Changing Perspectives - Tumblr Posts
ONE PICTURE CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING: Changing British Attitudes Towards the Refugee Crisis
(Comic above by OneMillionMouths)
Below is a timeline of how the image of Alan Kurdi transformed the British response to the refugee crisis overnight. (With Lots of Pictures)
I realise tumblr has probably been flooded with posts like this, but I wanted to make my own, when I saw the above comic by OneMillionMouths, which really resonated with me in regards to this issue. People are naturally empathetic, you just need to change their perspective and get their attention.
1) ‘Perceptions & Reality: Public Attitudes to Immigration’ - Bobby Duffy & Tom Frere-Smith (January 2014), Recent report on British attitudes to Immigration.
2) Katie Hopkins, prominent British tabloid columnist and ‘deluded lunatic’ (her words), publishes a piece of hate speech in a national newspaper describing refugees as ‘cockroaches’. In a following LBC interview, she states ‘I would use gunships’ to deter fleeing refugees. (Monday 20th April 2015)
3) Photos of drowned 3-year-old refugee Alan Kurdi are taken by Nilüfer Demir, (Wednesday 2nd September 2015)
4) Within 24 hours, the image has spread across the world and internet, prompting passionate and fierce debate over the refugee crisis. The Independent UK, The Telegraph. There is a global outpouring of grief and empathy. The Independent (UK) starts a #RefugeesWelcome campaign. (Thursday 3rd September 2015)
5) The Sun Newspaper (which previously published the ‘cockroaches’ article) does dramatic U-turn and starts ‘For Aylan’ campaign, still manages to propose bombing Syria as a solution two days later. (Friday 4th September 2015)
6) British PM David Cameron announces UK to accept 20,000 more refugees. (Monday 7th September 2015)
7) The UK Marches in Solidarity with Refugees. (Saturday 12th September 2015)
8) Government Petition for UK to accept more refugees has amassed 438,312 signatures. Thus meeting criteria of 100,000 signatures to be debated in Parliament. Official Gov response has been posted from the Home Office (Last accessed: Wednesday 16th September 2015)