Ron Haviv | |
---|---|
Born | 1965 (age 58–59) |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | New York University |
Occupation | photojournalist |
Website | ronhaviv.com |
Ron Haviv (born 1965) [1] is an American photojournalist who covers conflicts. He is the author of several photographic publications, is a co-founder of VII Photo Agency, lectures at universities and conducts workshops. Haviv has photographed more than 26 conflicts and worked in over 100 countries in the last three decades. He has documented American politics since 1988 and has photographed over 10 national conventions. [2]
Ron Haviv was a student and graduate of Northern Valley Demarest High School in 1983, and later went on to graduate from New York University. [3] Since the end of the Cold War he has covered conflict and other humanitarian crises worldwide.
Haviv has also photographed the city of Juárez, [4] a battleground of the Mexican Drug War where civilian, law enforcement and cartel member casualties occur daily. [5] Additionally, Haviv covered the destruction of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, as well as the subsequent cholera epidemic, and celebrity support and involvement in its reconstruction. Haviv's photography also sheds light on malnutrition in Bangladesh, clashes between Los Angeles gangs and police forces, the 2009 Afghan presidential elections, the Sri Lankan Civil War, and the struggle for children in Darfur.
Haviv's photography has been collected and published in the books: Blood and Honey: A Balkan War Journal,Afghanistan: On the Road to Kabul, and Haiti: 12 January 2010. He is one of seven co-founders of VII Photo Agency, formed in 2001, along with Alexandra Boulat, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Christopher Morris, James Nachtwey and John Stanmeyer. Haviv has channeled his focus on raising awareness for human rights violations by helping to create multi-platform projects for NGOs, such as Doctors Without Borders' DR Congo missions: The Forgotten War and Starved for Attention, UNICEF's Child Alert for Darfur and Sri Lanka, and the International Committee of the Red Cross' World at War.
In 2012 it was revealed an image from his book Afghanistan: On the Road to Kabul, which was also published on The Digital Journalist website,[ citation needed ] had been licensed to the arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin to advertise its small diameter bombs. [6] [7] According to figures in The Guardian in 2010 Lockheed Martin were the biggest seller of arms in the world, with sales exceeding $35 billion. [6] Haviv responded to the controversy with a statement in which he textually says: "I draw a strict line between my photojournalism and commercial campaigns and feature examples of both on my website, where they are clearly labeled for what they are." [8] Haviv also claimed that his photo agency "VII is not associated in any way with the images in question". [9]
Haviv is known for his broad documentation of the Yugoslav Wars: the battle of Vukovar in Croatia, the Siege of Sarajevo, the atrocities committed at Serb concentration camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the practice of ethnic cleansing as exhibited by Arkan's Tigers, [10] paramilitary group active during the Bosnian War.
In April 1992, Haviv embedded with Arkan’s Tigers. His earlier interactions with the Tigers in Croatia included photographing their commander, Arkan, who expressed particular interest in an image of himself posing with a baby tiger and a gun. On April 2, 1992, while accompanying the Tigers to Bijeljina, Haviv documented their violent actions against civilians, and captured one of the first documented war crimes of the conflict. Among the photographs he took is one of Hajrush Ziberi, a young man pleading for his life, which served as evidence of the Tigers' detention of civilians. Ziberi’s body was reportedly later discovered in the Sava River. Haviv witnessed the killings of several individuals, including a woman named Tifa, who was also shot while begging for her life. He observed that it was "clear Arkan’s Tigers were rounding up and targeting civilians." His observations included a scene where a man, Admir Šabanović, was shot after attempting, noting that "they just shot him, like a joke." [11]
As the Tigers prepared to leave the scene, Haviv realized the importance of capturing a photograph that included both the perpetrators and their victims. He recognized a commando he had previously photographed and took an image of him swinging his boot toward Tifa’s body amidst the other victims. This photograph has become emblematic of the extraordinary violence against civilians, appearing in books, newspapers, and magazines, and cited by prosecutors at The Hague. After witnessing the events, Haviv quickly left the scene but was intercepted by Arkan, who confiscated the roll of film from Haviv’s camera. Haviv had hidden additional rolls that contained some of the only existing photographs of the Bijeljina massacre. Two weeks later, Time published a photo essay titled “The Killing Goes On,” which marked the first public exposure of the atrocities and prompted widespread international outcry. Following the publication, Arkan expressed his anger at Haviv, reportedly stating he “looked forward to the day” he could “drink his blood.” Despite the notoriety of the photographs, many of the individuals depicted in them have yet to face legal consequences for their actions during the war. [11]
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(January 2017) |
Željko Ražnatović, better known as Arkan, was a Serbian warlord, mobster and head of the Serb paramilitary force called the Serb Volunteer Guard during the Yugoslav Wars, considered one of the most feared and effective paramilitary forces during the wars. His paramilitary unit was responsible for numerous crimes in Eastern Bosnia, including murder, pillaging, rape and ethnic cleansings.
The 1992–1996 Afghan Civil War, also known as the Second Afghan Civil War, took place between 28 April 1992—the date a new interim Afghan government was supposed to replace the Republic of Afghanistan of President Mohammad Najibullah—and the Taliban's occupation of Kabul establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 27 September 1996.
Reza Deghati is an Iranian-French photojournalist.
VII Photo Agency is an international photo agency wholly owned and governed by its membership.
Gary Knight is an Anglo-American photographer, editor and author. Co-founder of the VII Photo Agency, co-founder and CEO of the VII Foundation and founder and CEO of the VII Academy.
The War in Afghanistan was an armed conflict that took place from 2001 to 2021. Launched as a direct response to the September 11 attacks, the war began when an international military coalition led by the United States invaded Afghanistan, declaring Operation Enduring Freedom as part of the earlier-declared war on terror, toppling the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate, and establishing the Islamic Republic three years later. The Taliban and its allies were expelled from major population centers by US-led forces supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance; Osama bin Laden, meanwhile, relocated to neighboring Pakistan. The conflict officially ended with the 2021 Taliban offensive, which overthrew the Islamic Republic, and re-established the Islamic Emirate. It was the longest war in the military history of the United States, surpassing the length of the Vietnam War (1955–1975) by approximately six months.
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The May 2010 Kabul bombing occurred on May 18, 2010, in Kabul, Afghanistan. 18 people, including 5 US soldiers and a Canadian soldier, were killed and 52 were injured when a NATO convoy was targeted by a Taliban suicide attacker. It was the deadliest attack against NATO forces in Afghanistan since September 2009, when six Italian soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber. Two full colonels and two lieutenant colonels were killed in this attack, making it the deadliest attack against ranking officers in Afghanistan. With this attack, the total number of Americans killed in Afghanistan crossed one thousand.
The Bijeljina massacre involved the killing of civilians by Serb paramilitary groups in Bijeljina on 1–2 April 1992 in the run-up to the Bosnian War. The majority of those killed were Bosniaks. Members of other ethnicities were also killed, such as Serbs deemed disloyal by the local authorities. The killings were committed by a local paramilitary group known as Mirko's Chetniks and by the Serb Volunteer Guard, a Serbia-based paramilitary group led by Željko "Arkan" Ražnatović. The SDG were under the command of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which was controlled by Serbian President Slobodan Milošević.
On 5 August 2010, ten members of International Assistance Mission (IAM) Nuristan Eye Camp team were killed in Kuran wa Munjan District of Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan. The team was attacked as it was returning from Nuristan to Kabul. One team member was spared while the rest of the team were killed immediately. Those killed were six Americans, two Afghans, one Briton and one German.
W.M. Hunt is a photography collector, curator and consultant who lives and works in New York.
Teun Voeten is a Dutch photojournalist and cultural anthropologist specializing in war and conflicts. In 1996 he published the book Tunnelmensen about homeless people living in an old railroad tunnel in Manhattan. He also wrote books on the war in Sierra Leone and made a photo book on the drug violence in Mexico, on which subject he wrote a PhD thesis at Leiden University.
Abedin Mahdavi is Freelance Photojournalism, International Reporter subjecting war children and crisis, Director and a Human rights activist regarding international Peace. He is the leader and founder of an international artists group called "Holy Children Group".
Christopher Anderson is an American photographer. He is a member of Magnum Photos.
Maggie Steber is an American documentary photographer. Her work has documented a wide range of issues, including the African slave trade, Native American issues in the United States, natural disasters, and science.
Benjamin Lowy is an American photojournalist. He is best known for his work as a conflict photographer in war zones, and is one of the early adopters of and a vocal proponent for mobile photography.
Sebastiano Tomada is an Italian photojournalist. He is known for his conflict photography, documenting war in Afghanistan and conflicts in Libya, Syria, and the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. His work has been commissioned by Vanity Fair,The Sunday Times,GQ, and The New Republic.
On 1 July 2019, a combined gun and bomb attack took place in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan. The attackers initially detonated a bomb-laden truck, after which five gunmen entered a nearby building under construction and fired on Afghan security personnel evacuating people onto the street. At least forty-five were killed, including the five attackers. The spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, Wahidullah Mayar, said that 116 civilians, including 26 children and 5 women, were wounded. The Taliban claimed the responsibility for the bomb attack in Kabul and said although civilians were not the Taliban target, some were injured.