#LetThemStay: Visual representations of protests and community mobilization for asylum seekers in Australia

Abstract

The indefinite mandatory detention on the mainland and in offshore processing centers of asylum seekers applying for protection in Australia is particularly controversial due to the government's notoriously harsh policy. In response, large-scale public protests have been staged across the country in recent years to register popular dissent and convey concerns to decision-makers. However, dominant media representations of protests have historically been largely negative, often cast as ineffectual at best, and at worst, violent clashes that alienate the broader population from the cause in question. This paper outlines a visual analysis of media representations of protests that took place in February 2016 against the proposed deportation of 267 asylum seekers from the Australian mainland as part of the #LetThemStay campaign. Through the analysis of four photographs from a range of media outlets, we found that depicting peaceful protests methods and community mobilization complicated dominant understandings of protests and protesters. Indeed, #LetThemStay demonstrated the political power of compassionate solidarity between participants afforded the privilege of safe residency and citizenship, and those forcibly absent who are denied such rights. As such, the paper highlights the impact of peaceful protesting, while also recognizing its limitations in changing Australia's punitive asylum seeker policies.

Asylum Seeking, Border Security, Hope

“…A situation made to become a matter of life and death through disproportionate minority world government responses, measures in turn challenged by minority world populations in support of people seeking asylum in defiance of their governments (Bagelman 2016; Hall et al. 2018; Hodge 2019; Stivens 2018; see also, in relation to escape and what this triggers, Nayeri 2019; Papadopoulos et al. 2008).…”

“…(see Hall et al. 2018; Hodge 2019). It signals a refusal of an Australia that is orderly, fixed, backward‐facing, one that is conservative and settled with a hope of more of the same.…”

Contentious politics, human rights and Australian immigration detention

“…In February 2016, the #LetThemStay campaign was launched with protests in 12 major cities over 12 days, calling for the government to stop the deportation (to Nauru and Manus Island) of 267 asylum seekers, including 54 children and 37 infants (Hall et al 2018). This action occurred at the same time of a High Court challenge to the legality of offshore detention and while an infant, who became known as Baby Asha was transferred to Australia and hospitalised (Essex and Isaacs 2018).…”

“…Doctors at Lady Cilento Hospital in Brisbane refused to discharge her to be returned to Nauru. The media promoted this case and a protest mobilised around the clock outside of the hospital for 10 days, placing the government under increasing pressure to honour the doctors' refusal to discharge her (Hall et al 2018). After negotiations with the government, Asha was discharged to community detention about ten days later.…”

Photographing the ‘battlefield’: The role of ideology in photojournalist practices during the anti-austerity protests in Greece

“…Accepting the problematic nature of defining objectivity, we argue that photographs constitute predominantly subjective readings of an event that, at best, represent the most truthful version of the events witnessed. Indeed, a growing body of scholarship has generated new understandings and representations of protests that have disrupted the protest paradigm (Hall et al, 2018; Tenenboim-Weinblatt, 2014), which suggests that the news media generally support the status quo by marginalizing and even demonizing protesters (Chan and Lee, 1984). Following such arguments, this article investigates the photojournalists’ ideological and ethical approaches, as well as their own perceptions of objectivity and its impact on their practice.…”