“Today, to our shame, Anne Frank is a Syrian girl,” says Nicholas Kristof.
According to the UN, 70.8 million people are displaced worldwide. Although this is the highest recorded number in history, the mere quantity seems meaningless to most of us.
According to a study by Western University, the media uses existing unease towards refugees to create a “crisis mentality,” portraying them as “enemies at the gate,” ready to invade the west. Headlines are designed to dehumanise refugees and by doing so, they are denied their individuality.
Had it not been for the media’s presentation of Jewish refugees as ‘masses’ in the 1940s, perhaps Anne Frank’s family would have survived the Holocaust. Her father, Otto, had written to his American friend seeking help to flee to the USA with his family. The only obstacle? A prejudice towards refugees which denied them an escape from persecution.
Luckily, due to Anne Frank’s diary’s publication, we can perceive her as an individual rather than a statistic. In contrast, today’s news coverage portrays Syrian refugees as masses rather than individuals, highlighting history’s cyclical nature. Now more than ever, it is vital that refugees are not portrayed as ‘migrants’ seeking economic benefits, but rather as people who, according to the UN, have “fled war, violence, conflict or persecution”.
Written by Sufia Jafri
Media by Ben Hyland
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