Albert Camus: pacifist-journalist

Forty years ago on January 4, 1960, Albert Camus, then 46, died in a car accident. At 20 or so, he had been refused an academic career because of his tuberculosis which was then not curable.

Camus was writing to advocate for the Algerian Muslims, who had no rights as French citizens. He was writing against fascism, but not simply that, his was a struggle against the denial of dignity and rights of people anywhere, from the Kabyle region to the Gulag. To portray Camus as a communist, as was common in schools of my upbringing, was not doing justice to him. Nor was he happy with being labeled as an existentialist. Camus was a pacifist of the best kind, struggling in favor of non-violence, human rights and truth. A pertinent model for today's journalism. Here is a quote from Camus I like: "All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning"

The TSR has a great documentary on Camus, and the Liberation has a series of articles. All of this can be found under lesdocs.ch