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 Caoimhe Butterly, an Irish social justice activist and one of Time Magazine's Heroes of 2003
is heading to the Lebanon next week. She is aiming to get more
impartial and unbiased reportage from the ground of the desperate
situation in the country, amidst western indifference and what she
describes as 'sanitised' reporting in the mainstream media.
Having spoken with people she had met in Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut and the South of
Lebanon last year over the past few days, she has listened with "growing frustration to
their accounts of the disparity between what they are witnessing as the
Israeli bombardment of Lebanon intensifies, and the mainstream media's
sanitised, biased reporting of the situation". The Guardian reports
that Caoimhe has regularly stood in the line of fire between Israeli
tanks, and Palestinian civilians. In November 2002 she was hit by an
Israeli bullet as she tried to lead a group of Palestinian children to
safety.
She plans to travel to Lebanon "principally to bear witness to what
people
are being forced to live through (and) document through articles,
photos
and footage, the onslaught and it's aftermath (through) testimonies,
interviews
etc". She will also distribute whatever she can in aid in a region
where most aid agencies have pulled out, yet an estimated 500,000
civilians still remain, fearful of an Israeli land invasion and is
calling for donations. (details below)
The email Caoimhe sent out is below
in full:
APPEAL FOR LEBANON- PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY
Dear friends,
As
I'm sure you all know, the situation in Lebanon is rapidly
deteriorating. Next week I plan to travel to Beirut to work with the
grassroots relief effort currently underway. For this reason I am
sending out this appeal:Though this appeal is being sent out mainly
through activist networks and mailing lists where I know the
recipients, on the off-chance that it is forwarded further afield, I'll
briefly introduce myself..
My name is Caoimhe Butterly. I'm an
Irish social justice activist who has spent the last five years working
in Palestine, Iraq and with Palestinian diaspora communities in South
America and Asia, as well as with European-based Palestine and Iraq
solidarity campaigns. Though presently in London I planto travel to
Damascus and then by road to Beirut early next week.
I spent time
in Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut and the South of Lebanon last
year and have maintained contact with families and community groups
that I met while there. I have been speaking to them over the past few
days, and have listened with growing frustration to their accounts of
the disparity between what they are witnessing as the Israeli
bombardment of Lebanon intensifies, and the mainstream media's
sanitised, biased reporting of the situation. It is estimated that up
to a half a million people from the South of Lebanon are on the move,
fleeing the relentless bombing, and are presently seeking refuge in
schools, open-air parks, mosques, churches etc. in Beirut and the
surrounding areas.
Most of these centres that are receiving
people are staffed by volunteers and are relying on local communities
for donations of food and medicines. As the prospect of another Israeli
ground invasion of Lebanon grows more likely, Lebanese and Palestinian
communities are facing the reality of being once again collectively
abandoned by the outside world. They are being abandoned both by our
governments, who refuse to censure Israel's continual violation of
international law; and by us, as civil society, in our failure to
reflect the courage of people enduring siege and disposession by upping
the ante of our own resistance to our governments' complicity in
the situation.
I'm travelling to Lebanon principally to
bear witness to what people are being forced to live through- to
document- through articles, photos and footage, the onslaught and it's
aftermath- testimonies, interviews etc. I plan to send this out through
various mailing lists, web pages and mainstream and independent media
and will ask you all to forward on. I also intend to volunteer, as an
extra pair of hands, at some of the centres that have been set up to
receive families.
As Lebanese and Palestinian communities are
presently pooling together their resources, ingenuity and collective
solidarity to receive displaced people fleeing the South, and as yet
more families prepare to flee Beirut to the mountains and Syria, we
have a responsibility to demonstrate that we are not oblivious to what
they are suffering. We must show them that we will accompany them now -
through direct action, demonstrations, campaigning and fundraising out
here- and in their struggle to eventually rebuild their lives.On that
note, I'll get to the point of this appeal - which is for funds.
Before
leaving for Damascus on Monday I hope to raise money to bring with me
to donate to both crisis community centres and to give as small
solidarity crisis donations to families I meet along the way ( for
example at the border with Syria, and in Palestinian, already
impoverished, refugee camps etc.). From the accounts of friends in
Beirut that are volunteering in some of the converted schools etc., the
main needs are for food, basic medicines(bandages, pain-killers,
sedatives, antibiotics etc.), blankets, floormats, nappies, baby
formula, diesel generators etc. Although there are anumber of
humanitarian organisations still active in Lebanon, the massive influx
of displaced people into Beirut means that many of the smallcommunity
centre aid projects are still lacking in basic necessities.
In
the present conditions whatever folks can donate will assist in a
direct and immediate way in helping a few families from not having to
face- on top of being homeless and under siege- the precarity of not
having the money to buy food and basic necessities. In order to
maintain a level of transparency with your donations I can send reports
as to whom(centres/families) your donations are going, and for what.
Obviously
justice, not aid, is what is more urgently needed, but in a crisis
situation, fund-raising and solidarity donations to support families
arealso essential.If individuals or solidarity groups are interested in
donating money, youcan either contact me on sahara78@hotmail.co.uk or
at 00447922901696 or lodge money directly into the account of a dear
friend and dedicatedactivist Yasmin, who will withdraw it and Western
Union it to me while inSyria and Lebanon.
Her account details are :
Miss Yasmin Ataullah
Lloyds TSB
40 Woodcote Rd. Wallington
Surrey
SM6 ONR
Account Num: 00 236 209
Sort Code: 309904
Or, for folks in Ireland,
Caomhe Butterly
Bank of Ireland
32 South Mall, Cork
account num:41818255
sort code:902768
or via the Ireland- Palestine Solidarity Campaign, ear-marked as a
donation
to Lebanon. Again, any donation, small or smaller :) will be helpful.
In solidarity
Caoimhe
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