Racism in Western media has always existed, it is a cause for the dehumanisation of the other, and a tool to oppress and segregate.
White supremacy is embedded in Western societies; it is institutional, inherited and cannot be eradicated with one reading on Orientalism by Edward Said or one course on Critical Race Theory.
With the recent horrific events taking place on sovereign Ukrainian land, many have suddenly become outspoken and enraged by the suffering that is caused by the war, forgetting that this suffering has been inflicted upon millions of people in the Global South, including the Middle East, Africa and Asia – yet all they ever heard was a devastating silence.
This is particularly noticeable in regards to the racist rhetoric by Western media in their coverage of the war on Ukraine.
This isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European – I have to choose those words carefully, too – city where you wouldn’t expect that or hope that it’s going to happen.
Said Charlie D’Agata, CBS News senior correspondent in Kyiv, on the 25th of February. Ironically, his words were not chosen carefully; in fact, they were insensitive to the millions of non-Europeans who have witnessed and continue to witness this suffering.
In similar commentaries, on the 26th of February the BBC hosted Ukraine’s former Deputy Chief Prosecutor, David Sakvarelidze. “It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blonde hair and blue eyes being killed every day with Putin’s missiles and his helicopters and his rockets,” Sakvarelidze said. The BBC presenter responded: “I understand and of course respect the emotion.”
2. CBS News
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) February 27, 2022
"This isn't Iraq or Afghanistan...This is a relatively civilized, relatively European city" - CBS foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata pic.twitter.com/s7sxZrMzM9
Charlie D’Agata’s commentary was amongst many other racist comments made by Western journalists towards the Global South in the media coverage of Ukraine, specifically on television.
Not only is D’Agata’s rhetoric dehumanising BIPOC people’s suffering under conflict, but he is also directly and blatantly calling these places – Iraq and Afghanistan – uncivilised. These comments reveal the orientalist mindset of some Westerners today, appalled by the idea of conflict in a European country while normalising suffering in non-European nations.
D’Agata’s comments ultimately imply that not only is war in the MENA region expected, but that it is also acceptable with complete disregard to the fact that world suffering is imposed by Western nations which predominantly control the world’s resources, including the most important resource – power.
The suggestion that war is only a natural phenomenon unique to the MENA region or any other place outside of Europe, Australia and Northern America has long been present in media coverage. This proposition only serves to maintain the status quo and does not focus on the main causes for the instability of the MENA region.
The recent racist rhetoric seen on television and the media in general, is very conflicting with the standards that the West claim to uphold. D’Agata’s commentary is undoubtedly representative of the reality and the not-so-shocking racism and modern-day colonisation that not only appears through the media, but also in social networks, public spaces and institutions as well.
We’re not talking here about Syrians fleeing the bombing of the Syrian regime backed by Putin, we’re talking about Europeans leaving in cars that look like ours to save their lives.
In the words of journalist Philippe Corbé on BFM TV, a French cable news channel. Corbe’s comments truly make you wonder what cars look like in Syria!
These comments and many alike uncover the hidden colours of many Western journalists as they resort to superficial, and non-subjective, accounts of reporting that highlight the inherited racism that apparently was not abolished in this “progressive” era in time.
Whether or not these reporters sympathise with non-White victims, the mere comparisons they make are indicative of the geopolitical division of power dynamics in the context of activism and anti-war propaganda.
@PhilippeCorbe sur BFM « On parle pas de syrien qui fuient la guerre, on parle d’européens qui fuient, qui nous ressemblent, qui fuient dans des voitures pareilles que nous » #ukraine #UkraineRussie pic.twitter.com/Wi03v22KUZ
— hams salmi (@el74180865) February 24, 2022
Additionally, the comments given by these reporters and pundits are reductive as they serve to eliminate critical conversations, mainly around US and Western imperialism.
Such narrative ignores the deliberate efforts of the West in destabilising the MENA region, using tactics that are not limited to military intervention, but also include their use of media tools to frame and control the narrative that alters outlooks on distant and “non-familiar” suffering.
Hence, these sufferings are viewed by many as such, distant and reoccurring – and therefore trivial, and this is shown in their reactions to conflict inside of Europe as opposed to the rest of the world.
Thus, it may not be merely a question of sympathy but a question of the inability to understand the way mainstream media paints certain conceptions about the world as inherent truths – in a way that suits their political and economic gains.
To say these statements are shocking is inaccurate. Racist and bias in Western media coverage of non-White suffering are common in old and contemporary media.
The critiques given by social media users, academics and journalists regarding these commentaries are valid; they should be valued, and action needs to be taken by these media outlets to hold these commentators accountable. It is very easy for European media giants to terminate Arab journalists by wrongfully accusing them of antisemitism for criticising the Israeli Zionist state, it should not be difficult to hold racist European journalists to the same standards.
