When somebody sent me this invitation from Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, I thought at first it was a joke from the Onion. What do you think of the Davos rich and powerful going through the “Refugee Run” theme park re-enactment of life in a refugee camp?
Can Davos man empathize with refugees when he or she is not in danger and is going back to a luxury banquet and hotel room afterwards? Isn’t this just a tad different from the life of an actual refugee, at risk of all too real rape, murder, hunger, and disease?
Did the words “insensitive,” “dehumanizing,” or “disrespectful” (not to mention “ludicrous”) ever come up in discussing the plans for “Refugee Run”?
I hope such bad taste does not reflect some inability in UNHCR to see refugees as real people with their own dignity and rights.
Of course, I understand that there were good intentions here, that you really want rich people to have a consciousness of tragedies elsewhere in the world, and mobilize help for the victims. However, I think a Refugee Theme Park crosses a line that should not be crossed. Sensationalizing and dehumanizing and patronizing results in bad aid policy – if you have little respect for the dignity of individuals you are trying to help, you are not going to give THEM much say in what THEY want and need, and how you can help THEM help themselves?
Unfortunately, sensationalizing, patronizing, and dehumanizing attitudes are a real ongoing issue in foreign aid. David Rieff in his great book A Bed For the Night talks about how humanitarian agencies universally picture children in their publicity campaigns, as if the parents of these children are irrelevant. A classic Rieff quote: “There are two groups of people who like to be photographed with children: dictators and aid officials.”
Former World Bank President Wolfowitz with a few children
Alex de Waal in his equally great book Famine Crimes (and continuing writings since) writes about “disaster pornography.” He gives an example of a Western television producer in Somalia in 1992-93 who said to a local Somali doctor: “pick the children who are most severely malnourished” and bring them to be photographed.
Here’s a resolution to be proposed at Davos: we rich people hereby recognize each and every citizen of the globe as an individual with their own human dignity equal to our own, regardless of their poverty or refugee status. And Davos man: please give Refugee Run a pass.
58 Comments
What gets me about this whole thing is that if someone were to take a photograph or paint a picture of refugee camp…or even shoot some video…many people would be convinced that they had the full “idea” of what a refugee camp is like.
People would think that is okay…and yet, many on this blog seem up in arms about an event that they have never had anything to do with or perhaps even heard about before coming on this blog. Agreed…the presentation of the invitation might have been handled better…but is that cause to write of the whole event? Refugees are involved in the event…have been from the begining. The discussion that takes place after the event (facilitated in part by a refugee) puts everything into perspective and educates those who attend.
How many of you insulted, disgusted people have been to a refugee camp? How many of you regularly put aside money from your pay packets to help in any way you can? How many of you arrange fund raisers in your home towns…you are obviously all passionate about the subject! (did that exclamation point diminish what I just had to say?).
Well, I have done the refugee run…and, not only that, I have trekked into the jungle to spend time at a real refugee camp. I know the SIMULATION (as opposed to theme park adventure) is not a full represtentation of a refugee camp…but it gives people, who might otherwise never venture from their cocktails and shrimp sticks, a small chance to realize that there is a world beyond the one that they know.
The reality is…when my companion and I purchased a truck load of food to send to the refugees at the camp we had been to…they didn’t care that we didn’t live there…they just cared about the fact that they had food to eat that night and that we cared about them. And…we have continued to visit and help them where we are able.
All I can say is…I applaud your passion and desire not to see refugees exploited…fantastic. BUT…before you criticize an event you really know nothing about, try it. Or even better…since you all have such great ideas about what should and shouldn’t be done…come up with something better. I am sure that the organizers would jump at a chance to help you improve the lives of refugees. After all, that was their intention for staging this simulation in the first place.
I riffed on this post (and its comments) in this week’s Opinion column in the Vanuatu Daily Post.
I think that perhaps the greatest danger to development is the mistaken impression that changing the physical environment is the goal, rather than a step towards a much more important goal: To give people the same opportunities that those of us living in privilege take for granted.
Pageants like the Davos Refugee Run do little to mitigate this perception. I don’t doubt for a second that it does succeed in breeding a modicum of sympathy for refugees, but I worry that it sends the wrong message. I don’t feel good about making people feel they understand something they’ve never actually experienced. It’s naive to say that one cannot act on refugees’ behalf unless one’s lived as a refugee oneself. But I think it’s equally naive to think that a couple of hours in an antiseptic diorama will create the understanding necessary to drive enlightened development policy.
Vanuatu (an LDC in the South Pacific) is a tiny nation, both in size and population. It’s therefore much more difficult to remain insulated from – and oblivious to – the effects of poverty on society. Nonetheless, a surprising number of people – development workers included – manage to do so. Even here, it takes significant, sustained effort to impress upon people the distinction between wealth and capability.
Just an information from Crossroads about Refugee Run (They invented it):
REFUGEE RUN: Questions and Answers
Goal?
Why did we come? We wanted to bring alive the refugee issue. The real life struggle of those in this dilemma too easily turns into a set of dry statistics and the humanity of their plight hard to connect with. While, of course, a talk could be given, or a set of slides shown, we have never found either to have the power of an opportunity to encounter something of their difficulty first hand. As the CEO of Nike said, after doing it, “It’s the difference between hearing and being.”
Realistic?
How realistic can a simulation be? Well, it can only go so far, of course: rather like a live snap shot. The process has been guided, though, by refugee colleagues in order to make it as close to life as such a thing can be. Many of the journalists who filmed it in Davos, moreover, were former war correspondents and told us they were amazed at how true to life the setting was.
Intense?
This is certainly an intense activity. We warn people, before undertaking it, that this is the case: grown men have cried in it and many have felt very deeply moved. We give participants a disclaimer to sign before beginning so they understand its seriousness. We also offer people the opportunity to leave, at any point, if it becomes too much for them, and have team members at the ready to offer them a hot drink and an opportunity to chat, if they would like that.
Respectful?
Can we do this and, in an hour or two, represent refugee life in a way that is respectful to those who struggle with it? That is our challenge, of course. Our refugee colleagues, however, love the result. Raphael Mwandu, from DR Congo, on our HK team, not only advises on the set, but is an artist who helps to construct it. He is also one of the cast and helps with the debrief. “The things you see in this experience are the same as those that happen in the camps,” he told the Davos crowds. “I love doing this because I want to let others know what is going on in our world so that people can meet together and find solutions.”
Themed?
People sometimes ask us, “Is this like a theme park?” Well, clearly not if you use that term synonymously with amusement park. It is not for anybody’s entertainment.
It is “themed”, though, in the same way that a history or science museum is themed to offer visitors an experiential learning opportunity. In fact, the ‘themed’ aspect of the simulation is closest in style to centres for humanitarian workers, globally, which offer training before they enter a situation under actual crisis.
Impactful?
The camp depicted in this simulation is not supposed to be a UNHCR camp. It is, rather, a camp that typifies the kind which affected persons erect in a desperate bid for safety and shelter. Often these camps are marked by corruption and a lack of control, highlighting the need for the kind of work the UNHCR does. During the debrief, we asked participants to describe what it was like in the camp. The answers:
“Utter powerlessness.”
“You lose control of your life.”
“No rights.”
“I felt dehumanised.”
“There was no protection.”
“I totally shut down.”
“You live in fear.”
“You never know what happens next.”
“There was no hope.”
“I felt like I wanted to die.”
“Treated like animals.”
“I was separated from my family.”
“I had no personal space.”
“No time for grieving.”
“No justice.”
“Hard to express feelings so deep.”
“Makes my normal life seem ostentatious.”
“Intense, shocking, terrifying, but good.”
“There is no control.”
“No peace at night.”
“So many people spontaneously helped the others.”
“Very realistic”
“There is no exaggeration. Camp life really is like this.”
“Really impressive”
“Very powerful”
“This should be compulsory for everyone at WEF.”
“We need reminders like these because we human beings too easily forget.”
“There’s no better way to communicate than simulation…”
Outcome?
We have held this “Run”, weekly, in Hong Kong, over the past 18-24 months and watched people become motivated in ways that they never have before.
Many of the Hong Kong corporate leaders who have participated say it is more powerful than other forms of presentation and, as a result, have remained involved with global issues, long after their simulation experience.
I agree with what you have to say Grahame. It is an imperfect way to bring awareness to people and yes, many people will manage to ignore poverty and social justice issues even when they are under their noses. I am not sure that “antiseptic diorama” is the best way to describe the event but you are of course right…No one is ever going to get a full picture of life as a refugee from a simulation. But then we (society in general) have shown ourselves to be excellent at being blind to anything that we do not want to face.
However, I think that anyone who goes through the simulation and feels that they have a complete understanding of what it means to be a refugee is probably missing the point anyway. They are possibly the same people who watch a news story and think they understand. Ultimately people will choose what they want to believe…mostly without the full facts. Still, I think the last post says a lot about what the organisers were obviously hoping for…
Well well well…. I have been lucky enough to be invited to participate in the refugee run, and I for one think it was an excellent experience. For one who is lucky enough not to be in a refugee predicament, the short refugee run did open my eyes and ears to what it is like to feel lost, frustrated, hopelessness, desperation, corruption, dusty camps and … all in just one intense hour.
It gave me a stronger awareness of the refugee issue that is happening around the world and how sick it is. Hrmmm.. if it could do for me, it might do for you, Mr Easterly.
Yes I do agree that such an organisation may lean towards using politics to achieve whatever they set themselves out to achieve. However, your comments, I must say, is rather sad. On a brigher side, it was good of you to stir up the emotions of your readers!
Well, I can understand the justification given by the coordinators of this event and the people who have experienced it.
What I wonder is: have we become so de-sensitized and sensationalist as a society that we can no longer process the experience of a refugee without experiencing it? Isn’t that what empathy is? Is it really so difficult to sit and thoroughly think about what it would be like?
Are we at a point where people have to be shocked into understanding the predicaments of their fellow man?
All that aside, I wonder if the people who take part in this experiment learn anything outside of what the refugee’s experience is like? What led to the refugee even becoming one? Are the refugees organizing themselves? If not, why not? How can the refugees re-settle?
What is done besides keep them alive?
Pictures of Richard Branson as a war refugee at Davos
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/02/03/richard_branson_is_refugee_for_a_day_at_davos
Our world is full of sorrow,but we hope it’s temporary and one day all these problem will finished.
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