For The Exclusive
Sara Shariff
@saraxoa_
On the 24th of February 2022, the Russian Federation led by its President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of the sovereign state of Ukraine, starting the largest interstate conflict in the European continent since World War II and paving the way for the possible initiation of WWIII.
The Russo-Ukrainian War first began in February 2014 following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity. The first eight years of the conflict included the Russian annexation of Crimea(2014) and the war in Donbas (2014–present).
Putin’s pretext for the 2022 invasion was to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. If Ukraine were a NATO member, the alliance would be obligated to defend it against Russia and other adversaries.
As of September 10, 2023, 9,614 civilians were reported to have lost their lives caught in the crossfires of a war they didn’t ask for.
The conflict also unmasked some deeply rooted racial prejudices among people of the so-called “developed” world, especially white supremacy — the belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society, typically to the exclusion or detriment of other racial and ethnic groups, in particular black or Jewish people.
Many videos detailing instances of racial discrimination faced by refugees seeking to escape war torn areas have surfaced on the Internet since the invasion began.
Videos show members of the Ukraine Police force blocking students of African and South Asian descent from boarding trains and pushing them off buses leaving for the Polish border, allowing Ukrainians to board instead.
Another video taken by Bangladeshi migrants claiming they are being forcibly held against their will, by the Ukrainian army intending to use them as human shields in a camp targeted by the Russian air force had gone viral.
While on air, CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata stated that “Ukraine isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, European – I have to choose those words carefully, too – city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen”.
The BBC interviewed a former deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine, who said: “It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blond hair being killed every day.” Rather than question or challenge the comment, the BBC host replied, “I understand and respect the emotion.”
On France’s BFM TV, journalist Phillipe Corbé stated this about Ukraine: “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.”
Writing in the Telegraph, Daniel Hannan explained: “They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking. Ukraine is a European country. Its people watch Netflix and have Instagram accounts, vote in free elections and read uncensored newspapers. War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations.”
The implication is clear - War is a natural state for people of color, while white people gravitate towards peace.
As if the presence of superficial similarities like “blond hair, blue eyes, cars etc.” somehow deem Ukrainian lives more worthy of being seen as humane than those of Syrians, Palestinians, Afghans, Iraqis, Congolese or Sudanese.
Even the pseudo- concern for the plight of the displaced and/or murdered Ukrainians displayed by the governments of the first world countries is highly ironic considering they have committed same if not worse war crimes in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Taiwan, Iraq, Morocco, Palestine and even against the indigenous population of their own countries.
Or how about we talk about how nearly no one is disputing the sovereignty of Ukraine, unlike Palestine and Taiwan? How post cold war brown/Arab, basically non Western countries had to “prove their worthiness” for sovereignty whereas European countries are allowed to be sovereign simply in the name of freedom.
Europe cried ‘migrant crisis’ back in 2015 against 1.4m Syrian refugees and yet was somehow able to welcome around 2m Ukrainians with open arms within a few days.
Europe never had a migrant crisis. It has a racism crisis.
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