Amid the refugee crisis and COVID-19, refugees came together virtually to raise awareness for both the struggles faced and the importance of change.
Hassan Akkad is joined by actor Jude Law and British playwrights Joe Murphy & Joe Robertson for the second night of virtual festival Refugee Nights on Nov. 24. (RSJ/Natasha Budhai)
In light of the international refugee crisis and COVID-19, a three-part virtual festival series was held on Tuesday to both spread awareness and celebrate the many diverse cultural backgrounds.
Refugee Nights is a three-part virtual festival that explores refugees’ stories throughout history in talks, eyewitness accounts, music, food and celebration of their arts and cultural backgrounds.
The event was organized by Imperial War Museums, a British national museum organization intended to uncover the causes, course and consequences of war, from the First World War to present-day conflict.
The event was hosted by Hassan Akkad, a Syrian refugee and creator of BAFTA-winning documentary Exodus: Our Journey to Europe, which followed some of the millions of refugees on their journey to Europe in 2015.
“It is true, we need arts and culture now more than ever to see us through difficult times,” said Akkad when he spoke at the event. “It is these humanitarian aspects that carry us through, that give us the strength to fight in search for a better life.”
“So far, I’ve attended two out of the three-part festival and I’m also attending the one next week,” said Sarah Ahmed, a second-year philosophy student at Ryerson University and festival attendee from Brampton. “I enjoyed being a part of this event, as it affected me on a personal level. Although I’m not a refugee myself, I am a South Asian immigrant of three years here in Canada and understand the struggle of pursuing a better life.”
Guest speakers Labour Party Peer Lord Alf Dubs and Kurdish-Syrian refugee Nujeen Mustafa attended Tuesday’s event, as well as actor Jude Law, CNN’s senior international correspondent Arwa Damon and others at the event.
Mustafa, one of the guest speakers at the event from Cologne, Germany, is a refugee and activist with cerebral palsy. After increasing conflict from the Syrian Civil War, she fled by wheelchair from her home of Kobane, Syria until she arrived in Germany.
“For change to happen, it has to happen in a way that encourages both parties to talk to each other. To help understand why one party may be reluctant to accept the other,” said Mustafa when she spoke at the event.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that about 79.5 million people worldwide have had to flee from their homes. Among them are roughly 26 million refugees, around half being under the age of 18.
“The refugee crisis has always been a big problem as it is today. We see the numbers declining for safe relocation and rehabilitation of refugees worldwide,” said Imad Bazzi, communications manager and volunteer for the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance (INARA) in Beirut, Lebanon during a phone interview. “With everything going on and now COVID-19, it has just made it that much harder in providing aid to refugees. Many people are struggling and dying.”
“There’s a lot of oppression in refugee protection, settlement and mental health, with exclusion and immigration policies that need to be revised,” said Sharalyn Jordan, associate professor at Simon Fraser University during a phone interview. “It’s a system that needs a second look. The more people involved, the better chance we have of change.”
Imperial War Museums is hosting its final night of the three-part virtual series this Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. EDT.
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