Video proves Australians really do care about refugees but do they care enough to actually help?
A man walks around the Sydney CBD wearing a placard and handing out leaflets declaring “refugees are scum”.
People ask him if he is serious. They challenge him on the facts. One passer-by is so furious he rips the sign from around his neck and carries it away. Another calls him a “fucking disgrace”.
What they don’t know is that it’s a set up. They are participating in a social experiment designed by Act For Peace to test our compassion for asylum seekers.
(Post continues after video)
The same man returns to the street, this time he’s spreading a different message. “Help refugees” his sign reads, but this time no one responds. The video ends, posing the question: “You care about refugees, but do care enough to act?”
It is a pertinent one, not least because at present 8000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in boats off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The video forms the basis a social campaign which will be rolled out by Act for Peace over the next fortnight and includes a Ration Challenge that will require people to live on the rations as a refugee from Burma for a week while raising money through sponsorship.
Act for Peace executive director Alistair Gee told Mumbrella: “Australians are angry about how our country treats refugees. People care about these issues but to make a real difference they need to act.
“By sharing this video and by taking action, Australians can bring the refugee struggle closer to home in a way that’s impossible to ignore. We can make a difference for refugees and create a more compassionate society.”
The challenge aims to raise $250,000 — the equivalent of a year’s food for 925 refugees. You can find out more about it here.
Keep reading:
Poor Tony Abbott. The pesky United Nations is picking on him again.
The Government has spent $4.1 million on a “stop-the-boats” propaganda film.
Sarah Hanson-Young: “No child should be exposed to these horrific conditions.”
Top Comments
Wtf? This isn't awareness this is just being a dickhead. I'm on the ration challenge for refugees right now and the charity hosting it pulls this?
It goes like this.The prime minister and some of his front bench are professed Christians as are members of the opposition.They are photographed going to church etc.we are considered a christian country and many times when mosques are to be built we will demonstrate and say we are a christian country and we dont want mosques here. Also we will ring up talk back shows around Christmas time and be indignant because some kindy/shoppingcentre/school dosent want to celebrate Christmas for fear of offending those who arent Christians and because the majority of us are Christian we should be allowed to celebrate the birth of Christ.Now when we read the teachings of Christ,particularly the good samaritan parable we are shown to be rank hypocrites and only luke warm Christians and he had very stern words to say about those.
By your figures, 60% to 70% *are* refugees - a considerable majority.
Regardless of the figures you use, be it 30% or 70%, you are tacitly agreeing that refugees need to be assessed.
Does that mean they deserve to drown? Or to starve? What about those who would be assessed as genuine refugees?
Perhaps a more hurtful question Joanna to address to root of the problem. What makes these countries such undesirable places to live? 97 percent of the worlds nobel prizes ( excluding peace) come from western Europe, America, Australia , New Zealand and Israel.
India with 1.5 billion people does not have one university approaching the caliber of a British Russell group. It all a matter or white racism or culture? Is it within the realm of possibility that other causes could be in play, like for example, genes? I strongly recommend works by Linda S Gottriedson such as What if the hereditarian hypothesis is true? the blank slate by Steve Pinker, and the IQ Controversy, the Media and Public Policy. After reading yet another article like this on mm I am convinced that the writers on this site think intelligence has sort of magical quality.