If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 400

 Migrants in Libya, 1978

[photo:  Raymond Depardon]

Not too long ago we went to a local used bookstore primarily to buy books but found a couple of postcards along the way.  This card has a picture taken in 1978 by French photographer, Raymond Depardon.  The card is distrubuted by  Nouvelles Images, France and has the number N 0606/150.002993.00. It is also one of a few cards that has a fold-over flap [FOLD'N PLEASE] so the message can be kept private.

At first I thought it depicted Libyan refugees from civil war during the end of the Gaddafi years but the date of that event was well after 1978 so it had to be something else.  After searching around to see if it was possible to figure out what this amazing photo showed I found an MSNBC article by Amanda Sakuma with photos by Lorenzo Meloni that helped explain the Depardon picture.

The major gateway to Europe from northern African countries is through Libya.   For years thousands of migrants have moved on a route that carries them from their home countries to what they hope will be a safer, better life in European countries.  For approximately $180 US dollars a person can buy a space to sit on one of these trucks that carry goods across the desert between Niger and Libya.  On the card it looks like most of the bags and parcels belong to those people sitting on top but from the article it appears most of the bags are not migrant belongings but cargo.  This is a perilous journey across deserts where the temperatures are often 108 degrees F or 42.2 C and where in recent years over 3,000 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to the Italian coast.  Armed militias that periodically conduct raids on smugglers and confiscate items such as cell phones, counterfeit money, and drugs control the border between Niger and Libya.

Raymond Depardon is a French photographer and photojournalist who began his professional career in the 1960s.  He has traveled and photographed conflict zones in Algeria, Vietnam, Biafra and Chad.  One of the co-founders of the photojournalism agency Gamma he also served as its director in 1973.  In addition to the still photos he has also authored several documentary shorts and feature films.  He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1977.  The link below provides more information about him and lists his publications and films.

For additional information, see:

http://www.msnbc.com/specials/migrant-crisis/lybia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_in_Libya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Depardon