MSF Ad-roversy

I've been following the discussions raging online about Doctors Without Borders/MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES/MSF's latest ad.

While there are lots of places to link to, I'll give you The Road to the Horizon for an excellent collection of related links and an interesting position on the ad (more on my take on that after you've had a chance to see the thing for yourself).

And here's the ad...


My first introduction to this ad was via a tweet by @geroter, co-CEO of Engineers Without Borders Canada. I was intrigued by George's concern that the ad "further entrenches the typical story of "Africa" in the media." After watching the ad, I tweeted something snippy to the effect of "Are you sure that's Africa? MSF didn't specify the country, so is the entrenchment of "Africa's" story here yours or theirs?" (Sorry George - the dangers of unedited instant internet communiques).

I left it at that. At first. But George's concerns buried themselves in the back of my mind along with some of my own that I had totally ignored, waiting for a chance to strike.

That chance came today, when a friend sent me a story in The Ottawa Citizen about the experiences of two longtime MSF volunteers.

I watched the ad again.

It's powerful - there's no denying that. Who wouldn't be moved to do something (anything, really) to spare that child from the suffering you can hear in his voice?

And someone is soliciting feedback in a big way about this ad (I say "someone" because I'm not sure if it's MSF or if it's Pete their web guy not operating in an 100% official capacity), so my hat is tipped to them for trying to engage with their 'audience' in the world of web 2.0.

But...well, where do I start with the 'buts?'

I don't like it when ads reinforce the collective superficiality of the West by giving us 10 seconds of emotional connection and a sleek, simple solution at the end. This ad is that. Our heartstrings are pulled, and we are told that this little boy needs us to donate to MSF. It doesn't matter where he is, or whether or not MSF would have stopped the militias from orphaning him (which they could not have - that's not the kind of work that MSF does), or the fact that 'fixing' the problems of wherever that poor child is are far more complex than a monthly donation will solve. 'What you can do' is made easy.

There are more 'buts,' like how the desperation of this ad leaves me feeling empty and hopeless, or how I am uncomfortable with how the anonymity of the ad makes me feel like MSF is complicit in this child's powerlessness instead of working to change it, or that, some part of me feels like the tone of this ad is a betrayal of the optimism that attracts at least some of MSF's volunteers to the work that they do.

Basically, I don't like the ad, and it would take me an essay to explain why. So instead of an essay, I turn to poetry.

Many years ago, a poet named T.S. Eliot wrote a long poem called The Wasteland. Eliot's not for everyone. He is for me though. I find myself drawn to his poetry often, wrestling to unlock what he was saying that speaks to me so and seems so much to offer a wrenching and chilling insight into this world of mine. With regards to this ad a quote from part 2 (the game of chess)...

‘My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.
‘Speak to me. Why do you never speak? Speak.
‘What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
‘I never know what you are thinking. Think.’

'Africa' never speaks to us because we seem to only want to listen when they are screaming.
We never know what we are thinking because really, we aren't.

I think that we need to do better at both if we really want to help - ads like this aren't really helping.

MSF - Edmonton event this weekend

While taking a walk along Whyte Avenue this afternoon, I stumbled upon a really interesting educational event.
MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES/Doctors Without Borders is touring a Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City. They're in Edmonton (McIntyre Park, in Old Strathcona by the farmers' market) until Sunday (9:30-5pm) and providing tours (free of charge) to willing passerby. The tour is really good - in addition to talking about the work that MSF does, the guides try to get visitors to think about what it must be like to be uprooted and end up in a refugee camp. The guide for our group had actually done work in a clinic is the southern Sudan: the kind of insight she shared with us was amazing.

MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (MSF), aka Doctors Without Borders, is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning non-governmental organization dedicated to providing emergency medical relief, particularly to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). They've been around since 1971, and blazed a great many trails in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance (some of them more controversial than others).

Walking through the camp really got me thinking about the work I'm about to be embarking on. In many ways, I'm fortunate this time around - EWB Canada targets their efforts to capacity building in more stable communities, so it's unlikely that I'll be dealing with the realities that MSF volunteers confront overseas, especially in camps like these where violence and rampant illness & malnutrition are common. It really gave me an interesting perspective on the kind of challenges I'll be confronting.

Check it out if you have the time.