Adil NajamToday, June 20, is World Refugee Day. In most years, most of us may not have thought much about it. This year, we cannot afford to ignore it.
Hollywood power-couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who are also UNHCR goodwill ambassadors and longtime friends of humanitarian causes worldwide, including in Pakistan, just announced a US$ 1 million donation to assist displaced Pakistanis.
As Pakistanis we thank them for this generous gesture. As Pakistanis let us also view this as a reminder of our own responsibilities to reach out to and assist our own.
Readers at ATP have already been extremely generous in this regards. In our last campaign (last month) readers raised US$ 4,780 from direct donations. On our part, we had added another US$ 2,220 to that to make it a round US$7,000 (Pak Rs. 560,000). Of this, two tranches of donation were already given – to the Edhi group in Pakistan and directly to UNHCR. A third tranche is now being sent – again, evenly distribted between the Edhi group and UNHCR. This means that the funds donated till now have been evenly given to these two.
We are starting a short campaign again today (we will keep this open for only a few days) and hope that our readers will again show their generous spirit to whatever extent that can. We remain committed to add to whatever is raised from our own advertising revenue. As before, it does not matter how much you can give, what you give, how you give, or even where you give – if you find our widget useful give here, if you can give directly to the many many worthy organizations that are doing extremely good work. But do please remember to give. These IDPs (internally displaced people) are Pakistanis who were at the frontline of a battle that all of us are fighting. Their sacrifices are for all of us, and we all must demonstrate this in whatever way we can.
Pakistan has been at the epicenter of the global refugee crisis for decades now. And with over 2 million Pakistanis displaced in their own country becasue of the havoc wrecked in the Swat region, the global refugee crisis is even more local to Pakistan than it has been before.
Thank you, Angelina Jolie. For keeping this issue alive in the international media. Thank you, for making your donation at the right time – a time when attention had just begun to be diverted. Thank you, for reminding all of us – Pakistani or not – that this is a human crisis before it is a national crisis. Even as our Pakistani heartstrings are pulled by the plight of the Swat IDPs because they are our own, let us never forget the most important lesson of all – they, and all of us, are humans before we are anything else. Thank you, Angelina Jolie, for that reminder.
@ Jock:
Point well taken and I agree.
I hate to bring religion into this and I’m certain by some to be quickly labeled a zealot but Islam says its permissible to accept this money so who am I to disagree? =)
My biggest problem was simply in the applause or Thank You. I don’t think they are deserving of any praise. Call me ungrateful or unappreciative…lol. Sorry esteemed founding editor, Adil Najam, for busting so hard on your blog title. =)
Angelina made $27 million, Brad made $28 million for a combined total of $55 million. I’m sure they never even missed $1 million.
I believe I am wearing out my welcome regarding posting to this article so I shall cease. =)
I’m wondering how that dinner went with our two ATP editors?
…(continued from prev. post)
Now abt the fact that they’re doing it for PR only. Its possible of course and I really don’t have a way of proving or disproving it beyond all doubt. I will say this howevr, Brangelina aren;t the first to do it (public charity, as in) and they wont be the last either and there are often reasons for that. PR can be used very constructively if done right. It should be noted that doing charity publicly is often a way of attracting the public’s attention to a cause, as opposed to simply making a donation anonymously. This way you mobilize other people to give to the same cause. This tactic is used not just in charity but also in elections, book and other products promos etc. I don’t see too much harm coming out of it being used in charity…:)
And please don’t take any of this as offence or anything, because that wasn’t my intention. I personally think everyone should do THEIR respective part in helping the IDP’s so that Brangelina will simply be another prominent name(s) among the millions other who helped and are neither celebrated excessively or excoriated unnecessarily
Cheers,
jock
@Aisha
I see your point. Basically you think that because Brangelina don’t conform to our standards of morality we should think twice abt accepting money from them and also the fact that they chose to do it publicly rather than privately suggests that they’re more interested in PR rather than humanitarian welfare. Plz correct me if I’ve mis-stated anything.
On the one hand, I can’t really fault you for being careful abt who you accept money from but I still think something is being missed here. Fact is, if the only people you DO accept aid from are those of impeccable (or at least appropriate) conduct are allowed to give aid, then sorry to say we’ll have very little actual aid…:)…We both know that alcoholics, adulterers, rapists, murderers and terrorists exist in Pakistan. We also know that some of these ppl are now rushing to assist the IDP’s. I know that many ppl from supposedly ‘decadent’ liberal circles are off to Swat to assist in the aid programmes, along with leaders and members of various militant groups. Now tell me, should we block these deeply flawed ppl from giving aid as well or should we not? After all, if we can stop Brangelina from giving aid on grounds that their social and sexual conduct isn’t upto the mark, it would hardly make any sense to accept it from these ppl. Then again, how would we do such a thing? There is no mechanism yet in place that is able to discern moral from immoral people at and in such times it isn’t really practical to come up with one.
…(continued)
@ lennie:
I have given this much thought since I last posted visited ATP, wondering if I were a poor homeless refugee would I want the money or not. Chances are that if I had children that were hungry and homeless I might be so inclined to accept help from anyone. However, that too is a frightening thought just the same for me spiritually. Do we sell our souls to the devil or do we have faith? This would be a personal dilemma and does not reflect what I think the Refugees should or should not do. How could I speak for the refugees and that was not my intention from the beginning. Please I am not calling Brad or Angelina the devil. Devil was used as a metaphor before and now.
I never said that the money should be refused out of sympathy for the ex wife but that I “personally” view the money as haraam.
It does take two to tango…I’m glad you clarified that because this was not just about Angelina. The significance of her being mentioned was to point out the treatment of women in regard to other women. Believe me, it is not very kind or sympathetic…especially in the U.S.A.
Regardless of the condition or state of any marriage…it is sacred and should be treated as such. No one has any business in being party to its destruction regardless how little or if they were invited. There is a saying, where there are 2 there are 3, the third of course being Satan. For those of us that are Muslims, the Jole/Pitt behavior is 100% unacceptable regardless how common or socially acceptable it has become. I don’t make the rules.
I don’t read gossip magazines. If something looks like a dog, smells like a dog, and barks like a dog…its probably a dog.
Back to the beginning, my objection was not only my personal thoughts on accepting the money but was about “applauding” THEM for anything. They could have donated the money anonymously if they truly wanted to receive no public recognition for doing a good deed. It was all for the P.R. and damage control. Therefore, their selfish motives clearly nullify the good deed theory.
Good Will Ambassadors are chosen simply based on being worldly reknown in a wide public medium such as in movies and television. They are told what countries to visit…she was sent to Pakistan…she didn’t choose to go to Pakistan on her own. Likewise, they don’t even pay for their own trips…they are all expense paid vacations by the same programs they are trying to raise awareness & funds for. Look it up.
Furthermore, and this will probably be of no relevance to you if you are not a muslim but she has adopted children coming from different religious backgrounds, and desires yet to adopt a muslim child and a Christian child. Chances are because she has money, she will be permitted to do so even though I believe it is unlawful for a Muslim child to be adopted by a non-Muslim.
Being an Atheist or Agnostic (whichever hasn’t been made clear yet), I wonder if she is going to offer these children any religious upbringing and if she does…which will she choose? It would probably be a good idea if she actually got married too.
By the way, I was Born and raised in the U.S.A.
Excuse me Aisha, but I prefer that there are much more people like Angelina Jolie in this world, than people like Jennifer Aniston and people like yourself. It would be a better place for sure.
I really question your “morality” given what you have said about Pakistanis refugees, should they then refuse Brad and Angelina’s help in sympathy with this “poor-dumped ex-wife” Jennifer Aniston? What is worse than so-called morality based on gossip magazines about people you don’t even know or met once in your lifetime?
First, you cannot steal somebody’s husband, it takes two to tango baby, breakups happen and especially with Hollywood stars it really happens everyday. Have you been under Brad Pitt’s bed to know exactly when and where has he starting to dump Jennifer Aniston and to be with Angelina Jolie? How do you know if his marriage (which I believe) was rotten long before he ever fell in love with Angelina? I don’t know from which country you hail, but here in the US it’s not