Pratap Chatterjee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Occupation | Investigative journalist |
| Nationality | Indian,Sri Lankan |
| Citizenship | Great Britain |
Pratap Chatterjee (bornBirmingham, United Kingdom) is an Indian/Sri Lankan investigative journalist and progressive author. He is a British citizen and grew up in India, although he lived in California for many years. He serves as the executive director of CorpWatch, anOakland-based corporate accountability organisation.[1] He also works for theBureau of Investigative Journalism[2] in London. He writes regularly forThe Guardian[3] and serves on the board ofAmnesty International USA[4] and of theCorporate Europe Observatory[5]
Previously he was a producer and radio host atKPFA-FM inBerkeley, California,[6] and a visiting fellow at theCenter for American Progress[7] Chatterjee has also served as a community advisor to KQED, the San Franciscopublic radio andtelevision station. He was a member of the board of theAsian Pacific Environmental Network from 2001 to 2005, and was an Environmental Commissioner for the city of Berkeley from 1998 to 2003.[8]
His first book was a critique of the 1992Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, written with Matthias Finger, titledThe Earth Brokers: Power, Politics and World Development (Routledge Books, 1994) that analyses the United Nations response to global environmental crises.[9]
In the late 1990s, Chatterjee did a great deal of research surrounding the 1849California Gold Rush and how it affected Californianindigenous Americans[10] which resulted in a booklet titledGold, Greed & Genocide,[11] which he later turned into a DVD with a 16-page classroom activities and discussion guide distributed by Oyate.[12]
Chatterjee has travelled extensively in Central Asia and the Middle East to investigate the role of private military contractors working in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004, Chatterjee published the well-receivedIraq, Inc.: A Profitable Occupation (Seven Stories Press).[13] His footage was used in Michael Moore's 2004 filmFahrenheit 9-11 and he was interviewed in Robert Greenwald's filmIraq for Sale: The War Profiteers[14]
In February 2009, Chatterjee published a detailed history of the role of Texas companies Halliburton and KBR titledHalliburton's Army: How A Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized The Way America Makes War (Nation Books).[15] In March 2009, he published several videos and an article of the failure of development aid in rural Afghanistan that was circulated via TomDispatch and on Salon.[16] He followed this up with an article on the poor treatment of Afghan translators working under contract with Ohio-based Mission Essential Personnel for the US military.[17]
In 2017, Chatterjee publishedVerax: The True History of Whistleblowers, Drone Warfare, and Mass Surveillance in collaboration with graphic novelist Khalil Bendib. It chronicles his own pursuits and the pursuits of other journalists to expose government mass surveillance and the flaws in the United States' drone warfare program. The piece is focused primarily around the story ofEdward Snowden and the beginning of WikiLeaks. But, alongside this narrative, the book breaks down how mass surveillance works in layman's terms, reveals the industry of spyware and surveillance conventions, and explores the stories of those most effected by the drone warfare resulting from these surveillance programs.
He has been published in a number of popular media, including theFinancial Times,The New Republic,The Guardian, andThe Independent. He often appears as a guest expert in a wide variety of media ranging fromFox TV[citation needed] toDemocracy Now!.[18] His writing has won a number of awards, from the National Newspaper Association and Project Censored, among others.
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