Asylum Seeker

Nowadays, social media is practically a staple in everyone’s lives. While some use it solely to stay in touch with friends or family, others wouldn’t even know the latest of current events if they didn’t have their phone notifying them that their friends are talking about it. The Internet and social media have bred a new generation of socially-aware people which has given them a platform to learn and share on. Because this generation’s growth is largely-based online and through technology, it has formed a new brand of social activism. While some feel social media has made it too easy to claim a movement or position, others believe that it is what we need to spread a message

Their actions alone sparked the revolution for sit-ins and silent protesting, contributing to the Civil Rights movement. The protesters didn’t put anything on social media that allowed their sit in at the diner to grow, but simply the sight of how “people spilled out onto the street”(Gladwell 400) that grabbed activists’ attention. Gladwell observes that in the absence of social media in these events, the protesters tend to be stronger, have emotional bonds, and be more organized. The people participating in the revolt had strong connections (strong-ties), due to the fact that they all share a high risk of consequences. Talking about the dangers starting on page 404, protesters faced violence from the Klu Klux Klan and other white supremacists. Gladwell uses the examples of the revolutions in Moldova and Iran to show how while Facebook and Twitter did let people be “confident to stand up for freedom and democracy” (401), the use of that social media is a weak-tie. Social media helped bring awareness to these, but as Gladwell explains “social networks are effective at increasing participation-by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires” (408). He talks about how social

“My hope finished now. I don’t have any hope. I feel I will die in detention.”
Unaccompanied 17 year old, Phosphate Hill Detention Centre, Christmas Island, 4 March 2014. 
Few social justice issues in Australia have attracted as much attention and controversy in recent times as the issue of asylum seekers. An asylum-seeker ‘is an individual who has sought international protection and whose claim for refugee status has not yet been determined’. In contrast, a refugee is an individual whose protection has been deemed necessary by the UNHCR or a State who is a signatory to the Refugee Convention. 
The issues surrounding asylum seeker has divide opinions and evoke strong emotional responses across the community. We are aware that asylum seekers are often vulnerable people, desperately fleeing civil unrest, warfare and persecution from across the world. We know that Australia is a destination of choice for many people seeking to embark on a new life in safety. And we know that there are people who will exploit the vulnerability of asylum seekers by offering them unsafe passage by sea to our shores. 
There were 584 children detained in immigration detention centres on mainland Australia and 305 children on Christmas Island. A further 179 children were detained on Nauru as at 31 March 2014.

The debate about asylum seekers in Australia is contentious and politically charged, but research commissioned by Amnesty International has found that anti-asylum seekers sentiments are not actually fuelled by racism.

One of the main arguments in Malcolm Gladwell's "Small Change" is that social media has a huge impact on activism positively and negatively.In the 1960's it took 10s of thousands of people to come to make a change like the sit-ins but now with twitter and facebook, people just have to group together and contact the network they want, to make changes.It's a lot safer to get a point across on social media then taking the risks people took back then to get a point across. Social media has no real sense of authority so they don't make as much of a movement as the N.A.A.C.P did. With social media comes no organization or structure which causes false information to be passed around. In the end, both types of activism have their positive and negative

On September of 2015, the image of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi went viral. “The toddler’s lifeless body on a Turkish beach had reverberated across the globe” (Parkinson & George-Cosh, 2015). Aylan’s family had “fled the brutal civil war in their native Syria and only attempted the boat crossing after Canada denied their application of admission as refugees. The image led to an astonishing outpouring of support for Syrian refugees” (Hein & Niazi, 2016).

This film was shown to me by Sharleen Davids, whom as a Primary School teacher at Darlington Primary, it was made compulsory viewing. By means of assisting with teachers’ understanding of the circumstances of an asylum seeker. In essence, this film was beneficial; especially as a great proportion of the students at her primary school are refugees. Respectively, the film was produced by refugees advocate Jessie Taylor. Taylor travelled to Indonesia, where she met with asylum seekers. A collection of the stories she heard were shaped into a documentary named, ‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’ (2006). The film makers involved created a stir with the ad line: 'The film that Tony and Julia don't want you to see’. (Peter Galvin, 2013) The

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (2012) as cited by Maher and Smith (2014) an asylum seekers are persons who are seeking international protection while they await the determination of their claim for refugee status.

The complete disregard for those in Lebanon, leads to travesties; incidentally, in the drowning of Aylan Kurdi, a young Syrian refugee attempting to escape the violence that infected his home drowned in his escape from Syria. Therefore, whenever tragedy strikes, such in the case of Aylan Kurdi, publishers such as The Wall Street Journal must take full advantage of its authority to share the story of not only the young refugee Aylan but all of the suffering refugees in Syria and Lebanon. The Syrians and the Lebanese face several complications including, the lack of support from their governments to nonexistent human rights, and total neglect from the world concerning the overall well being of the refugees from the middle-east. Through Aylan’s tragic attempt at escape, the public has awoken to the cries of countless refugees in Syria seeking

When talking about all the horrifying incidents she never froze or delayed her answers. When I asked her about a memorable moment during her experience she said, “I remember walking for days and on one of the days I came across a rabbit, I was really excited to play with it because I was the youngest and had noone to play with” (Guled). I could see the innocence in Kadra face, because she was smiling as she was talking about it. A gruesome massacre leaves your country shattered and misplaced and all she could remember was a rabbit. I think that is hope for her country that no matter what they’ve been through there is hope.

What is one story of a young migrant or refugee that you heard? Are there any ways the story opened your eyes?

This issue was chosen due to its scope. The Syrian refugee crisis is among a list of issues that will not only shape the world in 2016 but also dominate news outlets in upcoming years. Because of the despairing situation, many governments are struggling to find ways to handle the rush of individuals seeking asylum, for the fact that it seems the crisis is worsening. In addition, the media coverage on the topic sparked my interest and led me to research information because I had no idea what was occurring and the detriment of the issue.

As a logical consequence, Postmes and Brunsting (2002) reasoned that the Internet is changing society because people's cognitive processes, triggered by access to information and communication, replace the strong social ties that traditionally underpin committed activism. In simpler words, in the past, humanity used the herd instinct as the main driving force behind committed forms of activism. Thanks to the Internet, we climb another step or three on the evolutionary ladder, and simply do away with the herd instinct and replace it with reason. The argument, if put this way, does not sound particularly strong. What can be taken away is that social media is still evolving, that social media changes the way we – or most of us communicate, that social media is used in social and political activism, and that the Internet increases quantitative if not qualitative access to information.

As technology develops rapidly in the modern society, the broad social influence it brings is also widely discussed, especially about its effects on social change. In the past, social movements were raised without the help of technology, specifically without social media, whereas social media has recently played a non-ignorable role. The connection between social media and social activisms concerned, here come some different voices. Few people maintain that social media now has no practical influence on social change, while others hold the opposite view, thinking social media is already a crucial factor in it. Personally speaking, I agree with the second kind of view: it is true that social media is not able to create social movements by itself in today’s world, but it plays an important and essential part in making real social change.

Another strength of this course was the emphasis on integration of knowledge from different sources – from mainstream and social media, for example, following The Alamo Area Branch of NASW - Texas Chapter (2015) Facebook page, also facilitated my learning by placing local, state, and national news in the context of social work related ethical, political and policy issues. While doing research for our “Comparison of Communication” assignment, I gained deeper understanding of social media dynamics because the content and structure of the page are controlled by its administrators. For instance, I learned how the flow of communication on Facebook reflected the views and opinions of its administrators, since materials that are shared must have significant public impact and high