This is our child now, whoever we are

A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan al-Kurdi near the Turkish resort of Bodrum. File picture: DHA

A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan al-Kurdi near the Turkish resort of Bodrum. File picture: DHA

Published Sep 3, 2015

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The boy on the beach will become a symbol either of European brutality or of its humanity, says Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

London - He looks asleep, far away in dreamland, as if he dropped off after a long day of play and fun, of tricks and naughtiness. His trainers are still on his feet. Did he pester mum and dad until they bought them? His red T-shirt has rolled up to reveal his tummy. I want to touch his soft, plump tummy, to hold him, wake him gently and dry him off.

But the boy is dead. He drowned in the foaming, blue sea, just off Bodrum in Turkey, a tourist destination for Europeans seeking sun and fun. The waves delivered him to the beach, gently it seems, so intact is the little body. If this lifeless toddler were a European, the reaction across the continent would be shock and sorrow. But he is a Syrian, a pest, part of the “swarm” of refugees that David Cameron wants to keep out of Britain; a “cockroach” to Katie Hopkins, the loutish commentator.

British government can only talk in numbers, so too most of the media, including the BBC. Until Wednesday, when Yvette Cooper finally acknowledged the Syrian refugee crisis, leading Labour figures were cowardly too, staying silent. Social psychopathy is the result.

Thousands perish as they try to get into Europe; asylum-seeking women miscarry on the streets; children are starving and traumatised; young men look trapped and emasculated. Those who have decided not to care will not be moved. (Millions do care and do what little they can, but this is a humanitarian disaster which requires a pan-European response.)

Maybe this is the moment, the image that breaks through the emotional and political fortresses. Remember that little naked, burning girl in the Vietnam War, running away from bomb attacks? That single picture turned US public opinion against that terrible war. Or the first photographs of young Malala Yousafzai after she was shot on a school bus? Until then, most Pakistanis were in denial about the Taliban in their country. After that shooting they had nowhere to hide.

Look at the picture of the washed-up toddler if you can bear to. He is a little person, an innocent, who died before he could grow. Think of the chances his parents took and why they felt they had no other choice. How frightened they must have been when they got on to the packed, unsafe boat. Did they drown too? They might have seen their child sink. Imagine that.

Details of the victim and his family are still emerging. But this is our child now, whoever we are. Even those who support hardline anti-immigration policies must feel pity and some urge to help. Our Prime Minister and Home Secretary must speak out with some compassion and take in more refugees.

The boy on the beach will become a symbol either of European brutality or of its humanity. But he will never be erased from history and collective memory.

Twitter: @Y_alibhai

The Independent

* IOL has chosen not to show the picture the writer refers to as to protect the dignity of the child.

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