NUJ members mourn slain journalists

• 11 Nov 2023

NUJ members from throughout Ireland gathered at the Garden of Remembrance, Dublin, on 11 November for a vigil of remembrance for journalists killed in conflict zones across the world.

128 flowers were laid in a symbolic procession, one for each journalist killed in the line of duty over the past two years.

Uilleann piper Noel Pocock played a lament after the names of the most recently murdered journalists, killed in the Israel-Palestine war.

The names of all murdered journalists were held aloft as the litany of names were read out.

Séamus Dooley, NUJ Irish Secretary, in welcoming journalists to the vigil warned that the list of killed journalists “would inevitably be out of date and may even have been overtaken by horrific events in Gaza.”

He said:

“We gather today in sorrow. We gather to mourn our dead with dignity but let that dignity not be mistaken for lack of anger. The scandalous contempt for the rights of journalists under the Geneva Conventions and Protocols by the Israeli government cannot be justified by the vile actions of Hamas. We mourn the loss of life in Israel and Palestine. The blood of journalists is no different to the blood of the other men, women and children who have been slain in this horrific war.

As a union of journalists, we want to highlight the attempt to silence journalists and journalism, to close down media outlets and to prevent the story of the ongoing assault on human rights being told by independent journalists working in horrendous conditions.”

Names were read in chronological order by prominent NUJ members. The journalists had been murdered in the line of duty in Haiti, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Mexico, India, Brazil, Chad, Turkey, Central African Republic, Ukraine, Guatemala, Philippines, Bangladesh, Israel & the occupied Palestinian Territory, Chile, Honduras, Yemen, Ecuador, USA, Paraguay, Somalia, Colombia, Kenya, Syria, Cameroon, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Albania, Lesotho and Lebanon.

Mary Curtin, NUJ Member of Honour and a former RTÉ producer read Seamus Heaney’s poem “From the Republic of Conscience” before members read the names of the dead and the location of their murder.

The names were read by: Siobhan Holliman, Neil Ward, Ronan Brady, Judy Murphy, Anton McCabe, Gerry Curran, Kitty Holland, Damien Tiernan, Emma O’Kelly, Fran McNulty, Ian McGuinness, Reza Nuri, Norma Prendiville and Michael Foley.

On 11 November, the NUJ Irish Biennial Delegate Conference unanimously passed a motion on the war calling for a ceasefire and condemning Israel’s attempt to clamp down on the media.

Journalists killed from January 2022 to November 2023

 

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