They look like us

They look like us, so we care more. They had underlying health conditions, so we care less.

Bridge in Ukraine with lots of ribbons tied to it.

Here we are in 2022, thinking of ourselves as a modern, civilised society, yet still casting people as ‘other’.

We define their value by how similar, or not, they are to us. Why should I worry about the pandemic when it’s only people with health conditions that are still at risk (not to mention still in lock down with no end in sight)? Why should I care about people whose lives are destroyed by war in places that seem very different from my home and that I know little about?

Othering starts with words… it’s reinforced by how stories are framed, and groups portrayed, by the media… it seeds and cements the idea that some people matter less than ‘us’… and it lays foundations for discrimination to be built into our attitudes, policies, laws, institutions, structures and systems. It shapes how we respond when a pandemic hits, or war breaks out, or the impacts of climate change wreak havoc. At it’s worst, it creates the conditions that allow attrocities to happen.

At another time of war, such attrocities led to the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which asserts that ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights’.

When human rights are the framework within which we make our decisions, design our services, and build our systems, then we can claim to be a modern, civilised society.

Other people have spoken much more articulately than I have about this. I’d recommend reading this article from Moustafa Bayoumi, as well as following the brilliant work of Frances Ryan and Rory Kinnear. Closer to home in Scotland, please follow the brilliant work that Sally Witcher is doing to push for an #InclusiveNewNormal, built on equality and human rights.

And of course there are many organisations providing a humanitarian response in many parts of the world, including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and supporting people who have had to flee their homes — https://www.icrc.org/en, https://www.re-act-scotland.org/, https://www.unicef.org.uk/ are just a few.