M.I.A’s New Music Video Is A Frank And Confronting Look At The Refugee Crisis
Like you needed another reason to love M.I.A.
This year, the war in Syria and continued conflict in the Middle East has resulted in hundreds of thousands of refugees seeking asylum in Europe in particular, with over 700,000 people officially applying for asylum this year alone. While some countries like Germany have made moves to assist the influx of refugees, other leaders like Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte think the crisis will lead to the fall of the EU.
Against that backdrop, British rapper M.I.A has released a video for her new single ‘Borders’ overnight, which emphasises the human cost of the global migrant crisis. In the video, M.I.A (who also directed) sings on a barbed wire fence as people scurry to climb over it, on a rickety boat loaded with immobile bodies, and wades through water with a weaving line of refugees.
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) November 24, 2015
The song, which was released last week, asks listeners what they think about their privilege, about being “bae” and “breaking the internet” in a reference to Kim Kardashian, while challenging them to think about police shots and “boat people”. In true M.I.A style, it’s a tune about an important issue that is also somehow a banger.
M.I.A’s proclivity to convey social messages through music you can dance to is hardly a new concept – socially conscious hip hop and punk music has been doing it for years – but since her debut release in 2005, she has been an important voice in highlighting issues of global inequality in the third world. Recently she tweeted her frustration that nothing much has changed since she first started making music about these issues.
The world I talked about ten years ago is still the same. that's why it's hard for me to say it again on a newLP. can u just play the old1.
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) November 18, 2015
‘Borders’ will appear on her forthcoming album, Matahdatah, but no release date has been announced.