Arnold Karskens

(Beemster, 1964) as a child listened spellbound to the stories of adults about World War II. It didn’t come as a surprise that he decided to become a war correspondent after his journalism study. Since then he has visited some thirty places of conflict. Karskens never goes as an ‘embedded’ journalist but insists on his independence. That’s why he received the honorary prize “Journalist for Peace” of the Humanistisch Vredesberaad (Humanist Peace Council). The jury praised him for being ‘one of the few’ in the news coverage on Iraq and Afghanistan who declines to see everything through western eyes but shows how the actions of the west form the breeding ground for embitterment in the Islamic world against the West. In addition he was recipient in 2008 of the Clara Meijer-Wichmann medal of the League for Human Rights and J’Accuse. Karskens wrote several books, Reizen langs de frontlijn (travelling along the frontline), “A handbook for journalists, relief workers and adventurers”. In his latest book Rebellen met een reden (Rebels with a cause) he probes what it is that people inspires in choosing the life of a rebel – from deserter Poncke Princen to FARC-rebel Tanja Nijmeijer. Karskens worked as a freelancer for fifteen years, worked part-time for Nieuwe Revu and now works with daily newspaper De Pers.