Arthur Neslen

Arthur Neslen is a British-born journalist and author. Nelsen has especially covered Middle East issues, fossil lobbies' influence on European institutions and climate change. He served as journalist for Haaretz, Jane's Information Group, The Observer, The Guardian,[1] and as a correspondent for the websites of The Economist and al-Jazeera.[2] NGOs credited policy changes at the European commission,[3] international financial institutions[4] and wildlife regulatory agencies[5]  in part to Neslen’s work.

Career

Neslen began his career at the City Limits magazine and worked as the international editor of for Red Pepper and as a broadcast journalist for the BBC.

In 1990, Neslen was hospitalised after a serious assault at a London tube station. Fascist activist Tony Lecomber was eventually convicted of the assault, and jailed for three years.[6]

Neslen wrote two books about identity in the Middle East. Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche[7] was published by Pluto Press in 2006 and In Your Eyes A Sandstorm: Ways of Being Palestinian[8] was published by University of California Press in October, 2011. He is also the author of the booklet Gaza: Dignity Under Siege[9] which was published by CIDSE (International Co-operation for Development and Solidarity) in 2009. All three are collections of interviews and photographs.

In 2009, while taking photographs for In Your Eyes a Sandstorm, Neslen was attacked with a knife in a Gaza street. Two years later, he returned to Gaza to meet the attacker, a young Palestinian diagnosed as schizophrenic.[10]

After moving to Brussels, Neslen began working for The Guardian in 2014 as the paper’s Europe environment correspondent,[11] where he contributed to its award-winning Keep it in the ground[12] campaign.

His investigative reports often focused on how EU climate policy had been influenced by lobbying from fossil fuel majors including BP,[13] Shell,[14] Chevron,[15] Exxon and others acting in concert.[16] One report showed[1][17] how US officials had pressured the EU into weakening pesticides regulations, in negotiations over the aborted[18] TTIP trade deal.

Other stories that he broke included the European Food Safety Authority’s use of an EU report that copy and pasted analyses from a Monsanto study[19] to justify a recommendation for relicensing glyphosate. The story was later vindicated by a cross-party inquiry in the European parliament.[20]

He is currently a senior reporter for Politico.

References

1. Neslen, Arthur (18 March 2008). "Profile". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
2. Cartwright, Jill (7 July 2006). "Anti-Zionist, pro-Israeli". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 20 July 2006. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
3. Neslen, Arthur (28 May 2015). "Brussels moves to limit coal lobby's influence on pollution standards". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
4. Neslen, Arthur (30 October 2015). "Macedonia dam faces the axe over risk of Balkan lynx extinction". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
5. Neslen, Arthur (5 May 2016). "Europe to crack down on wildlife smugglers to protect rare lizard species". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
6. Peled, Daniella (21 June 2016). "Jo Cox's murder sheds light on Britain's tradition of far-right extremism". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
7. Neslen, Arthur Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche, January 2006, Pluto Press, ISBN 978-0-7453-2365-7
8. Neslen, Arthur In Your Eyes A Sandstorm: Ways of Being Palestinian], October 2011, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-26427-4
9. Gaza: Dignity Under Siege
10. Neslen, Arthur (2 March 2012). "Why I met the man who tried to kill me". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
11. "Arthur Neslen | The Guardian". the Guardian.
12. "Keep it in the ground | The Guardian". the Guardian.
13. Neslen, Arthur (20 April 2016). "EU dropped climate policies after BP threat of oil industry 'exodus'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
14. Neslen, Arthur (27 April 2015). "Shell lobbied to undermine EU renewables targets, documents reveal". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
15. Neslen, Arthur (26 April 2016). "TTIP: Chevron lobbied for controversial legal right as 'environmental deterrent'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
16. Neslen, Arthur; Brussels (22 January 2015). "Fossil fuel firms accused of renewable lobby takeover to push gas". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
17. "EU dropped pesticide laws due to US pressure over TTIP, documents reveal". the Guardian. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
18. Neslen, Arthur (1 May 2016). "Leaked TTIP documents cast doubt on EU-US trade deal". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
19. Neslen, Arthur (14 September 2017). "EU report on weedkiller safety copied text from Monsanto study". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
20. Neslen, Arthur (15 January 2019). "EU glyphosate approval was based on plagiarised Monsanto text, report finds". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.

External links

• www.arthurneslen.net
• Arthur Neslen on Twitter
• Neslen contributions for The Guardian, e.g. Why I met the man who tried to kill me, 2 March 2012
• Neslen contributions for EurActiv