Following the increased violence in Ukraine and the exodus of Ukrainian refugees into Europe, many western reporters and correspondents covering the unfolding war expressed disgusting anti-Arab and Islamophobic views. Reporters in several news organizations, including CBS, NBC, BBC, British ITV News, used words such as “civilized”, “blond and blue eyes”, and “European” while referencing Ukrainian refugees, and contrasting them with Arab and Muslim refugees from the Middle East. These statements and phrases were given no pushback from anchors, implicitly sanctioning the rhetoric. Some examples include:
- CBS reporter Charlie D’Agata described Ukraine as “relatively civilized” a direct comparison to the Middle East which is implied as “uncivilized.”
- NBC reporter Kelly Cobiella stated in her report that, “These are not refugees from Syria” in referencing the “white” and “European” Ukrainian refugees.
- British ITV New correspondent Lucy Watson said, on air and with a straight face, “This is not a developing Third World; this is Europe”
- Peter Dobbie a British national appearing on Al-Jazeera described the Ukrainian refugees as “prosperous, middle-class people. These are not, obviously, refugees trying to get away from the Middle East,” that is “still in a big state of war.
The underlying message of this coverage is that refugees from the Middle East or Africa are somehow less deserving of empathy than Europeans. This reporting otherizes the broad and diverse ethnic group of Arabs and implies that they are somehow less civilized than Europeans. The, at best, unconscious belief that being European and white is superior to being Black, Arab, or Muslim is betrayed through the words used to describe what is a terrible humanitarian crisis.
This blatant racism was not confined to the reporters. Many European countries have opened their countries to Ukrainians, providing easy access to their countries and touting universal human rights and democratic values. At the same time, these same countries have shut their doors, and in some cases shot and killed, refugees from Africa and the Middle East that seek relief at their borders.
Even within Ukraine, African and Arab students were reportedly mistreated and prevented from boarding busses and trains leaving the country, with priority being given to other Ukrainian refugees.
Treating Middle Eastern refugees as an unequal, as threat, or as “uncivilized”, and then push them away at the borders shows the underlying racism of many of European policies.
Ukrainian refugees deserve to be supported and admitted into European countries. They are people in distress and in need of help, just like refugees from countries in Africa or the Middle East.
