Secular Iraqi Refugees

Superb.

Keep up the good work Rawbird!

Adam, what a great day this was for your. To find hidden in the depths of the already troubled community of Cyprus, a story important to all Iraqis worldwide as well as the rest of humanity.
Much Love Bro

Fantastic...

Yay, I'm so glad that this got picked to air on Current!

Best work yet rawbird.
Get those men a basketball hoop!

Thank you for all the interest in the lives of these Iraqi refugees.

Please take note that comments #25, #28, #29 are left by three of the refugees themselves. This type of 'dialogue' --in which the subjects continue to be active participants in a pod's life-- seems unprecedented and yet appears to embody one of the missions of Current--empowering people and media to collaborate to tell intimate news-worthy stories in ways that avoid the technocracy of mainstream mass media.

My questions are:

In what way can their comments be incorporated into the television version of this pod so that real time, real human updates might be possible in this highly volative situation?

In what ways can this internet version (and more importantly the television version of this pod) incorporate in dynamic and interactive ways methods by which audiences can continue the 'dialogue' into activism, blogging, and suplementary and complimentary pod-making on behalf of the refugees and similar issues?

Further yet, Jawad has given me permission to release his email address should anyone want to contact him to offer assistance:

melodyorgin@yahoo.com

Amnesty International might also be a good organization to contact should you be interested in the plight of Iraqi refugees:

link

The public definitely needs to see this (to me) completely new perspective on the Iraqi catastrophe. Without resorting to propaganda techniques, the pod shows a taboo segment of Middle Eastern society and within the context of the Iraqi problem, the people caught in the middle.

Great work: simple idea, great characters, and very good story. Well done!

I think the iraqi people deserve full rights as the refugee, they do not need to made demonstration to take their rights

My name is Ammar.We are group of Iraqis came here seeking refuge into this country to escape death in our country, which is in a state of a bloody civil war according to description of the UN.
But, unfortunately we discovered that we managed to escape death only to be detained in Cyprus, in other word, we have not been granted a refugee status nor allowed to leave the country to other place where we can get our full rights as refugees.
Therefore, we kindly ask all honors people to spare no efforts in finding a just solution to our ordeal.

Dear Amanse,

The best action to help Jawad and Ammar is to remind UNHCR of their responsibility to these four Iraqi refugees in Cyprus.

link

Secondly, the United Nations in Cyprus should be contacted to be reminded of their duty to these Iraqi refugees.

link

They are in a predictament, a limbo between two countries hostile to refugees predicated by American imperialism.

Thanks for your concern,

Adam

rawbird, how can I help the people from Iraq you have shown? I think there is nothing sadder than being displaced by hate and intolerance. I would like to help.
Let me (us) know.

A.

hi iam jawad who wached him in this video i want say thank u verey much for ur concern about us because we spent 6 mounths suffireng and we stilling no one care for us or try to help us we slepping on the open air under the raining and windy weather at winter and the sun at summer we stripped at moment of the time frome evrey thing we had it before the war in our country and the occopation we lost our family ,our friends our home our normal life further more cyprus government threatened us to arrest us ,put us in the jiall i aske all the hounares in the world if we can not sleep on the street when we can go to live in peace and i aske evrey one could to see us or heard to support us we need free voicies to helpe us to make it through the naight it so sad to be all alone we are humen so we aske your humenatarian to give us chans in the life

great job highlighting an aspect of this difficult situation that we don't often see.

Bless the Iraqi people for all that they have had to endure under our nation's occupation. I could not even imagine a foreign army occupying any part of our nation for any length of time, let alone almost 5 years.

It is essential to hear the people’s voice.

Good piece. GL from me.

Thank you for providing yet another perspective to the situation in Iraq, and it's impact. Great work. I thought when I saw the length, that it would be too long, but in fact, the 8 1/2 minutes passed very quickly for me.

Merci de donner la parole aux irakiens, de donner leurs sentiments, montrer ce qu'ils vivent au quotidiens...

I got chills during the seconds he sang into the camera and gave his eye contact to the viewer. To think there are thousands of people stranded or imprisoned in countries all over the world for the exact same reason is heartbreaking. I believe your work will benefit their future.

Peace

This video promotes empathy.
Excellent work.
BIG GL

Hanala - williefab videos

Nice to see intelligent Iraqi refugees having the chance to speak out. Thanks for producing this pod. GL.

Maybe change the title from "Godless" to "Atheist."

This is a great pod. GL for sure.

I felt like I was there playing soccer with these guys, sipping wine with friends, yet hearing the ugly realities of a war that continues to crush individual lives and families.

I just got an email from Jawad, the Iraqi musician, saying that the Cypriot government is threatening to imprison them for their protest/occupation of the UN Green Zone but the UNHCR is attempting to intervene on their behalf--this is finally the attention from the UNHCR that they need and deserve!

But it is just the beginning of a long struggle for these brave individuals to gain the right to work and be free from the threat of being sent back to Iraq.

I like that alot of time was given to the men themselves to try to get their message accross. it was very heartfelt.

I expect nothing less - you're serving it up fish style. I love it. Only rec is cut 1+ min. All the best buddy,
dan francisco

how can anyone vote no that pod? its so refreshing to hear from secular & humanist iraquis. so well done; and crucial information for americans and westerners to know. i love the title as well.. a phrase typically used by the religious to condescend unbelievers accepted as a desirable trait. religion poisons everything

I loved it! Sincere, honest, great story telling with friendly interviews and an important issue to address! GL

This piece is striking and powerful - a fresh and refreshing perspective on a narrowly channeled topic in mainstream media. Excellent work.

Great production, great editing...
. I disagree on a lot of the points but I appreciate that they blamed Islamic EXTREMISTS rather than the entire religion, and then blame all religions rather than just Islam.
I disagree that religion causes all the violence and problems but this isn't the place to start up a debate lol.
Good stuff, although I disagree.
Greenlight.

Very current, nice work. This pod shows us what journalism is all about, giving voice to the human side.

It kills me to see such intelligent and talented individuals living this way.

Thanks for this informative and entertaining bit of journalism.

GL

Shout out! That is how it's done, Fish.

Wonderful piece, I like how you put yourself in it as a filmmaker, but also as their friend. It was so raw and real, you didn't cover it up with a lot of broll and your characters were wonderful.

loved it!