Australian foreign correspondent Peter Greste’s new book gives ‘the middle finger’ to his jailers
SPENDING 400 days languishing in a Cairo prison on trumped-up terrorism charges hasn’t quieted journalist Peter Greste’s criticism of the system that put him there. He shares his views on why press freedom is declining across the world.
Parramatta
Don't miss out on the headlines from Parramatta . Followed categories will be added to My News.
SPENDING 400 days languishing in a Cairo prison on trumped-up terrorism charges hasn’t quieted journalist Peter Greste’s criticism of the system that put him there.
If anything, he says the experience has put a fire in his belly to keep talking about the ways security laws in Egypt and elsewhere in the world are “closing down areas of legitimate journalistic inquiry”.
The Brisbanite who is still regarded as a convicted terrorist will speak on this topic, and the subject of his new book The First Casualty, at this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival.
“What I’m trying to do (with this book) is place what happened to us in Cairo in a global context,” Greste, an Al Jazeera correspondent who has also worked for Reuters, CNN and the BBC, predominantly in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, said.
“A part of it is about me saying to the Egyptians, ‘you tried to silence us, but instead you gave us platforms, microphones, to speak’; it’s a way of flipping the middle finger.”
In 2013, Greste and fellow Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were jailed, and later sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, for associating with Egyptian terrorist organisation Muslim Brotherhood and conspiring to overthrow the state, due to reports and news packages from preceding months that engaged the group.
An international campaign ensued to have Greste and his two colleagues freed, after they were accused of spreading false news while working in Egypt.
The trio maintained they were only doing their job as journalists.
Greste’s book Freeing Peter was written with his family, who spearheaded a global media campaign for his release.
“I want people to understand that the word ‘terrorism’ is so undefinable, it means anything people want it to mean,” Greste told NewsLocal. “In Egypt, anything that challenges the state, undermines national unity, becomes an act of terrorism.”
He warned Australia was moving in a similar direction. “We are increasingly limiting the scope of work journalists can do in a bid to tighten up national security,” he said, citing legislation introduced to improve national security including the controversial Foreign Fighters Bill which he describes as “a piece of legislation designed to stop Australian citizens from going abroad to fight with radical groups”.
“The problem is the definitions are so loose and the defence of the public interest so weak it’s very difficult for journalists to investigative what motivates foreign fighters without falling foul of that law,” Greste said. He said the new Espionage and Foreign Interference Bill 2017 also posed problems for journalists.
“The underlying line is if a Commonwealth civil servant has an unauthorised conversation with a journalist it is by definition treasonous,” Greste said.
A part of it is about me saying to the Egyptians, ‘you tried to silence us, but instead you gave us platforms, microphones, to speak’; it’s a way of flipping the middle finger.
“The problem is, we are effectively closing down the areas of legitimate journalistic enquiry that we, as taxpayers, have not just a right but a responsibility to know about.”
He said the digital revolution also posed problems for modern investigative journalism.
“The digital revolution has destroyed the business model for journalism and made it very difficult for the business to finance foreign news and investigative journalism,” said Greste, who this year joins The University of Queensland School of Communication and Arts as the UNESCO Chair of Journalism and Communication.
“Both of those things are very important for our understanding of the world. Also, the marketing guys keep telling us they’re not particularly popular and they’re very expensive.”
Greste will appear at The Seymour Centre in Chippendale on Wednesday, May 2, 6.30pm-7.30pm, where he will examine the way press freedom has steadily eroded to its worst point this century, and how Australia’s new national security laws are a troubling continuation of that trend.
He will then head west to Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres on Saturday, May 5, 7.30pm-8.30pm, where he will speak with Hamish Macdonald, an award-winning broadcaster and foreign correspondent and fellow at Harvard University, about the extent to which investigative journalism is under threat in the age of terrorism and fake news.
“We still slip into relatively narrow social silos; it’s exciting to step outside that and have these conversations as broadly as possible,” Greste said with reference to speaking in both Sydney and in Sydney’s west.
Greste will also be part of a panel discussion at the Carriageworks multi-arts centre in Eveleigh on Friday, May 4, 3pm-4pm, where he will consider whether a new path to peace can be forged.
He will be joined on the panel by award-winning author Randa Abdel-Fattah; Adjunct Associate Professor in the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash University, Mark Baker; author, journalist and documentarian Antony Loewenstein; and Balcony Over Jerusalem author John Lyons.
It’s exciting to ... have these conversations as broadly as possible.
Greste will return to Carriageworks on Saturday, May 5, 11.30am-12.30pm, to chat with fellow correspondent Hugh Riminton about the extent to which investigative journalism is under threat in the age of terrorism and fake news.
Featuring 60 international and 400 Australian writers, academics and public figures, the 21st Sydney Writers Festival will run from Monday, April 30, to Sunday, May 6.
Events will be held at Carriageworks, The Seymour Centre, and venues across greater Sydney including Parramatta, Bankstown, Blacktown, Casula, Penrith, Narellan, and Katoomba.
There will also be a Live & Local Streaming Program. Audiences at these venues can actively engage with and contribute to the festival by submitting questions to guest writers via Twitter and SMS.
“Across the 2018 program, our guests will examine (the festival theme) ‘power’ and its adjacent qualities, and its relationship to sex, money, politics, identity, and the state of the world,” the festival’s artistic director, Michaela McGuire, said.
“We’ll be making a firm case for literature, stories and public conversation helping resist the pull of a backward-lurching culture.”
To open the festival, three world-famous literary figures — André Aciman (Call Me by Your Name), Min Jin Lee (Pachinko), and Alexis Okeowo (A Moonless, Starless Sky) — will each deliver an address on “power”.
Also on the calendar is the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards presentation and cocktail reception at the State Library of NSW on April 30.
Established in 1979, the awards recognise the talent of homegrown novelists, poets, playwrights, scriptwriters and authors of nonfiction and children’s books.
With $305,000 in prizes in 2018, the awards are among the country’s richest and most prestigious.
The SWF Family Program brings Diary of a Wimpy Kid series author Jeff Kinney to Sydney Town Hall on Saturday, May 5, and children’s book artist and political cartoonist for the Observer, Chris Riddell, to Carriageworks on Sunday, May 6.
■ For the full Sydney Writers Festival program and ticketing information, visit: swf.org.au.
Australian Poetry Slam Winner 2018
‘Like the Honey Badger’: U16 players to watch at City v Country rugby
Young guns in the U16s City v Country battle will be playing for more than pride and victory on Sunday. Rising stars - including ones likened to the Honey Badger and Brian To’o - to watch
Big boppers, livewire: Unusual mix of U15s City v Country players to watch
There’s a mix of tall timber, an amazing smaller player, big boppers and a livewire hooker. It’s why the City v County U15s battle at Newcastle is shaping up to be a memorable one.