Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: Why is our perspective of human suffering so Eurocentric?

"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," said Philippe Corbe of BFM TV, a French cable news channel.

"This isn't a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilised, 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 of CBS News.

"Just to put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria; these are refugees from (the) neighbouring Ukraine. That, quite frankly, is part of it. These are Christians, they're white, they're very similar people," said Kelly Cobiella of NBC News.

"They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking. War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone," Daniel Hannan wrote in The Telegraph.

Al Jazeera's Peter Dobbie, referring to the Ukraine refugees, lamented how they "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; they look like any European family that you would live next door to."

And on BBC, David Sakvarelidze, a former deputy general prosecutor of Ukraine, said, "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."

These are just a handful of the soundbites that have emerged from some of the "reputed" news channels—acclaimed for their credibility—in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While the condemnation of the Russian attack—like any other attack in any other country in any part of the world—is a natural and just action, demeaning the significance of other wars and invasions to make this one look more serious is a problematic narrative.

Is the life of a Syrian refugee less important than the life of a Ukraine refugee? Perhaps it is, which is why Poland has now opened its doors to refugees from Ukraine, the same ones it had earlier closed on refugees from other nations. One might tell, again, the tale of the plight of hundreds and thousands of non-European refugees stranded at the Poland-Belarus border over the last few years, many of whom perished as the temperatures dropped in the dead of winter. The pain of these refugees were perhaps not worth the attention of the Polish authorities, which is why they were left out amid the darkness of the cold woods at the border.

The discriminating dehumanisation of refugees—beyond the apparently entitled Europeans with "blonde hair and blue eyes"—does not fail to remind one of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, "I am an invisible man … I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids, and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me, they see only my surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination, indeed, everything and anything except me."

Some news channels also promoted visuals of people—especially women—busy making Molotov cocktails to resist the aggressors. The narratives were full of praise for the brave, resilient people of Ukraine. Replace the faces with those of people of colour, and these same people will turn into terrorists and criminals. People in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen were killed for less. In fact, a Molotov cocktail from Gaza can as well trigger an onslaught from Israel.

It is very unfortunate that in order to signify the plight of the Ukrainians, they are being compared to people from other nations. But is this comparison really necessary to highlight the Ukrainians' sufferings?

And the problem with these narratives is not just limited to prejudice or racism—these are essentially distortions of facts. Everything that is being said today in the media will be used in the future as sources of historical evidence. And in those sources, the plight of the Syrians, Yemenis, Palestinians, Afghans, Iraqis and Libyans will be seen as less significant in comparison to the sufferings of the Europeans. These sources of historical information will be misleading and incorrect, and will only be a manifestation of a Eurocentric perspective of world events.

While not all the media outlets are promoting racially biased narratives, and some of the above-mentioned news outlets have also apologised for their inappropriate comments, the fact remains that these comments have been aired by reputed, mainstream news channels, and this has dented their credibility.    

The press is considered as the fourth estate, with the power and responsibility to expose the truth, to hold culprits and criminals accountable, to act in a neutral manner. A segment of the press, it seems, is forgetting the significance of their role.

While these media narratives have come as a shock for some, this is not the first time that the Western media has deviated from their professional ethics and justified their countries' geopolitical propaganda. Some of these media outlets have, in the past, helped Western governments in creating a sense of fear among the people of the "others," and even tried to sway public opinion in favour of the unprovoked invasion of Iraq, the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the various wars in the Middle East and North Africa. And because these media outlets have gotten away with the propaganda, is why today they are perhaps so blatantly taking a racist approach to contextualise the human sufferings in the Ukraine invasion.

It is a matter of great concern for everyone, because it is the neutrality and fairness of the press that we depend on—that the future generations depend on—for credible information.

Tasneem Tayeb is a columnist for The Daily Star. Her Twitter handle is @tasneem_tayeb