As focussed upon by Orwell, the representations of current affairs and pressing global issues that we receive everyday can never be taken at face value. There is always some politically charged motive in the way in which newspapers and propaganda convey and a reason as to why we are being fed certain information. In 2015, when political debate over the refugee crisis in Britain was already causing a great deal of uproar, the incident of the tragic death of 3 year old Syrian refugee, Alan Kurdi sent the world into uproar. The horrific image of the young boys body washed up on the shore after drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.
The pictures of him that were published seemed to strike a cord with people all over the world and
Despite the tragedy being so widely publicised, it is nonetheless important to remember that he was
not the first refugee to suffer such a fate and most certainly shall not be the last. What urged such wide spread of his image was undoubtedly the political disagreement on the matter that was occurring at the time; 'Cameron's intellectual case that advertising a scheme welcoming
refugees would encourage more of them to hear for Europe', whilst 'both morally
and politically, the EU had to act' (Grice 2015). The circulation of these powerful and emotive images thus aroused a lot of conservative opposition and ill feeling
Furthermore, another important factor of this issue was the manner in which the uproar soon died down and along with it people's sudden sense of compassion for the struggle of the refugees. In an interview with The Telegraph, Alan's father raised this issue. Stating that 'The politicians said after the deaths of my family: Never again!. Everyone claimed they wanted to do something because of how the photo touched them so much. But what is happening now? People are still dying and nobody is doing anything' (Enser, 2015).
Enser,
J., 2016. ‘Photo of my dead son has changed nothing’, says father of drowned
Syrian refugee boy Alan Kurdi [Online]. The Telegraph. Available from:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/01/photo-of-my-dead-son-has-changed-nothing-says-father-of-drowned/.
Grice, A., 2015. Refugee
Crisis : Where is your compassionate Conservatism now, David Cameron? [Online].
Independent. Available from:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/refugee-crisis-where-is-your-compassionate-conservatism-now-david-cameron-10497187.html.