Peace Activist heads to Lebanon to get less 'biased' coverage

caoimhe butterlyCaoimhe 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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 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