Something We Can Do .

[DIDI]

The feelings bought on for me of what has been happening in Gaza has been incredible sadness that innocent children are dying by the hundreds and total frustration that I just don't know what I can do.


Music has come to my aid yet again. It's a small step in the right direction. This proceeds of this very cool track are going towards the the gaza war child appeal '


dimitri veimar - war's victims (war child gaza appeal) (preview)


https://soundcloud.com/darkroomdubs/dimitri-veimar-warchild-victims-preview


It also introduces us to the charity War Child. This is not about politics it is just about helping the children in war zones all over the world.

www.warchild.org.uk

[unrecogniseduser]

Re: Something We Can Do .

some people advocate boycotting Israeli products as a way to help think think twice about their actions in Gaza. I remember reading that some DJs are refusing there on principle (cant remember who it was now though). To be fair, its not a great policy for me though as it would mean no Guy J, Guy Gerber etc.

[DIDI]

Re: Something We Can Do .

^^^That's a political stance. I am very unhappy with Israel but it's good to be able to do something without being political. I can't think of any Israeli products I buy I don't like the idea of music being involved in boycotts.

[unrecogniseduser]

Re: Something We Can Do .

now I remember. It was Mr. C that I read about http://usa.djmag.com/content/mr-c-starts-boycott-israel.

an extract

“I boycotted Israel for many years, until about four or five years ago,” Mr C said. “I've since been back a good few times and had so much fun there, meeting lovely people, great artists and DJs and making wonderful friends. Sadly, my boycott is now back on until further notice. I can no longer sit by and not do my bit in silence.”
“I will still be supporting artists from Israel, but that is all,” Mr C continued on Facebook. “The indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians is making me sick to my stomach and has to stop. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”

Mr C says that he won't be playing any DJ gigs in Israel until further notice. A cultural boycott was a tactic used by artists campaigning against Apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, when racial discrimination was enshrined in law.

[KiwiTollway]

Re: Something We Can Do .

It also introduces us to the charity War Child. This is not about politics it is just about helping the children in war zones all over the world.

www.warchild.org.uk

This seems to be an awesome start-up charity with a very jazzy website & a decent website writer. I hope they gain lots of momentum and help the kids; only 29 people in their office, but certainly very noble efforts worthy of supporting! Thanks for the heads up on it! Very cool!

[DIDI]

Re: Something We Can Do .

Just flipped around their site and the more I read the more inspired I get. !! Hardly a start up though, they have been around since 1993. I love so much that they are so music orientated !! I'm so glad I found them. I am really excited !!
Apolitical, although I am political I prefer charities not to be , secular, children and music ,low administration costs. Pretty well my perfect charity.

War Child was founded in 1993 by film-makers David Wilson and Bill Leeson. Whilst on assignment in the former Yugoslavia they were shocked by the way children’s lives were being torn apart by the conflict. When they returned home they were further shocked by politicians’ apathy towards the massacres and ‘ethnic cleansing’ taking place on their European doorstep.


Whilst the politicians did nothing, the music industry didn’t. A 'Serious Road Trip' convoy brought much needed supplies to the besieged people of Mostar, and a mobile bakery was set up to bake tens of thousands of loaves every day. And for some 'food for the soul', Iron Maiden Bruce Dickinson was smuggled into Bosnia to play a concert.


In 1995 Paul McCartney, Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and the cream of British music recorded and released the iconic ‘Help’ album in just three days. Twenty years later, it is still the ‘charity’ album that all others are compared to.


The £1.25m raised helped pay for the construction of what was to become the Pavarotti Music Centre in Bosnia – a unique project which provided children from all sides of the conflict with music therapy as a way of helping them cope with the terrible traumas they’d experienced.


Of course it wasn’t just in Bosnia that childhoods were being devastated by wars they didn’t start. War Child’s mobile bakeries baked millions of loaves for conflict-affected families in Afghanistan, Albania, Iraq and Chechnya over the next decade. We also delivered wind-up radios to impoverished families in Rwanda, Ghana and Kosovo.


Plus we responded by funding education, health and emergency programmes from El Salvador to Kenya. During this time the War Child International family grew – as independent sister organisations were established in Holland and Canada.


Exactly ten years after the Help album was released, the music industry came together again in similar fashion to record ‘Help! A Day in the Life’ – this time in just 24 hours. It quickly became the fastest selling download in history. The decade milestone also provided us with the opportunity to reflect on everything we’d achieved and to focus on where we’d like to go in the future. We committed to investing in more long-term sustainable projects that target the most vulnerable and marginalised children in conflict-affected areas.


This type of work is a lot more intensive and requires our presence long after the TV cameras have left. Our work was consolidated into delivering a much bigger impact in Iraq, Afghanistan, D.R. Congo and Uganda – where we’ve been on the ground for at least five years.


We’ve recently expanded our work into the Central African Republic – one of the world’s most forgotten countries. And, just as is in Bosnia twenty years earlier, we couldn’t just watch the news from Syria every night without taking action – so we’re just across the border in Jordan helping to protect and rebuild young Syrian lives.


Although we can now command the ears of politicians and decision-makers thanks to the knowledge and credibility acquired through our fieldwork, we aren’t burdened by the bureaucracy that many bigger charities incur – instead we’re proud to retain the energy and can-do spirit that inspired so many people to the War Child cause in Bosnia two decades ago.

[DIDI]

Re: Something We Can Do .

now I remember. It was Mr. C that I read about http://usa.djmag.com/content/mr-c-starts-boycott-israel.

an extract

“I boycotted Israel for many years, until about four or five years ago,” Mr C said. “I've since been back a good few times and had so much fun there, meeting lovely people, great artists and DJs and making wonderful friends. Sadly, my boycott is now back on until further notice. I can no longer sit by and not do my bit in silence.”
“I will still be supporting artists from Israel, but that is all,” Mr C continued on Facebook. “The indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians is making me sick to my stomach and has to stop. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”

Mr C says that he won't be playing any DJ gigs in Israel until further notice. A cultural boycott was a tactic used by artists campaigning against Apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, when racial discrimination was enshrined in law.

He makes a good case doesn't he. ?

[KiwiTollway]

Re: Something We Can Do .

I hadn't seen they've been operating that long, how wonderful and I agree, their work is inspiring, even their website is inspiring. I didn't spend that long on it, but also read some of the profiles of the children they've helped. Awesome! A bright spot amidst the chaos in the world.

[unrecogniseduser]

Re: Something We Can Do .

He makes a good case doesn't he. ?

perhaps, I think the cultural boycott of South Africa was a good example to bring up, a strong point.

[Illuminate]

Re: Something We Can Do .

Great charity.

Amidst my hesitation to mention this, but I must make note of Médecins Sans Frontières' efforts within the Ebola crisis. This article to me sums up why this organisation is important (Ebola: the failures of the international outbreak response | Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International). But I do take patronage of so many causes in this world today requiring our efforts to contribute, and for those of us in the front-line of these conflicts, outbreaks, etc. godspeed to your efforts.

[DIDI]

Re: Something We Can Do .

Another great one. But I have a limited charity dollar so I have set my parameters . Most important is definitely children, they are the ones who will influence where charity should go in the future. Would be wonderful to see some of the children grow up to be part of charities like Médecins Sans Frontières

Btw Here it is The Alannah and Madeline Foundation. Always from the view of the child. This was actually started by a guy called Walter Mikac whose wife and 2 daughters , Allah and Madeline, were shot and killed in the Port Arthur Massacre. An event that also bought about new more restrictive gun laws in Australia. Which seem to have worked quite well. The Alannah and Madeline Foundation

And The Smith family. You can sponsor a child's schooling here in Australia. The Smith Family, helping disadvantaged Australian kids

Both really wonderful charities. Both secular.

[Illuminate]

Re: Something We Can Do .

A cultural boycott was a tactic used by artists campaigning against Apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, when racial discrimination was enshrined in law.

This reminded me of Searching for Sugarman, for some reason. Great point.


^^Ok. so this is what that whole colour run things about - now I get it. Great cause for such an horrific incident. It's funny that when I was travelling through India, I had to be around at the time of Holi (festival of colour), and I kept thinking that colour run was somehow representing Holi.

Definitely agree on the gun laws, Something America very much envies.

Smith Family>Salvation Army. Enough said, Just unfortunate that they are not as marketed as the 'Salvos.'

[DIDI]

Re: Something We Can Do .

Salvation army not good. Very discriminatory about who they hire. Admin costs very high.