismus häufig auch mit Diffamierung und einer kreativen Interpretation der Wahrheit gearbeitet. Übertreibungen fördern zwar die Verkäufe von Artikeln und Büchern zugunsten der Reporter, sind aber für die hehre Grundidee der unabhängigen, objektiven Berichterstattung eher kontraproduktiv.

Die etablierten Medien nehmen solche schwarzen Schafe gerne als Beispiele dafür, dass Bürgerjournalismus und investigativer Journalismus populistisch und unseriöus seien. In vielen Fällen haben sie damit leider Recht. Damit wird der guten Idee der Wind aus den Segeln genommen. Es müssten noch stärkere Verbände von unabhängigen Reportern entstehen, die sich selbst sehr strenge Qualitätskriterien auferlegen, um dieses Risiko zu minimieren. Wenn die Recherche so sauber und die gezogenen Schlussfolgerungen so präzise sind, dass keine Angriffspunkte mehr verbleiben, gibt es nur mehr das gewohnte Prozedere der Staatsmedien. Sie ignorieren die Berichterstattung einfach. Und diese Politik kann als Kritikpunkt gegen sie verwendet werden.

[MrGibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in journalism /recent world events then this book is one you will want to read. It is a compilation of ground breaking news reports from around the world, often written under very difficult, if not life-threatening conditions, by a range of journalists.

The book also encourages you to look at the motives behind what makes the news, to reflect on what 'free speech' actually means, and to question why some very important and valid stories never make the front page.

[Batgrl (Book Data Kept Elsewhere)]

Contents:
Acknowledgements
Notes on the Text
Introduction by John Pilger
Martha Gellhorn - Dachau (1945)
Wilfred Burchett - The Atomic Plague (1945)
Edward R. Murrow - The Menace of McCarthyism (1947-54)
Jessica Mitford - The American Way of Death (1963)
James Cameron - Through the Looking-Glass (1966)
Seymour Hersh - The Massacre at My Lai (1970)
John Pilger - Year Zero (1979)
Gunter Wallraff - Lowest of the Low (Ganz unten) (1985)
Brian Toohey and Marian Wilkinson - The Timor Papers (1987)
Max du Preez and Jacques Pauw - Exposing Apartheid's Death Squads (1988-94)
Paul Foot - The Great Lockerbie Whitewash (1989-2001)
Robert Fisk - Terrorists (1990/2001)
Seumas Milne - The Secret War against the Minters (1994)
Amira Hass - Under Siege (1996)
Phillip Knightley - The Thalidomide Scandal: Where We Went Wrong (1997)
Eduardo Galeano - The Upside-Down World (1998)
Anna Politkovskaya - Chechnya: A Dirty War (1999-2002)
Linda Melvern - A People Betrayed (2000)
Greg Palast - How to Steal the Presidency and Get Away with It (2000-1)
Eric Schlosser - Fast Food Nation (2001)
Mark Curtis - Complicity in a Million Deaths (2003)
David Armstrong - Drafting a Plan for Global Dominance (2002)
Reporting the Truth About Iraq (1998-2004)
Felicity Arbuthnot - Iraq: The Unending War (1998-2004)
Joy Gordon - Cool War: Economic Sanctions as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (2002)
Richard Norton-Taylor - Under a False Pretext (2002-3)
Robert Fisk - Another Day in the Bloody Death of Iraq (2003)
Jo Wilding - Eyewitness in Falluja (2004)
Edward W. Said - Covering Islam and Terrorism (1997/2002)
Sources
Index

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

In one sentence: An anthology of the greatest investigative journalism, mostly about ignored or West-sponsored massacres.

To be read when: one becomes too complacent about world politics, thinking it generally benign; when one despairs of journalism; when you need righteous anger; when evaluating Kissinger's place in history.

I went into this with one eye on Pilger's ideology, but almost every piece is grounded and humane and appalling and beyond the reach of theory to pervert. (Only the Eduardo Galeano rant addresses too many targets at once and fades into zine-ish aspersion. But even that's about half true.)

Gellhorn on Dachau. Cameron on North Vietnam. Hersh on My Lai. Lockerbie. Iraq. The overall target is the powerful who stand by or enable atrocities; Kissinger leers like a terrible wraith from more than a few of these pieces. I cried at this ten years ago and again now and again whenever.


Galef type:
Data 2 - What does it imply about the world, that this could happen? &
Values 2 - thought experiments to reflect on how you feel about something.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pilger compiles 600 pages of the best investigative journalism since 1945, including his own riveting reports from Cambodia in the wake of the Khmer Rouge. It's a feast of great writing. But the selection is heavy on horror -- Hiroshima, My Lai, apartheid South Africa, Palestine, Chechnya, Iraq. Or else it deals with awkward realities, like "The American Way of Death" or "Fast Food Nation." This is not the more usual feel-good, patriotic, ego-boosting sort of journalism. Pilger honors journalists who uncover things most of us would rather not know, and that many power holders have wished to keep secret. His contributor Anna Politkovskaya was only one of many journalists eliminated for exposing such things.

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pilger is probably one of the foremost investigative journalists around and his reputation for the pursuit of truths in an apathetic world is without parallel. The book is a reader and thus covers a lot of ground. It can be heavy going but he provides a unique insight into the collusion between the Thatcher government and British security services in a dirty war with the miners during the 1984-85 Miners strike. Well worth a look .

[David Mellonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books detailing the systemic abuse of power and public trust by political leaders and corporations all over the world – and it continues to this very day – perhaps even more than ever. Politicians hate Pilger, simply because he uncovers the facts and tells the truth about a very corrupt and morally bankrupt world. Essential reading if you ever wonder whether the politicians you elect have your best interests at heart...

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m enrolled in an investigative journalism course so when I saw this in the library one day, it just felt right to check it out.

“Tell Me No Lies” is an anthology collection that aims to celebrate the very best investigative journalism across modern history. All selected by celebrated Australian journalist and documentary maker John Pilger, who is widely known for his opposition of US, U.K. and Australian foreign policy, it is arranged in historical order: commencing with Martha Gellhorn’s reporting after the liberation of the death camp at Dachau, and ending with a selection of writings and reporting on the Iraq war.

In between, there is reporting from Wilfred Buchett, the first westerner to enter Hiroshima following the atomic bomb, Amira Hass’ reporting from the Gaza Strip during the 1990s, German undercover reporter Günter Wallraff writings on the working conditions of immigrant workers in Germany and many more.

Pilger sets each piece of reporting in its context, often offering personal insights into the writer and their work, and generally selects interesting engaging pieces.

Some articles and transcripts, being a little old, are written in quite a formal style that would be uncommon to read today, which left some parts of the book feeling a little dull and dated as a result.

This does not prevent the book from being an interesting insight into the history of investigative journalism and perhaps cover ups more generally.

[Jordan Phizacklea-Cullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As comprehensive a selection you could wish for of pioneering investigative journalism and reportage from the Second World War onwards. Definitely to be dipped into rather than devoured in a single sitting, anyone who doubts the relevance and importance of the on-the-ground reporter needs to read this book, and any student of journalism would do well to keep a copy close.

[Amma · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Pilger is a genuine journalist and gets his facts right.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible "best of journalism" covering seminal pieces from the liberation of concentration camps through the mccarthy-era, vietnam, the gulf war, and the modern terror-entertainment complex.

[Ardeshir Tayebi · Rating 4 out of 5]

مجموعه‌ای از چند گزارش تحقیقی که هرکدام در نوع خود بسیار تاریخ‌ساز بوده‌اند

[Saeed Ramazany · Rating 4 out of 5]

نزدیک به ۳ ۴ سال پیش خوندم، ولی یادمه اون موقع خوشم اومد. دیدی که از وقایع می‌داد شاید بشه گفت بهت‌آور بود، از نظر رنجی که آدم‌های مختلف متحمل می‌شن و آدم‌های دیگه با زنجیره تصمیماتی که خودشون دخیل نیستن باعثش می‌شن.

[AliReza Alef --- Dooman · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب خوبی بود منتها متاسفانه متعلق به پادگان بود و قبل از پایان خدمت نتونستم تمومش کنم و دیگه بهش دسترسی ندارم، در اولین فرصت دسترسی ادامه خواهم داد

[Reece · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 - Must read for everyone.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the most important and enlightening books I have ever read 👏🏻

[Nigel Pinkus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little know book (at least in reviews) is big on topics and words. This persons edition was over 600 pages and is gobsmacking with not only information, but also some of the most respected journalists today. There is the likes of Hersh, Robert Fisk, Amira Hass and Wilfred Burchett (who was the first western journalist to see the horrors of Hiroshima in 1945) just to name a few. It was an honest, important, powerful yet disturbing read. For those who don't know these authors, then they should get this book and quietly read through as much as of it as they can muster. As the title readily indicates, it bears the truth, the God honest truth and tells no lies! It's never easy reading about war atrocities, war crimes or crimes against humanity, but without these journalists bringing these stories to light where would humanity be?

From reading the book, one of the things Pilger implores the world to do, is to wake from its' slumber and to realise, before it is too late, that we should not believe everything that mainstream media tells us. Don't always believe the narrative told on the world stage. Start thinking for yourself that the truth, the real truth, is being concealed behind the headlines and without the help of some of these journalists we, as the ordinary who go on with our day to lives not being able to wake up from the atrocities that our governments are doing right before our lives. Indeed, we should start to question not only what we are told, but even more importantly, what we are not told by the media today. The silence is be deafening.

This reader could mention every single article encapsulated in this magnificent book, he would like particular single out the following:
'Iraq: The Unending War' by Felicity Arbuthnot (DU: depleted uranium)
'Complicity in a million Deaths' by Mark Curtis
'Another Day in the Bloody Death of Iraq' by Robert Fisk
'Eyewitness in Fallujah' by Jo Wilding
'The Atomic Plague' by Wilfred Burchett.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. This is by no means a reflection of the writing, which in the main is journalism at its best, but some of the stories here did not seem to have traction for me, lost in the blackhole of time and space, submerged by the chatter of more recent news (e.g., the Thalidomide scandal, the secret war against the UK miners, Scargill, Mccarthyism). The most interesting articles for me were Hersh's Massacre at My Lai, a tragic episode of brutality and psychopathy in Vietnam, Max du Preez and Jacques Pauw's apartheid death squads in South Africa, Hass' s 1996 Under Siege about the Palestinian plight, Linda Melvern's A People Betrayed, on the Rwandan genocide. And perhaps this book should indeed be read this way, a collection of some of the most interesting pieces of investigative and reflective journalism of published in the second half of the 20th century, leading up and into explanations of where we are now at the end of 2019.

[Hannah Brower · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most enlightening books I have ever read. It covers a broad range of subjects, from the Vietnam War to the funeral business in America. I already knew about many of the events it covers but it made me see them in a completely different light. This is not an easy read - it often goes into explicit detail about how badly humanity can treat each other and the lengths that the West goes to in order to cover up these atrocities. It is, however, an essential read.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good, if incredibly grim, read. It starts you right out at the liberation of Dachau, then nips over to Hiroshima and from there to the depredations of HUAC, followed by a happy little detour into the jungles of Viet Nam. I came away from this one wanting never to see it again, in spite of the excellent writing and even more excellent honesty.

[Sam Tobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent idea for a book. Pilger collects a selection of some of the best investigative journalism, ranging from Wilfred Burchett's Hiroshima "scoop of the century" to pieces on the Iraq war. Some pieces are analysis rather than investigative journalism, yet the standard is of the highest quality. The book shows what journalism can be and has been, but unfortunately rarely is.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth it alone for Pilger's work on Cambodia and Year Zero. Essentially reading for modern history buffs and anyone interested in mass media/reporting.

[Steve Kaless]

Good stuff so far, yet to read the chapter from the Wire copy.

[Boogi Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

after you read this book you will think this world looks different with whatever was before

[Mette · Rating 4 out of 5]

While worth reading, it has the problem of any compilation - there are highlights and lowlights. Some of the chapters seemed to drag and could have done with some heftier editing, eg about miner strike cover ups. Notes below on some of the chapters -

How to steal the presidency - about Gore v Bush in Florida 2000 election. Florida is the only state that pays a private company (Republican leaning) to clean electoral rolls of felons. This cleans off a lot of African Americans, 93% of whom voted for Gore in Florida. At least 15% of people on the lists to be removed from vote roll were not felons. Bush won by only 537 votes in Florida, which won him the presidency - it’s pretty certain Bush should have lost based on these lists. The American media didn’t report it until long after - NYT in 2004. First report was in guardian.

A people betrayed - Rwandan genocide. The lack of action by the UN (largely because of US and UK) was partly due to the lack of public and media pressure - it wasn’t publicly termed a genocide until after and there were few journos around. This made it easier for the international community to do nothing than to act. The UK had Rwanda very low it’s list of priorities - Bosnia and the disarming of Iraq were much higher. The violence was often dismissed as tribalism, a way to not acknowledge genocide was at play.
The Ghanaian gov allowed its troops to stay in Rwanda, allowing the UN group to continue - they were pretty much the only gov not to abandon the country.
Figures of nrs killed range from 800,000 to 1 million. Of Kigali’s 300,000 population, only 50,000 were left - and half of these were dispersed.

The thalidomide scandal
Babies whose mum had taken thalidomide during pregnancy (advertised as good for morning sickness) had deformities - most commonly hands growing out our shoulders or feet from hips. Hospitals didn’t know how to react. Some hospitals wrapped the baby up in clothes and sent the parents home - leaving them to discover the deformities there. Some dads walked out of marriages. The gov didn’t initiate a public inquiry, leaving it to the courts. This meant newspapers didn’t cover the scandal for fear of contempt of court / prejudging an ongoing trial.

Year zero - Pilger’s accounts of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. In particular, it looks at the failure of UK/US gov to respond with aid. Even UNICEF and the international Red Cross didn’t respond quickly with aid. Oxfam had defied gov pressure and spoke out throughout, including bringing aid. The charity commission censured Oxfam for this (political bias) so they went quiet in 1991. The main reason behind this is that Cambodia’s liberators were the Vietnamese - ie the wrong side of the Cold War. As a result, US wouldn’t recognise Vietnam as liberators and the UK recognised the defunct Pol Pot regime as legitimate - this UN vote meant that international aid (inc world bank, world health org) wasn’t given - it couldn’t legally be given.
The US sent money to the Khmer Rouge when it was out of power, and got the UN to send them food.
British SAS trained Cambodian rebel groups in Thailand, including Khmer Rouge. US, Germany and Sweden gave them weapons. By using a different name and going via Thailand it distracted international attention.
Media often placed blame on Cambodians themselves, eg “Cambodians are a neurotic people with an intense persecution complex”’!!! This was published in the independent.

Iraq: the unending war
Some missiles were covered in depleted uranium (remains from nuclear industry), causing an epidemic of cancer through Iraq. This remains radioactive for 4,500 million years.

Economic sanctions in Iraq: prior to the gulf war Iraq had effective public services. Parents were fined if their children didn’t go to school. The UN sanctions (led byUS) banned items necessary for sanitation, healthcare etc. These sanctions were for the Kuwait invasion

[مجید اسطیری · Rating 5 out of 5]

زندگی مردم غزه پیش از عملیات هفتم اکتبر چگونه بود؟

کتاب «به من دروغ نگو» مجموعه گزارش‌هایی تاریخ ساز از روزنامه نگاران کاوشگر جهان است که جان پیلجر روزنامه نگار استرالیایی دستچین کرده و نشر اختران با ترجمه مهرداد (خلیل) شهابی و میرمحمود نبوی در مجموعه «پشت پرده مخملین» منتشر کرده است. یکی از تکان دهنده ترین گزارش‌هایی که پیلجر از میان آثار روزنامه نگاران پنجاه سال اخیر برگزیده است، گزارش عَمیره هَص روزنامه نگار منتقد اسرائیلی است که محصول سه سال زندگی او در میان مردم غزه است.
او از آنچه دید شگفتزده شد. محدودیت‌های تحمیل شده بر مردم غزه برای او باورنکردنی بود. هص که در سال 1993 زندگی در غزه را آغاز کرده بود در سال 1994 شاهد شادی خوش بینانه بخشی از جامعه در قبال توافقنامه صلح اسلو بود. اما او تا دو سال پس از آن هم در غزه ماند تا سرخوردگی مردم غزه از تشدید محدودیت‌ها را نیز گزارش کند.
گزارش او با نام «در محاصره» در کتاب به من دروغ نگو منتشر شده است و پیلجر در مقدمه ای که حدود ده سال بعد بر گزارش عمیره هص نوشته است تاکید می‌کند شرایط از آنچه در این گزارش آمده است به مراتب بدتر شده است!
نکته برجسته این گزارش آن است که زنی یهودی موفق شده با اقشار مختلف مردم غزه رابطه انسانی برقرار کند و در گزارش خود جانبداری را کنار بگذارد. او از بی توجهی مطبوعات اسرائیل و بی علاقگی شهرک نشینان به گزارشش ابراز ناراحتی می‌کند اما از تلاشی که آغاز کرده دست بر نمی‌دارد و به بیان تصاویر تبعیض آمیز فراوانی که دیده است می‌پردازد. نتیجه سه سال زندگی هص در غزه در کتابی به نام «آشامیدن دریا در غزه» منتشر شده است که این گزارش نیز بخشی از آن کتاب است.
«در محاصره» تصاویر شفافی از ظلم رژیم صهیونیستی به اقشار مختلف مردم غزه از اساتید دانشگاه تا دانش آموزان عادی ارائه می‌دهد. بخشی از این گزارش به مشکلات کارگران ساکن غزه که ناگزیر از کار کردن در سرزمین‌های اشغالی هستند می‌پردازد. مهمترین مشکل آن‌ها پاسگاه‌های ایست بازرسی متعددی است که مجبورند هر روز از آن عبور کنند و هر روز ممکن است به بهانه ای در آنجا گیر کنند:

در پاسگاه بازرسی، تعدادی از کارگران متقاضی خروج از غزه را از لب مرز بازگردانده و خروج از غزه را برایشان ممنوع کرده بودند. همه آنان، دست کم ۱۵ سال در اسرائیل شاغل بودند و حتی روز قبل هم مثل معمول سر کار رفته بودند. اما حالا یک مرتبه ریسک امنیتی محسوب می‌شدند. چرا؟
او از مسیر نسبتا سخت جلب اعتماد مردم غزه می‌گوید و اینکه پس از جلب اعتماد مردم با درخواست‌های مکرر آن‌ها روبرو می‌شود که از وی می‌خواهند برای حل مشکلات متعددی که سازوکارهای سختگیرانه رژیم صهیونیستی برایشان به وجود آورده است از نفوذ خودش استفاده کند. اما او اظهار می‌کند که فقط یک خبرنگار عادی است و نفوذی در سازوکارهای رژیم ندارد. به علاوه از این نگران است که اگر به این خواهش‌ها پاسخ مثبت بگوید، زیر خروارها درخواست کمک دیگر مدفون شود. این بخش از نوشته‌های هص به خوبی وضعیت سخت مردم غزه در برابر رژیمی که ساده ترین حقوق انسانی را از آنان سلب کرده است نشان می‌دهد.
بالاخره او در یک مورد قانون شخصی خودش را زیر پا می‌گذارد و به خاطر مادری در شُرُف مرگ که در یکی از بیمارستان‌های تل آویو بستری شده، به فرزندان او کمک می‌کند تا به ملاقات مادرشان بروند. علیرغم وضع ناپایدار سلامتی مادر که او را بر لبه پرتگاه مرگ و زندگی نشان می‌دهد و در حالی که یکی از پزشکان می‌گوید او تا فردا زنده نخواهدماند، اعضای این خانواده باید فرآیند پرپیچ و خمی برای کسب مجوزهای خروج از غزه طی کنند که کُند، بدبینانه و دارای اشتباهات مضحک است!
نه تنها اعضای این خانواده نمی‌توانند با تاکسی‌های غزه خود را به بیمارستان برسانند، بلکه حتی هیچ کدام مجوز یک شب اقامت در غزه را هم ندارند. وقتی بالاخره از مارپیچ موانع عبور می‌کنند و موفق به عیادت مادر می‌شوند، حال رو به وخامت مادر اندکی بهبود نشان می‌دهد اما در این عیادت پسر خانواده که کمتر از سی سال دارد (پایین ترین سن ممکن برای مردانی که می‌خواهند از غزه خارج شوند) غایب است. او برای دریافت مجوز خروج باید درخواست ویژه ای ثبت کند اما روزهای شنبه در اسرائیل تعطیل است! در حالی که مادر به آخرین لحظات زندگی اش نزدیک می‌شود و آرزومند دیدن پسرش برای آخرین بار است، پسر بالاخره موفق می‌شود با ماجراجویی مجوزی دریافت کند اما به او اعلام می‌شود مجوزش قابل قبول نیست چون قبلا مجوز دریافت کرده است. معلوم می‌شود در سیستم امنیتی پرمدعای اسرائیل نام او با نام پدرش اشتباه گرفته شده است. وقتی بالاخره پسر موفق به خروج از غزه می‌شود قبل از رسیدن به تل آویو مادر فوت می‌کند.
زنجیره مشکلات دست و پاگیر این خانواده حتی همین‌جا نیز تمام نمی‌شود و برای بازگرداندن جنازه مادر به غزه با هزار مسئله مشابه روبرو هستند. حتی وقتی به لطایف الحیل موف می‌شوند مادر را در غزه به خاک بسپارند، در مراسم عزاداری او یکی از دامادهایش که اهل کرانه باختری رود اردن بوده است غایب است چرا که موفق به کسب مجوز خروج از منطقه زندگی اش نمی‌شود. با اینکه از لحاظ سوابق امنیتی فرد کاملا بی خطری محسوب می‌شده است.
وضعیت این خانواده به تفصیل در «در محاصره» آماده است تا به عنوان مشتی نمونه خروار مشخص شود شرایط برای مردم غزه تا چه حد خفقان آور و خسته کننده است. این شرایط می‌تواند هر فردی را به سر حد انفجار و خشم برساند.
هص اعتراف می‌کند که فارغ از دغدغه‌های یک خبرنگار به نوعی حسرت آزادی در وجود تک تک ساکنان غزه برخورده است:
"اگر بگویم که دغدغه ی من درباره ی انسداد نوار غزه فقط دغدغه ی یک روزنامه نگار است سخنی به دروغ گفته ام. بر خلاف دوستان فلسطینی‌ام، من آزاد بودم که هرگاه که می‌خواستم از غزه خارج شوم. پس، چه کسی بهتر از من می‌توانست درباره ی نیاز فلسطینیان به خروج از غزه شهادت دهد؟ روح و عقل هر فردی برای افق‌های باز در آن سوی پاسگاه بازرسی، برای گفت وگو درباره ی چیزی جز مجوزهای خروج مغناطیسی، و برای کیلومترها رانندگی آزاد، پر می‌زد ."

نویسنده تقریبا با تمام اقشار جامعه فلسطینی برخورد و گفتگو می‌کند و فشاری که محدودیت‌های اسرائیل بر فرد فرد آنان وارد می‌آورد را منعکس می‌کند. او دست پنهان خشونت اسرائیل را در انواع عقب ماندگی‌های مردم غزه می‌بیند. یکی از مهمترین بخش‌های این خشونت پنهان، نظام بهداشت و درمان ضعیف غزه است:
"هر درخواست مجوز خروج از غزه ماده ی خام تاریخی ای بود که قرائنی را درباره ی علت واقعی مشکلات فلسطینیان در اختیارم می‌نهاد. به عنوان اولین علت این حقیقت را دریافتم که قدرت فلسطینیان تا چه اندازه محدود است و مثلاً چگونه مشکل بهداشت و درمان آن‌ها منعکس کننده ی طرح اسرائیلی حاکم بر همه ی امور است. از میراث خشن اشغالگری اسرائیل، یکی هم نظام بهداشت و درمان عقب نگه داشته شده بود، با بودجه ای ناچیز برای فلسطینیان."

این خشونت پنهان که راه تنفس مردم غزه را بسته بوده است توسط سازوکار سختگیرانه صدور مجوزهای خروج از غزه اعمال می‌شده است. مجوزهایی که همه امیدهای مردم غزه برای یک زندگی عادی را نقش بر آب می‌کرده اند:
"هرگاه که اسرائیل به افراطی ترین اقدامات دست می‌زند و نوار غزه را سفت و سخت می‌بندد تمام مجوزهای خروج خود به خود باطل می‌شود. فردی که مجوز دریافت کرده است شاید شش ماه منتظر گرفتن نوبت از پزشکی متخصص در بیت المقدس بوده است؛ و حتی ممکن است منتظر نوبت جراحی باشد! فرد دیگری ممکن است برای پرواز به خارج جا رزرو کرده باشد. با این همه هیچ کس نه می‌تواند به غزه وارد و نه از آن خارج شود."


متن کامل این یادداشت را در خبرگزاری مهر بخوانید

[Ugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tell Me No Lies is subtitled 'Investigative journalism and its triumphs'. A more accurate although less sellable subtitle would be 'Stuff investigative journalism has uncovered', as the book is not about journalism or how it is carried out, but instead provides 27 examples of journalism's output in the form of book excerpts and articles, plus very brief introductions by the compiler, John Pilger.

This is not a book that affirm's one's faith in humanity. If an event must be investigated to be uncovered, chances are that atrocities or outrages are involved. Of the 27 accounts and 1 essay presented, around 20 deal with wars, massacres, terrorism or their effects. And even some of the other accounts are little or no less gut-wrenching.

One would expert reports of massacres to make for difficult reading, and one would be right. Yet it is often the individual stories or elements that are the most affecting, from mothers in Rwanda being forced to bury their children alive, to the budding child poet in Iraq, born the same year that I was but hospitalised with leukaemia at the opening of the reporter's story, just one of the victims of a reported 6-fold increase in childhood cancers in Iraq in the wake of the 1991 Gulf war, and who then dies at the age of 13. Or try reading about a severely disabled victim of thalidomide being kicked and beaten by other victims because of the greater size of his financial compensation without wanting the whole world to just go away for a while. And this after reading of mothers not being informed of their babies' thalidomide deformities while in the hospital, but being sent home with swaddled children and left to make the discoveries for themselves... Yeah.

Governments, in particular, do not emerge well from these pages. For example, call me hopelessly naive, but as a Brit approaching the end of his third decade who until recently had read voluminously but narrowly of only fiction and science, I had little idea that the actions of British Governments had been any cause for concern post imperialism, slavery, colonialism and Dresden up until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Tell Me No Lies disavowed me of that ignorance. Nor had secondary-school history and 30-odd years of generally existing and consuming mainstream media given me even a ballpark comprehension of just how central the Cold War was to international relations during the entire period from the end of WWII to 1991. I thought it was mostly just the USA and Russia eyeballing each other and nearly losing all of our heads over Cuba.

I like to think that some of these failings are not entirely my own. For all of the Western World's 24-hour rolling news and minute-by-minute updates, there is a glaring lack of in-depth analysis taking into account and informing readers/viewers/listeners of historical context - an issue Pilger addresses in his introduction.

The book itself does not fill this gap. It is not a full and even-handed accounting of events, but rather a brief glimpse of the other halves of stories whose incompleteness you may not even have suspected. I for one would have benefited greatly from more extended scene-setting for each report, rather than the page or so of context actually provided. But in fairness it is not the book's aim to provide encyclopaedic accounts of entire events.

I asked in a previous post for recommendations of books that address the issue of the extent to which a country's leaders should lie to its populace if it's in the country's best interests, and I repeat that request here. There is also a wider debate to be had about the extent to which governments should be accountable to the views of their electorate and transparent in their actions. For example, is it acceptable to use more effective depleted uranium munitions which are safer for those behind them if there are questions over the safety of their fallout for civilians on the receiving end? How does ensuring the future ability of interveners to go on intervening stack up against the current tolls of those needing help? (Making the enormous assumption that the intervention is even well-intentioned in the first place.)

The book is not all hard going. Jessica Mitford's exposé of the US funeral business is bitingly witty, and Greg Palast's accounts of the removal of thousands of legitimate voters from the Florida electoral roll in 2000 has old-school panache and is probably the most revealing chapter in terms of how the investigation actually proceeded.

Also, I said at the start that Tell Me No Lies does not affirm one's faith in humanity. However, that's not quite the full story.

First, although the vast majority of the people in the book are either perpetrators or innocent victims of horrendous deeds, there are some individuals who stand out for their principled stances against the horror.

Brigadier-General Roméo A. Dallaire, commander of the UN mission in Rwanda, repeatedly refused orders to abandon the Tutsis completely to their slaughter by evacuating his peacekeepers in 1994. Chief Warrant Officer Hugh C Thompson physically interposed himself between his rampaging superiors and a huddle of unarmed Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai massacre of 1970, later throwing away a commendation that had sought to extend the coverup by citing him for fictional deeds as opposed to his genuine heroism.

And then there are the journalists themselves, many of whom put their lives on the line to reveal to the world appalling facts that would otherwise have remained hidden.



But beyond individual acts at the time, there is another faint glimmer of hope. If you can read about someone's suffering decades later and from another continent and still feel outraged and sickened, even if it's far too late to do anything, maybe there is a chance that our shared human bond, although often all-too-easily snapped, will be strong enough to make a difference next time, provided that we're sufficiently informed in time. Maybe.

[Peter Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of investigative articles since 1945.Essential for historians and the sceptical general reader.All are still powerful.It’s a book to dip into as it’s quite dense to read one after the other.I read some and skimmed others but all are useful correctives to the conventional story of major events.Some I think have to be handled with care as an alternative to the normal interpretation but must be considered if a complete version is to be found - hence useful to historians seeking “ truth”.It deals with a variety of atrocities so it’s a depressing view of people and life but gives you faith in the integrity of individuals who challenge received wisdom.Still it’s only one side of each story.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books that I've ever read. Investigative journalism of many major events and people/places post - WW2 (and Martha Gelhorn's account of Dachau), including Year Zero, the Lockerbie bombing (that one is a REAL eye opener), the My Lai massacre, Israel's inhumane treatment of Palestinians and much more. Essential and often uncomfortable reading but so good. I learnt so much and I can't recommend this book enough.

[signedlayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book now, amidst the intense media focus on Palestine, is a striking experience. Though published in 2004, its truths resonate deeply. The pieces by Eduardo Galeano, Anna Politkovskaya, and Edward W. Said, especially, left a lasting impression, offering critical insights that feel more urgent than ever. This is a book that demands to be understood, particularly in our current context.