Jack Leahy | Contributing Editor
The promoters of Dublin club night PrHomo have announced that entry price profits from this week’s installment will be donated to humanitarian missions in Gaza.
The weekly night at The Dragon Bar on Dublin’s George’s Street, which advertises as ‘Dublin’s biggest gay student night’, is run by former Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Welfare Officer Cormac Cashman.
All profits from entry fare are to be donated to the Gaza missions of humanitarian organisation Irish Red Cross. The Red Cross describes its mission in Gaza is to ‘[care] for people who are injured and homeless’ as the numbers of both escalate as a result of attacks from Israeli defence forces.
As per the club’s standard procedure, a limited number of patrons can avail of free entry before 11pm by posting a specific phrase to the event’s Facebook page, in this instance ‘Free Palestine’.
According to the event page for this week’s event, all attendees will have the opportunity to make a donation on arrival, even if they have secured free entry through social media.
The club night, which celebrated its fifth birthday in April of this year, has previously held fundraising events for LGBT+ organisations such as Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) and Gay Community News (GCN) as well as a number of natural disaster and humanitarian aid relief causes.
Red Cross’ website describes the supply of clean water in Gaza as ‘critically low’, with more than half of the population now affected by sanitation issues. It asserts also that ‘the growing shortage of medicine, fuel and the damage of medical facilities is hampering relief efforts.’
Other Dublin businesses to address the conflict include Dublin 2’s ‘The Exchequer Bar’ and Smyth’s toy store on Jervis Street, which announced a total boycott of Israeli goods through social media and in-store signage respectively. Staff at the latter have since been ordered by the company to remove the sign.
In the last hour, Herald.ie has reported that Super Valu has also elected to remove Israeli goods – mostly herbs and fruit – from its shelves.
Speaking to The University Times, Cashman spoke of the importance of businesses in charitable efforts and of a feeling of ‘guilt’ in relation to the escalating crisis:
‘My first ever “Business Venture” was in conjunction with an orphanage in Bethlehem when I was 17/18. The women there started a programme making hand woven bracelets to earn money to sustain themselves, their families and the orphaned children of the conflict. – of which there are many.
‘I thought i’d be able to get them to sell in Ireland, but I could never get it to take off here, but the idea of a business not always only being for itself stuck with me, and since my visit there, Palestine has always remained in my mind and heart.
‘With this conflict I feel a particular sting of, I guess guilt. We watch the news, or hear stories about genocide, state sponsored-murder, targeted children, dead children. We connect to it as human beings but are left with a feeling of helplessness. What can I do? Often the answer in reality is very little.
‘Having been in Palestine and experienced the harsh indifference and racist aggression of the Israeli forces first hand, its hard to stay disconnected, and impossible to remain indifferent.
‘So we’re throwing a small fundraiser, – it won’t be massively different on the night from our regular nights – people will come, dance and have a great night out. But off the back of our fun hopefully some good can be done.’
