Positive images

A picture does paint a thousand words. The power of Television and the Cinema is directly linked to the power of the images they project.

Many commentators have suggested that the reason that numerous reports into the treatment children were receiving in the Don Dale detention centre didn't have any effect was because those reports didn't contain the confronting images that were on national display on 4 Corners.

The reason why sympathy for Syrian refugees took a huge about face, right around the world, was because of the image of Aylan Al-Kurdi lying dead on a Turkish beach.

Images of horror do spur us into action. But equally, images of more positive emotions like joy, love and compassion are equally powerful. As Jane Lydon from the University of Western Australia says in her piece on The Conversation website - positive images of refugees shape perceptions and the public debate.

Images of both horror and joy surrounding refugees are censored by governments as they try to control the debate. It is the reason journalists are not permitted into detention centres. Photo-journalists would no doubt find endless images which would undermine their flimsy argument that they are being tough on people smugglers... rather than just unnecessarily cruel.

We intend to try balancing the discussion with some powerful images of our own. Images that tell a different story. Such as:

A story of Successful Migrants and Refugees...

Stories that speak to the humanity of refugees and highlight they are much like us...

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Stories of love, joy and no threat to our collective safety....

Stories of Generosity, Welcoming and Kindness. Stories that show off our better selves...

We are a lucky country. We can be a generous nation. We live in a safe and relatively prosperous place.

The biggest threat to that is not refugees... it is the way we are being manipulated to think differently by powerful forces in sections of the government and the media.

We can all play our part in changing the course and the tone of the debate, on any issue, by sharing images that subvert the populist narrative. And in this highly connected world of social media it has never been easier to share.

Go ahead.

by Wendy Tubman