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Topic 1 caring about the other

HUMANITARIAN COMMUNICATION. Topic 1 caring about the other. Why care about faraway others?. Post cold war scenario Huge rise in capacity Media and immediacy – but selective What difference does it make?. Explosion in Humanitarian imperative. ‘something must be done’ – urgency

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Topic 1 caring about the other

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  1. HUMANITARIAN COMMUNICATION Topic 1caring about the other

  2. Why care about faraway others? • Post cold war scenario • Huge rise in capacity • Media and immediacy – but selective • What difference does it make?

  3. Explosion in Humanitarian imperative • ‘something must be done’ – urgency • and we can now intervene ...... But what is the effect

  4. Types of disaster? • ‘natural’ vs so-called ‘man-made’ • What is the difference? – is the significance in the location of the suffering? • Some emergencies matter more? • Droughts in USA/ tsunami in Pacific

  5. Advocacy and aid • In the media age, ‘emergency assistance and distress relief’ makes news in a way that ‘development’ doesn’t… • ‘Emergency assistance’ constituted… …less than 3% of total bilateral aid until 1990 …8% by 1993 …11.3% by 1999 (source:Overseas Development Institute) Humanitarian multi $bnIndustry – Dubai annual fair

  6. NGO – ORIGINS • RED CROSS -Battle of Solferino 1859- founded 1863 • http://www.icrc.org/eng/index.jsp • OXFAM - Greek famine 1943 • Save the Children – post WW I • MSF – Biafra / War on Want – Bangladesh

  7. Media worthiness affects allocation of resources Huge disparity in allocation $10 per victim in Congo wars and $1000 per victim in Tsunami – due to media Some crises are invisible and others are given major media coverage – Chinese famine/ Congo war – Kosovo African poverty – ‘tsunami every day’ in terms of deaths but not a media story – no SUDDENemergency

  8. Tsunami 2004

  9. Tsunami death toll Source: UN Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery Source: Analysis of Lexis Nexis Stories

  10. Niger famine 2005 • http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4696149.stm

  11. The Niger Crisis 2005 • May 16th – UN launch $16m appeal for Niger • July 14th – Only $3.6m raised so far • July 19th – BBC reports on Niger • July 27th - $17m raised in and outside UN

  12. Disasters Emergency Committee – huge growth in scope – APPEALS • http://www.dec.org.uk/

  13. conclusions • The pattern of ‘new humanitarianism’ can reduce conflicts to a good vs evil story – often much more complicated – eg Iraq/Darfur/Rwanda • Military intervention becomes justified under the sweeping term of ‘human rights’ • This has severe implications for humanitarian organisations, involving self-definition, levels of donation, patterns of allocation, and the newsworthiness of particular regions

  14. Humanitarianism O dearism – replacing politics • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8moePxHpvok • What are the implications?

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