The narrative on refugees needs a drastic reframing
It starts with words
Three years ago, I took a plane to Greece to visit a friend that was working in a mobile library in the refugee camps in Thessaloniki, Greece, a city that hosts around 16,000 asylum seekers mostly coming from Turkey in search of refuge.
The narrative that I had been exposed to about refugees was one of horror, dirt and death. Little did I know that in the following days I would witness the birth of a child in a hospital, try the best Kebab I’ve ever tasted in a refugee camp, that I would try tea with dates and almonds, that I would feel extremely welcome with complete strangers, and that I would meet a talented young Syrian photographer changing the narrative on refugees.
Where are we now?
As we stand, the mediatic portrayal of refugees is perpetuating a narrative where these humans are kept in a status of victimhood and separation. In 2011, when the Syrian war started, the words refugee and crisis began to fill the headlines of mainstream media. With it, a light was shone on the incapability of the European Union to deal with the situation and that of the media in creating a new way to portray the movement of people. Tens of thousands of women, children and men died at sea, not to speak of the political narrative around the “crisis” was used by populist leaders to gain votes.
Other than giving space to xenophobia and racism, the narrative that depicts refugees as poor and with no future- or labels them in a group named after their temporary social status- takes away the dignity of humans that have been forced to flee their country in search of safety, whether economic social or political. As it stands, the moment humans flee their country and start their journey they lose their identity as doctors, teachers, nurses, etc. and acquire a status of refugee. This is problematic in many senses because it reduces individuals to a group, and therefore the narrative around it.
A decisive moment
Whilst I researched for this article I started seeing the word refugee or migrant placed often near the word “crisis”. The Oxford dictionary describes the word crisis as “a time of intense difficulty or danger”. Therefore, we have come to associate the word refugee with something negative, a problem. If we look at the etymology of the word crisis though, we find that it actually comes from the Greek word krisis, which actually means “a decisive moment”.
The consequences of the misuse of words are subtle but extremely powerful.
If we dig into the pairing of these two words we can appreciate the double meaning of it: the way it has been used, the refugee crisis perpetuates a negative connotation towards refugees, creating an extremely dangerous narrative. In an ideal world, the word crisis would not be used at all, but more graceful words such as movement, change, exodus, turning point, could be. And ironically, if we look at the refugee crisis taking into account its Greek origin, this actually is a krisis, meaning a moment to take decisions and set up laws and regulation that favour the movement of people, integration and respect for human life.
I must acknowledge that it is curious how hard for me it was to write this article without using the words refugee and crisis next to each other. Though it is a conscious choice I made to move away from the old narrative, it revealed that my conditioning is strong. The consequences of the misuse of words are subtle but extremely powerful.
Changing narratives through the camera lens
“It is not the problem of the word itself, it is what we do with the word,” Abdulazez Dukhan, Syrian photographer, told me in an interview a few days ago.
Abdulazez recently posted something on his Instagram account which was simple yet sent a strong message. Announcing a new name to his photography project, he asked his followers to be careful about how they use the word refugees. “I as many don’t feel ashamed of the word refugees, we know our origin and the reason that we left but the fact is that now this word is now being used as branding” he stated. He shared that a year ago when he was presenting at a company about his art and photography he was presented as a refugee. “This is not ok” he continues, saying that many people are using refugees for their own interests (donations, grabbing attention, quotas).
“I as many don’t feel ashamed of the word refugee, we know our origin and the reason that we left but the fact is that now this word is being used as branding”
His move from Syria to Belgium taught him a lot, and despite his young age, he created a beautiful project that depicted life in the camps in Greece. He has been portraying a different narrative of refugees “But seeing the way European media presented refugees as hopeless, dangerous and ignorant people, was really frustrating and it got me thinking of ways to change the image they have of us.” he says in his website. His project, which began in 2016, was initially named Through Refugee Eyes, until he changed it a few months, in line with his mission to Through Strivers Eyes. Only twenty years old, Abdulazez is changing the narrative by paying attention to words.
Destruction is always a chance for rebirth, and with this pandemic, we also have an opportunity: as thousands of people are once again forced to flee their countries because the economic crisis is bringing institutions to their feet, the world has an opportunity to change the narrative on refugees.
So what can we do?
It starts with words. For one, we could start using words that are more hopeful and perpetuate acceptance of the movement of people and inclusion. We also need to use the word refugee in a way that is not opportunist, and where people are not labelled for their temporary social status. To use Abdulazez’s words: “People need to understand that before they judge us by colour, religion or ethnicity and label us as refugees, that we are simply humans. We are human beings before being anything else and labels should not be dividing us. The refugee crisis did not begin yesterday and will not end tomorrow. Rather than focusing on the problem, we should all be actively looking for solutions.”
I hope this as an initiation to a more inspiring and hopeful way to look at the movement of people, for whichever reason that may be.
