Geramm's new music video highlights slain Palestinians journos

Heartbreaking images of the war in Palestine are the highlights in Gerakan Media Merdeka’s (Geramm) ode to the journalists covering the conflict there.

The video opens with Hamza Chalan, a journalist from Gaza, leading Palestinian children in chanting “Free Palestine”.

Despite the children’s cheering and laughter, they are surrounded by tents, a stark reminder to the viewer that 90 percent of Gazans have been displaced.

The song’s title, “Tinggal Nama”, can be translated to “names left behind” and refers to the journalists who were killed in the ongoing conflict.

Fahd Aboed sings in his clear tenor “Di antara mereka ada kita pewarta/ hanya kata senjata ‘tuk sampaikan kepada dunia” (among them, they have us journalists/ with only words as weapons to the world).

According to the Committee To Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) preliminary investigations, at least 137 journalists and media workers have been killed since the conflict escalated on Oct 7 last year.

In a statement, the CPJ dubbed it “the deadliest period for journalists” since the committee began collecting data in 1992.

“Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price - their lives - for their reporting.

“Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth,” said CPJ programme director Carlos Martinez de la Serna.

Of the 137 journalists killed, 129 were Palestinian, six were Lebanese, and two were Israeli.

CPJ said it is still researching the details of at least 22 more cases, in which journalists may have been directly targeted.

Tribute to journalists everywhere

The song in Geramm’s music video was written by Fahd’s cousin, Malaysiakini journalist and Geramm coordinator Alyaa Alhadjri.

She began penning lyrics for Fahd’s song in 2021 as he wanted to explore English songwriting.

The lyrics for “Tinggal Nama” were written around the same time when Geramm organised its SavePress4Gaza demonstration.

“(The song is a) tribute for journalists who died in Gaza, and semangat (spirit) for journalists here and elsewhere who are still working,” she told Malaysiakini.

She left the song itself, from its melody to the emotion it is meant to evoke, to Fahd.

The music video was created by Nikkei Asia journalist Norman Goh, who sourced videos from social media.

He also used artificial intelligence to generate some of the video’s visuals.

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