M.I.A. Addresses the Refugee Crisis in New Interview: "How Can the West Turn People Away?"

Last month, M.I.A. shared a politically themed video for new track “Borders”, in which she and a group of refugees climbed wire fences, crowded on to tiny boats, and waded across the sea. Now, she’s spoken to NPR about the video, as well as her own experience as a migrant since leaving civil war-torn Sri Lanka as a child. Listen to her chat with David Greene below.

Discussing the relationship between art and politics, she said:

I think it’s cause and effect. As a musician, I feel like we are part of promoting ideas to people. You know, 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?

Read “How M.I.A. Is a Lifeline in Times of Terror” on the Pitch.

“Borders”:

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