# Why no fundraisers for Iraqi dead, asks Terry Jones

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/01/14/why-no-fundraisers-iraqi-dead-asks-terry-jones/
- Published: 2005-01-14T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Python, film director and actor Terry Jones wrote in yesterday’s Guardian to ask
why, given the public generosity to the south Asian tsunami appeals, there are no
fundraising activities underway for the many civilians killed in Iraq? 
“Why aren’t
our TV companies and newspapers running fundraisers to help Iraqis whose lives have
been wrecked by the invasion?” asks Jones in his comment piece in the Guardian.

He acknowledges the remarkable scale of giving in response to the tsunami disaster
but is perplexed by the lack of any similar response to the widespread deaths in
Iraq. “Of course it’s wonderful to see the human race rallying to the aid of disaster
victims, ” he wrote, “but it’s the inconsistency that has me foxed. Nobody is making
this sort of fuss about all the people killed in Iraq, and yet it’s a human catastrophe
of comparable dimensions.”

UK Fundraising has certainly reported extensively on the fundraising responses to
the south Asian tsunami, but we have found next to nothing to report on fundraising
for Iraq’s population. Of course, the poor security situation and the withdrawal
of international aid agencies has made the implementation and delivery of assistance
remarkably difficult. Still, in the early days after the fall of the Saddam regime,
when some aid programmes were still possible, there was very little fundraising 
activity for Iraq.

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Of course, the ability to generate media interest and public support for particular
charitable appeals at the expense of others is nothing new, and no doubt many charities
are concerned about the possible diversion of donations from their causes to the
tsunami appeals. There are plenty of other emergencies in the world that cry out
to be tackled in a large-scale and sustained manner, with the AIDS pandemic and 
poverty just two of them.

Still, Terry Jones’ question needs to be aired.

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