Anna Politkovskaya, journalist
Born New York 1958; married (one son, one daughter); died in Moscow 7 October 2006.
“My heroes are those people who want to be individuals, but are being forced to be cogs again. In an empire there are only cogs.”
– Anna Politkovskaya
Really dismaying to hear of the loss of this ‘Firebrand for freedom’ journalist. This obituary details the career of this brave human, who won more than 10 awards for her writing, including the Olof Palme Prize for human rights in 2005 and an Amnesty International prize.
Amongst other sources, the Guardian notes that Putin has so far been silent about Politkovkaya’s murder, and also features excerpts from some of her articles. The Independent notes the grim statistic that Politkovskaya is now the 12th (the Philadelphia Enquirer states the 13th) Russian journalist to lose her life to a contract assassin, and, with the Washington Post, at once pays tribute to her as well as hinting at the foreboding in and about the ‘new’ Russia:
“She was also, in the true sense, a dissident of the new Russia: one of a small band of journalists and intellectuals brave enough to challenge the way in which Russia’s current leaders exercise their power.”
May she rest in peace and her legacy continue.
UPDATE: Read Justin Raimondo’s skepticism about blaming Putin in an article in AntiWar (18 October): ‘The Frame-up of Vladimir Putin‘:
The frame-up of Vladimir Putin for the murder of Anna Politkovskaya is the latest chapter in an ongoing propaganda campaign that seeks to topple the Russian government and install a more pro-Western regime – one that won’t send missiles to Syria, trade with Iran, or exercise its UN veto.
