Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 147

Clashing Ways of Life: Syrian Refugee Crisis
Anxiety lies at the center of culture wars. Art and other forms of cultural
expression can be the materialization of these culture wars. In his book
on the international cultural policies and power, J. P. Singh articulates the
impact of art and politics on identity “(…) the marriage of art and politics
reveals powerful agendas regarding identity” (Singh ����:xxiii). In the case
of the refugee crisis, both policy and art responded to the anxiety; artists
have set up voluntary and charitable art projects in cities around Europe,
in order to raise funds to be donated to refugee camps and organizations.
One such example is ���� Art Basel, which introduced activism in the world
of art dealers and very wealthy art collectors, in order to raise awareness
of the refugee crisis and the importance of art to participate social action.
With their activist intent, these projects seek to create a link between visual
arts as elite forms of cultural expression and the everyday reality of refugees
crossing the Mediterranean into Europe as they flee the civil war in Syria.
They raise awareness among European and international art dealers of the
cruel reality of war and the refugee crisis as the most visible consequence
of war on European territories. Importantly, these artistic representations
by elite artists present the refugee crisis as a deeply and fundamentally
European and international problem. These artistic representations of the
refugee crisis highlight the failure of trans-national responses to the crisis
and call on the elite cultural practitioners to engage in a much-needed civic
to the everyday reality of the crisis across Europe.
As the on-going refugee crisis in Europe shows, cultural clashes can take
place at the transnational level. Fleeing military conflict fuelled by religious
extremism and the spread of the Islamic State, Syrians take the risk of
travelling across the borders to seek refuge in Europe. The European Union
sought to establish a common response to the crisis, and in May ����, the
European Commission proposed a European Resettlement Scheme, which
was adopted the European Council in ����. Member states agreed the resettle
more than ��,��� refugees from outside the EU to European member states
by July ���� (NAO ����:�–�). Despite the common scheme of response to the
crisis, each participating government followed a different national strategy
of policy implementation. In member states, national responses to the crisis
have been largely informed by party preferences. Centre and left-wing parties,
such as Podemos in Spain or Labour in the United Kingdom, have tended
to propose a sympathetic approach and an open doors policy. Refugees are
humans that flee religious extremism and the reality of terrorism. In their
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