[protected-iframe id=”d3a1bf54c948e58755431824a91a6a62-60970621-86472684″ info=”https://www.npr.org/player/embed/459114242/459789045″ width=”100%” height=”290″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
As a refugee herself, M.I.A. is bound to have opinions on the current Syrian refugee crisis and the troubling demonization of the refugees throughout Europe and the United States. Her opening salvo against the anti-refugee camp came in the music video for her song “Borders,” but a new interview finds Maya addressing the problem much more directly.
In an interview with NPR Music, M.I.A. says that it’s hypocritical for the West to sell their ideals to other countries via pop culture and then turn those people away when they come knocking.
“Ultimately we fight to get what we do in the West into the homes and the screens of every single person on the planet. We want to make money off it, and you want to sell 50 million Taylor Swift records to people in Africa. Obviously, some of the kids are gonna say, ‘Okay, yeah, I want the dream,’ and you’ve got migrants who believed in the aggressiveness of our sale of democracy. We can’t really blame people when they are ready to embrace it…
If the West is so deliberate in promoting its brands and is using art and culture to inspire people’s dreams, how can the West then turn people away?”
Check out the whole interview up top.
(Via Pitchfork)
