Having always been an optimist, as far as human progression and the world getting better goes, this week has been a challenge. I do not doubt the febrile violence and overwhelming cruelty and pain displayed in Gaza and Israel has recruited a whole tranche of recruits to the “news avoidance” cause.
But it feels like it has never been more important to document events with integrity.
For those who have been following our Gaza diaries, written by a 35-year-old Palestinian, Ziad, who has been sending us his thoughts as he flees bombings with his sister and two cats, you will know it is a very personal journal.
The ferocity of war is endured in a state of fear by ordinary people but they still need to try to eat, sleep and look after their children. This raw and brutally honest account has touched a lot of our readers and Ziad’s ability to show just how that mundanity can change so dramatically in a few hours has surprised even him.
“I think I figured out the secret of good writing,” he managed to joke darkly in a text on Tuesday. “Put yourself in a deadly situation, live in constant fear, never let your adrenaline go down, gather at least 10 people and children around you, with at least two crying, give yourself minutes to write … and voilà! You’ve got yourself a good piece.”
Another colleague, from ZAM – the platform for an African collective of investigative journalists whose great work around migration from the continent we are co-publishing – said to me this week: “It’s like it takes all the running you can do just to stay in the same place. Anyway, we keep trying.”
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