Albert Londres is the very incarnation of the great reporter. A sharp pen, he presented India, China and other countries like no other to him. He denounced the suffering of pearl divers as well as prisoners in other countries. His mysterious death in 1932 fed his legend. Historian Evelyne Ferron tells us about her unique trajectory.
Albert London was born in Vichy, France, in 1884. In his early twenties, he dreamed of becoming a poet. To earn a living, he accepts a job as a parliamentary journalist. “Nothing, in the beginning, set him up to be this kind of great reporter that would put the man in everyone’s heart”, Evelyne Ferron said.
In 1914, he covered up the bombing of the cathedral in Reims, France. This event launched his career. His report goes around the world in the middle of the First World War.
” His pen becomes his weapon. That’s how he raises awareness. “
After the war, following an elaborate itinerary, he traveled to 24 countries, starting with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), where he had already observed the people oppressed by the revolution in 1917. He then stopped in Japan, in China and India.
In 1923, Albert Londres landed in French Guiana and entered a prison camp. He wrote 27 articles about the conditions of the penal colony, which was closed by the authorities in 1938.
” It sparks public opinion and people realize that they need to document themselves. “
In his career, Albert London criticized colonialism and the superiority of the white man. “He’s really ahead of his time, where he sees the dangers of anti-Semitism,” reveals Evelyne Ferron.
Albert Londres left a lasting mark on his time and in journalism. “He brings literature, poetry, journalism with a purpose […] to raise awareness. “
His early death at the age of 47, in May 1932, remains a mystery. He was in China and he knew he would return with extraordinary articles about the involvement of the Bolsheviks in the Chinese revolution. “All his documents were lost to him during the accident [paquebot] Georges-Philipart, ”explained Evelyne Ferron.
In 1933, his only daughter created the Albert-London award which crowned the best reporting by a journalist under 40 years of age. Since 1985, the prize has doubled as it rewards one journalist from the written press and one from the audiovisual sector.
Source: Radio-Canada
