Music venues and artists in Lebanon continue to collect essential funds and supplies for forcibly displaced people. Here’s an update on how that’s going, a guide to fundraising events internationally, some music, and a conversation on community efforts at Nation Station.
First I have to share a sobering note, for context. Migrant workers and marginalized people often suffer disproportionately across the region. As I’m writing this, I see reports that a Hezbollah rocket attack hit and killed people working in an orchard. All but one were foreign nationals, according to The Times of Israel. Literally, in the time it took to write this, UNICEF has reported that in the past weeks, an average of one child a day has been killed in Lebanon by Israeli airstrikes, and five paramedics were killed in Lebanon (according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry). Only a true ceasefire will see any end to this death and destruction.
Interview: Nation Station community kitchen
I spoke with Hussein Kazoun, co-founder of the community kitchen Nation Station, earlier this month on Berlin’s Refuge Worldwide. (I met Hussein via Irtijal Festival in Birut – so music can help make these connections.) This was on October 5, but everything here remains as current today. The conversation is briefly interrupted by the sound of an airstrike. Here’s just that interview (if you want music with it, see below):
Here’s some of what they’re doing:
And direct links to give:
Help a Food Bank-Soup Kitchen in Beirut, Lebanon [GoFundMe]
Nation Station Beirut for the displaced [GoFundMe]
The latest
The situation in Lebanon remains dire. Israeli airstrikes across the country have forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of people and created a humanitarian crisis in the process. Just this week, both Baalbek and Sour (Tyre) alone have been under general evacuation orders and bombardment in cities that previously were home to roughly 300,000 people combined. These impacts are far-reaching, impacting not only Shia Muslim majority populations but all of Lebanon’s diverse groups, plus Palestinian refugees, Syrian refugees, and migrant workers from across the region and northern Africa. Access across key Syrian border access points has also been severed by Israeli bombing. Many of these groups are extremely vulnerable and have nowhere to go – compounded by Lebanon’s financial crisis, beleaguered economy, sectarian division, fear and racism, and corruption. This week’s update from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is here. (Note that you should not confuse UNHCR and UNRWA; these are different and independent UN agencies.)
UNHCR Lebanon Emergency Flash Update (29 October 2024) [reliefweb]
This is unquestionably a music issue, whether other parts of the so-called music scene acknowledge that or not. Many of the Lebanese artists we know come from impacted areas. They’re watching childhood homes and family and friends. Beirut’s music venues have been converted into makeshift aid centers and artists and cultural workers are volunteering to provide assistance. These are venues and artists I’ve worked with in the past and physical venues I’ve played – not that that should be a prerequisite to caring, but it shows how interconnected these issues are.
I want in no way to distract from the ongoing horrors in Palestine, especially Gaza (and particularly northern Gaza at the moment). What is unique about the situation in Lebanon is that aid via music channels is reaching the most vulnerable directly. That has an impact on how we can intervene.
Fundraising events
With an ongoing need for funds, fundraising events have become a way of keeping focus and energy going – energy that threatens to wane just at the moment it’s needed the most.
Recent events include Geneva and Bongo Records and Berlin Panke last Saturday and Kiosk and Pembe in Rotterdam last Friday. Here are some more.
Tonight in Paris, don’t miss DEENA ABDELWAHED, GLITTER55, LILIANE CHLELA, and SIMO CELL at La Station Gare des Mines:
Soirée de solidarité pour le Liban
The wonderful Beirut duo Snakesin play Utrecht tomorrow the 1st of November as a fundraiser:
Here in Berlin on Saturday, I’ll join a great group of folks with ROOT Radio and Refuge Worldwide. The location is private, but you can DM the organizers for details – see their Instagram post.
November 20 Rust will play in Barcelona. (See the recent video / story here.)
Tunefork Studios and Beirut Synthesizer Center and more results
Our friends at Tunefork Studios and Beirut Synthesizer Center have been working together with Nation Station to ensure aid reaches those most in need. They need your help to keep going. This week’s update:
Here are some of the results of the recent fundraisers, too. Please do report back on how fundraising goes, for transparency but also to complete the feedback loop with those giving!
Adira Party is demonstrating how to provide solidarity across issues, directly reaching queer and marginalized communities, across Sudan, Palestine, and Lebanon:
Music mix
There’s a lot more to say about music, especially as coincidentally a number of crucial Lebanese releases have just dropped. But here’s my mix from Refuge Worldwide from earlier this month:
Track listing – all Lebanese artists, and do go check them out (everyone is on Bandcamp):
Sleepspent – Reprise
Charbel Haber and Fadi Tabbal – Couvre-feu
elyse tabet – 4 A.M.
Sandy Chamoun – HAWALTOU
Anthony Sahyoun – Minhadalskekin / من حدّ السكاكين
Rust – Fi Makan
Rust – Kawkab
Rust – Diaspora
Youmna Saba – Tareeq طريق
Jad Atoui – Leaves Must Fall – feat Hassan Chehouri (Piano)
Fairouz – Kamat Mariyam
Random Walkers – Transmutations (Rise 1969 Remix)
Yara Asmar – from gardens in the city we keep alive
Just to reiterate what was said above – the need is only going to worsen. Winter is coming and this onslaught shows no signs of stopping. As an illustration, the general evacuation of Baalbek yesterday was followed by another evacuation order today. People may imagine that Lebanon is a desert (about as much as New York is a desert), or that it doesn’t have winter (no, it does). You can host fundraisers or give directly. See Tunefork Studios’ account as they have multiple ways to give.
You can also check my guide to giving for Refuge Worldwide:
How to support relief in Lebanon as it responds to mass crisis
Previously: