Dose designing national flag for refugees create identity they really want?
Refugees were used to be separated, even treated in an unfair way by the rest of the world. How should they be treated has always been a sensitive but worthwhile humanity-related question to be settled. Lots of people are trying to find out the optimum solution to support them, protect them and raise awareness for them.
On July of 2015, a real estate millionaire, Jason Buzi spread his idea of ‘refugee nation’ in global media. In 2017, The campaign of official flag for the refugee nations was designed, inspired from the color and pattern from life jackets with bright orange and a single black thick strip. It was designed by Syrian artist and refugee Yara with supports from a collective of creatives and the Amnesty international. The color of lifejackets symbolizes uniting of people who travel cross the sea and keep seeking for new countries to settle.
While, is the concept of ‘refugee nation’ and designed flag really create identity for refugees? Are they really feel united and comfortable with it? Furthermore, Is this action uniting people together or actual highlighting the boundary between refugees and host countries?
It is undeniable that the innovative idea brings many potential benefits for both refugees and rest of the world. First of all, The campaign was extensively posted by various media channels. The flag became a powerful symbol offer refugees a sense of identity. It raised awareness, inspired positive conversations, challenged prejudices against refugee and ultimately brought the world together to support refugees. For the first time ever in 2016, a refugee team with 10 athletes got the chance to compete in the Olympic games, but all those athletes had no national team, no anthem, or even no flag and for their own. They have not got the chance to represent and honor their own country. The designed flag in this case will truly unite refugees and invite the whole rest of the world to respect them.
Second, It fights with the global displacement that people currently face. Many Refugees who have been displaced and crossed an international border, are actually in exile or even dependent on international help for years. It represents an unacceptable and tragic waste of humanity and it means to seek for a sense of belongings for refugees. In 2017, hundreds of refugee children in Sweden were reported giving up their lives, since they suffered a lot from ‘The Trauma of Facing Deportation’. Being notified that they will be deported, lying all their hopes on the residency permits of Sweden that their families were waiting to receive, those kids became the sacrifices of the political tragedy. The refugee nation and the flag would bring them a sense of belongings and let them end up struggling in despair. It will definitely arise great social awareness on those displaced vulnerable groups.
Even though many people tried their best to care about refugees, there are also many opposers who do not welcome them to their own nations, nor agree with the idea of the idea of refugee nation. And there are several potential reasons.
This solution is actually taking risks conflating the real stateless persons with refugees, who are not really stateless, owning citizenship of their home country.
Besides, It is more likely to create exclusion rather than inclusion. The idea of refugee nation implies that refugees are separated from the communities that they temporarily settled. This will force them to be treated as a leper colony. People are facing the challengers to encourage more states to accept refugees temporarily. For example, Mr. Trump has emphasized his goal of radically cutting refugee admissions. He believed that the country will not benefit from accepting them either at economic or safety sake. The signal of such exclusions, building up refugee nation, is potentially dangerous, making it harder for them to be integrated into current political communities.
Last but not the least, the idea is passively forcing refugees to consent, but they do have freedom of choices. Do they really want to accept the certain identity designers and the rest of the world create for them? Also, In a globalized world, people usually finally want to choose where they live, and are likely to move to where their friends, family and greatest opportunities lie. Repatriation is definitely a remote hope for most of the refugees, who are waiting to return home when situation changes.
Whether the idea of refugee nation and flag is uniting people together with a highlighted identity or emphasizing the boundary between refugees and host countries, bringing conflicts in return? In my opinion, it can be both. And are refugees willing to be fit in the created identity is another important question. I believe we should all hear the voices from refugees as well as the host countries rather than make all the decisions for them.
While, as a designer, though we can not force either side of this topic to make their decisions, since we have the ability to craft message that can make things better, we can at least inspire people to change their minds and their behaviors by using communication and help to form a kinder world with more inclusiveness. For instance, the guerrilla campaign, “Made By Refugee”, spotlights the many contributions that refugees from all over the globe have made to the shared culture. It shows that refugees can be the cultural producers like anyone else in the community, no matter where they come from and who they are. Especially in the host countries, citizens really should help and embrace those refugees as families, which will create a sense of belonging for them than any other created objects. We should all try our best to reduce conflicts, eliminate discriminations and let the beautiful things shine.
References
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/us/politics/refugees-revenue-cost-report-trump.html
4. https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/refugee-nation-olympic-flag-lifejacket-110816
5. https://www.miamiadschool.com/blog/272/that-really-cool-thing-it-was-made-by-a-refugee-
