Yvonne Ridley – Journey to Journalism A Tale #07

			If I get captured again, people will just
		

			say, throw away the key.
		

			I wanted to become a journalist from the
		

			age of 14 because I realised that the
		

			pen is mightier than the sword and you
		

			can actually make a change in people's lives
		

			through writing about it.
		

			My first job as a journalist was in
		

			1976.
		

			I was working for a weekly newspaper and
		

			I was sent on a minor story, a
		

			woman who lived in deplorable housing conditions and
		

			she had rising damp in her home and
		

			she had been in touch with her local
		

			authority, the council, to get this fixed and
		

			they had ignored her.
		

			Out of desperation, she came to the Stanley
		

			News, as it was called, and I reported
		

			the story and within a week of the
		

			story being published, the council redecorated her flat,
		

			gave her a new kitchen sink, repaired all
		

			the things that she'd asked to do and
		

			this was very minor in the grand scheme
		

			of things but it made me realise, you
		

			know, gosh, I can make a change to
		

			people's lives.
		

			When I was 13, I was asked to
		

			sign a petition in support of Palestinians.
		

			Now at that time, the Akili Laro cruise
		

			ship had been hijacked by Palestinians, the several
		

			airliners had been hijacked by Palestinians and I
		

			said, why would I support these terrorists and
		

			somebody said, well, why do you think they
		

			are doing all these hijackings?
		

			And I went, I don't know and so
		

			I got a history lesson and I was
		

			shocked.
		

			I was really shocked because this is something
		

			that we weren't taught in schools, that a
		

			country in Europe with no connection at all
		

			to Palestine gave away the land of Palestine
		

			to another group of people in Europe and
		

			that was it and the Palestinians weren't consulted
		

			and they had their land taken away from
		

			them.
		

			Now there are nearly five million Palestinian refugees.
		

			So I signed this petition and I have
		

			supported justice for the Palestinians in, you know,
		

			any way that I can be productive to
		

			help their cause and to create public awareness
		

			so that people can understand why the Palestinians
		

			and are still 70 years on are still
		

			living in refugee camps.
		

			And there have been many times when I
		

			have been asked a few years ago when
		

			I visited Iran and I addressed some government
		

			officials there and they said to me, will
		

			you tell us about your Taliban experience?
		

			And I said, yes, I will.
		

			And I said, do you want the truth?
		

			And they said, yes, of course we do.
		

			I said, are you sure you want the
		

			truth?
		

			And they said, yes, of course.
		

			So I told them the truth and I
		

			could see this is not what they expected.
		

			They expected to hear about abuse, *, torture,
		

			primitive behavior.
		

			And when I told them about my treatment,
		

			including being invited to embrace Islam, they were
		

			surprised and kept saying, but did they not
		

			harm you?
		

			But did they, you know, and I said,
		

			I know it's what you want to hear,
		

			but you said you wanted the truth and
		

			I am telling you the truth.