Calling Ukrainian refugees more ‘civilized’ than Syrians requires willful amnesia
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many in the news media covering reactions to Ukrainian refugees have made casually derogatory comments about non-European refugees. For instance, ABC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella said, “These are not refugees from Syria … These are Christians. They’re White. They’re very similar to people who live in Poland”. Many Western countries have responded to the invasion by recovering a shared identity as a political-military alliance guarding civilization. But the concept of Europe as the home of peaceful nations and societies requires willful amnesia about its imperial history.
Willful amnesia
In 2001, political scientist Sankaran Krishna argued that the emergence of the modern sovereign state system in Europe was made possible through the enslavement of Africans, colonization and genocides of Indigenous people.… Seguir leyendo »