Thoughts on Journalism deaths and those affected by conflicts and war.

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“The implications of these numbers can be put in another way: good journalism is not just the responsibility of the journalistic community; it is a global effort that must be bolstered by individual governments’ commitment to protecting the freedom of the press, and fought for in the face of authoritarian entities. It has become far too dangerous a fight for the individual – or even the individual organization – to tackle.”

I have heard this over and over this year. I have seen Antonio Guterres say this, I have seen two high commissioners for human rights speak about this. I have witnessed Vincent Cochetel speak about his experience for a TED talk. I have listened to Melissa Fleming speak about the importance of providing generations of refugees with a future.

This is not an abstract idea. Last week I read about two cars being used to run down people due to religious differences.

I was also in Spain, where the Moors were kicked out of Spain. For hundreds of years people have been using religion and other diffrences to forster violence and I see this getting worse.

I see a return to a warlord existence where people, rather than fighting for unity are fighting for the opposite.

I listened to Barroso speak about the European Union and his vision when he talked at the Graduate institute.

We are at an age where cultural differences and ideals are the most easy to access thanks to information technologies and yet this is the time when the narrow mindedness of people seems to be at it’s peak. People avoid hard news and context. Others misinform and terrorise people to get their warped visions to become realities.
199 journalists were kidnapped this year and 50 million people are displaced or refugees. This is more than were displaced during the Second Wold War.

The way I have had access to those archives has changed the way I view the world forever.

And yesterday I read about how 15,000 westerns were victims of bad weather and road conditions. Imagine the contrast to what is happening in the Middle East. Imagine comparing it to 2 million people and all of those children with no access to an education.

Facebook pretends it has been a good year. As my view of the year was formed from raw material rather than soundbites my vision is different.

inspiration: http://time.com/3647079/photographers-died-2014/