Leaked email: Save the Children trying to “contain” damage from Tony Blair award

Ali Abunimah 28 November 2014

Tony Blair with Abdulfattah al-Sisi, the leader of the July 2013 military coup that toppled Egypt’s first democratically elected president.

APA images

Save the Children is trying to tamp down coverage and “contain” the damage from the award given to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair by its US arm.

A leaked internal email to staff from the international charity’s chief executive Jasmine Whitbread does not indicate, however, that the charity intends to withdraw the “Global Legacy Award” Blair received at a glittering New York gala on 19 November.

On Tuesday, The Guardian reported that Save the Children staff were in revolt over the award.

“We consider this award inappropriate and a betrayal to Save the Children’s founding principles and values,” more than two hundred of the charity’s staff wrote in an internal protest letter sent to management.

Leaked email

In an internal email to the charity’s staff leaked to The Electronic Intifada, Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children International, acknowledges that the uproar over the award “touched a nerve close to our sense of identity.”

She says, “We are all frustrated and disappointed about the situation we are in,” but blames the crisis on Save the Children US, which failed to consult with the rest of the charity’s units.

The American wing of the charity “simply did not anticipate anything sensitive,” Whitbread writes, “in the USA Tony Blair is widely seen very positively for his contribution to international aid.”

But rather than right the wrong and withdraw the prize to a man regarded by many as a war criminal, Whitbread seems more concerned with suppressing criticism and press coverage.

“Urgently, right now, a team is trying hard to contain the situation and stop things escalating further, detracting from our wider work for children,” she states. “The point has been made and more coverage of the issue will not help children.”

She complains that “Sadly there have also been leaks of internal emails to the media.”

Whitbread’s full email is below.

International outrage

The award has been strongly criticized by Kenneth Roth, director of Human Rights Watch, who tweeted that Blair was a “well-paid dictator’s PR agent.”

Blair is widely reviled for his role in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which cost hundreds of thousands of lives and left the country devastated.

Since stepping down as UK prime minister in 2007, Blair has become notorious for reaping millions in shady deals with shady regimes including the Egyptian dictatorship.

He has also been accused of using his role as envoy for the so-called Middle East Quartet as a means to gain access to powerful people to advance his private business interests.

More than 110,000 people have signed an online petition calling on Save the Children to revoke the award to Blair.

Jasmine Whitbread’s email in full

To: SCI all staff

Dear colleagues

I wanted to write to you directly about the concerns over the recent award given to Tony Blair by Save the Children US at their annual gala dinner in NY. In the scheme of all the critical work we are doing for children around the world some of you might ask why I am focusing on this issue, but it has touched a nerve close to our sense of identity and as such I think it’s important that we have a shared understanding of how this happened, what we are doing about it, and how we will come out of this together.

First, understanding how this happened…

We are all frustrated and disappointed about the situation we are in, but I think we can understand how this happened: In our current structure, members make their own decisions about their marketing and fundraising as long as these are in line with our brand and other agreed guidelines. If there is a sensitive question then they consult, and this does increasingly happen. In this case, SCUS simply did not anticipate anything sensitive – in the USA Tony Blair is widely seen very positively for his contribution to international aid. Carolyn asked Justin to deliver the invite and he did so because he wanted to be helpful to Carolyn. I first heard about this when it became public and was immediately in touch with Justin and Carolyn, who agreed with me that there should have been a better process of consultation and risk assessment and that we must learn from this.

Simultaneously, staff in different parts of the world began to express concerns. We respect your views and want to hear from you. It was very helpful to hear from those of you who communicated internally and we appreciate being able to engage directly. Some staff chose to express themselves by signing a petition which I believe we can expect tomorrow. Sadly there have also been leaks of internal emails to the media.

What we are doing about it …

We have to address things on two levels – both urgent and important. Urgently, right now, a team is trying hard to contain the situation and stop things escalating further, detracting from our wider work for children. The point has been made and more coverage of the issue will not help children.

Importantly, we must safeguard and rebuild the trust and commitment to our shared values that we have worked so hard on over the last few years. This will take time and effort. We will want to design a process to reach out widely to staff and use this opportunity to really bottom-out our beliefs and strengthen the kind of culture we want to have in Save the Children. Your contribution to this will be vital.

While I can’t pretend I’m not very concerned about this situation, I’m confident that we can pull together to come out of it in a better place. There is so much that is amazing about what we are doing together for children – our signature programs, our campaign, our humanitarian responses are reaching millions of the world’s most marginalised children. We have to keep focused on this. We are still in the early days of working together as One Save the Children – we have come so far, but we still have a way to go. Let’s use this experience, painful as it is, to inform our next strategy. We have a unique opportunity to forever change the world for children by 2030 – but only if we learn from experience, build a shared culture and align all our efforts behind our mission for children.

Thank you for listening. I also want to listen to you, so do feel free to reply as always, plus I will be holding open calls to hear your thoughts and perspectives.

Yours

Jasmine

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Comments

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MackM replied on

So basically, staff is being told to just shut up and do their jobs and to get over it. How insulting. I hope those with the integrity to have protested giving a war criminal such an award will continue to leak sensitive info to the media. A public protest from staff couldn't hurt either.

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Kc hussein replied on

I and friends will never donate any more to ur charity until u revoke the prize from that criminal,and we are going to rise and campaign against ur charity for been a double standard..I'm sorry but I thought urs were better than this.

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BERNARD BAKER replied on

Whitbread's email is in itself a Blairite newspeak work of non commitment.Risk assessment and 'we (collective pronoun-your beliefs aren't ours Ms Whitbread)can pull together to come out in a better place' is to completely avoid the ethics of the award.Seems more worried about the PR and 'brand'(!) image of STC.A yes or no answer is required as to whether you are revoking the award or not.In the meantime social media will do it's talking......

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maggie replied on

It is appalling that a creature like Tony Blair who has done so much significant harm to so many children in the world, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Palestine would be lauded with an award from a charity which asks us to give them our money to help children around the world to have fit and safe lives. Add Save the Children to the boycott. Write a letter of objection to them and explain why you will not now or ever donate to their charity. Tony Blair is a proclaimed zionist and that is surely partly the reason he won this unwarranted recognition.

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Dr Brian Robinson replied on

It reads as if written in full expectation that it will be leaked, ie it is itself a PR exercise designed to be widely read. With the added bonus that, since it's 'leaked', it will be read even more widely. It doesn't say anything that the charity wouldn't want publicised.

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Mohammad Arshad replied on

Tony Blair the SCUM BAG ARS Kisser of Israel has the blood of Palestinian children on his hands. How on earth Save the Children organization give this SOB an award??? I have lost all respect for Save the Children Orginization.

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tom hall replied on

"In our current structure, members make their own decisions about their marketing and fundraising as long as these are in line with our brand and other agreed guidelines."

This is the language of corporate management. The outlook that sees organisations as "brands" and declares its concern for "marketing", is one that hollows out and colonises human concerns. In that sense, Blair is the perfect recipient of this award. What he and his cohorts did, initially to the Labour Party, then to entire countries, follows the pattern embodied in the memo cited above.

Regrettably, Save the Children appears to have become a captive of neoliberal dogma. Its ability to render just and humane service to the poor must be regarded as compromised by this action. Unless the award is quickly rescinded, the charity will be seen as a front for those global predators represented by odious figures like Blair.

The fact that Jasmine Whitbread is clearly unable to comprehend the moral character of internal as well as public objections to this "honour", speaks sadly and eloquently of her lack of qualification in the field of child protection. Countless children have been killed by Blair and his business partners. That she is unable or unwilling to come to terms with this fact, preferring to concentrate her efforts on a grotesque PR initiative, reveals a level of collusion with evil as encompassing Blair's own network of associations.

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Mirek Szychowski replied on

Like many NGO`s this one (perhaps misnamed) is a neo-liberal structure through and through. Even when caught out, they are unable to evoke the spirit of empathy and humanity for the most vulnerable members of society, the children. They should hang their collective head in shame, (if they are capable of that most human emotion), and simply dissolve themselves, or they will be forced to by the popular outrage!

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Antoine Raffoul replied on

We wrote to Save The Children, the follwoing email:

"If Jasmine Whitbread wants to ‘contain’ the situation resulting out of the public furore to your US branch awarding Tony Blair the award, it would be easy to simply WITHDRAW that award from a person considered by millions to be a war criminal.

Save The Children does not usually ‘contain’ the fall-out resulting from a famine affecting children around the world. It works to ELIMINATE that famine.

So, please do not beat around the bush. Do not play politics with your Charity. Simply demand that the award be withdrawn. Let’s concentrate then on the task at hand: saving children.

Please ensure that this email reaches Jasmine Whitbread. Thank you".

Sincerely,
Antoine Raffoul

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Peter Hindrup replied on

' our signature programs, our campaign, our humanitarian responses are reaching millions of the world’s most marginalised children'

You really are delusional! Why would anybody give you one penny when you support/embrace Blair, a war criminal?

Save the children??? You have no credibility -- NONE!

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Catman replied on

"...in the USA Tony Blair is widely seen very positively for his contribution to international aid.”

Really?

I live in the USA and I'm not aware of those feelings.

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Dr Brian Robinson replied on

Oh dear, it makes me feel like trying to put in a good word for STC (while continuing to condemn the award). STC does enormous good in the world and I don't feel like letting one egregiously execrable character -- and one dreadful mistake -- put me off the charity. Yes, it's a stain on the reputation, and the stain is the colour of blood, but why should our justified indignation mean less help for children? Actually I was rather shocked -- additionally -- to read that the event at which the award was given was described as "glittering". Who paid for it? A decent person would give back the award with a very sizable donation to the charity, thus saving it the embarrassment of having to revoke it. Since we might no longer think TB a decent person, the charity would be well advised to annul the whole thing so that it and everyone else can move on, and the children can continue to be helped.

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Save the children replied on

Don't defend Save the Children. Send your money elsewhere: Kinder USA and MECA and Palestine Children's Relief Fund and Defense of Children International come immediately to mind. That STC US even considered Blair for an award speaks volumes about their myopic "branding."

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Yogurtgirl replied on

I used to work for them and was relieved to resign. Just a rich boys and girls club for the managers. Wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

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Jilly Maid replied on

I was banned from making comments on their facebook page and all my comments deleted. I never said anything offensive but was critical of the high salaries and Tony Blair's award. It seems others have been banned too and some left alone to make it not too obvious. North Korean style censorship is alive and well at this charity. The final straw for them seemed to be when I pointed out that their CEO was able to send her child to one of the most exclusive schools in the country on a salary funded by donations. #povertyprofiteering

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Sarah Heyes replied on

The blair award is totally unacceptable and the insulting justification in Justine Whitbread's adds insult to injury.She says the staff have been 'blind sighted' and decision should have been 'risk assessed' to reduce damage to the (save the children) 'brand'.Blairite spin doctored newspeak if ever I hear it.Note:her salary is £234,000 per annum-helps to fund her child at a top public school! Please carry on the protest.STC are trying to water the whole outrage down-advertising campaign starts to reappear on tv last week.Please donate to an ethical charity.

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Martin Noakes replied on

Hi There

Please help to spread this around; I believe that my music video contains information that the general public are not aware of (such as he liked to be known as Miranda at university). I also believe that it has the potential to raise the interest of the public to push for a war crimes trial. There's sooo much more to know about Blair's past. Please Google "Tony Blair + Miranda” for more information (some of which I couldn’t use!).

Here's the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Many thanks

Martin Noakes

Ali Abunimah

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine, now out from Haymarket Books.

Also wrote One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. Opinions are mine alone.