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Join on Telegram Rabat – “It’s really emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed,” David Sakvarelidze, Ukraine’s Deputy Chief Prosecutor told the BBC.
Meanwhile, at the Ukraine-Poland border, African students trying to cross to safety yell, “We don’t have arms! We are students!” as border guards point guns at them, as seen in a video posted on Twitter.
Those were a few snippets in the situation that has engulfed social media and public discussion about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Activists and organizations called out several racist remarks and actions as Russia continues what President Vladimir Putin has called “a special military operation” in Ukraine.
Racist news coverage
Western news outlets have come under heavy fire for racist and Orientalist remarks in their coverage of the conflict. Specifically, some media hosts and reporters gave unsavory comparisons to war-ridden regions of the Middle East instead of covering the Ukraine conflict on its own merits.
Notable examples circulate widely online.
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“This isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades,” CBS correspondent Charlie D’Agata said during his coverage from Kyiv. “You know, 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.”
The comments came under fire for the implications that people living in the Middle East conflict zones are uncivilized and used to the cruelty of war.
“As someone who has lived through wars and invasions with the world watching, I deeply empathize with the Ukrainian people. The deeply racist coverage has been very telling as well,” Dr. Mostafa Minawi, Associate Professor at Cornell University, wrote on Twitter.
“I wonder what would lead someone like [D’Agata] to think it is ok to compare the value of peoples’ lives and who qualifies as ‘civilized,’” he continued. “CBS News, do better. The world is watching and listening.”
D’Agata apologized for the remarks the following day during a live broadcast on CBS news.
“I spoke in a way that I regret, and for that I’m sorry,” he said to his colleague in the studio. “What I’d hoped to convey is that what’s unique about the fighting underway here is that this country has not really seen this scale of war in recent years.”
“I used a poor choice of words, and I apologize for any offense I may have caused,” he continued.
The apology did not go over well with critics, who panned it as a non-apology that only words differently what the reporter said earlier and ignores the historical context of conflicts ravaging the Middle East for decades.
Al Jazeera also came under fire for comments made by a news host on its English channel.
“What’s compelling is looking at them, the way they are dressed. These are prosperous, middle-class people,” the presenter said. “These are not obviously refugees trying to get away from areas in the Middle East.”
“They look like any European family that you’d live next door to,” he added.
The Qatari media organization issued an apology, which was also not widely accepted.
“An @AJEnglish presenter made unfair comparisons between Ukrainians fleeing the war and refugees from the MENA region,” the network’s PR Twitter account said. “The presenter’s comments were insensitive and irresponsible. We apologize to our audiences worldwide and the breach of professionalism is being dealt with.”
Many called on the network, and other media outlets, to put tangible measures in place to deal with the racist coverage and for the reporters involved in the comments to be appropriately punished.
The Telegraph was also criticized for an opinion piece it published regarding the war.
“They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking,” Daniel Hannan, the writer of the op-ed, said as he described how Ukrainians engage in everyday activities such as watching Netflix and browsing Instagram.
“War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone,” he went on to say.
The piece was heavily criticized for its Orientalist tone, and for perpetuating an image of the people of less prosperous countries as being always at war.
The Arab And Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) issued a statement regarding the coverage of the war in Ukraine, calling on media organizations – particularly Western ones – to be mindful of racial biases in their coverage.
“AMEJA condemns and categorically rejects orientalist and racist implications that any population or country is ‘uncivilized’ or bears economic factors that make it worthy of conflict,” the statement said.
Orientalism, as described in Edward Said’s seminal 1979 book of the same name, refers to the western views of eastern cultures that mirror exaggerated and unfair prejudices, and assume western superiority.
“Newsrooms must not make comparisons that weigh the significance or imply justification of one conflict over another,” AMEJA’s statement continued. “Civilian casualties and displacement in other countries are equally as abhorrent as they are in Ukraine.”
Criticisms also included news organizations’ lack of coverage of conflicts in Yemen and Syria. These atrocities have been going on for the last few years, yet the Russian invasion of Ukraine dominates western news cycles at a level Yemen and Syria have not.
“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,” AMEJA said. “It dehumanizes and renders their experience with war as somehow normal and expected.”
Refugee policies
Another aspect of the war that has come under fire is racism in European refugee policies, particularly in countries that neighbor Ukraine.
A video of African students denied entry to Poland went viral on Twitter.
The footage shows a border guard pointing his weapon at the students, who were yelling “We don’t have arms!” while trying to seek refuge from Ukraine’s neighbor.
“Some have slept here for two days under this scorching cold weather, while many have gone back to Lviv,” Nze, the student who posted the video, said.
“Black Africans are being treated with racism and contempt in Ukraine & Poland. [The] West cannot ask African nations to stand in solidarity with them if they cannot display basic respect for us even in a time of war,” Dr. Ayoade Alakija, said online.
“Ignored in a pandemic and left to die in war?!! UNACCEPTABLE,” she added.
Other international students from countries such as India are facing similar problems, as they are not allowed entry to refugee-welcoming countries without visas. In the meantime, embassies around the world scramble to find a solution to get their citizens back home.
The African Union released a statement decrying the mistreatment that Africans are going through at border checkpoints. Everyone has the right to seek refuge regardless of race or nationality, the statement stressed.
“The Chairpersons urge all countries to respect international law and show the same empathy and support to all people fleeing war notwithstanding their racial identity,” it said.
In addition to the treatment of people of color trying to flee Ukraine, many have recalled Europe’s handling of Syrian and North African refugees, questioning why countries such as Poland are welcoming European refugees from Ukraine when they turned away countless refugees from other areas.
The answer could be clear, as some leaders have not been subtle in expressing their reasoning behind the change in attitude.
“These are not the refugees we are used to… these people are Europeans,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said, according to the Associated Press. “These people are intelligent, they are educated people… This is not the refugee wave we have been used to, people we were not sure about their identity, people with unclear pasts, who could have been even terrorists.”
Syrian journalist Okba Mohammad described the statements by Petkov as “a mix of racism and Islamophobia.”
He recalled to the Associated Press that he, too, hid in underground shelters from Russian bombs and boarded an overcrowded bus to evacuate, noting that he has been getting a sense of Deja Vu from following the events in Ukraine.
Mohammad evacuated his hometown of Daraa, southwestern Syria, in 2018. “A refugee is a refugee, whether European, African or Asian,” he said.
European countries have invoked arguments of cultural homogeneity as their main reason for welcoming Ukrainian refugees. Such a justification has prompted accusations of racism towards both the leaders of and citizens of these countries.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban notably went from categorically rejecting all refugees from the Middle East and North Africa in December, to allowing all Ukrainians fleeing the war to enter the country earlier this week.
Many Africans have reported difficulties even after successfully crossing to the Polish border.
24-year old medical student from Kenya, Emily, recounted her struggles to the Guardian, saying she was denied accommodation in a hotel in Warsaw even after she offered to pay, while Ukrainians were allowed to stay for free.
“The staff said, ‘Sorry, we can’t admit you because this was meant only for Ukrainians,’” she told the Guardian.
Read Also: AU Calls out Racist Treatment of Africans Fleeing Ukraine
