How to support relief in Lebanon as it responds to mass crisis

Please consider donating, supporting or organising where you can. With 1.2 million people displaced by Israeli attacks, Lebanon is facing an unprecedented crisis, adding still more misery to the growing catastrophe across neighbouring Palestine. Israel’s attacks on the country have claimed nearly 2000 lives since October - most in the last two weeks, including one of the bloodiest single days in modern warfare. Attacks have forcibly displaced some 1.2 million people as of October 4, according to Lebanese authorities, out of about 5.4 million population (UN, 2022). In some cases, this means repeat displacement, including foreign workers and Syrian refugees. UN officials on Friday told the press that most of their 900 collective shelters are out of capacity, driving people into the streets.

Lebanon's music scene - alongside many other groups of volunteer aid workers - is now on the front lines of a humanitarian relief effort. Outside help is urgently needed, with even small donations translating directly to basic supplies.

With bombs shaking Beirut nightly and repeated attacks across the country, music communities in Beirut have shifted entirely into emergency response mode. From Frequent Defect to Ballroom Blitz to Metro Al Madina, Fizz to Riwaq, Beirut Synthesizer Center to Tunefork Studios, every music space and collective in Beirut is in action. These spaces act as shelters, relief centres, and staging areas for storing basics as simple as pillows and water. The only real solution is to stop these attacks, but until that happens, civilians rely on these volunteer efforts for survival. 

Locals in Beirut can drop off supplies directly: Metro al Madina, for instance, named items like deodorant, canned chickpeas, milk and diapers for babies, water, and first aid equipment on its wish list. These needs carry an added urgency in Lebanon, which on top of financial catastrophe and bankruptcy has a government not providing basic relief supplies. People’s lives are being held up by volunteers and aid.

For those wishing to help outside Lebanon, donations to direct mutual aid will have the greatest impact. Tunefork Studios, which has had its name on many of the most significant Lebanese underground and experimental releases in recent years, is partnering with Beirut Synthesizer Center, a community space for learning electronic music and sharing equipment.  By October 1, ongoing fundraising had bought 686 mattresses, 585 pillows, and 401 blankets, atop water, medicine, and food, for displaced families in and around Beirut. 

To support this effort, Tunefork Studios is accepting donations from abroad by PayPal, cryptocurrency, bank transfer, and Western Union transfer. You can email info@tuneforkstudios.com to donate directly, and see their latest report here. Haven for Artists is a self-described “cultural feminist organization working at the intersection of art and activism.” Founded in 2011, it’s one of the platforms most often recommended by Lebanese artists, as it’s acted as a hub for community, activism, and art over the years, connecting to communities of Syrian refugees and earthquake survivors and Palestinian justice (and even topics from foraging to film). Like all the links here, they also are inclusive of other organisations - vital at a time when many marginalised groups struggle to access assistance in the country. Haven for Artists has a direct donation link with credit card support.

Music artists are also working with community kitchen Nation Station. Established in an abandoned gas station after the port blast, for the past four years, Nation Station has provided a safe space, women’s center, medical clinic, cinema and music festival, and vegetable distribution and meals service. The community kitchen, team, and volunteers are entirely focused on relief now, and they accept direct donations to trusted volunteers.

These are just a few examples, but as many on the ground urge, the most important is to focus on mutual aid, direct relief and giving (not NGOs), and trusted recipients. From the Periphery Media Collective has an extensive, updated list on how to help people in Lebanon.

Solidarity across communities in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria remains as important now as ever. For Palestinian aid, organizations like our colleagues at Radio AlHara are supporting HEAL Palestine, which is working on food distribution in Gaza as children suffer from food insecurity. Falyakon is organizing an in-person fundraising event for Palestine at Panke here in Berlin on Saturday.

Individual donations aren’t the only way to act. Beirut Synthesizer Center and Tunefork Studios encourage fundraising events. As a model, see for instance events at London’s Riwa featuring Dirar Kalash or Cyprus’ Breach Festival.

Note also that US citizens living in Berlin should take action as the USA remains the primary funder, supplier, and enabler of this violence. Groups like ADC (Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee) even offer direct contact information demanding de-escalation.  

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this list and to all our colleagues who tirelessly put in the effort on the ground to keep these operations running. 

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PETER KIRN is an independent journalist of Lebanese American descent who has collaborated in the past with Beirut Synthesizer Center, Riwaq Beirut, and Irtijal Festival.

The fee usually paid for this article will be given to Tunefork Studios/Beirut Synthesizer Center, as well as an additional donation from Refuge Worldwide.