On May 13th I facilitated an event at the 2017 Queenscliffe Literary Festival for a session entitled ‘Migration, Refugees and Hope.’ Writers Mariam Issa and Alec Patric discussed issues including migration, multiculturalism (and its threats), the power of storytelling and some unexpected insights into the possibilities of a world which we increasingly find extremely threatening and complicated.
Migration, Refugees and Hope
An interesting 3-way talk about migration and asylum seeking – both led by hope, articulated in panel discussions, and explored more thoroughly in writing.
The most valuable outcome of such discussion is enabling those of us fortunate enough to be able to live safely and comfortably in our countries of birth to see, albeit dimly, the harrowing experience of flight and relocation.
One question asked for the main cause of many people turning a hard face towards refugees – Was it lack of empathy or lack of imagination? Meeting refugees, engaging with them to hear their stories, and reading their first person accounts of becoming refugees, should contribute to developing both imagination and empathy.