[E-rundbrief] Info 429 - Support for Lebanon victims

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 429 - AnRo: Kundgebungen und Demonstrationen gegen 
die israelischen Aggressionen im Libanon und in Gaza; Indymedia 
Beirut: Urgent Appeal from Lebanon; Sanayeh Reliefcenter (Lebanon): 
Urgent Appeal for Solidarity with Lebanese Civil Society; Naomi 
Klein: Open Letter - Solidarity and Support for Lebanon victims.

Bad Ischl, 25.7.2006

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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[Anmerkung: Seit Beginn der israelischen Aggressionen im Libanon und 
im Gazastreifen sind weltweit hunderttausende von Menschen auf die 
Strassen gegangen Es gab bereits Kundgebungen und Demonstrationen in 
mindestens 50 Staedten, die teilweise in die 10-Tausende gingen. An 
einigen Orten gab es bereits mehrere Demonstrationen. Weitere Demos 
sind bis in den August hinein fuer viele Staedte angekuendigt.
Hier findet Ihr eine - gewiss noch unvollstaendige - Liste:
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/campanas/stopwar/
und hier eine ebenso unvollstaendige Photogalerie:
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/campanas/stopwar/july2006/
Bilder aus Palaestina von einem Freund aus Chicago:
http://www.justimage.org ]

AnRo

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----- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -----
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 01:08:43 +0200 [04:08:43 PM PDT]
Subject: Urgent Appeal from Lebanon

Salam all,

Please circulate as widely as possible!

For more info please visit www.beirut.indymedia.org

We also need people to help translate news, calls and reports. Please 
let us know on imc-beirut at lists.indymedia.org with the subject being 
TRANSLATION VOLUNTEER.

solidarity,

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Sanayeh Reliefcenter (Lebanon):

URGENT APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH LEBANESE CIVIL SOCIETY

French http://www.beirut.indymedia.org/ar/2006/07/4727.shtml
Castellano http://www.beirut.indymedia.org/ar/2006/07/4728.shtml
Arabic  http://www.beirut.indymedia.org/ar/2006/07/4729.shtml
Italiano
http://sanayehreliefcenter.blogspot.com/2006/07/in-italian-urgent-appeal-for.html

The Israeli offensive against Lebanon is an act of aggression against 
the whole Lebanese people. The IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) claims 
to be attacking an 'infrastructure of terror', but the attacks on 
bridges, roads, airports and ships are cutting the country into 
pieces, threatening to create a disastrous situation by impeding the 
transportation of food and medicines, and terrorizing everyone. 
Besides the hundreds killed and injured, thousands of people are 
fleeing the country, and thousands of people are fleeing from the 
areas where the bombing is heaviest into central Beirut. Even here in 
the 'safe' parts of the city we can hear the bombs throughout the day 
and night, and electrical and water supplies are tenuous.

Political and civil society organizations here are organizing to help 
people deal with the effects of the invasion, but there is only so 
much we can do on our own. We are calling on our brothers and sisters 
in the rest of the world to do two things to help us.

First we call on you to protest at Israeli embassies and consulates, 
as we hear some groups are already doing. The Israeli government must 
be held accountable for its criminal and terroristic actions here and 
in Palestine. We also ask you to send us information about any such 
protests you carry out.

Secondly we are asking you to help us with our work with displaced 
people here in Beirut. The group we are part of, the Relief Center - 
Spears, is working in 23 schools in the central areas of Beirut, 
which were housing more than 5,000 people as of the night of July 
15th (we don't know how many thousands more are in other areas). 
People there are sleeping 10 or 15 to a room without enough 
mattresses, and they are only receiving food and water irregularly 
from the government. Many are children or elderly, and except for 
trauma centers the only medical care is being provided by volunteers 
organized by the Relief Center. These volunteers are lacking the 
medicines and other supplies they need to care for people. Media 
activists here will shortly be distributing videos documenting the 
situation in these schools, which will only get worse if nothing is done.

Besides the humanitarian aspect of the situation, helping displaced 
people is crucial to the reconstruction of Lebanon after this crisis 
ends. One aspect of the Israeli offensive is an attempt to foment 
tensions between different cultural groups in Lebanon. This is the 
only way they can hope to achieve their goals without an all-out war, 
but in the end it would do more damage to Lebanese society than any 
amount of physical destruction. A broad relief effort is an essential 
part of avoiding such a disaster.

We urgently need money to buy the supplies we need to help the 
internally displaced population here. We ask everyone who can to send 
donations, however small, the Relief Committee - Spears in the care 
of the following two people by bank transfer.

Please contact your bank to find out how to do this and please send 
an email to sanayeh.center @ gmail.com letting us know about your 
donation and amount (we are using the account of Greenline 
Association as a care-taker account)!

CLIENT NAME: GREENLINE ASSOCIATION
ACCOUNT NMBR: 6189003
BANK: BANK OF KUWAIT AND THE ARAB WORLD
SWIFT: BKAWLBBE

Greenline Association address:
3rd floor, Yamout building, Spears 174,
Sanayeh, Beirut, Lebanon
Telefax: (+961 1) 746 215 or (+961 1) 752 142
E-mail greenline @ greenline.org.lb


These are difficult days for everyone in Lebanon, but we are 
confident that with your support we can overcome this situation as we 
have others before.

Sanayeh Relief Center
http://sanayehreliefcenter.blogspot.com/

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An Open Letter From Naomi Klein

I urge all who are horrified by the Israeli government's inflicting 
of collective punishment on the people of Lebanon to join me in 
supporting the Sanayeh Relief Center. It is a remarkable coalition of 
a grassroots activists in Beirut who have rapidly joined together to 
provide emergency relief to many victims of this human-created 
disaster. I have researched their work and feel confident that all 
support we send is going to the urgent task of distributing basic 
supplies such as food and medicine to people suffering under the 
Israeli bombing, including thousands of internally displaced refugees 
being housed in 32 displacement centers.

Virtually the only response from western governments to Israel's 
sickening decision to wage all out war on the people of Lebanon has 
been to send helicopters and boats to rescue their own citizens. 
Millions of people without such precious passports are left behind 
without aid, trapped by Israeli bombs that have systematically 
targeted roads, bridges and the airport.

There is no "international community" that is coming to save the day, 
only our own anti-war networks that we have built in our communities 
and online. So at the same time as we raise our voices to demand an 
immediate end to Israeli aggression, we must also offer our financial 
support to trustworthy, on-the-ground activists like those at the 
Sanayeh Relief Center. In a world increasingly governed by brute 
force and indifference, the Sanayeh Relief Center is a beacon of 
humanity and mutual aid, please do what you can to increase its 
strength. It is a concrete act of peace.

Naomi Klein
Wednesday, July 19th

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
     Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
     Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
     Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
     fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
     Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at