After Years of War, Celebrities Find a
Syrian Group to Back
By LIAM STACKSEPT. 14, 2016
The complex and brutal conflict in Syria
has defied the best efforts of peace negotiators and humanitarian officials for
more than five years, but a new group of luminaries is weighing in on a war
that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives: celebrities.
More than two dozen actors, singers and
other prominent people have signed a petition urging the Nobel Prize committee
to award its 2016 Peace Prize to a group of volunteer rescue workers toiling in
cities across the war-torn country. The move draws attention to both the horror
of the conflict and the growing willingness of well-known Americans to adopt it
as a cause célèbre.
The White Helmets, also known as the Syria
Civil Defense, are a group of volunteer emergency workers who rush to the scene
of airstrikes in civilian areas of cities like Aleppo, which was once the
country’s largest but is now divided between rebel groups and the regime of
President Bashar al-Assad. His central government has rained bombs on citizens
for years, and the White Helmets say they have pulled more than 60,000 people
alive from the rubble.
The petition may have no impact on who gets
the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be awarded on Oct. 7. But its organizer, an
advocacy group called the Syria Campaign, said it was hopeful that the
celebrities’ endorsement of the rescue workers, as well as an upcoming Netflix
documentary about them, were signals of growing concern for the plight of
Syrian civilians, who they say have often been overshadowed in the West by
concerns about refugees and the Islamic State.
Raed Saleh, the leader of the White
Helmets, said in a statement that it was a “huge morale boost”to see increased
international support for their work, especially from people they recognized
from the movies. The signatories include George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Daniel
Craig, Justin Timberlake, Aziz Ansari and Zoe Saldana.
“For international stars to stand next to
the White Helmets’ humanitarian cause gives a morale boost for all people doing
this work,” Mr. Saleh said. "We deeply appreciate this support and remain
determined to rescue as many souls as possible and create the opportunity for
peace. This is our mission.”
Syria is far from the first conflict to
attract celebrity attention, and stars like Angelina Jolie and Mr. Affleck have
devoted considerable time to touring war zones and raising money for relief
efforts. So why has it taken more than five years for celebrities to adopt
Syria as a cause?
One reason may be the complicated nature of
the conflict, which has involved hundreds of rebel groups, including some
linked to Al Qaeda, and has set the stage for the rise of the Islamic State,
analysts said. It has confounded policy makers, so movie stars and pop singers
can hardly be expected to have done any better.
“For years people have been confused by
the perceived complexity of the Syria conflict and have continually asked, ‘Who
are the good guys?’ ” said Anna Nolan, the director of the Syria Campaign.
The announcement that Netflix would produce
a documentary about the White Helmets, and the drive to award them the Nobel
Peace Prize, answered that question for public figures who wanted to get
involved.
“The White Helmets are probably one of the
most inspiring stories that has come out of the Syrian conflict, so it is a
very easy group to endorse and stand behind because they are real life heroes
on the ground,” said Lina Sergie Attar, a writer who founded a humanitarian
organization that works with refugees on the Turkey-Syria border.
Celebrity activism has sometimes been
controversial, but Ms. Attar said she was glad to see famous people support a
local organization addressing “the heart of the problem.”
“We’ve seen celebrities go to refugee
camps, but I’ve always watched that and thought they were engaging with
refugees as if they’re divorced from the political and military circumstances
that created the refugee crisis itself,” said Ms. Attar. "That was very
frustrating to watch.”
Kassem Eid is a Syrian asylum seeker in
Germany who spent two years touring the United States with the Syrian-American
Council campaigning for the United States to act against the Assad regime. The
experience left him deeply cynical about American policy makers. But he said he
believed in the work of the White Helmets, and thought that actors, writers and
singers could perhaps do some good.
“I have more faith in the devil than in
politicians,” he said. “But movie stars and celebrities don’t have elections to
win, so they can say whatever they want or whatever they believe is right.”
Who: White helmets
Why: Syria civil war
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