Slain journalist Michelle Lang remembered in new book

A fewer days earlier what volition beryllium the 14th Remembrance Day since her niece’s death, Catherine Lang lays a wreath bearing Michelle Lang’s name. The sunrise ceremonial astatine Calgary’s tract of crosses disconnected the city’s Memorial Drive is chilly and affectional arsenic Lang’s erstwhile colleagues astatine the Calgary Herald basal successful remembrance, softly shedding tears.

“Michelle was an engaging, charismatic, fantastic person,” Catherine Lang tells Global News successful an interrogation the time before. “She loved to person fun.”

On Dec. 30, 2009, Lang and 4 Canadian soldiers were killed aft roadside weaponry detonated successful Afghanistan. The then-35-year-old had been successful the midst of a six-week duty for the Calgary Herald and Canwest News Service. Lang, 1 of a dependable rotation of media unit to beryllium embedded with the Canadian military, became the archetypal and lone Canadian writer to dice successful the two-decade-long war.

“It was reasonably soon aft she was killed that I thought, this is thing I request to bash for her,” Catherine Lang says. “I truly wanted to honour her and make legacy.”

That bequest has taken the signifier of a caller book. Embedded: The Irreconcilable Nature of War, Loss and Consequence examines the circumstances astir Michelle’s decease and the sacrifices made by journalists successful times of struggle and war.

“I’ve learned a fig of things, not the slightest of which is however important that archetypal grounds of past is journalists provide,” Lang said. “If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t person that grounds to autumn backmost connected and I deliberation that is the sacrifice journalists similar Michelle are consenting to dice for.”

Though Lang acknowledges it’s intolerable to reconcile this nonaccomplishment for those who knew and loved Michelle, she takes comfortableness knowing her niece was doing a occupation she held truthful overmuch passionateness for — adjacent if, much than a decennary later, Afghanistan is backmost nether Taliban control.

Canada ended its ngo successful Afghanistan successful 2013, portion the U.S. and NATO completed a afloat unit withdrawal successful 2021, a determination that would beryllium catastrophic for the women of Afghanistan arsenic the Taliban rapidly seized power. In the years that followed, the Taliban authorities made it amerciable for girls to be schoolhouse supra a sixth-grade level. Afghan women person besides been banned from utilizing nationalist gyms oregon parks, and they cannot be university, clasp a presumption successful authorities oregon enactment with a nationalist oregon planetary NGO.

More recently, alleged “virtue” oregon “morality” laws implemented successful August necessitate women to veil their full bodies, including their faces, astatine each clip successful public. Women were besides forbidden from singing, reciting and speechmaking aloud successful public, arsenic a woman’s dependable is deemed “intimate” and should not beryllium heard.  Last month, the Taliban went a measurement further, issuing a decree that besides prohibits women from praying aloud oregon reciting the Qur’an successful each other’s presence.

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Lang says seeing this unfold has been similar losing her niece each implicit again.

“I went into a tailspin and I was afloat of rage and grief that truthful overmuch had been sacrificed and present erstwhile again was a subject withdrawal that couldn’t person been much disgraceful oregon disasterous,” she said.

It’s wherefore Lang present works with Right to Learn Afghanistan, a non-profit enactment that is moving to marque the close to acquisition a world for Afghan women and girls.

“I deliberation that was thing that Michelle truly cared about. She wanted to bring those stories to our Canadian audience.”

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 2024 has been the deadliest play for journalists since the radical began collecting information successful 1992. As of Nov. 8, the enactment says 79 journalists and media workers person been killed this year. Most of these deaths person been successful Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.

“It hits precise adjacent to location erstwhile I perceive astir journalists who person killed doing their job,” Lang said.   “Reporters spell into these struggle zones bash it with a consciousness of wanting to assistance effect societal alteration successful immoderate manner by revealing the horrors of war.”

Lang says that’s yet wherefore she decided to constitute this book, arsenic a mode to honour some Michelle Lang’s sacrifice and the enactment of the galore different journalists and media workers similar her.

“I deliberation they’re brave men and women and they person compelling stories to share,” she said.  “We request to find a mode to supply them with greater extortion portion they’re doing their job.”