Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Sophie McNeill, ABC Books, $34.99.
We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know is more than a memoir. Award-winning journalist, McNeill has reported on some of the most war-ravaged and oppressive places on earth including Syria, Gaza, Yemen, West Bank and Iraq.
It’s more than a book about war crimes. It’s actually about amazing people who will inspire you. She tells the human stories of devastation and hope behind the headlines – of children, families and refugees, of valiant doctors, steadfast dissidents and Saudi women seeking asylum.
These innocent civilians bear the brunt of the lawlessness of the current age of impunity, where war crimes go unpunished and human rights are abused. Many risk everything they know to stand up for what they believe in and to be on the right side of history and their courage is extraordinary and inspiring,
McNeill also examines what happens when evidence and facts become subjective and debatable, and how and why disinformation, indemnity and hypocrisy now reign supreme. While we can’t say we didn’t know, the question is what are you going to do about it?
For the past 20 years, the world has watched on as millions died across the Middle East and millions more were displaced. In 2020, Afghanistan and Syria are still chasing elusive peace deals brokered by third parties. Meanwhile in Yemen, there appears to be no end to the violence.
All of this has been broadcast in real time, with journalists reporting from the frontline and activists live-streaming evidence of war crimes straight to social media. Immediately, the admonition strikes you from the book’s title, and the inducement is deliberate. The challenge is to not stop reading and not to look away.
McNeill is ‘blunt: our epoch is failing. Ubiquitous outrage will land on the latest celebrity gaffe while the great humanitarian disasters vanish into the bowels of our social media feed. McNeill demands more as she takes the reader through her work in the Middle East over the past decade’.
