johnpilger.com: The films and journalism of John Pilger
'It is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and myths that surround it' - John Pilger
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David Munro 1944-1999
David Munro

David Munro died of cancer in August 1999.

John Pilger made his first film with David - 'Do You Remember Vietnam?' - in 1978. The next year they alerted the world to the horrors of Pol Pot's genocidal rule in Cambodia with 'Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia'.

John wrote of this experience:

"Pol Pot had fallen, and in basements, in petrol stations, there were orphaned, very sick children, whom we tried to help. David steered Gerry Pinches, the cameraman, as he filmed rows of opaque eyes, the tears running down his face. Gerry says David held us all together, and it was true.

"At times I am asked how I have withstood the emotional perils of having witnessed so much human mayhem and suffering. Part of the answer is that I shared a lot of it with David, whose comradeship was unerring, along with a black humour we both relished."

David Munro was more than just a producer and director. His voice was often heard as the narrator in other film-makers' works. He was an accomplished photographer as well as a cinematographer, at ease with film and video cameras, and he proved this brilliance when undercover with Pilger in East Timor and Burma. He was about to begin directing his own feature film in Venezuela when illness struck in early 1999.

David Munro recieved several awards while working with John Pilger:

Honourable Mention in the Broadcast Television - Current Affairs category, Golden Gate Awards, San Francisco, 1990

George Foster Peabody Award, Athens, Georgia, 1990

Award for Best Achievement in Documentaries, International Monitor Awards, New York, 1990

Special Commendation of the United Nations Association, UNA Media Peace Prize competition, London, 1990

Trophy for Best News Report (highest award of the competition), plus the - 'Reporters Sans Frontieres' prize awarded for the humanitarian values of the report - at the Adventure of Information Festival (The Great News Report competition), Bouches du Rhone, France, 1990

Gold Award in the Investigative Journalism category (TV and Video Productions), at the Houston International Film Festival, 1990

Read John Pilger's personal tribute to David Munro
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JOHN PILGER INTERVIEWED ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF 'A SECRET COUNTRY'
Twenty years ago, John Pilger's people's history of Australia, 'A Secret Country', was published. He is interviewed by Phillip Adams for ABC Radio National, in Sydney.
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LISTEN TO THE HEROES OF ISRAEL
John Pilger reminds us of the struggle by an extraordinary few in Israel against the repression and lawlessness of the occupation of Palestine. They are the inspiration to break the loud silence in the Jewish diaspora.
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FOR ISRAEL, A RECKONING
John Pilger describes the growing boycott, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine. Based on the anti-apartheid campaign that helped bring down the racist regime in South Africa, BDS is becoming a catch-cry for freedom in countries whose governments continue to ignore the Palestinians' struggle against another form of apartheid and which Nelson Mandela has described as "the greatest moral issue of our time".
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BREAKING THE AUSTRALIAN SILENCE
In a speech at the Sydney Opera House to mark his award of Australia's human rights prize, the Sydney Peace Prize, John Pilger describes the "unique features" of a political silence in Australia: how it affects the national life of his homeland and the way Australians see the world and are manipulated by great power "which speaks through an invisible government of propaganda that subdues and limits our political imagination and ensures we are always at war - against our own first people and those seeking refuge, or in someone else's country".
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RETURN TO A SECRET COUNTRY
John Pilger marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of A Secret Country, his best-selling history of Australia, with a description of Aboriginal Australia and its relationship with white authority following Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the "stolen generations" last year.
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FREE THE FORGOTTEN BIRD OF PARADISE
John Pilger describes the wholesale corporate takeover of the natural resources of West Papua, known as the "forgotten bird of paradise" by its impoverished indigenous people. A mountain of copper and gold, forests and fisheries, oil and gas: the "acquisition" of untold riches, sanctioned by the Suharto tyranny, was unique and remains a metaphor for "globalisation".
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FOR MANY BRITONS, THE PARTY GAME IS OVER
John Pilger analyses the impact of 'Blair's wars' on the Labour Party and its historic convergence with the Tories into a single ideology state.
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JOHN PILGER WINS 2009 SYDNEY PEACE PRIZE
John Pilger has been awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, Australia's recognition of outstanding work for human rights and "peace with justice".
Read the full citation.
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POWER, ILLUSION & AMERICA'S LAST TABOO
On 4 July, John Pilger spoke at Socialism 2009 in San Francisco. Click here for the text of his address, and here to watch it.
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MURDOCH: A CULTURAL CHERNOBYL
John Pilger describes "an iceberg of relentless inhumanity" beneath the Guardian's revelations about illegal phone tapping at Murdoch's Sunday tabloid and the impact of his empire in Britain and all over the world.
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BACK TO THE POINT OF DEPARTURE
John Pilger reflects on the idea of a journey, and wonders, like TS Eliot, if the point of travelling is also to find out where you came from. However, the unsuspected and tragic can change everything.
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DISTANT VOICES, DESPERATE LIVES
John Pilger describes the catastrophe facing the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, whose distant voices have appealed to the world for almost as long as the Palestinians.
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OBAMA'S 100 DAYS - THE MAD MEN DID WELL

John Pilger describes the power of advertising - from the effects of smoking to politics - as he reaches behind the facade of of the first 100 days President Barack Obama.

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THE REDS DOWN UNDER ARE REVOLTING
John Pilger describes a personal loss as the quality of Australia's once distinguished wine declines - a lesson for others as the greed of "cash cropping" threatens a nation's food supply.
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FAKE FAITH & EPIC CRIMES

John Pilger describes a worldwide movement that is 'challenging the once-sacrosanct notion that imperial politicians can destroy countless lives and retain an immunity from justice'. In Tony Blair's case, justice inches closer.

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WAR COMES HOME TO BRITAIN
John Pilger describes the basic freedoms being lost in Britain as the "national security state", imported from the United States by New Labour, takes effect.
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CAMBODIA'S MISSING ACCUSED
In an article for the Guardian, John Pilger calls on his long experience with Cambodia's struggles in lamenting missing faces in the dock at the UN-backed trial of crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge period. Where are Pol Pot's accomplices and collaborators in the West?
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HOLLYWOOD'S NEW CENSORS

John Pilger describes how censorship in Hollywood works in the age of the 'war on terror'. Unlike the crude days of the cold war, it's by omission and 'introspective dross'.

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THE POLITICS OF BOLLOCKS
John Pilger borrows from Lord West of Spithead to deconstruct current mythology, such as the 'impartiality' of the BBC and the 'radical changes' implemented by President Obama.
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COME ON DOWN FOR YOUR FREEDOM MEDALS
John Pilger writes that "as deserving as Tony Blair is of his George W. Bush Freedom Medal, others cry out for a place in his company". Following Israel's assault on Gaza, he offers two additional nominees.
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HOLOCAUST DENIED: THE LYING SILENCE OF THOSE WHO KNOW
John Pilger calls on 40 years of reporting the Middle East to describe the 'why' of Israel's bloody onslaught on the besieged people of Gaza - an attack that has little to do with Hamas or Israel's right to exist.
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