Pokemon's tears for Syria

More than five years into the war in Syria it is not always easy for  interested parties to get public opinion in the outside world to focus,  yet again, on a conflict that can sometimes seem insoluble.  

For many watching from a distance, the shock value of reports about the  aftermath of barrel bombs, suicide attacks, torture and starving  civilians can diminish with repetition.  

One tactic that some Syrian activists are deploying to try to shortcut  this is to tap into the global popular culture phenomenon that is  Pokemon Go and to exploit it for all it's worth. 

Pikachus, squirtles and weedles and the other characters in the  augmented reality game have been unofficially co-opted to highlight the  harsh realities of war. 

This week the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office - a group of  media activists which supports groups opposed to President Assad's  regime - has posted a series of photographs of children posing with  drawings of Pokemon characters.  

The drawings are all captioned with a line identifying that the child is  from a particular town or village in a rebel-held area in northwest  Syria. The one in the image below reads: "I'm from Kafr Nabl in Idlib  province. Come and save me." 

The circumstances in which the pictures were taken are not entirely  clear. The RFS has not yet responded to a request for comment. But Kafr  Nabl is a town which has a history of producing eye-catching banners to  try to attract international attention, often appealing for Western  military help against the Syrian government.  

The message behind the Pokemon portraits - which have been shared  thousands of times on social media - seems to be: if you can spend so  much time chasing fantastical imaginary creatures then why can't you do  more for children growing up in a war. 

Artists outside the country have also borrowed Pokemon to make their  point. The picture at the top of this article is by Moustafa Jano, a  Syrian who now lives in Sweden. It's from a series that he has posted on  Facebook, in which Pokemon is seen on the journey made by so many  refugees who have fled the war and risked their lives at sea to face an  uncertain future in Europe.  

In one of his posts, Jano quotes a line from the Swedish novelist Jonas  Gardell: "Grandpa, what did you do that summer of 2016, when the world  was on fire? Oh, dear grandchildren, we were looking for Pokemon  Characters in the phone!" 

In Denmark, a Syrian graphic designer called Saif Tahhan has taken the  game's distinctive player interface as his inspiration. He has produced  scenes from an imaginary Syria Go game. Instead of searching for  Pokemon, the quest is for security, education, medical supplies or some  other essential resource in short supply for civilians caught up in the  war. 

Saif is a refugee who left Syria in 2011. He travelled via Egypt and Italy, before settling in Denmark two years ago, 

"I created these images as a way to turn attention to the Syrian cause  and to focus on Syrian suffering instead of Pokémons (which people are  crazy about NOW!)," he wrote in a message to Trending. 

"The idea got thousands of likes and shares, so I can say that people  like this way of awareness and I hope they will react very soon in the  real life." 

 Blog by Ed Main