The condition in Togo in regards to the economy and the government has improved only a little but still needs work. The current president of the country, who entered into office in 2005, has not really done much to better the country since his father passed the presidency to him. The state of the country doesn’t seem to be getting better at all and many times people seek refuge in the neighboring countries such as Ghana or Benin. This article “Refugee Politics: Self-Organized ‘Government’ and Protests in the Agamé Refugee Camp (205-13)” talks about the different forms of representation and participation set up by the Togolese refugees in the Agamé camp in Benin between 2005-2013. It also examines the protests about their statutory rights during this period. In this article, the people who moved to the refugee camp in Benin were unsatisfied because the strategies that were put in place by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other organizations running the camps would set them up, withdraw form them, and then eventually dismantle them therefore leaving the refugees without any real help. The reason why the camp was created in the first place was to be cope with the influx of Togolese refugees into Benin after the election of the current president. It quickly became an issue because the refugees wanted representative structures that would allow them to interact with the UNHCR and the Benin administration but unfortunately it did not work. Eventually in 2013, Benin authorities evacuated the camp in order to end the continued existence of Togolese in a camp where the organization who set it up had left several years before.
Author: bhegbe
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Rhetorical Analysis
The website I chose was the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. The website’s audience is primarily for those who can donate, volunteers, activists, and many more that fall in that line of work. When you first enter the website, there is a button that leads you to the inspirational stories from various refugees. Adding this element in, helps when trying to convince others to donate to a good cause. The button also happens to be under the horizontal menu where the word “donate” is much bigger than the other words and is in its own orange bubble. The secondary audience are refugees and possibly even students and teachers. The reason I say students and teachers is because it can be used as an instructional method like how we are currently using it now. Considering the fact that the audience is most likely people who donate and activists, I believe the author of this website appeals to the audience’s values and opinions.
The purpose of this website is primarily to get people to support the cause. LIRS wants people to be well informed about the political climate surrounding this issue of immigration and they want people to know that they stand with the refugees and want to help them out in any way that they can. When you enter the site, there is a saying that states, “Welcome to LIRS. Asylum Seeker. Immigrant. Refugee. HUMAN.” The word “human” is in an all blue bubble and it stands out to the person reading this quote. The author clearly wants us to remember that these are people’s lives and that they shouldn’t be treated any less than others because at the end of the day, they are human just like us. The website kind of has two purposes. Like mentioned before, the first is to get people to support mainly through donations but the second purpose for those who cannot donate, is for them to learn about the cause and spread the word. The more who hear about the cause, the better.
When it comes to the context, the medium that all this information is found on is on the Web. We can find almost anything on the web because of how easily accessible it is to us. The author chose this medium because it is easy but also because the people who they are targeting to donate and support most likely have access to the internet and it just makes the process of donating much easier. Word travels fast on the internet so there is no better way to get the word across than through the internet. The context of one particular story on this page also fits in perfectly with the political climate we are in today and the “crisis” at the border. LIRS does a great job on focusing on the current stance of Trump and his supporters and debunking what they believe to be “facts”. When you scroll down and click the section that reads “Fact Checking the Presidential Address on Immigration”, there they have a bunch of myths stated by Trump and his party and then they have the actual facts. In this day and age, we are in, because word travels fast especially on the internet, it is important that what we are spreading around is the truth. The format of this particular piece makes it easy to read on a phone, tablet, laptop, etc.
The author of this website is Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Amongst the leadership, there are many respected leaders. They come of ass very credible and they know what they are talking about and you can see that hey are very passionate about their work. There are any people on the list of their leadership, and you can see that LIRS takes time in working with everyone to accomplish their goals with getting information out about the “crisis’ and what they do to help those who find themselves seeking asylum. Along with their work, the overall genre of the LIRS is informational. The whole goal of this website is to let others know all about the work they do and what it is they can do moving forward to continue to help those in need.
The interface of this website is very easy to navigate through and the colors they chose seem to come through well. It is well known that blue is a calming color and the websites overall theme most places where you see color is blue. Even the font on the different titles and the links are blue. On the home page there are seven sections that are separated by color blocks and it all seems to flow as you continue to scroll down. Like mentioned before, it starts out with the quote on the left-hand side and then there is the button for the stories of the refugees on the right-hand side. When you continue to scroll there is a little bit of a background on what exactly the LIRS is and then there is a button to learn more about their work (which also takes you to the same page if you click on “About Us” on the menu bar at the top). Just under the background info is some stats about what the organization has done so far.
Overall, I feel that they did a great job with making the website easy to use and they get straight to the point. If anyone was ever confused about what exactly it is that the organization does, there is no doubt once you enter the site. There are multiple buttons that will lead you to the various pages about what they do, what they provide, and even where to donate. The only thing that I would say the could maybe do is add a little background info on the people who are in charge but besides that, the LIRS website is a good one.