I’m a conservative, but this asylum seekers comic is disgusting

There’s something fascinating about the government’s latest foray into deterrence propaganda, produced by the Customs and Border Protection Service to deter asylum seekers from Afghanistan. The word “propaganda” is entwined with a sense of growth; “propagare” means “to spread” in the sense of a seed, or of a people, or of an idea. Its key usage was in the title of the congregation of the Roman curia responsible for missionary work: Congregatio de Propaganda Fide. This propaganda was about spreading the work of Rome, evangelising, and promoting the Catholic cause.

Now, we tend to understand the word in a political sense. Propaganda is the media spin used to make the government look good by demonising its enemies and deifying its heroes. It’s rare to see propaganda which casts the propagating government as the villain and yet here we are. Over the course of some 18 pages, we see the story of a young Afghan man whose parents want him to go to Australia. Alas, he is intercepted by the dark and sinister Australian navy, which makes him sick and forces him to get eaten by mosquitoes.

In the top frame (above), we see genuinely desperate people reaching out for help while others are huddled over some illness and weariness. Instead of help, they’re boarded by a menacing force. To paraphrase Pope Gregory I: ”Non angeli, sed ADF” (”Not angels but ADF”). Anonymous and armed, the officers are clearly technologically superior with their flak jackets and speedboats. Asylum seekers might survive the rough ocean of the previous page, but they must abandon all hope in the face of Operation Sovereign Borders.

Although it’s tempting to ponder whether Operation Sovereign Borders’ next communication campaign will involve a caravan driving around Ghazni province with a puppet giraffe telling young Hazara to brush their teeth, don’t take drugs, and don’t come to Australia, the comic book format for distributing messages about the importance of regular migration is not new. In West Java, for example, a comic book, Zero Tolerance for Trafficking in Persons, is distributed as part of an information campaign to prevent and detect people trafficking. Another comic, Chimen Lakay, is distributed in Haiti to reduce irregular migration to the United States.

Read the full article and view the ad images at The Guardian HERE: