BAGHDAD — The
world has been stunned by Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine, but shock quickly gave
way to indignation in other strife-torn parts of the world over media
commentary many saw as racist against them.
اضافة اعلان
“This isn’t a place
— with all due respect, you know — like Iraq or
Afghanistan that has seen
conflict raging for decades,” said Charlie D’Agata of US network CBS News.
“This is a
relatively civilized, relatively
European — I have to choose those words
carefully too — city where you wouldn’t expect that or hope it is going to
happen.”
A day later, after
much online furor, D’Agata apologized for his “poor choice of words”.
This was just one
of many remarks on reputable media outlets drawing a line between the conflict
unfolding in Ukraine and those in other parts of the world.
Many
Arabs were
quick to point out the double standard, noting that while the toll of war may
be similar in the respective conflicts, the media treatment is not.
Some also drew a
comparison between Europe’s welcoming of Ukrainian refugees and the influx of
Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghans, which was declared a “
migrant crisis”.
Political scientist
Ziad Majed said that, while there was “magnificent solidarity” from the world
over the Ukraine conflict, it also revealed a “shocking distinction”.
The discrepancies
in media treatment revealed the “dehumanization of refugees from the Middle
East”, said Majed, a professor at the
American University of Paris.
“We can understand
that the Ukrainians are Europeans, and that the memory of war in Europe can
revive a lot of emotions,” he said.
But he stressed
that “when we hear some commentators speaking about ‘people like us’, this
suggests that those coming from Syria,
Iraq, Afghanistan, or Africa are not
(like them)”.
‘Racist coverage’
The Qatari channel Al-Jazeera
English was also not immune to the controversy.
“These are not,
obviously, refugees trying to get away from areas in the
Middle East that are
still in a big state of war,” said one of its anchors. “They look like any
European family that you would live next door to.”
The network later issued an apology, describing the
remarks as “insensitive and irresponsible”.
Salem Barahmeh, director of the pro-Palestinian
platform Rabet, was quick to point out seeming discrepancies in the commentary.
“Refugees are welcome depending where they come
from,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that “resistance to occupation is not only
legitimate but a right”.
The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists’ Association
condemned “examples of racist news coverage that ascribes more importance to
some victims of war than others”.
“This type of commentary reflects the pervasive
mentality in Western journalism of normalizing tragedy in parts of the world
such as the Middle East,
Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.”
‘Civilized’
For Syrians, the disparity
in media treatment is particularly striking as Russia launched a bloody
intervention to prop up
Bashar Al-Assad’s regime more than six years ago.
Before the war in Ukraine, Majed said, Syrian
territory served as a “laboratory” for the Russian army, on which it “tested
its arsenal and tactics”.
Journalist Philippe Corbe referenced that conflict
when he spoke about the
Ukraine refugee flow on French broadcaster BFM TV.
“We are not talking about Syrians fleeing the
bombardment of the Syrian regime, supported by Vladimir Putin,” he said.
“We are talking about Europeans who are leaving in
their cars, that look like our cars... and who are just trying to save their
lives.”
Contacted by AFP, the broadcaster said Corbe’s
remarks were “clumsy but taken out of context... (and) led to the mistaken
belief that he was defending a position opposite to the one he wanted to
emphasize, and he regrets this”.
AdeelaOfficial, an Instagram account dedicated to
humorous commentary on celebrity news, took a break from the jokes to decry
media “racism”.
“The Western media claims to protect human rights
and defend democracy, when in reality it is ignorant, racist and cannot see
beyond its own nose,” it charged.
Afghans have also expressed exasperation over
Ukraine coverage, just six months after the Taliban seized control in a
lightning offensive that sent the country spiraling into chaos and hundreds of
thousands of people into exile.
Many have highlighted what they saw as an emphasis
media has put on Christian Europeans with “blond hair and blue eyes” becoming
refugees, marking them out as different from other victims of war.
“It is the same point being made again and again:
people in all other conflicts were half humans, of lesser worthy origin and
race, but Europeans are full humans. So, this war matters,” said Muska
Dastageer, a university lecturer.
The normalization of war in the Middle East and so-called
third world countries and “the assumption that they deserve war is just one of
the reasons why those wars lasted so long,” added Aisha Khurram, a former youth
representative to the UN.
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