Thinking that life is all about clothes and accessories is a major mistake. There are obviously more important causes than just spending money for such things, and one is helping other people. In fact that could be defined as a truly stylish cause.
It would be selfish to think that everything goes perfectly well in our world just because fashion weeks are still taking place, a new fragrance by our favourite designer has just been released and we can afford the latest trendy bag on the market.
Previous posts in this blog have been dedicated to topics that, some may deem, do not fall into the “art, fashion and style” categories, from politics to the financial crisis.
But I consider such topics of vital importance in our lives: remember that we can’t talk about art, without talking about the cuts to the culture funds approved by some governments, while writing about fashion without considering the most exploitative sides of this industry would mean lying.
So today’s post is dedicated to independent neutral organisation Emergency, the Italian charity that offers free-of-charge surgical-medical support to civilian war victims.
A week ago three Italian doctors working for Emergency, Matteo Dell'Aira, Marco Garatti and Matteo Pagani, and six Afghans were arrested in a combined raid carried out by Afghan police, intelligence agents and the NATO-ISAF military forces in the Lashkar Gah-based Emergency hospital, in the south of Afghanistan on charges of involvement in a terror plot.
Authorities said bomb vests, weapons and grenades were found at the hospital and that the nine suspects planned to assassinate the governor of Helmand, a province in the southwest of the country. One of the doctors was also allegedly paid thousands of euros to get involved in the plot.
The charity stated the people arrested are innocent and have been framed: Gino Strada, the founder of the organisation, highlighted in recent interviews that it is illegal to take weapons into the Emergency’s hospitals and guards on the doors make sure the rules are respected. So the weapons were either introduced by the soldiers who arrested the doctors or entered the hospital after the guards were corrupted.
This is probably a plot to frame the organisation since, keeping faith to the main principles of the medical profession, it provides assistance to everybody who needs it, regardless of their political affiliations.
Since 1999, Emergency provided medical support to over 2,500,000 Afghan citizens, while the Lashkar-gah centre, founded in 2004, has treated over 60,000 of patients, one third of them under the age of 14.
Solidarity goes to Emergency, to its doctors and to all the people engaged in humanitarian work in war-torn countries.
A demo in support of Emergency is taking place today in Rome, starting at 2pm in Piazza San Giovanni. To sign a petition or actively support Emergency, please visit the charity's site.
Add to Technorati Favorites
Lijit Search
Thanks for this post, which is one of the very few in English. The other ones I've found are these:
http://stopwarblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/uk-troops-assist-in-framing-respected.html
http://blog.seek-er.org/2010/04/emergency/
Posted by: treven | April 17, 2010 at 02:03 PM