Story of Mohamed Amin , livre ebook

Master Publishing - Brian Tetley

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

157 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

This is the story of the most honored photojournalist in media history. It contains a foreword by Bob Geldof. Amin's filming of the famine in Korem, in N. Ethiopia, was to inspire Bob Geldof and Live Aid.

Sujets

Lettres et linguistique

Informations

Publié par	Master Publishing
Date de parution	20 décembre 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789966052049
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0373€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Contents
Foreword by Bob Geldof
Preface
Introduction: We Are the World
1. Kid with a Box Brownie
2. Isle of Blood
3. Massacre on the Horn
4. ‘Solitary’, Slings, and Death Row
5. Black Jack and the Congo
6. Assassination of Tom Mboya
7. Idi Amin’s Coup
8. Bloodbath in Bangladesh
9. Uganda’s Asian Exodus
10. Idi Amin’s OAU Circus
11. Lust to Kill: The Fall of Idi Amin
12. Expedition to Turkana: Where Man Began
13. Uprising in Kenya, Bombs in Beirut
14. There Are People Dying
15. All the World Wants to Give
16. Together We Can Build a Better World
Postscript
Photo Section
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author
About the Publisher
Your May issue, with the ‘Moving Pictures’ essay, was very good. However, it should be noted that the Visnews crew that shot the film for the British Broadcasting Corporation was led by a veteran still photographer and cinematographer named Mohamed Amin. Amin has not received the attention he deserves. Burnham Wore, Owenton, Kentucky
—A letter in the June 1985 issue of the American Photographer
For so fearlessly forcing the world to face the truth about African famine that governments had to take action and…for currently continuing courageous camera coverage of the homeless and hungry all over the world .
—Citation for the Valiant for Truth Award, 1986, awarded to Mohamed Amin by the Order of Christian Unity.
Any danger spot is tenable if men—brave men—will make it so .
—John F. Kennedy 1961
Author’s Note
IN THIS BOOK, ALL THE organisations are referred to by their professional acronyms: in America, the major ones are National Broadcasting Company (NBC), American Broadcasting Company (ABC), and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS); in Canada, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC); in Britain, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and Independent Television News (ITN), owned by the network of Britain’s commercial television companies. Australia has many independent stations as well as Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). In Europe and elsewhere, there are both state broadcasting and independent broadcasting networks. All are members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Communications technology has an elaborate lexicon of phrases such as ‘sat feeds’—satellite television transmissions; ENG—electronic news gathering; and, by comparison, old-fashioned terminology like ‘dope sheets’ which refer to the factual information provided by a cameraman when he ships his film or tapes. Other language derives directly from the cinema—take, expose, cut, shoot, and so on. And some, like ‘hacks’ for reporters, are journalese.
The same applies to the printing industry: ‘proofs’ are the finished pages of yet-to-be-printed books; ‘separations’ are the colour pictures divided into four or more colours before printing; ‘dummies’ are mock-ups of projected books without the final text or pictures, designed to show publishers what the finished publication will look and feel like.
In all cases, I have tried to ensure that context clarifies meaning.
Foreword
SOMETIME IN THE LAST DAYS of October 1984, I turned on the television and saw something that was to change my life.
I was confronted by something so horrendous, I was wrenched violently from the complacency of another rather dispiriting day and pinioned, unable to turn away from the misery of another world inhabited by people only recognisable as humans by their magnificent dignity.
I do not know why Mo Amin’s pictures did this to me. God knows, if you watch an average night’s news, you are confronted with enough scenes of horror to seriously question man’s sanity. But the tube also has the ability to reduce, to shrink events and make them bearable in the context of your living room. Ultimately, one becomes immune, if not anaesthetised.
But the pitiless, unrelenting gaze of this camera was different. Somehow, this was not objective journalism but confrontation. There was a dare here: ‘I dare you to turn away, I dare you to do nothing’. Mo Amin had succeeded above all else in showing you his own disgust and shame and anger and making it yours also.
It is certainly true that were it not for that now historic broadcast, millions would be dead. There would have been no Band, Live, or Sport Aid, no mass outpouring of humanity’s compassion. No questioning of statutes, laws, and values both inside and outside Africa. No reappraisal of development, of the nature of international aid, no debate on the mire that Africa had become.
In that brief, shocking but glorious moment, Amin had transcended the role of journalist-cameraman and perhaps unwittingly become the visual interpreter of man’s stinking conscience.
He had always been amongst that breed considered extraordinary. He continues to upset us with his unrelenting and passionate lens. He is without question an extraordinary man.
I thank God that I was home that autumn evening. I thank God I was watching that channel, and I thank God that Mo Amin sickened and shamed me. Long may he do so.
Bob Geldof
Preface
THIS YEAR, CAMERAPIX, THE COMPANY my father founded, celebrates its 50th anniversary. It has been a journey synonymous with the history of post-independent Africa, where we have been a part of all the triumphs and tragedies, the success and the failures. My father’s story is the story of Africa—rising up against the odds and taking its rightful position amongst the best in the world. We could think of no better way to commemorate our anniversary than with the republishing of Mohamed Amin’s biographies as e-books to symbolise the change in technology that continues to uplift our continent.
A good story is timeless, no matter what media platform it is told on. Mo Amin’s story will live through the ages and these e-books will hopefully give many millions more the opportunity to experience his life and hopefully be inspired by it.
Salim Amin CEO, Camerapix 10th December 2013
Introduction: We Are the World

‘There comes a time when we heed a certain call When the world must come together as one There are people dying And it’s time to lend a hand to life The greatest gift of all …’
—We Are the World
IT’S OCTOBER 9, 1984. The place is Korem in northern Ethiopia. People lie dying, not from war or disease but simply of hunger. They lie by the thousands in the open: in freezing rain, in searing sun. If they had the strength to look for shelter they would find none. If they had the strength to look for food they would find none.
It’s like the Holocaust, but these are not the victims of hatred—only of indifference. In Europe, millions of tons of grain lie rotting in stores—too much for people already glutted with the realisation of plenty. Here in Korem, they shrivel before your eyes, wasted with the pain of starving and yet in their bearing, there is dignity to match the hopelessness in their eyes.
It’s like something out of the Bible. Gently, caringly, a television cameraman moves among the dying and the dead with his cameras. He limps as he walks. What passes between him and the victims and thus through his lens is so elemental, and so profound, that four days from today, it will change the world.
It’s January 28, 1985. Early morning in Los Angeles, California, USA, and 45 pop stars are belting out a revivalist-style hymn of hope that’s destined to become one of the hit singles of the decade—the world’s own anthem of love.
There’s Kenny Rogers, undisputed king of country and western, Bruce Springsteen, Lionel Richie, Bob Dylan, the balladeer of protest, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Dionne Warwick, and Ray Charles. So many, in fact, that nobody’s quite able to put a value on this unique gathering.
They’ve been here since ten o’clock last night and they won’t be leaving until eight o’clock this morning. They’re here because of Ken Kragen, and Harry Belafonte, and an Irishman called Bob Geldof, who’s flown over from Britain for this moment. And, of course, because of Mohamed Amin—the television cameraman who filmed the horror of Ethiopia 1984.
This day is one they’ll all remember. One the world will remember, too. On radio stations everywhere, in practically every language on earth, people will send in requests for We Are the World .
This is their requiem for the hungry and the homeless. Producer Quincy Jones is making it memorable: a heart cry from the famous for starving millions.
‘Hopefully,’ says Lionel Richie, ‘what we’re trying to do here is something that’s going to be everlasting, or at least a link in making people aware of the true value of life. It’s a party for life.’
Kim Carnes says, ‘If we can bottle the spirit we have in this room and send it round the world, we will have no problems.’
Ray Charles says, ‘For me, it’s a great opportunity to contribute to a beautiful cause, a wonderful cause. I’m honoured to be a part of it.’
Kenny Rogers says, ‘I see that these people really do care, they’re just like everybody else.’
Stevie Wonder says, ‘It’s out of a dream, all this energy together, energy that can really change the world. We’ve all got to use modern technology properly to bring people closer together. That helps them see how everyone is alike.’
As early as 1980, UN agencies and relief organisations began to warn of famine in Africa, and in Ethiopia in particular. Appeals for aid and food fell on deaf ears as the hungry continued to die. By the spring of 1984, the famine had reached a magnitude difficult to comprehend.
In the penultimate decade of the twentieth century, it was not really possible for a human mind to envisage half the population of London wasting away for want of food. Jobless people in Europe and America didn’t really understand, any more than those in safe and secure jobs with comfortable homes that five million people could die of hunger. Not in societies where surplus food made mountains.
In October 1984, Mohamed Amin could not believe what he saw. Nothing, he was t