israel has been bombing residential towers, refugee camps, media offices and now there are reports that it plans to bomb two UN run schools in palestine. reminder that many ppl who have been rendered homeless by these bombings have found shelter in these schools. palestine's hospitals are overflowing, their top doctors are being killed in these bombings, and the pandemic is still raging while israel is blocking humanitarian aid as well. these are war crimes. this is a genocide.
I live in India. If any of us needs medical attention if infected, I'm quite sure we won't survive. Delhi is a large capital city, MP's have to tweet and beg to get medical attention for their loved ones. We have the record for highest single day infections.
This video by the BBC India bureau is pretty distressing and summarises the issue quite effectively: supplies, infrastructure, vaccines.
A crowdsourced list of fundraisers to donate (<FF> for campaigns that accept foreign funds, I'm also matching donations upto Rs 20000, DM)
If you have time this weekend: volunteer to collect information of the status of beds
Unfortunately, money will not solve all of India's problems. This is the activism I'd encourage you to pursue if you're not Indian:
1. The United States refuses to lift a export raw material ban on vaccine products even temporarily. Note that India exported 60 million doses of Astra Zeneca abroad before this crisis. Ban lifted, aid offered. Next step: address 3.
2. Angela Merkel threatens future retaliation against India for focusing on domestic vaccines.
3. There's also a WTO bill that would waive patent monopolies *temporarily* in addressing COVID
I call all of this genocidal colonialism by another name. Please organise. India is the producer of vaccines and pharma that is intended to go to middle and low income countries, as long as the crisis continues here, it will have knock on effects in South America and Africa. The virus mutating through 1 billion people will get deadlier and find you too, so it's probably in your self interest.
Campaign #PeoplesVaccine to support the WTO bill
Countrywise:
If you live in the US: find your reps here & email them.
If you live in Australia: find your reps here & email them
If you live in Canada: find your reps here & email them
If you live in the UK: petition to sign (on 500/10000 signatures)
If you are a citizen of the EU: (thanks @kureha-fujishima) Sign this initiative before 1/05/2022, more details here
I'll update with resources for more countries as I find them. Generally calls work better than emails, so do try calling your representative directly if you can.