{"id":1355906,"date":"2022-03-02T21:53:33","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T02:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1355906"},"modified":"2022-03-02T21:54:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T02:54:25","slug":"african-reporters-ukraine-coverage-racist-shows-lack-of-dignity-to-african-war-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/african-reporters-ukraine-coverage-racist-shows-lack-of-dignity-to-african-war-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"African Reporters: Ukraine Coverage &#039;Racist,&#039; Shows &#039;Lack of Dignity&#039; to African War Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fafrican-reporters-ukraine-coverage-racist-shows-lack-of-dignity-to-african-war-victims%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1355906&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">The Foreign Press Association, Africa \u2013 an organization for foreign reporters on the continent \u2013 issued an impassioned statement Tuesday condemning global coverage of the Russian assault on Ukraine as \u201cracist\u201d and showing a \u201clack of nuance and empathy\u201d towards victims of war in Africa and other areas with majority non-white populations.<\/p>\n<p>Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, illegally occupying Ukraine\u2019s Crimea region and fueling a war between its proxies and the Ukrainian military in the country\u2019s eastern Donbas region. Last week, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced he would recognize those provinces as the sovereign \u201cstates\u201d of Donetsk and Luhansk, and claimed the pro-Russian \u201cgovernments\u201d of those regions requested Russian military assistance against Ukraine.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>At press time, ongoing assaults by Russian forces on major metropolitan areas including Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mariupol continue. Putin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2022\/02\/21\/ukraine-completely-created-russia-putin-recognizes-sovereignty-pro-russian-separatists\/\">claimed<\/a> in his address recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as countries that Ukraine had no \u201ctradition\u201d of being a country and was \u201ccompletely created by Russia.\u201d He and his officials have repeatedly asserted that the goal of the invasion is to \u201cde-Nazify\u201d Ukraine, a claim at odds with the fact that democratically elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20081818\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1238875845.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20081818 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1238875845-1024x682-1.jpg\" alt=\"A picture shows damages after the shelling by Russian forces of Constitution Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine&#039;s second-biggest city, on March 2, 2022. - On the seventh day of fighting in Ukraine on March 2, Russia claims control of the southern port city of Kherson, street battles rage in Ukraine&#039;s second-biggest city Kharkiv, and Kyiv braces for a feared Russian assault. (Photo by Sergey BOBOK \/ AFP) (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK\/AFP via Getty Images)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>A picture shows damages after the shelling by Russian forces of Constitution Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine\u2019s second-biggest city, on March 2, 2022. (SERGEY BOBOK\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Foreign Press Association, Africa issued a statement condemning coverage in American and Western media of the Ukrainian war that attempted to distinguish between that conflict and those in Africa and Asia, describing the situation in cities such as Kyiv as shocking because Ukrainians are \u201ccivilized\u201d and \u201cEuropean.\u201d The association lamented \u201cracist and skewed coverage\u201d and demanded similarly empathetic coverage of African civilians as those of Europe.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20081826\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1233840542.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20081826 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1233840542-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"Congolese soldiers drive along the road from Beni to the Ugandan border, 80 kilometers east, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on May 23, 2021. - Since December 2020, several dozen deadly attacks have taken place on this road and in surrounding villages. Since October 2019 and the launch of \" large-scale \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Congolese soldiers drive along the road from Beni to the Ugandan border, 80 kilometers east, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on May 23, 2021. (ALEXIS HUGUET\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe Foreign Press Association, Africa is disturbed by the unfortunate opinions that our Western colleagues continue to publicly express about the distinction they see between war and suffering in Ukraine and those that have taken place in poor countries,\u201d the statement read in part, and said:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The expressions, namely, various iterations on the theme that it is unthinkable to see violence in countries populated by white people, reinforce views that already exist systematically in societies at large, and consequently perpetuate misunderstanding that causes real human harm and division.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe idea that war is a thing that happens in lands outside of the West, is beyond myopic,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cIt is a gross misrepresentation of the entirety of human history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople who are not white are not more innately prone and habituated to violence and suffering. People who are not white are no less civil or incapable of solving conflict,\u201d the association asserted.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cattitude\u201d of indicating that white victims of war are more \u201ccivil,\u201d the journalists continued, showed a \u201clack of dignity afforded to black and brown-skinned victims of conflict. It is also seen in the lack of nuance and empathy given to people suffering from war and other man-made emergencies (including climate change).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The statement concluded with a demand that international news agencies \u201curgently\u201d embrace diversity.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Foreign Press Association, Africa is disturbed by the unfortunate opinions that our Western colleagues continue to publicly express about the distinction they see between war and suffering in Ukraine\ud83c\uddfa and those that have taken place in poor countries. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FairCoverage?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FairCoverage<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FE4Nl2IjK4\">pic.twitter.com\/FE4Nl2IjK4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION, AFRICA (@FPA_Africa) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FPA_Africa\/status\/1498685967951142914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 1, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>While the Association provided no examples, several reports have compiled commentary from Western sources that elevates the plight of Ukrainian war victims apparently based on their European status.<\/p>\n<p>Among the most frequently cited is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2022\/02\/26\/vladimir-putins-monstrous-invasion-attack-civilisation\/?utm_content=telegraph&#038;utm_medium=Social&#038;utm_campaign=Echobox&#038;utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1645898137\">column<\/a> in the <em>UK Telegraph<\/em> by Daniel Hannan published last week, lamenting that Ukrainians \u201cseem so like us\u201d and \u201cwatch Netflix and have Instagram accounts,\u201d which makes Putin\u2019s assault more \u201cshocking.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAs the parliaments and courts give way to the institutions of autocracy, so does the peace that they sustained. Civilisation itself is under attack in Ukraine. We shall miss it when it has gone,\u201d Hannan concluded.<\/p>\n<p>CBS News journalist Charlie D\u2019Agata, reporting from Kyiv, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/02\/26\/cbs-news-charlie-dagata-apologizes-for-saying-ukraine-more-civilized-than-iraq-afghanistan\/\">apologized<\/a> last week for also referring to Ukrainians as \u201ccivilized,\u201d comparing their status positively to countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t a place \u2013 with all due respect \u2013 like Iraq, like Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades,\u201d D\u2019Agata had said. \u201cThis is a relatively civilized, relatively European \u2013 I have to choose those words carefully, too \u2013 city where you wouldn\u2019t expect that or hope that it\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cCivilized\u201d<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AiU7uVmjMr\">pic.twitter.com\/AiU7uVmjMr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/imraansiddiqi\/status\/1497607326487826435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 26, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Another journalist criticized for bias in Ukraine coverage, Al Jazeera English\u2019s Peter Dobbie, described Ukrainian refugees as \u201cany European family that you would live next door to\u201d compared to Middle Easterners and Africans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is compelling is that just looking at them, the way they\u2019re dressed,\u201d Dobbie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thequint.com\/news\/world\/as-ukraine-battles-russia-media-coverage-of-the-war-reeks-of-racism\">said<\/a>. \u201cThese are prosperous, middle-class people, these are not obviously refugees trying to get away from areas in the Middle East that are still in a big state of war. These are not people trying to get away from areas in North Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Africa is home to several longstanding wars. The one most recently receiving international attention is the ongoing civil war in Ethiopia, where the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the separatist Marxist Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF) have stood <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2022\/02\/ethiopia-tigrayan-forces-murder-rape-and-pillage-in-attacks-on-civilians-in-amhara-towns\/\">accused<\/a> of genocide against each other and widespread use of rape as a weapon of war. Abiy has personally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2021\/11\/28\/nobel-peace-prize-winning-prime-minister-enters-front-line-of-ethiopian-civil-war\/\">entered<\/a> the front lines of the war and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2021\/11\/03\/ethiopias-nobel-peace-prize-winner-we-will-bury-this-enemy-with-our-blood-and-bones\/\">encouraged<\/a>\u00a0fighters to \u201cbury this enemy with our blood and bones,\u201d referring to the Tigray ethnic minority.<\/p>\n<p>Abiy is a Nobel Peace Prize <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2022\/01\/15\/embarrassed-nobel-committee-scolds-peace-prize-winner-warmongering-ethiopia\/\">winner<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in Africa, civilians in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have endured what some have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/events\/the-future-of-the-drc\/\">described<\/a> as a \u201cforever war\u201d fought among a variety of militias seeking a stranglehold over lucrative mines. In Central African Republic (CAR), Christian and Muslim militias have been at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2021\/11\/28\/nobel-peace-prize-winning-prime-minister-enters-front-line-of-ethiopian-civil-war\/https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2021\/11\/28\/nobel-peace-prize-winning-prime-minister-enters-front-line-of-ethiopian-civil-war\/\">war<\/a> \u2013 with reported Russian help \u2013 since at least 2013. The Somalian government has spent over a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/global-conflict-tracker\/conflict\/al-shabab-somalia\">decade<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2022\/02\/28\/us-keeps-striking-al-shabab-even-while-responding-to-russias-war-on-ukraine\/\">fighting<\/a> the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab, and American forces conducted an airstrike on al-Shabaab targets last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\"><em>Follow Frances Martel on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1646222468875000&#038;usg=AOvVaw1__ppp1QWv9eqrKmuj9YvV\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1646222468875000&#038;usg=AOvVaw3pB323zxHDBfaVfWisSYER\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Foreign Press Association, Africa \u2013 an organization for foreign reporters on the continent \u2013 issued an impassioned statement Tuesday condemning global coverage of the Russian assault on Ukraine as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1355906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1355906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1355906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1355906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1355906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}