Cork mother and activist: ‘It’s only luck that separates our children and the children there’

GILL Carney has always lived in Cork, but is far from lacking life experience.

She arrives to chat to me about her latest passion – her indefatigable effort to mobilise people against the war in Palestine.

Wearing a beautiful red Palestinian scarf, Gill lives and breathes her work. She is an unaggressive, but absolutely unapologetic changemaker.

Early Choices

Gill’s deep involvement in Palestine is not something she necessarily planned. On leaving secondary school, the activist, known as ‘gillybeanggirl’ on her popular Instagram account, trained to become a doctor.

“I struggled to decide what to do. I was academic and loved languages, science and art; I had a broad base of interests. I considered law, with a focus on human rights. I found it very hard to pick one thing at such a young age, but I think that experiences in a lot of different areas serves you.”

And so it served the young Gill Carney.

“I finished my medical degree and completed the first half of my internship. My first baby was about one by then, and having to juggle that with up to two 36 hour shifts in the hospital was tough.

“This was in the context of also working 12-hour shifts in between, leading to 120-hour work weeks in some cases.

I couldn’t give my all to both motherhood and medicine, so I decided to leave.

Initially, she set up on Instagram to share her photography and wrote content for various businesses, but in recent months, her platform has become a way to raise the voices of people in Palestine.

Making A Difference

“I have connected with so many people here in Ireland, but I have connected with people from Gaza as well. Samer, who is in Germany now, is somebody I would call a friend. I helped him share his GoFund me page which is not something I do lightly.”

She’s quick to share his story. Sharing the stories of those most affected by the war in Palestine is what she does.

“He reached out to me three days after his home in Gaza was bombed in an air strike. In the attack, his 14-year old daughter, four sisters, one brother and three nieces and nephews were killed. He is living in Germany trying to save money to get his family out of Gaza. He is disabled having been injured in Gaza himself in 2009.

“We don’t realise it here, but people don’t get to simply leave Gaza. They must pay a great deal of money at the Rafah border and the price has gone up hugely since October. This man was in the absolute throes of grief and he was reaching out to me, a stranger on the internet to help him.”

Gill knows every detail.

“He had a video with his daughter the night before and the next day got a phone call from his uncle to say they had all been killed. He couldn’t contact his wife or their remaining daughter as their possessions, including their phones, were under the rubble.

Imagine grieving alone and not being able to contact your family; of course, his immediate reaction was to want to get everyone else out.

As we sit in a Cork coffee shop, it seems like Gill is describing another planet, something of which she is keenly aware.

“We take for granted our freedom to travel. It is an open air prison in Gaza. You can put your name on a list to be approved and wait and wait, or, if you want to fast track an exit, you can pay for it. At one stage it was up to $10,000 per person. Palestinians tend to have big families and homes with many storeys. That is part of their refugee story.”

The Power of Mothers

“Social media became a way for me to connect when I became a mother,” says Gill. “It was through social media that I got my first photography job and connected with a lot of other creatives who also happen to be mothers.

“I initially used my social media to connect with people with my photography, and it was about my motherhood journey also.”

She thrives on human connection.

“I was lucky to connect with two Cork mums whose group Dreaming Always connects like-minded mums. It was a huge outlet for me that gave me an opportunity to explore something that spoke to my heart. I think that in motherhood, it is easy to lose a part of yourself, but I am creative at heart. Anything I do work-wise ends up being expressed in a creative manner.”

The activist also sees motherhood as a central component in the Palestinian struggle, which has become the focus of her Instagram in recent months. She is now mother to four, ranging in age from three to 13.

Women, and mothers in Palestine are such an important part of the movement for freedom. You see so many mothers taking to the streets and marching. Mothers and women in general have been a massive part of the movement.

When Gill started to post, she was conscious that a lot of people following her were mothers too.

“I think mothers have a connection, an unspoken one, an understanding that you would do anything possible to protect your children. I look at my position as a mother; my children go to school; they have food; are not subjected to checkpoints. Children in Gaza talk about airstrikes in a way that my children talk about rain.”

The unfairness strikes her deeply.

“I think as a mother, why? Why do these children not have the same human rights. It’s luck. I didn’t do anything to be born in this country where I can live pretty freely. All my struggles play out in the context of peace. There are people here who are struggling right now. And there were times when I wouldn’t have had the capacity to deal with it. Everyone must look at their own capacity to contribute. It is only luck that separates our children and the children there.”

An Uplifting Community

Despite the harrowing nature of the content she shares, if anything, she feels her engagement has brought a great deal of positive energy into her life through the groups she has joined and the people with whom Gill has connected.

“The Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign is an incredible organisation with so much passion. It is so multi-cultural and it is beautiful to be a part of something rooted in social justice.”

But she also accepts that it can be hard going for people.

“I am aware that I post things through the day.

“ It’s a lot to process in the middle of everyday activity. There is no point in pretending that it is not distressing. 

Looking at them and not channelling your grief or action doesn’t achieve anything. That’s why I decided to try and come up with actions, tangible actions.

Mothers against Genocide is an amazing group, she says, operating out of Dublin and Belfast.

“I’m in Cork but even the WhatsApp group is supportive and there is also Irish Psychologists for Palestine now. Families for Palestine is great for anyone who wants to go to the march but doesn’t know anyone. It is intimidating. I’ve never chanted on the streets of Cork before and I felt very exposed. As time went on, I knew it was the right thing to do.

“I want to be on the street showing people in Palestine that we care, that we are not just going on about our lives, when people are being literally slaughtered day in and day out.”

Human rights are at the core of it all.

“I went up to a march in Dublin recently and my heart broke to see the tents lined up outside the station. It’s everywhere. But imagine what it is like to be in Gaza now, where for a long time they have only been allowed six hours of electricity every day, because another country has decided it. Imagine how we would react to that?”

Why Social Media is important now

There is no weight to the argument that people haven’t responded to different wars in the same way, according to the passionate Corkonian.

“Never before have people documented their own genocide on social media. We didn’t have access to real life stories before. These stories and the accompanying footage have changed me as a person.

It’s not normal what we are seeing. There is no handbook in terms of how to deal with watching videos of children being killed online. 

"Thankfully, supports are developing for people and joining groups is important for that reason. But we have a duty to bear witness to what is happening.”

Before October 7, her knowledge of Palestine was pretty basic, she says.

“I had a basic knowledge up until that point. Knew there were human rights issues, had never really leant into it and explored it in the depth that I have in the last few months. But when I see the vast contrast between footage from Palestinian journalists and Western media, I’m so frustrated. It is so censored and filtered. Until western media decides that it’s going to represent the truth of what’s happening, it’s on all of us to make sure the truth is out there unfiltered. That’s why I feel strongly about sharing what I share. People telling their own stories is so important and social media allows us to do that now.”

Gill’s Instagram account now has more than 15,000 followers.

“ I thought everyone was going to unfollow me. Some people have left but I welcome everyone who joins me to raise awareness. 

Having a platform is a huge privilege and I want to be responsible with it. I have a deep-rooted sense of wanting social justice, and clearly a lot of other people do too.

She believes that people simply need to find what works for them, to find their capacity, and admires the work of many people around her.

“You don’t have to be one thing. I know amazing people who are using their platforms to raise awareness. My friend Lilly Higgins is a food content creator. She has always used her platform to highlight the culture around Palestinian food and has really made it a huge focus in the last few months. She does it beautifully.

“It’s about finding your capacity in an artform, or in any other way. It may just be saying you don’t know a lot, but to say you care. It is really interwoven, change and social justice, and we don’t have to look beyond our own country to see its importance.”

Duty of Care

“I am using my platform to raise the voices of people who are being denied their basic human rights,” says Gill. “I have had people get in touch and ask me am I alright. I tell them I’m absolutely fine. I ask them are they alright? How can they carry on as if nothing is happening? I don’t understand it.”

She is not disappointed in Irish people in general however, but feels our government has been too slow to act.

“There have been a lot of words but not enough action. When you hear South Africa speaking up, we must pay attention. I mean, if anyone knows apartheid, it is them.

It is an obligation on all of us to connect with the people who represent us in Ireland and in Europe and in the United Nations. Together, we can make a difference.

At a march recently, Gill heard Karen Guerin speak, one of the Dunnes Stores workers who went on strike against apartheid in 1985.

“So many people told them they were mad, said what difference could they make. They started something, a huge movement, and they didn’t have a cushion of support. There is a cost to all activism but it is worth it when you see it is all centred around human rights. They were 12 women and one man but their actions had a ripple effect.”

She ends our conversation by talking about peace: “There is so much anger at the moment. Ultimately, there is going to have to be some way where everyone will eventually find peace. It’s a very turbulent road to peace and everybody’s idea of peace is different. I believe our role is to make space for their voices where they decide what peace looks like for them on their terms, and that peace is negotiated where Palestinians actually have an equal seat and voice at the negotiating table.”

She hopes we can harness the momentum that’s happening now to get more people involved in social justice.

“People want to make communities of care. It’s happening. I know one thing is certain – my gillybeangirl instagram page has taken on a new role and I see it as a community.

“While I may use my photography in ways to portray strong imagery, the messaging, and the connection, the community it brings together for social justice is now the focus.”