The war-torn city is being destroyed as you sit here reading this.
Just this week (Dec. 11 through Dec. 18), 80 people have been killed in the Aleppo area, including 11 children. The U.N. estimates over 80,000 people have been killed since the war started in 2011. That's about 14,000 people per year. The ceasefire failed after 24 hours. Civilians are being trapped in the crossfire between the rebels and the Syrian and Russian forces. Their last words are pleas for rescue on social media. Women have been cited as saying they'd rather commit suicide rather than face their eventual rape.
It's heartbreaking. It's real. It's horrifying. And no one is talking about it.
Only last night (the 14th) did Paris turn of the lights of the Eiffel Tower in solidarity. This mass genocide has been going on since 2011.
Evacuations just began yesterday, (Dec. 14th), moving only 15,000 of the 80,000 still trapped in the burning city, according to the U.N.
So why is no one talking about? Why are there no hashtags proclaiming #PrayforAleppo? Like there was for Paris? For New York? Why is no one crying about these lives? Why is no one commenting on these lives? Are they worse than ours?
Someone told me it was because they're Muslims. Because they don't deserve to be saved.
Someone told me it was because they aren't part of a Western Country, and they don't deserve our help.
But this is not just a 2016 problem. This is not just a 21st country. For years, the Western countries have ignored genocides; in Rwanda, In Crimea, in Cambodia, in Bosnia, in Armenia...in so many other places. We dig our heads in a hole and ignore what the world is doing to its people -- we ignore suffering, and the screams, and pleas for help. We just ignore it, because if we can see it, it's not our problem.
When we ignore the sufferings of others; regardless of their race, of their gender, of their nationality, we are telling the rest of the world
That's not right any way you cut it.
These innocent civilans being murdered desrve more than your ignorance. They deserve our help, and safety. The deserve to not fear for their lives every second. They deserve freedom, and health, and maybe even happiness. They deserve their fundamnetal human rights.
And when the rest of the world refuses to even acknowledge the horrors they're facing, refuses to just open their eyes and look, rather than keep them closed against the knowledge that bad things are happening.
Bad things are always going to happen.
But that doesn't mean we can't help stop them from happening.
Donate:
USA UNICEF: a branch of the United States that works with children internationally, and have been helping the 80% of children in Syria during the war. (Donate)
Save the Children: working to distribute food and medical baskets, as well as fresh clothing and woman essentials. (Donate)
Islamic Relief USA: Works to alleviate poverty and suffering in Eastern countires like Turey, Sibera, and Syria. They've been working in Syria since the war started, and continue to make efforts. (Donate)
Syrian American Medical Society: a health care relief agency that's working inside of Syria and near by countries. At the moment they have 106 medical facilities across Syria, helping civilians and refugees who have been sick and are injured. (Donate)
Call:
The Syrian Embassy in your country, your Senate and House members. Let them know that people care about this issue.
Talk:
Tell others about what's happening! Most of the news coming out of Syria is propaganda, but let them know the scope of the situation and ask them to help. If we all know, there's no reason for doing nothing.
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