In just a few days, their campaign has already raised several hundred thousand euros. More than forty streamers are taking turns on the Twitch platform until Wednesday to raise funds “in support of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” dedicating charity streams to the lever of mobilization.
Since Friday, many popular Internet creators such as Horthy, Ponce, Angle Droit, or even the journalists Clément Viktorovich and Samuel Etienne, regulars on the live streaming platform, have joined “Streamers 4 Palestinians,” a fundraiser for the non-governmental organization Doctors. world.
“A lot of streamers responded to the call very quickly,” Baghera Jones (639,000 subscribers), the streamer behind the initiative, which is set to end Wednesday night, explained on her Twitch channel Friday.
“This is very new to me, this was done urgently because this is an urgent situation,” she also noted, while this collection was launched several days after an Israeli strike on a camp for displaced persons in the southern Gaza Strip. . On Monday at 22:00 the prize fund had already collected more than 600,000 euros.
“This pot for the Palestinian population was not planned, but it warms our hearts because we have great financial needs locally,” rejoiced Virginie Pou, innovation project manager in the fundraising department of Doctors of the World.
Initiative gathered quickly
NGO members also appeared on several channels to answer questions from Internet users or provide specific examples of the use of this money. “It’s also a way to explain what we do, to make our actions visible,” says Virginie Pou.
While charity streams have existed on the Amazon-owned platform for several years, Streamers 4 Palestinians showed the speed with which these initiatives can be created.
“Streamers offer almost daily broadcasts, usually lasting several hours, live and largely impromptu,” explains sociologist Samuel Koavu, an expert on platforms such as Twitch. “Everything is already ready for such events.”
In mid-May, a similar event, Stream for Palestine, run by a dozen lesser-known authors, had already raised more than €12,000 over the weekend “to raise funds for families in the Gaza Strip.”
Similar initiatives in the USA
But this impulse is not limited to France. On Thursday, dozens of YouTube and TikTok creators gathered in Los Angeles for the “Creators for Palestine” show, which was streamed live on Twitch and YouTube and raised $1.5 million for the UN charity agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA). ) and humanitarian organizations. Palestine Children’s Fund, Medical Aid for Palestinians and HEAL Palestine.
According to Samuel Koavu, the very operation of the streaming platform trains viewers to take out their wallets: “Streamers depend on regular or one-time donations from their audience – and they have an audience that gives. »
In recent years, numerous online annual meetings have set donation records: 10 million euros for environmental associations during the Zevent charity marathon in 2022, or even 2 million euros for SpeeDons in March, also benefiting Médecins du monde.
“This is a lever among others, but a lever that is very important for us,” says Virginie Pou, who considers this a “no small” contribution to funding NGOs. Do streamers risk alienating part of their audience if they take a certain stance? “Political commitment is always risky, but philanthropy based on compassion rather than demands is safer,” says Samuel Koavu.
Source: Le Parisien
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
