The IMO’s press release in the run up to the ‘Day of the
Seafarer’ is an exercise in rambling self-indulgence and desperate hashtag
activism. I also question the motives behind this annual attempt that asks-
pleads with- society to value seamen; a plea should be directed at the shipping
industry first anyway.
“Every year, June 25th is celebrated globally as the Day of
the Seafarer, an official United Nations observance day,” the IMO reminds us. “This
year, once again, the IMO is asking people everywhere to show their
appreciation, through social media, for seafarers and their contribution to
global prosperity”. The IMO then asks
everyone to complete the sentence- “Seafarers brought me….” and post it on
Twitter and Facebook, adding the hashtag “#thankyouseafarers”. Probably to help the juvenile part of the
audience that is buying this deceitful and trite campaign, the missing word in
that sentence can be anything that came by sea. There is also an ‘exciting’
virtual wall somewhere on IMO’s website where people will write down the things
that seafarers brought them and which they value the most.
Most seamen will say that the IMO works first to further the
cause of the shore based part of the shipping industry; seamen’s interests-
even their basic rights- come a very poor second. To then use the seafarer to
evoke sympathy for the industry- or empathy with it, which is what the IMO
campaign is really about- is disingenuous, even specious. The fact is also that
the industry does not have a human face that it can present to the world
(mainly because it does not want to spend the money to do so); seamen are the
industry’s face, or so it thinks. I find it offensive that my ‘face’ is being
used- without my consent or approval- by a UN organisation in this cynical bait-and-switch
way.
I am not sure that it is the IMOs job to extort sympathy or
empathy from the general public. Its job is mainly regulatory. If it is really
concerned about seamen, a day or a week spent pulling them out of the woodwork
and parading them on social media will not cut the mustard. By the way, do we
have any numbers on how much is being spent every year on this ‘Day of the
Seafarer’ exercise, and what, if anything is the pay off?
Perhaps the IMO should
concentrate more on its day job, including the breaches of basic safety
regulations that occur every day on many, many ships around the world-instead.
Perhaps it should concentrate on ensuring that seamen’s basic rights- including
those that are now claimed to be enshrined in the MLC- are actually delivered.
Perhaps it should persuade shipping to value its seafarers before it asks the
general public to do so.
The IMO’s use of the social media to create sympathy for- or
awareness about- shipping reveals that the industry has run out of ideas. And,
leaving my distaste for Twitter and Facebook aside, social media is hardly the
place for in depth analysis of anything; it is a very hopeful quick fix. The
problems of shipping- especially its seamen- cannot be solved in 140 characters
or less. They cannot be solved by an annual feel-good event that nobody, within
or without the industry, really cares about. Hoopla is no substitute for
substance.
Many of you will tell me, hey! The IMO is not looking to
solve any problems with this campaign, so why are you making this fuss? And what is the harm if they try to create
awareness- or evoke empathy for the industry- even if it involves using seamen
as bait?
No harm, I guess. If only I could get rid of the distasteful
feeling I have in my mouth, I am sure everything would be just fine.
.
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