John Pilger, the Australian-born investigative journalist, war correspondent, author and filmmaker has died.
Pilger's family made the announcement of his death in London at the age of 84 on Sunday on the social media platform X,
https://x.com/johnpilger/status/1741419322449215716?s=20
"His journalism and documentation were celebrated around the world, but to his family he was simply the most amazing and loved Dad, Grandad and partner. Rest in Peace."
Born in 1939 in Bondi, Sydney, Australia, Pilger moved to the UK in the 1960s where he worked for the Daily Mirror, ITV's investigative program World in Action and for the Reuters news agency. Throughout his career Pilger was a strong critic of western foreign policy, and his native country's treatment of Indigenous Australians.
He covered conflicts in Bangladesh, Biafra, East Timor, the aftermath of the Pol Pot reign in Cambodia, Latin America, the Middle East and Vietnam, and was named journalist of the year in 1962 and 1979.
Pilger was in the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s, and marched with America's poor from Alabama to Washington, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He was in the same room when Robert Kennedy, the presidential candidate was assassinated in June 1968.
Pilger had a successful career in documentary filmmaking, creating more than 50 films and winning An American TV Academy Award, an Emmy and a British Academy Award and a BAFTA. In 2003 he was awarded the Sophie Prize for "30 years of exposing injustice and promoting human rights." In 2017 the British Library announced a John Pilger Archive of his written work and filmed work.
Tributes have been pouring in across social media.
George Galloway on X wrote "RIP to one of the world's most intrepid, independent and stalwart journalists and documentarians, John Pilger."
https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/1741459806811037857?s=20
Max Blumenthal wrote his film like 1983 Nicaragua, a nation's right to survive, inspired his own work as did the messages of encouragement and insights he sent me and my colleagues.
https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1741560138329108611?s=20
Kevin Lygo, managing director of media and entertainment told the Associate Press "John was a giant of campaigning journalism. He had a clear, distinctive editorial voice which he used to great effect throughout his distinguished filmmaking career. His documentaries were engaging, challenging and always very watchable. He eschewed comfortable consensus and instead offered a radical, alternative approach on current affairs and a platform for dissenting voices over 50 years."
WBAI's own Randy Credico said wrote "In a league of his won without peer."
https://x.com/CredicoRandy/status/1741474336937017488?s=20
Most recently Pilger campaigned for the release of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, who is fighting a lengthy battle against extradition to the United States. He told Pulitzer Prize-winng journalist Chris Hedges during an interview for On Contact "this is a CIA operation, anyone who knows the United States well knows the power of the CIA, the extrajudicial power of the CIA, the extra-governmental power of the CIA - that is what this is..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKZDtc0mx4g&t=56s
His work can be found on the website johnpilger.com
