This print is produced by Favianna Rodriguez, the US based artist and activist. She produced it in response to the Associated Press’ decision to stop using the word “illegal” and in honour of Elie Wiesel’s famous quote. I think that this print is quite striking, not only do the vibrant colours catch your attention, but it is bold and direct in its message: fundamentally, it questions the category of “illegal migrant”.
Kenny and Obama in the White House (RTE, 2014)
MRCI Campaign Poster (MRCI, 2014)
Photographs in Solidarity for the Undocumented in Ireland (Twitter, 2014)
Every year the occasion of St. Patrick’s day provides an opportunity for the Irish Government to publicly lobby in support of the undocumented Irish in the US. Indeed, as we can see above, last Friday (14/03/2014) the Taoiseach Enda Kenny met with President Barack Obama.
This March, the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland (MRCI) launched a solidarity campaign in support of undocumented migrants in Ireland. As I previously discussed, the Irish Government are hypocritical in their attitude towards immigration reform. On the one hand, they explicitly support the undocumented Irish in the US, while on the other, they are quite strict in their approach towards those in a similar situation in Ireland. This campaign by the MRCI highlights this issue in a timely manner and it is encouraging to see so much support on Twitter for the undocumented in Ireland.
Celine Schmitt from the UNHCR tweeted this powerful photograph of a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). These people are fleeing the Central African Republic (CAR). For more information on the situation on CAR see the BBC website and for details on the number of refugees/countries of origin in DRC click here.
