The photo is framed in
close-up on the two people; we don’t see the other police officers, the
photographers or the other bodies. The sea and the beach that seem so calm contrast
with the horror of the scene. The child seems so small next to the sea and the
man; he is innocent and powerless. He’s not sleeping; his face turned to the
ground tells us he’s dead…
The next day, this photograph
was on the front page of every European newspaper. This picture has given rise
to a debate among the press: should we show the picture to the world? Isn’t it
too shocking? Most of the newspapers chose either the picture of the boy on the
ground or the picture in which the coastguard is holding little Aylan. They thought
the second picture more acceptable according to the criteria of the press
because it shows human intervention, the authorities fulfilling their role. The
Independent took the decision to publish both these images to show the desperate
situation of the refugees.
On Thursday, François
Hollande and Angela Merkel reached an agreement about the quotas of migrants in
the European nation. In the next days, lots of European countries chose to help
the migrants. David Cameron said that the UK is ready to welcome a thousand
more Syrian refugees and to give £100 million to help cope with the
humanitarian crisis in Syria. In Germany, the people have welcomed the
migrants. But a few months later, faced with the increasing number of refugees,
they closed the borders, and policies concerning migrants have gotten harder.
8 months later, what has
changed? Nothing; migrants continue to arrive in small boats, in the dangerous
waters, people continue to drown. As the historian Thomas Snegaroff said: “There
are many images that have marked history. There are few who have changed it.”
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