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Essay
The Symbolism Between ‘Aid’ and ‘Exploitation’
Like a colonizer marking its territories, signifying its identity, and defining a body of people under its establishment.
Imagine being forced to flee 5,000+ kilometers away from home, your heart heavy with loss. Every step of the journey is a testament to survival — engulfed by fear, beaten down, abused, detained, and relentlessly discriminated against. Each day a new experience of human suffering, holding onto the hope of a safe place to flourish in. And when you finally arrive, seeking refuge and a chance to rebuild your life, you’re met with a cruel irony: you are barely seen as a person, not equal to them, but instead branded as merely a ‘refugee’.
This label follows you everywhere, a constant reminder of your status in their eyes. The concept of humanity splintered into an ‘us’ and ‘them,’ with ‘refugees’ firmly placed in the category of ‘them’ — perceived as the other, excluded, isolated, and disenfranchised.
I used to glare at the bolded blue and white logo, two hands coming together over a person, a symbolic representation of protection, “UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency”.
