When I finally got around to watching Prison Break during lockdown in Singapore I remember feeling a huge sense of disappointment in the way Yemen was shown in the final season. Throughout the season finale I was shown bombed buildings, damaged infrastructure, armed rebels, and just an overall mess of what appeared to be the armed conflict taking place. I was annoyed at myself for being frustrated that there was no depiction of the unlawful Saudi-led airstrikes or coalition’s restrictions which has worsened what is a dire humanitarian crisis today. If I didn’t know any better I could’ve enjoyed the last scenes of Michael Scofield’s handsome, brooding face - but I couldn’t quite get the thrill out of the final season as much as I would’ve liked.
It was about a month later when I began to see infographics circle Instagram with brightly coloured titles and graphics reading ‘YEMEN is suffering the worst humanitarian crisis in the world’ or ‘What you NEED to know about Yemen’. I was so confused. Where did this surge of solidarity with the people of Yemen come from? The conflict in Yemen entered its sixth year in 2020, and in our current age of social-media activism I was seeing stories every day with strings of donation links to YemenAid, UNICEF, and Islamic Relief. Yet I didn’t come across a single post which explained why Yemen was actually in crisis or why there was this sudden pressure to donate to relief funds which have existed for years. There was no mention of the fact that the USA, U.K. and France are likely complicit in war crimes for arming and providing support to the Saudi-led coalition. Nor the fact that the coalition’s restrictions on imports and targeted aerial attacks on medical units since 2015 has put an even greater strain on the country in response to the pandemic. It was only after I read a statement on the UN’s website calling on their global partners that three-quarters of the aid programmes backed by its agencies in Yemen would have to shut within weeks without more funding, due to the impact of COVID-19. Thus explaining the pressure to donate to existing relief funds over the summer.
“If the political process has any chance of success, the humanitarian situation must be kept stable. We have the skills, staff and capacity to do this. What we don’t have is the money. We are running out of time. We ask donors to pledge generously and pay pledges promptly.”
- Statement on Yemen by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee
These critical pieces of information were lost in every post, story, and upload I saw on social media. COVID-19 had once again shone another devastating spotlight on a crisis that had worsened due to the effects of the pandemic, and social media has become our medium to amass a response from people across the globe. There is no doubt that social media has become paramount to our daily lives during the ongoing pandemic; whether it's connecting with family members or sharing memes in our group chats. I’ve also noticed recently that social media has recently become an increasingly popular platform to share current news and political affairs. One of the most popular ways of doing this is through shareable infographics where information is often condensed, easy to read, and visually appealing. On my personal feed, I found that the popularity of infographics started to gain traction after the death of George Floyd and the worldwide demonstrations that ensued. “10 ways to avoid being a performative ally” “The prison industrial complex system explained” “Let's take a look at police brutality in America”. Complex topics, tragedies, and centuries-long historical processes were summarised and put into digestible infographics for people to read, share, and repost.
As useful as they are, it is undeniable that social media is a double-edged sword that has the ability to turn someone’s death, a political crisis, or a social justice movement into a trend or a series of posts that disappears or loses traction after a week. Not only are we desensitised to the 24-hour news cycle - world events compete for our short-lived sympathy and attention span every single day. Infographics have the potential to contribute to this cycle of ‘social acceleration’ and in our digitally-linked world the effects could be devastating. For me, Instagram much like Twitter - is turning into an echo chamber of reductive, homogenous, liberal thoughts and ideas, with no originality, fresh perspectives or critical thinking.
On one hand it is important to look at all forms of political participation and engagement as a process, but on the other hand we must reflect on how we choose to participate and how we choose to engage to avoid disingenuous acts of activism.
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Fourth Floor is a West London based collective dissecting the world and promoting young creatives across the globe.