Always love when humanity can summon the will to move itself beyond the hashtag.
As you have read, the human costs surrounding the Syrian conflict are staggering – an estimated quarter of a million people killed in the last four years; 8 million people displaced within the country; 4 million turned into international refugees. The situation has sparked a mass immigration crisis across the Middle East and Europe.
Most governments in a position to help – Canada included – were caught flatfooted by the scale of the crisis and the public outcry it engendered. Only in recent weeks have some mobilized to help.
It is a human catastrophe on a truly epic scale.
Over the last year, Syria-related hashtags have popped up by the millions on Twitter – #Syrianchild, #SyrianRefugees, #SyriaCrisis, #PrayForSyria, #IAmSyria. Even media paused from covering the actual crisis and its root causes to report on what, say, Gerald Rivera offered up on the issue in 140 characters or less.
Shockingly, trending status did not improve the situation on the ground.
This week, however, Western joined other universities in offering a hand – not a hashtag – to Syrian families and scholars through a number of programs. It was a moment, a prime example of the power of the university community to respond, in its own unique way, to an international crisis.
“There has been lots of support, not only at Western, but across the country, there has been a lot of support for not only doing private refugee support, but also government-assisted refugee sponsorship,” said Western professor Victoria Esses, Director of the university’s Centre for Research on Migration and Ethnic Relations. “That is only one solution – not the only solution – but a solution we can do now.
“People want to do something, but they need a solution. Sometimes, if you’re bombarded with information and, if it’s negative, you avoid it, turn away from it. Having a solution actually makes people pay attention.”
While attention is key, action makes all the difference.
Even if people don’t understand the politics behind the crisis, they understand it on a personal level through the flood of images coming from the region. The raw human emotional spectrum laid bare in these captured moments – be it the deepest despair or the wildest relief – have connected with millions around the globe. They have demanded action of their governments and themselves.
Arguably, the majority of us were shocked into action by images of the lifeless body of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, wearing a bright-red T-shirt and shorts, washed up on a beach, lying face down in the surf. Within hours, the photo had gone viral, becoming the top trending picture on Twitter under the hashtag #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik (“humanity washed ashore”).
Fortunately, humanity didn’t settle for trending this time.
“That child looked like any child. People can imagine it happening to themselves, their family, their child,” said Esses, who studies the perceptions of refugees. “I think the media can sometimes, purposely, or non-purposely, lead to dehumanization because the images are so distant from us, the numbers so overwhelming and the people look different. This child didn’t look different. He looked like any Canadian child. That resonated.”
Fleeting emotional connections are one thing; acting on those connections is another.
And cheers to those rallying to help in a concrete manner. It was heartening to see our own university community come together, so quickly, after inspiration from Esses and her Social Science colleagues.
Here’s hoping my small donation acts in conjunction with yours to make a real difference.
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FIND OUT MORE. Visit Western’s Help Syria website, www.uwo.ca/helpsyria, for more information on all efforts underway at the university. Western is interested in learning about any other initiatives taking place on campus in response to the Syrian humanitarian crisis. Email helpsyria@uwo.ca with details.