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Jul-23-2012 12:38printcomments

Farewell, Alex, My Friend by JEFFREY ST. CLAIR

Alex kept his illness a tightly guarded secret...

Alexander Cockburn. Photo: Tao Ruspoli
Alexander Cockburn. Photo: Tao Ruspoli

(LONDON) - Introduction by Gilad Atzmon:

I have learned today that the widely admired Alexander Cockburn, co-editor of the invaluable Counterpunch Magazine, passed away last week. Alex was, no doubt, amongst the leading voices of dissent and Counterpunch, which he founded with Jeffrey St. Clair, has been the prominent English alternative media outlet for more than a decade.

Alex was a great supporter of Palestine, justice and free speech. He was quick to offer support to younger writers, myself included. Alex will be missed!

I will use this opportunity to express my deepest condolences to Alex’s family and Counterpunch.

Farewell, Alex, My Friend

by JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
Alexander Cockburn, 1941-2012


Our friend and comrade Alexander Cockburn died last night in Germany, after a fierce two-year long battle against cancer. His daughter Daisy was at his bedside.

Alex kept his illness a tightly guarded secret. Only a handful of us knew how terribly sick he truly was. He didn’t want the disease to define him. He didn’t want his friends and readers to shower him with sympathy. He didn’t want to blog his own death as Christopher Hitchens had done. Alex wanted to keep living his life right to the end. He wanted to live on his terms. And he wanted to continue writing through it all, just as his brilliant father, the novelist and journalist Claud Cockburn had done. And so he did. His body was deteriorating, but his prose remained as sharp, lucid and deadly as ever.

In one of Alex’s last emails to me, he patted himself on the back (and deservedly so) for having only missed one column through his incredibly debilitating and painful last few months. Amid the chemo and blood transfusions and painkillers, Alex turned out not only columns for CounterPunch and The Nation and First Post, but he also wrote a small book called Guillotine and finished his memoirs, A Colossal Wreck, both of which CounterPunch plans to publish over the course of the next year.

Alex lived a huge life and he lived it his way. He hated compromise in politics and he didn’t tolerate it in his own life. Alex was my pal, my mentor, my comrade. We joked, gossiped, argued and worked together nearly every day for the last twenty years. He leaves a huge void in our lives. But he taught at least two generations how to think, how to look at the world, how to live a life of joyful and creative resistance. So, the struggle continues and we’re going to remain engaged. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

In the coming days and weeks, CounterPunch will publish many tributes to Alex from his friends and colleagues. But for this day, let us remember him through a few images taken by our friend Tao Ruspoli.

Alex and Jasper. Photo: Tao Ruspoli

Alex writing. Photo: Tao Ruspoli.

Alexander Cockburn. Photo: Tao Ruspoli.

Salem-News.com share the sadness of this man's passing; never does a day pass that 'Counterpunch' is not in our vision as an invaluable resource; we offer our sincerest condolences and owe a particular gratitude to Jeffrey St. Clair and Gilad Atzmon for sharing these valuable words about the passing of a valuable man; this ally of epic proportions, Alexander Cockburn

www.gilad.co.uk/writings/farewell-alex-my-friend-by-jeffrey-st-clair.html

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craig August 4, 2012 2:12 am (Pacific time)

Editor Forget it


Gp July 23, 2012 4:27 pm (Pacific time)

The wit was incomparable,I was always eager to read Cockburn and he will be sorely missed.

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