Caoimhe Butterly, St. Marys, Wed 3rd June 7 30pm

[give her dixie]

Well folks, if anyone is available tomorrow evening in Belfast, come along to St. Marys on the Falls road to hear
Caoimhe Butterly speak about her work in Gaza, and what it was like during the 22 day war in December and January.
She was with me at the weekend, and she spoke in Sandino's in Derry on Saturday.
This is an event not to be missed as she is one very brave and remarkable woman.


In a world of self-importance and stage-managed fakery, meet a genuine heroine.   Caoimhe Butterly is an Irish human rights co-ordinator and frontline worker in Gaza.  She has been shot by Israeli occupying forces when rescuing a disabled Palestinian child from their gunfire, beaten up by Israeli border guards, and in 2002 occupied Yassar Arafat's Ramallah compound to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.



Butterly is currently doing a talking tour of Europe to raise awareness of the situation in Gaza, grimmer than ever since the Israeli occupying forces destroyed it last January – unlike areas of natural disaster, Gaza cannot be rebuilt because the Israeli government keeps Gaza under siege, allowing only food and some medicines in.    There are currently 250,000 tons of humanitarian aid waiting for Gaza in Egypt, detained by the Egyptian government in compliance with Israeli government wishes.   



Caoimhe Butterly, born in Dublin in 1978, has been living in the Jabaliya refugee camp since last November, and has been resident in Gaza and Lebanon for several years.  Before this she worked with AIDS sufferers in Zimbabwe, the homeless in New York, and Zapatistas in Mexico.  In 2003 Time magazine made her one of their Europeans of the Year.   

 

A fluent Arabic speaker, she currently volunteers with the Palestinian ambulance service, and several other frontline relief projects in Gaza, such as working with families of political prisoners.  There are now over 5,000 orphaned children in the region,  which is the most densely populated place in the world, with 1.5 million people, half of whom are under 18.  Three quarters of the population are refugees.

 

Butterly is co-ordinator of the Free Gaza Movement, whose latest project is a flotilla of ships wishing to bring aid to the besieged area.   This organisation has high levels of support.  Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the UN General Assembly, recently said "From the groundbreaking work of Gandhi and King to the ongoing example of the Free Gaza Movement, we can discern the transforming power of non-violence at a crossroads in our history."

 

Butterly is clear and concise about what has happened, and what needs to happen.    "I worked during the war [in January] and its aftermath as a volunteer with the Palestinian ambulances service," she says.   "There was a systematic and deliberate targeting of our colleagues – the Israelis killed several medical workers, including 13 Palestinian paramedics and 3 ambulance volunteers.   There were 29 Palestinian medical workers injured, and 27 Palestinian medical institutions including hospitals, field clinics and rehabilitation centres were attacked – shelled, bombed and shot up.  Also, 23 ambulances were damaged.

 

"One of the objectives of me being here giving talks is to try and encourage the twinning of  Irish ambulance services with their Gazan counterparts, which would serve to raise awareness and break isolation, provide solidarity and facilitate future exchanges."

 

She continues, "A number of human rights organisations have reported [these attacks on Palestinian medical workers and institutions],  but the problem is the double standards within international law.   Human rights conventions look great on paper, but there is a lack of implementation and political will.  There is also a lack of prosecution of any Israeli generals, which strengthens the culture of impunity and inaction."

 

Then there's the issue of all that undistributed aid, held up by the Egyptian authorities at the behest of the Israeli government.  "There needs to be concerted effort from human rights organisations that the tens of thousands of tons of aid, donated by humanitarian good will, gets into Gaza," she says.   "The Egyptian government must allow this to pass through Rafah."

 

But what can be done?  As an ordinary person reading this, what on earth can you do to make any difference?  After all, we've seen the bombardment of Gaza on telly, watching in horror as world leaders stood back and did nothing.

 

"It's very easy to feel overwhelmed and disempowered by the scenes of massacre and siege in Gaza," says Butterly calmly.  "But ordinary people can unite and challenge what is going on."    This can be achieved, she says, by people participating at grassroots level – taking part in a consumer boycott, educating their families about the situation, taking part in protests and demonstrations, becoming involved in twinning projects to alleviate the sense of isolation and abandonment felt by ordinary Gazans, encouraging children to get involved with pen pal projects, as well as donating humanitarian aid. 

 

"Then pressure the Irish government to pressure the Israeli and Egyptian government to let the aid through," she says.  "Millions of euros have already been donated to Palestinian institutions which have then been bombed and rebuilt, bombed and rebuilt.  Gaza is subject to a hermetic siege.   The sea route is the only realistic route for rebuilding.  On passenger ships, we can only bring symbolic aid.  We hope to bring cargo ships, which would be far more effective as each could bring 1,000 tons of aid.  But maritime law is very bureaucratic."  She pauses.  "And we could be attacked again by the Israelis.  Two aid ships have already been attacked, and one threatened."

 

Caoimhe Butterly returns to Gaza on June 7th to continue her work.  She remains tirelessly unconcerned for her own safety.  Instead she shines a light on one of the most socially unjust places on earth – let us take her lead, and offer our support in any way we can.   

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Now talkback bbc radio 6 counties right now - Dunseth unable to pronounce her first name! 

[The Watcher Pat]

Cant make it give her Dixie...

Was good to meet u at the match on Sunday though....Keep up the good work!

[give her dixie]

Had a fantastic day yesterday with Caoimhe, and she spoke to various groups in Belfast.
In Belfast over 20 people committed to raising funds and aid to go on the next convoy in October.
Today, we are off to Dublin where she will talk to various groups and tonight she will be giving a talk
in the Central Hotel on Exchequer St, Dublin at 7pm. If anyone can make it, please come along.
She is one incredibly brave person, and is well worth listening to.

Check out this video where she is with local farmers in Gaza as they try to salvage crops while under fire from Israeli troops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJRT6GscakU

John