In recent weeks, escalating tensions over the Ukraine conflict have shaken the West to a degree often compared to World War II. On the other hand, this war has also highlighted Western hypocrisy with regard to armed conflicts, of which Ukraine is far from being the only contemporary instance. Could we speak of a Western empathy with variable geometry depending on the origin of the people affected?
No one can deny the horrors that Ukrainians are currently experiencing, whether they are citizens present in the territory invaded by the troops of Russian President Vladimir Putin, or those of the diaspora all over the world.
Moreover, a majority of Western countries were quick to show unwavering support for the Ukrainian people and their government in the name of territorial sovereignty. Let’s remember: our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has put in place a series of aid measures such as financial sanctions on a myriad of Russian entities, the facilitation of Ukrainian immigration to the country and the delivery of military equipment. on Ukrainian territory, among others.
Heterogeneous support
On the other hand, it is difficult to ignore the macabre portrait drawn by this unitary movement in support of the heads of state, the media and the populations of the Western world. Because these cries of denunciation only highlight the silence that has persisted for too long when it comes to crises occurring in other regions of the world.
What about the dispossession of the Palestinian people? Turkish and Azerbaijani aggressions against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh? “Re-education” camps for the Uighurs, a minority ethnic group in China? Civil wars in South Sudan, Libya and Syria? Not to mention the war in Yemen, a country ravaged by the worst humanitarian crisis that humanity has known for a century.
As Daniel Hannan wrote in an article published in The Telegraph : is that the Ukrainians are like us. After all, they are Europeans, and no one could have imagined that such a war could arise, in 2022, among the countries of Europe. This phenomenon of empathy by geographical proximity is well illustrated by the shocking words of CBS correspondent in Kyiv, Charlie D’Agata : Ukraine is not a place of conflict “like Iraq or Afghanistan”, it is a “civilized” population, like us. Should we infer that Iraq and Afghanistan are, on the contrary, barbaric? Not to mention that it is very fitting to omit the enormous part that Western countries have played in these wars in the Middle East.
The famous maxim states it clearly: birds of a feather flock together. In a wave of wavering empathy, Western media have repeatedly confirmed, implicitly, that Ukrainians deserve our support because of their Westernness. Philippe Corbé, journalist for BFMTV, the most popular news channel in France, compared Ukrainians to Syrian refugees “We are not talking about Syrians fleeing the bombings of the Syrian regime supported by Vladimir Putin, we are talking about Europeans who leave in their cars that look like our cars, and who are just trying to save their lives. »
The ideal refugees
The European migration crisis, at the root of significant social and political tensions on the continent, suddenly takes on different colors in the context of the Ukrainian conflict.
Live on Europe 1, Jean-Louis Bourlanges praised the possibility of “taking advantage” of this immigration, which would be of “high quality”. Countries usually recalcitrant on immigration issues suddenly agree to welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms. The example of Poland speaks volumes: Foreign Minister Mariusz Kamiński has invited Ukrainian refugees to enter the country, while the government is simultaneously spending hundreds of millions of euros on the erection of a border wall aimed at blocking migrants and refugees from the Middle East.
While the moral legitimacy of this humanitarian logic can be disputed, it is difficult to ignore the racial motivations of such conditional empathy. As a video that surfaced on social media shows, Africans trying to flee Ukraine faced racial discrimination from several police officers, who tried to stop them from reaching a train to leave the country. . Africans are not Ukrainian enough.
Without questioning the urgency and gravity of the crisis, this is an opportunity for the West to review the way in which these media discourses shape our perception of conflicts. The international response to the war in Ukraine has been phenomenal, and it should serve as a model for other issues requiring significant transnational cooperation. This is an opportunity to refocus on our common humanity, rather than basing our empathy on ethnic, linguistic, religious, racial or geographic characteristics.