The Intolerable Death of Alan Kurdi

Author(s):  
Ala Sirriyeh

This chapter examines the role of compassion in the phenomenon of witness bearing by telling the tragic story of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned on September 2, 2015, along with his mother, five-year-old brother, and other Syrian refugees when their boat capsized after leaving Bodrum in Turkey. A series of photographs of Alan taken by photo-journalist Nilüfer Demir have come to symbolise a perceived turning point in the emotional script of refugee reception in Europe. Drawing on the iconic visual testimony of Alan Kurdi's death, this chapter explores how compassion was mobilised in critiques of the restrictive policies and lack of action by the UK during the refugee crisis. It first considers how compassion has been used to mobilise resistance to restrictive government refugee policies before discussing the responses to Alan's death and how they engaged with a discourse of compassion.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-297
Author(s):  
Gregory Perreault ◽  
Newly Paul

This paper examines how religious news organizations in the UK covered the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe. Using narrative framing theory, this paper examines all coverage from 2015 and 2016 published in bbc Religion (a part of bbc News), The Muslim News, and Christian Today to examine shared and disparate narratives regarding Syrian refugees migrating to the UK. Four major frames emerged from our analysis of the media coverage in religious and mainstream publications: a humanizing frame, saviour frame, dehumanizing frame, and, redemption frame. The publications differed in their use of these frames as well as the use of sources, news values, and tone of coverage. We discuss each of these frames as well as the implications of the differing coverage.


2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 809-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Mavelli

AbstractThe notion of humanitarian government has been increasingly employed to describe the simultaneous and conflicting deployment of humanitarianism and security in the government of ‘precarious lives’ such as refugees. This article argues that humanitarian government shouldalsobe understood as the biopolitical government of host populationsthroughthe humanitarian government of refugees. In particular, it explores how the biopolitical governmentality of the UK decision to suspend search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean in 2014, and the British rejection and German welcoming of Syrian refugees primarily concern thebiologicalandemotionalcare of the British and German populations. To this end, the article analyses how dynamics of inclusion/exclusion of refugees have been informed by a biopolitical racism that redraws the boundary between ‘valuable’ (to be included) and ‘not valuable’ (to be excluded) lives according to the refugees’ capacity to enhance the biological and emotional well-being of host populations. This discussion aims to contribute to three interrelated fields of research – namely, humanitarian government, biopolitical governmentality, and responses to the European refugee crisis – by exploring how biopolitics has shaped the British and German responses to the crisis and how it encompasses more meanings and rationalities than currently recognised by existing scholarship on humanitarian government.


Author(s):  
Jenny Phillimore ◽  
Marisol Reyes-Soto ◽  
Gabriella D’Avino ◽  
Natasha Nicholls

AbstractResettlement programmes are considered one solution to displacement following the so-called refugee crisis. Private or community-based sponsorship models enable volunteer groups to take responsibility resettling refugees. The UK Community Sponsorship scheme (CS) allows volunteer groups to support refugee families in their community. This paper explores the role of emotions in CS using Jaspers three-stage social action life cycle (1998) drawing upon Doidge and Sandri’s (Br J Sociol 70: 463–480, 2018) positive and negative emotions, Jaspers (Sociol Forum 13: 397–424, 1998) reactive and affective continuum and Hoggett and Miller’s (Community Dev J 35: 352–364, 2000) individual/group features to explore the role of emotions in CS work. Using interview data collected from 123 interviews with 22 sponsorship groups, we find across the life cycle that there is a shift from negative reactive emotions during group initiation to positive affective emotions during consolidation and finally a mix of negative and positive affective emotions as groups become sustained. Understanding the role of emotions in motivating and sustaining volunteers is essential to the success of the CS, to encourage group formation and reduce burnout.


Author(s):  
Zahid Shahab Ahmed

Following the Arab Spring, the Middle East is in chaos with ongoing wars in Yemen and Syria. There are millions of Syrians seeking refuge in neighboring countries like Turkey and Lebanon, and in European countries like Greece, Hungary, and Germany. Nonetheless, the largest proportion of Syrian refugees in hosted by neighboring countries needing continuous support of the international community. As the issue of Syrian refugees is transnational, there is a need to look for multilateral options for dealing with the crisis. Thus, the role of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) becomes crucial. Irrespective of being labelled as a ‘talk fest', there is no denying of the fact that OIC has significant potential for tackling grave challenges facing the Muslim world. The problems range from extremism and radicalization to poverty and illiteracy. Now there is the emergent challenge of refugees from the Middle Eastern crisis. This paper evaluates the role of OIC with reference to the Syrian refugee crisis in the Middle East and beyond.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 946-958 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sertan Kabadayi

Purpose Service providers can potentially play a critical role in responding to the global refugee crisis. However, recent evidence suggests that local service employees’ negative and inappropriate behavior is hindering efforts to alleviate the problems faced by refugees. As a response to the call to action to engage with the global refugee crisis in service context and adopting the transformative service research perspective, this paper aims to understand service employees’ motivations to engage in sabotage when they interact with refugees in service settings. Design/methodology/approach This paper focuses on the case of Syrian refugees in Turkey as a context. Using a netnographic study, this study analyzes comments by Turkish service employees in different social media groups and newspapers’ online platforms to reveal the motivations of those employees to engage in sabotage behavior. Findings The findings of this study revealed employees use five emerging themes as potential motivations to justify their sabotage behavior when serving refugees: perceived scarcity of resources, perceived fairness, perceived identity mismatch, perceived role of government and perceived role of other nations. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study have implications for service organizations, communities and governments to manage, change and even remove some of those perceptions that lead to employee sabotage resulting in increased suffering of refugees. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine the employee sabotage behavior in the context of serving refugees.


Author(s):  
Zahid Shahab Ahmed

Following the Arab Spring, the Middle East is in chaos with ongoing wars in Yemen and Syria. There are millions of Syrians seeking refuge in neighboring countries like Turkey and Lebanon, and in European countries like Greece, Hungary, and Germany. Nonetheless, the largest proportion of Syrian refugees in hosted by neighboring countries needing continuous support of the international community. As the issue of Syrian refugees is transnational, there is a need to look for multilateral options for dealing with the crisis. Thus, the role of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) becomes crucial. Irrespective of being labelled as a ‘talk fest', there is no denying of the fact that OIC has significant potential for tackling grave challenges facing the Muslim world. The problems range from extremism and radicalization to poverty and illiteracy. Now there is the emergent challenge of refugees from the Middle Eastern crisis. This paper evaluates the role of OIC with reference to the Syrian refugee crisis in the Middle East and beyond.


Author(s):  
Feryad A. Hussain

Radicalisation to violent action is not just a problem in foreign lands. Research has identified numerous politico–psychosocial factors to explain why young people from the UK are now joining terrorist groups such as ISIS. Our understanding has been expanded by the accounts of “returnees” who have subsequently either self-deradicalised or joined a government deradicalisation programme in the role of an Intervention Provider (IP). These individuals are now key to the deradicalisation programme. This article presents the reflections of a clinical psychologist who worked within a social healthcare team managing psychosocial issues related to radicalisation, in conjunction with an allocated IP. The project involved individuals from the Muslim community and, as such, issues discussed are specific to this group. It is acknowledged that the process in general is universally applicable to all groups though specifics may vary (under Trust agreement, details may not be discussed). This article also aims to share basic information on the current Home Office deradicalisation programme and raises questions about the current intervention. It also offers reflections on how the work of IPs may be facilitated and supported by clinical/counselling psychologists and psychotherapists.


Author(s):  
Ali Hussein Hameed ◽  
Saif Hayder AL.Husainy

In the anarchism that governs the nature and patterns of international relations characterized by instability and uncertainty in light of several changes, as well as the information revolution and the resulting developments and qualitative breakthroughs in the field of scientific and advanced technological knowledge and modern technologies.  All of these variables pushed toward the information flow and flow tremendously, so rationality became an indispensable matter for the decision maker as he faces these developments and changes. There must be awareness and rationality in any activity or behavior because it includes choosing the best alternative and making the right decision and selecting the information accurately and mental processing Through a mental system based on objectivity, methodology, and accumulated experience away from idealism and imagination, where irrationality and anarchy are a reflection of the fragility of the decision-maker, his lack of awareness of the subject matter, his irresponsibility, and recklessness that inevitably leads to failure by wasting time and Effort and potential. The topic acquires its importance from a search in the strategies of the frivolous state and its characteristics with the ability to influence the regional, and what it revealed is a turning point in how to adapt from the variables and employ them to their advantage and try to prove their existence. Thus, the problem comes in the form of a question about the possibility of the frivolous state in light of the context of various regional and international events and trends. The answer to this question stems from the main hypothesis that (the aim which the frustrating state seeks to prove is that it finds itself compelled to choose several strategies that start from the nature of its characteristics and the goals that aim at it, which are centered in the circle of its interests in the field of its struggle for the sake of its survival and area of influence).


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