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| Daniel Etter/New York Times/Redux/eyevine |
We live in a world where we are
constantly bombarded with images and messages about what it means to be an
autonomous individual in our current world state. We are told how to style our hair, what to
wear and when, how we should live and work.
Frankly this appears to be the opposite in opposition to the freedoms we
are regularly told we have in liberal Western democracies. In this state of what can only be perceived
as a form of harassment from the state that seeks to protect us through
manipulation, it is incredibly easy to lose ourselves, our identity and sense
of purpose.
Yet, step back for a minute and
consider those who do not have the privileges so readily available to us in the
Western world. Masses of the earth’s
population live in dire poverty, in countries conflicted by civil and external
wars, and under dictatorial governmental leaderships. Yes, we may easily lose ourselves and our
sense of purpose, but for far too many, losing their homes and the daily threat
of the loss of life is an all-too regular occurrence.
In the West we are periodically
reminded of how terrible immigration is, and how much of a strain immigrants
are placing on our precious limited resources.
We are shown images of swathes of people camped outside the Euro-Tunnel
in Calais, groups of individuals being rescued from the ravages of the sea as
they attempt to make it to European shores, and families travelling in the back
of unhygienic, unsafe means of transportation.
The images we are shown, and the narrative that follows, are designed to
trick us media-saturated consumers into believing that these people are the
problem. We accept a xenophobic and
racist narrative which dumbs-down the situation. And even more worrying than this news-savagery
is the lack of compassion and empathy.
The lack of acknowledgement that these groups attempting to escape are,
shockingly, people too. The sense of
despondency in the wider public audience is appalling: the levels of disconnect
highlight the extent to which we, as a society, have become immunised to the
filtration of suffering across the globe.
We are so quick to make
judgements about these people, that we forget the tragedies they are attempting
to escape.
In Syria there has been a
nationwide political uprising, which began with pro-democracy protests, to
which the government responded with violence.
Since the beginning of 2011, the political unrest has been unrelenting,
with increased pressures for reform following the infiltration of IS.
Since the fall of Gadhafi, Libya
has suffered economic and political collapse, and there has been the surges in violence
brought on by the Islamic State’s expansion into the country. Consequently, a people-smuggling trade has
emerged and rapidly flourished.
Just this week seventy-one people
have been found dead in the back of a parked lorry on the side of an Austrian
motorway, several more boats were found wrecked not far from the Italian coast,
a record 2,533 migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan were caught entering
Hungary from Serbia, the Italian coastguard coordinated the rescue of circa 3,000
migrants in the Mediterranean, and as many as 200 bodies have been found off
the coast of Zuwara, one of Libya’s main smuggling hubs.
Pope Francis has appealed on
various occasions to the international community to react decisively in order
that such tragedies are not repeated. “They are men and women like us, our brothers
seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war,”
he said.
Leaving an individual’s home land
in search of something remotely better should not be illegal, and it should not
be looked down upon. It is a form of self-preservation,
a way in which to prevent further personal destruction and devastation. For humanity to pick up their worldly
belongings (if they are so fortunate) and leave their homes with surviving
members of their family is something far beyond the comprehension of many: it
is a circumstance in which nobody wishes to find themselves, yet many do, and
to give everything up in search of something better and safer can be described
as nothing less than laudable.
Refugees do not pack up their
worldly possessions, scrape together their life savings, leave behind those
they love dearly, and bribe, manipulate and fight their way onto planes, into
the backs of small, compartmentalised trucks, or struggle onto the
undercarriage of a train, with a dozen other people, for the express reason to
watch those around them suffer abuse, or even die.
It is unimaginable to think that
such experiences are diminished by a vicious and dishonest media which crudely
labels these people as migrants, as a strain on resources and political time. These people have little to no voice, and
their personal plights will not bring in the cash sought after by governments
and journalists.
Perhaps instead of immediately
shutting down our walls and increasing border control, we could come together
as a united multicultural nation, capable of so much change, and begin
discussions and work towards solutions to the various social and political
issues present in these countries in desperate need of change and aid.
Admittedly, giving over some
loose change to a charity on the street or funding a membership to some
left-wing altruistic project will make little difference. However, the existence of such charities,
projects and pressure groups is a physical representation of the compassion of
a group of likeminded individuals, committed to the task of attempting to make
physical, long-lasting change that can be felt and appreciated by so many in
situations of despair.
Meanwhile, chances are that this
post will fall on deaf-ears by those not yet ready to accept that there is a
greater and wider scale of suffering throughout the world, and that the images
we observe on various forms of (social) media are only one-side of the story. But if you take anything away from this,
please remember that these people are human beings. They are just like you and me. They are our brothers and sisters. The difference being they have found
themselves in countries of suffering, caused largely by imperialism. And they require our assistance, in whatever
form necessary to alleviate the suffering and reduce our personal
despondencies.
Just because it is not happening
in your country, it doesn’t mean it is not happening.
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