Eliot Higgins

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Eliot Higgins
British investigative analyst Eliot Higgins in 2013.jpg
Eliot Higgins in 2013
Born 1979 (age 35–36)
United Kingdom
Nationality British
Occupation Blogger, weapons analyst, citizen journalist
Known for Analysis on the Syrian Civil War

Eliot Higgins (born 1979), pseudonym Brown Moses, is a British citizen journalist and blogger, known for investigative social media and weapons analysis on the Syrian Civil War.[1]

Life and work[edit]

Eliot Higgins was born in 1979.[2] In 2012, when Higgins began blogging the Syrian civil war, he was an unemployed finance and admin worker who spent his days taking care of his child at home.[2] He is married to a Turkish woman with one child.[3][4] Higgins took the pseudonym Brown Moses from the Frank Zappa song "Brown Moses" on the album Thing-Fish.[2]

Higgins' analyses of Syrian weapons, which began as a hobby out of his home in his spare time, are now frequently cited by the press and human rights groups and have led to questions in parliament.[2] His blog, Brown Moses Blog, began in March 2012 by covering the Syrian conflict. Higgins operates by monitoring over 450 YouTube channels daily looking for images of weapons and tracking when new types appear in the war, where, and with whom.[2] According to Guardian reporter Matthew Weaver, Higgins has been "hailed as something of a pioneer" for his work.[2] Because of the large number of videos uploaded by participants in the war, a great deal of data and information can be gleaned for those with the time and knowledge to sort through it. Higgins has no background or training in weapons and is entirely self-taught, saying that "Before the Arab spring I knew no more about weapons than the average Xbox owner. I had no knowledge beyond what I'd learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rambo."[2] He has never been to Syria and has no friends or family there, and cannot speak or read Arabic, the language of Syria.[4][5][6][7]

Higgins is credited with being among the first to report on the widespread use of improvised barrel bombs by the Syrian government,[8][9] a phenomenon which has spread to other troubled nations such as Iraq to combat insurgencies and opposition forces.[10] Higgins' exposure of the use of barrel bombs is noted particularly because of the destruction caused by the improvised devises, which have been lauded by many[10] for their potential to cause indiscriminate civilian casualties.

Other aspects of the Syrian conflict uncovered and documented by Higgins include the use of cluster bombs in 2012, which the Syrian government previously denied using; the proliferation of shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles known as MANPADS; and the proliferation of Croatian-made weapons, a story later picked up by the New York Times which was reportedly connected to the United States.[2]

Higgins published an estimate of the location where the James Foley execution video was made outside Raqqa, an Islamic State stronghold in north-central Syria, based on visual markers of stills from the video and his interpretation of satellite images of the terrain around Raqqa.[11]

Reception[edit]

Higgins has received significant praise and support from human rights groups, journalists, and non-profit organisations. "Brown Moses is among the best out there when it comes to weapons monitoring in Syria," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch.[2] New York Times war reporter CJ Chivers said that fellow journalists should be more honest about the debt they owe to Higgins' Brown Moses blog. "Many people, whether they admit or not, have been relying on that blog's daily labour to cull the uncountable videos that circulate from the conflict," he said.[2] Amnesty International said that the Brown Moses Blog was vital in proving the Syrian regime was using ballistic missiles, information then used to send a research mission to Syria.[12]

Eliot Higgins has largely been a subject of interest in the press. He was profiled in The Guardian on 21 March 2013,[2] on Channel 4 News on 30 March 2013,[12] on CNN International on 1 April 2013[4] He has also been covered in foreign press.[13]

Bellingcat[edit]

On 15 July 2014, Higgins started a new website called Bellingcat for citizen journalism to investigate current events using open source information such as videos, maps and pictures. It was funded by a Kickstarter campaign.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Patrick Radden Keefe (25 November 2013). "Rocket Man". The New Yorker. Retrieved 18 July 2014. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Matthew Weaver (21 March 2013). "How Brown Moses exposed Syrian arms trafficking from his front room". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2013. 
  3. ^ Bianca Bosker (18 November 2013). "Inside The One-Man Intelligence Unit That Exposed The Secrets And Atrocities Of Syria's War". Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  4. ^ a b c Atika Shubert (1 April 2013). "In his living room, blogger traces arms trafficking to Syria". CNN International. Retrieved 18 April 2013. 
  5. ^ Leigh, Karen. "The Profile: The Man Behind Brown Moses". Syria Deeply. Retrieved 25 October 2014. 
  6. ^ Editorial (16 April 2014). "In praise of … Brown Moses". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 November 2014. 
  7. ^ Eliot Higgins. "Bellingcat, for and by citizen investigative journalists by Eliot Higgins". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2 November 2014. 
  8. ^ Eliot Higgins (30 August 2012). "The Mystery of the Syrian Barrel Bombs". Brown Moses Blog. Retrieved 7 June 2014. 
  9. ^ Jonathan Marcus (20 December 2013). "Syria conflict: Barrel bombs show brutality of war". BBC. Retrieved 7 June 2014. 
  10. ^ a b Lara Jakes (7 June 2014). "Barrel bombs risk becoming answer to insurgency". The Associated Press. Retrieved 7 June 2014. 
  11. ^ Eliot Higgins (23 August 2014). "The Hills of Raqqa – Geolocating the James Foley Video". Bellingcat. Retrieved 27 August 2014. 
  12. ^ a b Paraic O'Brien (30 March 2013). "Brown Moses: the British blogger tracking Syrian arms". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 18 April 2013. 
  13. ^ Eliot Higgins (16 April 2013). "Brown Moses Blog". Brown Moses Blog. Retrieved 18 April 2013. 

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eliot_Higgins&oldid=634472214"