Top musicians come together for Help Refugees benefit gig
- Text by Alex King
As temperatures drop this winter, conditions for thousands of refugees sleeping on streets or in makeshift camps across Europe will become even tougher. Despite months of media coverage and popular pressure, governments and major aid institutions’ response to the biggest refugee crisis since WWII has been found wanting.
“How is it that UNHCR and other refugee charities can be failing their clients, the refugees, so abysmally?” asks comedian and activist Heydon Prowse, who’s now working with Help Refugees. “If this was a business, heads would roll.”
Grassroots groups across the continent, such as Help Refugees from the UK, have stepped in to pick up the pieces where official institutions have failed. They’ve organised search and rescue operations in Lesbos, shelter building for families in Calais, food distributions in Serbia and more.
“In these places you get the feeling that you could hand someone some water and it would last them across the border or give them some shoes, which would perhaps last them until the muddy fields of Hungary,” Heydon explains. “But the welcome people receive from volunteers would be of some small comfort the entire way across Europe until they found their new homes.”
To raise funds to continue their vital work, Help Refugees are holding a benefit gig on Sunday November 22 at O2 Forum in Kentish Town. Head down to show your support and catch Paloma Faith, Peace, refugee musicians The Stone Flowers and a secret band.
Find out more on the Facebook event or buy tickets here.
Latest on Huck
Bobby Gillespie: “This country is poisoned by class”
Primal Scream’s legendary lead singer writes about the band’s latest album ‘Come Ahead’ and the themes of class, conflict and compassion that run throughout it.
Written by: Bobby Gillespie
Vibrant photos of New York’s Downtown performance scene
‘Balloons and Feathers’ is an eclectic collection of images documenting the scene for over two decades.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Picking through the rubble: Glimpses of hope in the US election results
Clambering through the wreckage of the Harris campaign, delving deeper into the election results and building on the networks that already exist, all hope is not gone writes Ben Smoke.
Written by: Ben Smoke
US Election night 2024 in Texas
Photographer Tom “TBow” Bowden travelled to Republican and Democratic watch parties around Houston, capturing their contrasting energies as results began to flow in.
Written by: Isaac Muk
In photos: “Real life is not black and white” – Polaroid x Magnum Open Call winners
See pictures from the competition organised by two titans of contemporary photography, which called upon artists to reject the digitalisation and over-perfectionism of our modern world, technology and image-making.
Written by: Huck
In photos: Rednecks with Paychecks
‘American Diesel’ is a new photo series that looks at the people, places and culture behind the stereotypes of rural America.
Written by: Ben Smoke