Harry and Meghan statement on Afghanistan

[Mummyoflittledragon]

“The world is exceptionally fragile right now.
As we all feel the many layers of pain due to the situation in Afghanistan, we are left speechless.
As we all watch the growing humanitarian disaster in Haiti, snd the threat of it worsening after last weekend’s earthquake, we are left heartbroken.
And as we all witness the continuing global health crisis, exacerbated by the new variants and constant misinformation, we are left scared.
When any person or community suffers, a piece of each of us does so with them, whether we realise it or not. And though we are not meant to live in a state of suffering, we are as a people, being conditioned to accept it. It’s easy to find ourselves feeling powerless, but we can put our values into action - together.
To start, we encourage you to join us in supporting a number of organisations doing critical work. We also urge those in positions of global influence to rapidly advance the humanitarian dialogues that are expected to take place this fall at multilateral gatherings such as the U.N. General Assembly and the Leader’s Summit.
As an international community, it is the decisions we make now - to alleviate suffering among those we know and those we may never meet - that will prove our humanity.”

• THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK

H&M are being criticised for making this about them and for not calling out Biden, notably the FLOTUS is report as being a personal friend of H.

What do mumsnetters think?

'Harry is instrumental in Invictus, veterans who served in Afghanistan and did two tours of duties there, they have every right to make a statement.'

Again, he's already made a statement “What’s happening in Afghanistan resonates across the international Invictus community.Many of the participating nations and competitors in the Invictus Games family are bound by a shared experience of serving in Afghanistan over the past two decades, and for several years, we have competed alongside Invictus Games Team Afghanistan.“We encourage everybody across the Invictus network – and the wider military community – to reach out to each other and offer support for one another.”

Wasn't that enough, did we really need the cheesy 'we have all felt, we have all witnessed' speech?!

It's just virtue signalling. Unless they offer to open their Californian mansion to refugees ...

@Rousette

I think Harry has every right to put a statement out.

As it is Harry, who did the tours of duty and Harry, who is instrumental in Invictus, shouldn’t it be he, who puts out a statement in his own words?

These are clearly not his words and not in British English.

Do we know what organisations they mean?

Yes.

Women for Afghan Women
Mercy Corps
Afghan Aid
And others

I don’t agree with them being political considering they still rely on their connections to the RF, so feel it’s right to avoid criticism of POTUS (who I feel has a huge amount of blame for the current situation). However, of all members of the RF, Harry is in a respectable position to bring publicity to the people of Afghanistan.

I am interested in why they aren’t linking to and mentioning the organisations they are supporting and what they are doing to help though - To start, we encourage you to join us in supporting a number of organisations doing critical work. Their statement just seems like a lot of unnecessary words to say two sentences.

@Marcee

It doesnt make much sense to me.

"As an international community, it is the decisions we make now - to alleviate suffering among those we know and those we may never meet - that will prove our humanity"
???

I have to read each sentence several times before i think I understand what they might mean. But in the end just end up confused.

Multilateral gathering?????

"To start, we encourage you to join us in supporting a number of organisations doing critical work."

Do we know what organisations they mean?

Yes, on their website there's a list of aid organisations to which you can donate.

Not sure why these have been left out of the OP. Presumably to paint H&M in as poor a light as possible!

@ThymeafterThyme

It's just virtue signalling. Unless they offer to open their Californian mansion to refugees ...

Virtue signalling as always. Maybe they could ask 40 celebs to house 40 refugees?

No, it isn't funny. The statement is just utterly inappropriately worded. Don't they have staff experienced in media stuff?

I think Harry has every right to put a statement out

I agree.
They are married and obviously it would be a joint statement. Afghanistan is a lot about the women and their rights so quite understandable that Meghan would write too

@SunbathingDragon They have given a list of organisations but the OP here doesn't include them.

Why aren't posters more concerned about what our royal family are doing then? (They're a bit busy at the moment holed up at Balmoral)

Well they (the RF) can’t say anything about the situation in Afghanistan as that would be a political statement. I agree that Harry has a right to comment as he served there, but I’m not sure that is the motivation behind this. There has been no real news about them for a while, (notice the lack of threads on here 🤣), so I think a lot of this is about a way of creating publicity for themselves. They are really not important enough in the grand scheme of things to need to make a statement of this kind. And it is a load of semi poetic nonsense as well imo.

@JaniieJones

'Harry is instrumental in Invictus, veterans who served in Afghanistan and did two tours of duties there, they have every right to make a statement.'

Again, he's already made a statement “What’s happening in Afghanistan resonates across the international Invictus community.Many of the participating nations and competitors in the Invictus Games family are bound by a shared experience of serving in Afghanistan over the past two decades, and for several years, we have competed alongside Invictus Games Team Afghanistan.“We encourage everybody across the Invictus network – and the wider military community – to reach out to each other and offer support for one another.”

Wasn't that enough, did we really need the cheesy 'we have all felt, we have all witnessed' speech?!

Yes I agree this is enough. This is what should appear on the Archewell site. Or similar wording.

These are clearly not his words and not in British English Gosh!

They are living in the US ! This is for the American market more than 'British English'

I don't think @Roussette was referring to Afghanistan!

We are left speechless. Bla, bla, bla, waffle, waffle, etc.

We urge those in positions of global influence…oh well, that’s good that they’ve been urged to do something. They probably had no idea what to do until these two told them.

smilesy
Yes, I agree. They can make a statement of course.

They are really not important enough in the grand scheme of things to need to make a statement of this kind

I think you are under estimating them. A member of the RF (like it or not) who has served two stints in Afghanistan and who was instrumental in founding the Invictus Games where hundreds of veterans served.
Apt and welcome.

I am interested in why they aren’t linking to and mentioning the organisations they are supporting

They are. I put some above

It's entirely appropriate for Harry to speak out give his tours of duty and ongoing support for vetrans.

I also like that they used their platform to signpost to groups doing work in relevant areas.
I also think people criticising them for not attacking Biden are showing their own ignorance as emerging reports are suggesting the politics behind it go back a couple of years. It's also the wrong time for celeb couples to position themselves as political experts who know it all about international relations. Harry and Meghan have form for talking themselves up and positioning themselves as figureheads, but even they aren't stupid enough to get political over this.

The statement itself has a nauseating self-promotion sound to it that jars a little though.

Not a fan, but if they have influence with all their Instagram followers, this will do no harm, surely.

Spelling words like organize with z isn't an Americanism, incidentally. I remember a furore when Charles did likewise. Oxford dictionary z. Other UK English dictionaries, usually s. Americans use z. We have options.

'who has served two stints in Afghanistan and who was instrumental in founding the Invictus Games where hundreds of veterans served.'

You keep ignoring thr fact he had already made a statement regarding invictus and Afghanistan. Why the fluff piece about layers of pain?

@BeckyWithTheAverageHair

I’m talking about the statement for which they’ve been berated by the likes of Piers Morgan. How ridiculous to presume I missed out the organisations to paint them in a poor light.

@Roussette

smilesy Yes, I agree. They can make a statement of course.

They are really not important enough in the grand scheme of things to need to make a statement of this kind

I think you are under estimating them. A member of the RF (like it or not) who has served two stints in Afghanistan and who was instrumental in founding the Invictus Games where hundreds of veterans served.
Apt and welcome.

Something simple and to the point - welcome. Not this meaningless waffle! Also any ‘influence’ on the international community would be achieved by Harry/Meghan speaking to their connections. Not virtue signalling statement to the general public. I also have great disdain for rich people asking for donations.

Janiie
Did you miss the reference to Haiti?

I don't keep ignoring anything.
I think... given Meghan has always been for empowerment of women, it is understandable they wanted to do a joint statement on Afghanistan and the awful situation in Haiti.

Those two couldn’t be speechless if their lives depended on it. They’re fucking endless.

Especially as they have been involved in World Central Kitchen which has a base in Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

I’m talking about the statement for which they’ve been berated by the likes of Piers Morgan

Never!

I thought he was their number one fan! I never knew.

Still... it gives him a purpose in life I s'pose