【Off-site Notes】Presence: Why do you need to go to the front line? What is the front line?

It is estimated that the time to leave for Lebanon is approaching, and the visa that has been waited for almost two months has not been issued yet. At that time, the third week of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, my friend asked me jokingly, who wants to see Lebanon and Syria now?

It was around the time when the Syrian civil war was turning into a proxy war that I started paying attention to the war. At first, I interviewed fleeing refugees in Europe. In 2019, I chose to do field research in Lebanon, chat with young Syrian mothers and grandmothers in refugee shantytowns, and in the Shatila refugee camp in southern Beirut with young people from Syria, Palestine and Lebanon. The exchange, the tenacity and resilience of people here in suffering, gave me a lot of inspiration and reflection.

The "Presence" plan this time was brewing as early as the end of 2019 when the civil protests broke out in Lebanon in October. The subsequent economic crisis, the explosion of the port, the paralysis of banks, electricity and medical systems all made me more determined to return to On that land, see again the group of people I met in 2019, learn about their lives now, listen to how they deal with a series of disasters, or feel a little overwhelmed, maybe let them know that on the other side of the world, someone cares about them of suffering.

I also especially like to go to the scene when major international news attention has faded, because a certain length of time can help digest and more closely see the impact and change in an individual after a disaster (or a disaster that is still happening). Some Syrian youths who met in Lebanon in 2019 also chose to return to Syria after waves of crises in Lebanon. This makes me hope that through the choices and experiences of these young people, I can try to piece together the changes that have occurred in them in a Syrian war that has lasted for more than 10 years.

After 2 weeks later than the expected time, we successfully arrived at Beiru Trafic Hariri International Airport at more than 8 pm on the first day of March. On the way from the airport to the city, the most obvious change is the darkening of the whole city. Lebanon is highly dependent on fuel imports. The economic crisis has made electricity supply facing an unprecedented crisis. In October 2021, the Lebanese National Electricity Company announced that two major power plants would be shut down due to fuel exhaustion. Most residents have to rely on private power suppliers to obtain electricity. Electricity, only a few hours a day.

When you arrive at your residence in Beirut, you must walk up the stairs with the flashlight of your mobile phone on. In the room, the electric switch tripped at 11 o'clock in the evening, and it was plunged into darkness. The next second, the friends turned on the spare lamp and said in unison welcome to Lebanon! Opened my record of the presence of this trip.

During this month, I lived without water, without electricity, and without electricity. I received too much care and help, so that I could successfully complete the project with limited resources. Even though the process of writing is painful, I often ask myself, I see, smell, and feel, but have I let readers see, smell, and feel? Or are you just feeling good about yourself and writing some too trivial details.

Fumbling between traditional reporting forms and non-fiction writing, I was still naive, and it seemed that I didn’t seem to write it, and it seemed abrupt to put it into any category. Thank you to the editor for giving me a lot of tips and suggestions, allowing me to face my weaknesses and learn not to belittle my strengths. Since "Presence" this time is for writers, not journalists, I hope to try a different narrative style, so the Syria chapter decided to publish it on its own and did not cooperate with other media.

I often urge myself to do better, but because I am alone, I have few resources, and I need to consider personal safety and time and money costs, so I understand my own limits. If this work can make readers remember one or two people in the story, feel a little resonance, and feel that people and things far away are actually not that different from us, or even connected, it is enough for me.

Compared to other winners, I may be the one who needs to spend a lot of extra time and energy, assessing risks and considering personal safety. In early March, I first went to the UK to do Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT). Identify and assess risks before and now to reduce them and get the job done while keeping yourself and your peers safe.

The training includes risk and conflict management, first aid training, familiarity with firearms, how to de-escalate and respond to being kidnapped or taken hostage, understanding landmines and improvised explosive devices, how to use radio and voice communications, and more.

It sounds scary, right? Before I set off, I always doubted myself. Is it necessary to go to this level in order to go to the so-called scene? What difference can my "presence" make? Of course, there is also the worry that I will withdraw in the middle of the class.

But on the first day of the course, I understood that this was a very correct and important decision. The teacher himself is a retired British soldier, and the unit also has some security guards who used to be war reporters or international media to help design the course. Many reminders of small details may be the key to saving the lives of themselves and their companions at the scene of the conflict.

And I think the most important thing is that looking directly at the risk is the way to be responsible to yourself and the people around you. Only by looking at the worst possibility can you reduce the possibility of occurrence, or admit your bottom line and stop when it’s time to do so. place to stop.

It was also a few days after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The reports in the news and the images of the front lines became the cases analyzed in our classroom. I am also surprised that these skills can indeed be used in future jobs or any unexpected disasters. use.

After the class, I did not shy away from the front line because of this, but knew that if the worst happened, I might have a little more knowledge and ability to know how to deal with it. And that helps me stay calm in the field.

In the small class training, there are 3 other reporters in the same class, 2 senior reporters from the British media The Telegraph, their company will make them undergo HEAT training every 3 years. To conduct interviews for international media in conflict areas, proof of such training will be required, and a risk assessment form required by the media must be filled out and approved before going to the scene. There will also be the media's own security department or an outsourcing company on site to provide logistical support for security.

This made me understand specifically that the reason why the international media can send reporters to the so-called frontline of the battlefield requires a whole team, which requires a very large cost, as well as sufficient talents, professional ability and experience.

And this time I only have one person. Although the senior war correspondent Mr. Liu Yi provided invaluable assistance in editing, security and networking, it still cannot be compared with the resources of international media. This does not mean that I cannot answer questions, but that I understand the limitations so that I can find meaningful stories worth sharing with readers in the "presence" that I can reach.

In the end, this time I did not arrive in Syria and stopped at the Lebanese-Syrian border. The three options to get to Damascus that were originally evaluated were all risky in the end (especially the possibility of jailing the informants on the ground who helped me with my reporting). This is a big blow to me, not because I want to go to the front line recklessly, but because I already have contacts on the scene, there are very clear interviewees and stories to be tracked, and the situation in Damascus is relatively relative after the assessment. It was safe and stable, and it was ready to the point where it was almost guaranteed to come out safely.

Practicing stopping and taking good care of the presence you can control is a very important training for me. The proposition "on the road" this time, in addition to being a confession of the unknown, may also echo why we still need the "presence" in high-conflict areas. When the international media with more resources can always go faster and ahead than us, what is the necessity of going in?

A senior editor told me that you are moving, and you bring your perspective, your background, from the unknown to the known, or to see more unknowns because of it, that's fine too.

Don't pretend to know everything, because there is no way, but those who are unfamiliar, surprised and unexpected can be closer to our readers.

As a writer of contemporary storytelling, maintaining such a fluid state makes it easier for Chinese readers to understand the feelings and emotions of a group of people living in a far and unfamiliar country, and to understand how they deal with disasters and face wars. Complexity and cruelty, how to resist (or inability to resist), and how to find resonance and connection with us. For me, such "presence" has its value and meaning.