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

category international | anti-war / imperialism | other press author Tuesday July 25, 2006 16:54author by anon

netribution

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.

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)

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...

http://www.netribution.co.uk/2/content/view/800/2/

Comments (10 of 10)

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author by redjadepublication date Wed Jul 26, 2006 09:36author address author phone

Menezes family pays tearful tribute
BBC News

Saturday, 22 July 2006
One year after the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, his relatives and friends have gathered at the south London Tube station where he was killed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5206072.stm

1caoimhe.jpg

author by Vera Kozmapublication date Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:27author address author phone

I wish all the strength and luck to Caiomhe, she is doing what all of us should be doing.We will be thinking of her and pray she is going to get out of Lebanon unharmed.
Lots of luck Caiomhe, I envy you for your courage!

author by hmmzpublication date Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:49author address author phone

in a region where most aid agencies have pulled out

ehh last i heard they were all going in not out, keep it real ffs, a corridor has been created also, look forward to your *****non-biased*** report..LOL

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

Ohh god no bias there then, tell me where in palestine? Do you mean Jordan or as the brits described it **Arab Palestine as its 75% of Palestine?

Anyhow good luck, try not to be 2 biased in your **search for non-biased reporting ......

author by Justice Leaguepublication date Wed Jul 26, 2006 13:06author address author phone

Surely she'll travel on to Haifa and other Northern Israeli towns in which civillian targets are being blatantly attacked, to see what it's like to be living under the constant threat of rockets from Islamic Fundamentalists?

And no doubt she'll meet some of the many hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who resent the control Hezbollah [proxies of Syria and Iran] have over their country?

Or is she merely traveling there to confirm already-held prejudices?

I've met Caoimhe. She came across as naive and alomost religious in her fervour to "save" the Palestinian people.

Also, how unbiased can a campaigner who has very close ties to the PLO be?

author by Ali H.publication date Wed Jul 26, 2006 16:55author address author phone

"UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.

The post was hit by a precision-guided missile after six hours of shelling, diplomats familiar with the probe say. "

Doesn't exactly tally with Tzipi Livni's version of events does it ... read my lips?

Conduct unbecoming for any army, never mind the "most moral" army in the world ... yes definitely!

No doubt the IDF will "investigate" itself over this ... any bets it won't be a whitewash again?

Related Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5217176.stm
author by Lara Hillpublication date Mon Jul 31, 2006 19:08author address author phone

"I've met Caoimhe. She came across as naive...."

It's interesting that you use the word 'naive' to describe Caoimhe. I guess you could also call the 5 Pitstop Ploughshares naive in their belief that the Garda would join them when they carried out a disarmament action in Shannon. It seems to me that to carry on as an activist in this world you need to combine a certain idealistic naivety with a steely smartness.

Jesus advised his followers to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. I met Caoimhe once too and that was the impression I had of her.

author by Amre Amerpublication date Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:13author email migrantworker007 at yahoo dot comauthor address San Diego, CA, USA, Earthauthor phone

I wish her the best of luck. She will come back much wiser. I wonder what she will say. If we will listen.

Some call her naive. I'd much rather hear a naive voice than one hardened by prejudice.

Imagine if there were no big news corporations. Imagine if we had to depend on her for our news from there.

You know, it's easy to sit at our computers and judge. We see a few pictures, or a video, and we think we know how it feels.

For someone so "naive", she doesn't seem to buy what she sees on the news.

I think we have a great person in the making, if she survives.

author by Reality Czechpublication date Sat Aug 05, 2006 18:07author address author phone

Some call her naive. Others call her just another garden variety propagandist who supports Islamic crimes against humanity.

Will our hero travel to Kuwait to discover why the kingdom ethnically cleansed the "palestinians" in 1991? Will she travel to Saudi Arabia and Yemen to discover why the poor "diaspora" palestinians aren't allowed to settle in either nation?

Will she meet with the leaders of Hamas, PFLP, Tanzim, Alaksa Brigae etc ad nauseum and defend their right to slaughter civilians?

author by Cancelled Czechpublication date Sat Aug 05, 2006 18:57author address author phone

"Will our hero travel to Kuwait to discover why the kingdom ethnically cleansed the "palestinians" in 1991?"

Ah, the wonderful Zionist logic at work - "brutal, corrupt, authoritarian Arab regimes have also oppressed the Palestinians, along with their own people, so it's ok for us to do it"

And the comic value of someone referring to "ethnic cleansing", then indulging in a little linguistic genocide of his own by pretending to believe that there's so such people as the Palestinians, should be obvious to anyone with brains and/or compassion

author by peadarpublication date Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:27author address author phone

All of negative feedback against Caoimhe. why? At least she has the nerve and stamina to try and make a difference, let us not forget that the Jews stole lands form the Palestinian peoples and are continuing to do so, being artifically strong in the region due to biassed US support. It is time for the jews to back down, step back, give back stolen land, let us live in peace for Gods sake and stop the negative feedback posted against people like Caoimhe who are brave enough to see for themselves just what the truth is in this issue


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