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Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-71826-4 - Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett Edited by George Burchett and Nick Shimmin Frontmatter More information Rebel Journalism The Writings of Wilfred Burchett This book is an anthology of the writings of Wilfred Burchett, perhaps the greatest journalist and war correspondent Australia has ever produced. He was also one of the most controversial figures of the Cold War, both here and overseas. Burchett published more than 30 books, and this volume brings together extracts from most of these, spanning the entire breadth of his career, from World War II, through Hiroshima, Eastern Europe, Korea, Russia, Laos, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Angola, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and other areas from which Burchett reported. The book presents these documents of reportage mostly in chronological order, and thus serves not only as a significant historical overview of the period, but also as a reader in Cold War journalism. George Burchett is an artist and translator. In 2005 he co-edited, with Nick Shimmin, Memoirs of a Rebel Journalist: The Autobiography of Wilfred Burchett. Nick Shimmin completed a doctorate at the University of Lancaster in 1989 on the Manx writers T.E. Brown and Hall Caine. Since that time he has worked in sales and marketing and as a subtitling editor at the Special Broadcasting Service. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-71826-4 - Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett Edited by George Burchett and Nick Shimmin Frontmatter More information Rebel Journalism The Writings of Wilfred Burchett Edited by George Burchett and Nick Shimmin © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-71826-4 - Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett Edited by George Burchett and Nick Shimmin Frontmatter More information cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo Cambridge University Press 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521718264 C The Estate of Wilfred Burchett 2007 First Foreword C John Pilger 2007 Second Foreword C Gavan McCormack 2007 This publication is copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2007 Printed in Australia by Ligare A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication data Rebel journalism : the writings of Wilfred Burchett. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-52171-826-4 (pbk.). 1. Burchett, Wilfred, 1911–1983. 2. Foreign correspondents – Australia. 3. War correspondents – Australia. I. Burchett, G.H. (George Harold). II. Shimmin, Nicholas L. 070.4332092 ISBN-13 978-0-521-71826-4 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders, and the publishers will be happy to correct mistakes or omissions in future editions. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-71826-4 - Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett Edited by George Burchett and Nick Shimmin Frontmatter More information Contents List of Photographs vii Acknowledgements viii Foreword by John Pilger ix Foreword by Gavan McCormack xv Introduction xix 1 The Atomic Plague [1945] 1 2 With Mick Griffith to the Plaine des Lacs [1941] 6 3 Who Is Wingate Anyway? [1944] 17 4 The Trial of Cardinal Mindszenty [1951] 31 5 Liberty in Eastern Europe [1951] 44 6 The Microbe War [1953] 51 7 Koje Unscreened [1953] 69 8 The Ball-Point Pen Murders [1954] 79 9 South of the 17th Parallel [1955] 88 10 Front-Line Village [1959] 105 11 Welcome Home [1961] 115 12 Gagarin: The First Interview with Western Journalists [1961] 124 13 Virgin Lands [1962] 130 14 Lilac and Outer Space [1962] 139 v © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-71826-4 - Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett Edited by George Burchett and Nick Shimmin Frontmatter More information vi Contents 15 War Against Trees [1963] 151 16 The Tragedy of South Vietnam’s Ethnic Minorities [1964] 168 17 Interview with General Vo Nguyen Giap (April 13, 1964) 175 18 A Fortified Hamlet [1965] 183 19 Patriots and Mercenaries [1965] 190 20 At Ground Level [1966] 202 21 A Spurned Olive Branch [1967/1977] 216 22 Personal Leader [1968] 225 23 The Tet of Peace [1973/1977] 230 24 ‘Something from Nothing’ Township [1976] 242 25 Evaluating the Past [1976] 252 26 Mercenaries: British Export Model [1977] 262 27 The Geneva Conference [1978] 271 28 How to be a Good Khmer Rouge [1981] 286 29 China Prepares to Attack Vietnam [1981] 296 30 Afterword [1983] 303 Notes 306 Bibliography 309 Index 310 © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-71826-4 - Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett Edited by George Burchett and Nick Shimmin Frontmatter More information List of Photographs 1. Wilfred Burchett as war correspondent in 1943 (Chapter 3) page 30 2. With Allied pressmen at Panmunjom, Korea, 1952. From left to right: Norman McSwan – Reuters; unnamed INS correspondent; Wilfred Burchett; unnamed AP correspondent. [Courtesy Norman McSwan] (Chapter 6) 68 3. President Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, 1966 (Chapter 9) 103 4. Wilfred Burchett visiting the Laos front in Sam Neua province (Chapter 10) 111 5. Yuri Gagarin with Wilfred Burchett, Moscow, 1961 (Chapter 11) 123 6. Pyotr Maximov, one of the tens of thousands of Soviet youth who answered the call: ‘Come East, Young Man!’, 1962 (Chapter 13) 138 7. General Vo Nguyen Giap, Defence Minister and Commander-in-Chief of Vietnam’s People’s Army, Hanoi, 1965 (Chapter 17) 181 8. ‘Blossom’ and ‘Lissom’, 1964 (Chapter 18) 188 9. Wilfred Burchett with a member of a Vietnamese village self-defense corps, 1964 (Chapter 20) 201 10. Anti-aircraft defence: village girls in training (North Vietnam, 1966) (Chapter 20) 215 11. Wilfred Burchett and his wife with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong and President Ho Chi Minh, 1965 (Chapter 21) 223 12. A US jet plane goes to the airplane cemetery, Hanoi, 1966 [photo Wilfred Burchett] (Chapter 23) 240 vii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-71826-4 - Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett Edited by George Burchett and Nick Shimmin Frontmatter More information Acknowledgements This book is a further acknowledgement of those few remaining journalists who are still prepared to make huge sacrifices to deliver what they believe to be the truth. It is dedicated to Vessa Burchett (1919–2007), Wilfred’s wife, companion, colleague and first reader, a witness to many of the events covered in this book, mother of three of his four chil- dren (including one of the editors), a remarkable woman, of great courage and spirit, the yin to Wilfred’s yang. We would also like to acknowledge the support of the follow- ing people who have assisted or promoted Wilfred’s work and the development of this project: Deborah Franco, Ilza Burchett, Graham Burchett, Cambridge University Press in Australia (particularly Paulina de Laveaux, Adam Ford, Sandra McComb), Ragnar van Leyden, Simon Nasht, Penny Allen, Jon Rose, Hollis Taylor, Lady Borton, John Maynard, Dr Nguyen Thi Tinh, Stephen Sewell, John Pilger, Trinh Ngoc Thai, Ben Kiernan, Gavan McCormack, Christopher Reed, Kelly Gaudry, Stuart Macintyre, Tom Heenan, Stephanie Alexander, David Bradbury, Mark Davis, Kate Barton, Brendan Doyle, Steve Mori, Rainer Burchett, Peter Burchett, Anna Burchett, Patrick Grif- fiths, Thao Griffiths, Amanda Jane Duthie, Gerry Herman, and UNSW Press in Sydney. The photograph of Wilfred Burchett with Allied pressmen at Panmunjom, Korea, 1952 is reproduced with the permission of Norman McSwan. All other photographs are courtesy of The Estate of Wilfred Burchett. And our thanks to everyone else who has supported us in promoting Wilfred’s work and legacy. viii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-71826-4 - Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett Edited by George Burchett and Nick Shimmin Frontmatter More information Foreword by John Pilger1 In the late spring of 1980, shortly before I was due to leave for Cambodia, I received a phone call from Paris. A familiar, husky voice came quickly to the point. ‘Can you postpone?’ he said. ‘I’ve heard about a Khmer Rouge list and you’re on it. I’m worried about you.’ That Wilfred Burchett was worried about the welfare of another human being was not surprising; the quintessence of the man lay in what he did not say. He neglected to mention not only that he was on the same ‘list’, but that a few weeks earlier, at the age of seventy and seriously ill, he had survived a bloody ambush laid for him by Khmer Rouge assassins, who wounded a travelling companion. (Wilfred’s intelligence was as reliable as ever; I narrowly escaped a similar ambush at the same place he was attacked.) I have known other brave reporters; I have not known another who, through half a century of risk-taking, demonstrated as much concern for others and such valour on behalf of others. He took risks to smuggle Jews out of Nazi Germany, to drag American wounded to safety during the Pacific war, and to seek out prisoners of war in Japan in 1945, to tell them help was coming; the list is long.