Opinion

Action Syria

Nida Mahmud wants you to stay on top of this hot button issue

Now the big question: how can you help? And how can you learn more about the situation in Syria? Everything can be answered by twosimple words: Action Syria.

Action Syria is a student lead initiative, backed by the Union at Imperial to raise awareness and humanise the civil unrest in Syria. The organisers want to demonstrate solidarity and express that Syria is being remembered by Imperial College. The campaign runs from the 1st to the 22nd February. Detailed information is outlined on the website www.actionsyria.com. The website is packed with information, so make sure you visit it. The crisis in Syria was bought about by a few simple words. Do you know what they are? (Don’t worry if you don’t as they’re on the website). There will also be a lecture by experts on the humanitarian crisis on the 12th of February so keep your eyes wide open for that, it is one not to be missed. Additionally, there is a full timeline of events explaining what has happened over the last two years. Syria is a war-torn country, where hundreds die every day; this campaign is a great way for you to help make a difference (and wasn’t that one of your New Year resolutions?).

The website also has a link to the Avaaz petition, the one that wants the Syrian Students to be able to continue with their studies in the UK. So if you want to help out, please sign it.

The organisers succinctly explained the motivation for this campaign, “we want to actively portray that ‘we have not forgotten’, the website and social media is a way of raising awareness and to humanise what can so easily become statistic after statistic. It’s a campaign which also aims to raise funds for medicine, provide organised information about the situation and enables everyone to help out in any way possible.”

There is also a Facebook page that gives dailyupdates: https://www.facebook.com/ActionSyria. Whether or not you are a tweeter, be sure to check out #ActionSyria. So get informed and get involved.

From Issue 1539

8th Feb 2013

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