George and Amal Clooney were in Berlin last month for the Berlinale premiere of George’s film Hail Caesar. While in Berlin, they met with Angela Merkel regarding the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis, and as it turns out, they also sat down with eight or so Syrian refugees now living in Germany (Germany has taken in thousands of refugees already). A video of the encounter was posted by the International Rescue Committee.
At first I was like “way to make this all about you, George,” but I think they just put his part of the conversation at the beginning to draw in Clooney fans, right? George tells the group:
“[Our country] is a country of immigrants. We have not recently done a very good job of remembering who we are, and being here and talking with you is important to remind them of who we are, and who we have always been – which is you…It’s too much to talk about giant numbers. It’s actually easy to dismiss giant numbers. But it’s very hard to dismiss a young child, sitting on the ground, crying when her mother is telling the story about how she left. How she grabbed her daughter and sat on the ground and said ‘If I die, we wanna die by a bullet, because it would be quicker.’ We – as a what we’d like to think of as a civilized world and nation, always look around at the end of these tragedies and say, ‘If we know, we would have done something,’ and the reality is of course, we know.”
Amal even shared some of her experience as a Lebanese refugee, coming to England in the early 1980s, saying: “My own family is from Lebanon and they also ran away from a war, and were lucky enough to be accepted by a European country in 1982 while the violence there was really bad… I hope that, as you say, you will be able to go back to a safe and free Syria.” She says that her father later returned to Lebanon, and I honestly thought many of her family members still lived in Lebanon? This is just a reminder that we really don’t know much of Amal’s real story and real history, and George’s people only sold us the fairy-tale. Like, if Amal and her family came to England as war-ravaged political/humanitarian refugees, how is that not a more inspirational story than “glamorous barrister lands Hollywood bachelor”?
Anyway, good for Amal and George for trying to raise awareness.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
It’s good that they try to raise awareness, but George should try to speak more to the people in Washington in order for the US to take more refugees. Mediterranean countries who already have problems like Greece can’t carry all the weight of the crisis on their shoulders and the US with the Iraqi war have far more responsabilities for making the region unstable. Just because the US is far away, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t help.
Meeting refugees in a cosy five star hotel is not doing any good.
Go to the refugee camps, met people there who are living in tents etc and then talk about the crisis.
So far – George has not proven to me that he genuinely cares for these issues and not about making his image look good.
+1000
AND, in my honest opinion, he should host some families in his own mansions, just to walk the talk.
Because, as we see here in Europe, refugees are always sent by the elites to the poorest neighborhoods, those that already struggle to receive decent services themselves.
It’s easy to give advice when you spend months to renovate an already lavish mansion before bothering to put your foot in.
meeting in a hotel presents a different face to the refugee situation though. maybe it is to counter all the smear news about refugees being illmannered, uncouth, and combative. look, these refugees aren’t thrashing hotel rooms (like some rich brat rock musician wnnabe for instance)
here they trying to present the genteel side of refugee/asylum seekers. that there are also the middle class or the highly educated, or even judt highly polite and well-mannered refugees/asylum seekers who will indeed enrich whichever country that accepts them.
maybe this way other more fortunate people can connect more. sometimes, pictures or videos of refugee camps while stirring, can be quite disconnective to some people who just can’t imagine. but an urban displacement setting is an alternative discourse. “see: not all refugees in urban European cities are thugs”
Angelina Jolie once said that she met highly educated surgeons, lawyers, doctors, accountants who were forced out of their country and into the refugee camps, barely surviving. but these sort of refugees aren’t the ones currently inspiring mindless-ragisms and Trump-Wallisms. the refugees in urban Western cities are.
i don’t know. maybe my argument isn’t as sound. but the point is that this is also another kind of raising awareness.
Exactly ^^^^ This is not Angelina Jolie weeping with the old women who have lost everyone. Very posh and comfy way to depict a destroyed country and devastated people.
Yeah, he really needs to be putting up a few dozen refugees in his mansion on Lake Como – the one he had the local government create a buffer zone around to keep people from getting too close. Or in his 10-bedroom Georgian mansion in the U.K. Or in the $50 million estate in Cabo that he owns. Or in his house in Studio City. Or…well, you get the picture.
When a person owns $60 million in real estate and they start chastising average people for being concerned about the effects of millions of migrants on their daily life, it’s really not a good look.
On this issue, George needs to either put up or shut up.
Here are just some of Clooney’s absolutely gorgeous real estate holdings. There are a few more properties that aren’t public, so this is just a sampling:
http://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/568665/George-Clooney-fans-500-fine-Lake-Como-villa
http://www.curbed.com/2014/10/13/10036270/george-clooney-buys-private-island-mansion
http://www.curbed.com/2015/7/13/9941284/george-clooney-cabo-richard-ricardo-legorreta
http://la.curbed.com/2012/2/10/10397194/george-clooney-gives-you-a-tour-of-his-fryman-canyon-house
I thought he’d been to camps in Sudan several times?
I believe he does a lot more than what is being reported. I used to volunteer for a organization that helps victims of genocide and his name always popped up in meetings. But his visits to refugee camps, congress and his other efforts were more often than not, never reported by the press.
I do think, though, that he isn’t a very inspiring speaker. He always sounds very preachy to me. Amal and Anjelina Jolie are much better speakers than George IMO.
@ Carol
Cough*bullshit*cough
NOTHING George does goes unreported when it comes to his ‘humanitarianism’.
Nice try, though.
With all the man-whore and bachelor bs aside, George really isn’t that insufferable. I also love what he has been saying in terms of politics lately. (oscarssowhite, trump) and now bring awareness for syrian refugees? I love it.
Before all the hate starts, I’ll say that I enjoy this couple and applaud what George said. He always has tried to bring awareness to issues. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to be a refugee and to feel so helpless that you choose a quick death over a long torturous one. We create these wars and conflicts and sell them to us and others. War is business.
It isn’t hate; it’s a broader prospective. Most people who want to know about the nightmare of the middle-east, i.e, Syria – already know. GC is late to the show, like riding the advocacy coat tails for his own benefit.
It’s great when celebs can “shine a light” but GC often does it with an imperious tone, seemingly telling people how things should be, instead of doing what Princess Diana did – just “bring the cameras with her” and let the crisis show itself and everyone make up their own minds about it.
Before the hate starts? Its an ongoing never ending stream, dear. I suspect it has something to do with a certain other person who takes an interest in these issues and was considered half of a power couple. As if accepting that she isnt a special unicorn and others have/are doing meaningful things with their celebrite somehow diminishes her. Anyhoo, I couldnt be prouder of Amal and her mum. Amazing women, especially given their own displaced story.
Agreed, I’m glad for anyone who is speaking up and trying to make others understand the situation better. I can’t watch the video now, but from the transcript, I think he did well to mention the one woman and her child, and remind everyone it’s not just a mass of millions, but individuals like you and me.
I didn’t know anything about Amal’s personal history, which is really more interesting than the pr crap they sold us for years.
There is probably a reason George doesn’t want us to know her real family history.
I’ll be the one to say it….her pants?’ What the hell are those in the last pic?! LOL
I was going to say it, typed it, then didn’t submit thinking myself too shallow on a post that warrants deeper thoughts.
But yes, I’m with you! What exactly is going on with those pants? I can’t figure them out…do they have wings?
I love coming here for the fashion. Wings is a great thought…I was thinking it’s like the pockets are inside out and sticking out type of look. Wish I had a clear shot of the pants. Ha!!!! Let’s hope they weren’t more than 5$ pants. Yikes!
WTF with those bizarre pants and a crop top?
Yeah, because this issue that is talked about non stop and that most of us confront on a daily basis was precisely in need of awareness!
It’s not about awareness it’s a reminder, it’s putting a face to this tragedy. He even says, the number of refugees is so great it’s hard to even really comprehend, so here, listen to these few people tell their stories and be reminded that on the other side of all the talk about walls and banning people because of their religion are real people who are suffering. You’re right, we’re all aware of the issue but it’s amazing how many people don’t really stop to think about what they’re really doing when they advocate turning away refugees. They’re condemning people who have already suffered so much to continue suffering.
Exactly.
Its on every single news station everyday and night, we know what is going on, this is just nice pr for him, nothing more, he’s back in LA hanging out with cindy and randy at nobu in Malibu, really worrying about the refugees, while his 10 million pound house is being rederorated, give me a break.
I don’t care what people think about their marriage Amal is a bad@$$ woman getting things done. Her career efforts are impressive and I’m glad that has not changed even after being married
What has she done that is go great?
I hope these two manage to follow through on this issue, after all the splashy press is done.
Pretty much any bio of her mentions that she was born in Lebanon and her family managed to leave during the war. Not much detail beyond that, but it’s not like that info wasn’t out there.
Typical “do as I say, not as I do” language. The Daily Mail had a piece today lambasting the Clooneys–and the Jolie-Pitts, among other celebrities– for being so vocal about refugees but not bothering to use one of their five houses to host a single migrant.
I have working class relatives in a city that hosts migrants and the women cannot go to certain areas without an escort. The wealthy elite don’t have to deal with harsh new realities like the average citizen.
but we don’t know for sure if they didn’t. maybe they kept it quiet because they want to give these refugees (if they really do provide shelter) anonymity. i mean, all of the gossips we get are the ones released from their camp. both George and Amal as well as Brad and Angelina are notoriously tight fisted with information. so no drone surveillance or pap will know unless they themselves tell it.
i believe that they do passionately care for the refugees. and Amal’s family seems very close to the Lebanese diaspora as a whole. i am sure that they would take in their fellow Lebanese (or even on-Lebanese) who seek their help.
we just don’t know. and perhaps many years in the future, after the issue is not so sore anymore, stories about how so and so refugee has sought and been given shelter at Amal’s home or George’s house might surface.
at the moment i just can’t fathom George or Amal publicizing “heyyy i have an asylum in my back garden”. one, that will only ‘hurt’ the refugees for being used as publicity tool. second, George and Amal are more pr savvy than stooping that low.
With Clooney, no good deed goes unreported.
Trust me. We would know. We would know all about it!
Someone as interested in being publicly seen as virtuous as GC would *never* be able to stay quiet about hosting refugees in one of his many properties.
the neighbours certainly would blab to the press!
I understand this video was released to coincide with the anniversary of the outbreak of conflict in Syria but surely, if the Clooneys (George really) is considered such an awareness raising draw, then over a month of this video sitting on a shelf – at key times in the migrant crisis, with much shifting of positions in Europe – has been wasted ‘awareness’ time; if we are to believe that’s what it is.
Coincidentally, Amal is about to embark on another round of being seen to work again.
The near bookending of the video with George’s outdated comparative and Amal’s, although more recent, very different experience seemed insensitive and self-regarding. Amal was greatly aided by wealth and sponsorship in her migration to the UK and did not labour under migration in a hazardous extended journey with millions. Her family also sought UK sponsorship to citizenship signalling no intention to return in any full-time residential capacity – I understand her mother and father are quasi-divorced and that he separates his time between several countries, still including much time spent in the UK.
I suspect that Amal’s refugee history is little covered by Clooney PR as her ‘journey’ bears little resemblance to that of what most would consider the typical asylum-seeker/refugee experience. Certainly not one at all similar to those in the migrant/displaced persons camp Angelina Jolie visited recently. At least Angelina Jolie is advocating for support and action at source. The Clooneys are advocating for mass migration without proper checks as to the legitimacy of those on the move. IRC is closely aligned to Open Borders ideals and much of its advocacy and focus is being considered worrisome by other agencies, including within the UN.
100+ for your comment, dippit!
If you watch the news networks, read newspapers and follow social media, the US has focused its energy on the election, almost in an obsessive way. Actually, the whole election has become a 3 ring circus to me. So no offense to the Clooneys, but no one really cares what they think or say. If George wants to give attention to the issue, roll up his sleeves and put his money where his mouth is and do a documentary series or sponsor some families to the US or donate some of his millions to help resettle families in Europe or buy supplies that the refugee camps need. I am just a working gal and I have sent supplies and money to organization that helps out in the large refugee camps in Europe, He should do the same.
Well I’m sure whatever guilty feelings he and Amal might have had about their lack of effort (read: spending money to open and furnish temporary housing for said refugees) have been completely assuaged by their overwhelming generosity and kindness of spirit by meeting in a posh hotel room with a handful of successful immigrants.
Celebrities can speak out against all sorts of causes and highlight the plight of millions of homeless, sick and broken people but please, just put your money where your mouths are.
Yeah they’d rather have us 9 to 5’ers do the donating.
I wonder what they actually talked about with the refugees? I also always assumed that if you seek refugee status you are no longer allowed to ever return to your home country? Has that been changed? How many of these refugees will ever return to Syria? What would there be left to return to? Their homes were probably destroyed.
I still can’t get over those pants. George is a mythomaniac. Amal is getting better at not looking smug, and she actually comes across quite well in videos. She’s terrible at being papped because she smiles at the cameras and looks pap hungry.
They can’t spin the tale of her and her family being refugees running with nothing to a new country. For starters Amal wasn’t born until 1982 and her family are very wealthy. They flew over first class could afford the lawyers etc to get their visa’s etc and I guarantee they were never in any sort of slum a five star hotel maybe but they haven’t experienced anything like these refugees. Yes they would have had to deal with bombings but they got out fast. Amal looks cold and distant in this video a people person she is not. The whole video looks staged seems actually going to the refugee camp and meeting more then just one hand picked family was a no go. Amal probably didn’t want to get her expensive outfit dirty. They have six homes between them most of which are vacant for months and months at a time. Surely they could put up a family or two or even give some money to help make the camps more comfortable. But no there has been no word on George and Amal donating any sort of money or doing anything other then do this PR stunt to suit their own purposes.
DanaG, completly agree, these two are a joke, at least Angelina Jolie goes to the camps. Why doesnt George and Amal go to Lebanon and visit the refugees there in her own country, no your exactly right she wouldnt want to get her designer wardrobe dirty. He was in Germany for his film premiere at the festival, so he thought it would be nice pr to do this, for himself, not the refugees, these two are shameful for what they will do for themselves and there image.
Definitely just one of many PR stunts. I think George really does want to do some good but like all philanthropic mythomaniacs, there’s no way he’s getting his toes dirty (i.e., opening up a home or two to house refugees). A cheque once or twice a year, and as many flattering PR appearances as possible, but the rest of his time he’s chilling in his high-flying lifestyle.
“For starters Amal wasn’t born until 1982 ”
er, she was born in 1978. In Lebanon. I know we dislike her but can we at least keep verifiable facts straight?