Children

There is a line that the liberal global citizen does not like to cross. That line concerns the use of direct political violence against children. After all, children are innocent in the face of political violence. In an ordered world, they should not need to confront it. Those who commit it are barbaric and those who witness it have an innate duty to “do something.” This straightforward narrative can undercut the most complex political machinations. Far from the hard-headed strategies of global conflict, a single image of a child experiencing political violence can galvanise an unwavering emotional-political response and produce a clear underlying narrative: “This war is wrong”; “These people are poison”; “This continent is a basketcase.”