The racism of Western media reflects the racism of Western governments

If the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown us anything, it is the blatant racism, hypocrisy and double standards that permeate our world today.

Reporting on the Russian invasion into Ukraine, on February 25, 2022, CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata stated that “this isn’t a place like Iraq or Afghanistan…this is a relatively civilized relatively European city where you wouldn’t expect that or hope that it’s going to happen”. The clear insinuation here is that those people from Iraq or Afghanistan (i.e. those dark-skinned people) are not civilized. Interestingly, the remarks about hoping it would not happen in a relatively European city carry the connotation that one doesn’t really care if it happens in those aforementioned faraway lands. The inherent racism revealed by D’Agata exposes his ignorance of the fact that the cradle of civilization itself originated in Mesopotamia which is modern day Iraq, in addition to exposing his ignorance or denial of the “civilized” West’s atrocity-filled colonial past and present.

It must be noted that D’Agata is not alone in his bigotry, with such contemptible statements filling the airwaves by so-called journalists and pundits alike. Ukraine’s former deputy chief prosecutor, David Sakvarelidze, told the BBC, unchallenged: “It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blond hair being killed.”  When NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella was asked on why Poland is suddenly accepting (the Ukrainian) refugees now while it didn’t accept others in 2015 (from other ethnicities), she responded saying “Just to put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria….these are Christians, they’re white”. The Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov shamelessly stated outright:  “These are not the refugees we are used to; these people are Europeans… These people are intelligent. They are educated people,” thus painting entire populations of other people as unintelligent and uneducated.

These prejudices and biases were translated practically on the ground, as countless African, Indian and Middle Eastern students and visitors –trying to flee the war- were discriminated against at the borders and inside Ukraine, and prevented from boarding buses or trains or entering neighboring countries, in favor of Ukrainians to do so. This racism, correctly condemned by the UN, brings into focus Cobiella’s response above highlighting how Europe mostly closed its doors in the face of fleeing Syrians, Afghans and others under the pretext of the inability to absorb them, although hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees were quickly accommodated in just the past week.

The above statements, and indeed even the actions against those fleeing conflict, as horrendous as they all are, represent only the tip of the iceberg of the crimes being committed. The US invasions, bombardments and transgressions, against Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia and countless other places, have caused untold suffering, death and destruction to millions of people. Yet all this is done with the implicit consent – and even the active cooperation in certain instances – of other Western governments and mainstream media, because these millions killed, injured and displaced, are, in their eyes, inferior and children of a lesser god. The genocidal war by the US puppet regime in Saudi Arabia against the people of Yemen, orchestrated with Western support and weaponry, is another example.

Yet perhaps the most blatant case of racism, hypocrisy and double standards is Israel’s brutal and inhumane occupation of Palestine, most recently characterized as apartheid by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. This illegal decades-long military occupation of Palestine and its people is not only conveniently ignored and thus permitted by the West, but is actively supported by it as well, with Israel receiving billions of dollars annually in US taxpayers’ money. Despite the military occupation with all its accompanying crimes, countless assaults and invasions against Gaza killing thousands of innocent civilians, war crimes and initiating wars against neighboring countries throughout its history, not once has the West imposed sanctions on the criminal state of Israel. This article is in no way an attempt to defend the Russian invasion of Ukraine or argue against the sanctions imposed on Russia, but it does call into question the flagrant hypocrisy that we see and the reasons behind it. To add insult to injury, not only does Israel enjoy impunity from state-mandated sanctions, various Western governments have been criminalizing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and its proponents, who have called for practicing this peaceful means of protest, to exert pressure on Israel to uphold human rights.  

These hypocritical and orientalist tendencies are manifested not only in the actions and statements of Western governments and the shameful mainstream media –which ideally is supposed to hold those in power to account- but said tendencies also extend into the fields of law and sports.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has already announced that it will open an investigation into possible war crimes committed in Ukraine. However, in 2010, Israel attacked the Freedom Flotilla, a fleet of six vessels that were carrying humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in the blockaded Gaza Strip. Israel killed 10 unarmed activists in international waters and wounded dozens. This author was a participant in the Flotilla and witnessed the attack. Yet despite plethora of evidence submitted to the ICC, extensive legal efforts and a UN human rights investigative report which concluded that the conduct of the Israeli military “constituted a grave violation of human rights law and international humanitarian law”, the ICC has repeatedly over the years refused to open an investigation in this regard. It is worth noting that these 10 activists were Turkish Muslim men.

In the athletic world, Fifa and Uefa suspended Russian clubs and national representatives from participating in competitive football indefinitely. Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred from the Winter Paralympics by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The hypocrisy was noted by several athletes. Egyptian star Mohamed Aboutrika called on Fifa to follow the ban on Russia with a ban on Israel, stating that “[Israel] is occupying and has been killing children and women in Palestine for years, but you used double standards.” It is worth noting that Aboutrika received a yellow card during the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations for revealing a shirt under his jersey which stated “Sympathize with Gaza”.

Finally, and as a result of all these double standards and hypocrisy, coupled with my own ethnic background, this author does not expect this article to be published widely in the mainstream media, particularly in the “civilized” world.