Reference News Network reported on March 10 (text/Tang Lixin)
Since Russia launched a "special military operation" against Ukraine at the end of last month, the situation in Ukraine has become the focus of world attention, and politicians in Western Europe and North America have also gone down, although most of them have done to add fuel to the fire, but they have shouted "with Ukraine" to win popular support.
In the past two days, Prince William, a member of the British royal family, has made some words of solidarity with Ukraine, but he has unexpectedly put himself on the cusp of public opinion.
According to the British "Mirror" website reported on March 9, Prince William and his wife visited the Ukrainian Cultural Center in west London on the same day to meet with volunteers working there. During the conversation, Prince William said his children often asked about what was happening in Ukraine, but it was difficult for him to discuss with the children because he had to "use words carefully."
However, The wording of Prince William's public speech in front of the volunteers was rather "loose". He said the British were more accustomed to seeing conflicts in Asia and Africa, stressing: "It's strange to see this kind of thing in Europe, and we all support you." ”
The British Prince Williams spoke with volunteers at the Ukrainian Cultural Center. (The Mirror website)
It is this sentence that has become a "fuse": after a British media person excerpted this sentence and posted it on Twitter, it triggered a strong response, and many foreign netizens were indignant and denounced.
It was pointed out that this was a "very terrible comment" that Europeans were reckless on the African continent, plundering communities, raping women, enslaving humanity, colonizing for power and profit, stealing resources, causing continued destruction, and Europe is still scourgeing Africa today.
It was also argued that Prince William should continue to explore the subject of how much of the violence he sees in the world today is due to poverty, deprivation and corruption caused by European colonization.
Some even tried to translate the "subtext" of the prince's speech: "White people rarely behave in this barbarism, only those dark races who are 'disobedient to the king' will do so." ”
In fact, many white Europeans and Americans have "flipped over" on racial issues like Prince William when talking about the recent situation in Ukraine.
On a BBC show, a guest said he was "very moved" because he saw "blonde Europeans" being killed every day.
A CBS reporter reported in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, saying: "This is not Iraq or Afghanistan, it's a relatively civilized, relatively 'European' city, and you wouldn't expect that to happen." ”
Covering the Polish-Ukrainian border, an NBC reporter said: "This is not refugees from Syria, this is refugees from neighboring Ukraine, these people are Christians, they are white, they are very similar." ”
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Even the Ukrainian authorities, who have unlimited sympathy for these people, have recently been criticized for discriminating against people of color.
Not long ago, a large number of students from African countries and India in Ukraine complained on social media platforms that they were trapped on the Upo border, and the Ukrainian military police prevented them from leaving, so they had to wait in the ice and snow, and some even suffered beatings.
To this end, the Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations also spoke out at the 11th Emergency Special Session of the United Nations on Ukraine, held at the end of February, condemning the racial discrimination and unfair treatment of Kenyan citizens in Ukraine.
Under pressure from all sides, Ukrainian authorities finally acknowledged earlier this month that there had been a border crisis and that non-Ukrainians, especially citizens of African countries, had been discriminated against in the evacuation. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister apologized, saying that the African people are friends of the Ukrainian people and deserve an equal opportunity to return safely to their country.
On March 5, people were evacuated via the town of Ilping, a western Ukrainian town in Kiev. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Diego Herrera)
Compared with the kind of "border crisis" that can be resolved by simply "raising your hand" and releasing it, the deep-rooted racist ideas in the hearts of some white people are more difficult to remove. The website of the Brookings Institution, a THINK tank in the United States, recently published an article saying that the crisis in Ukraine showed that racism knows no borders.
"Europe" has become synonymous with whites and the main reason why people should be concerned about conflict, displacement and killing. Compared with the Ukraine crisis, the bloody conflicts in places such as Syria have clearly not received as much attention from the international media.
On March 7, a resolution in the European Parliament condemning Russia and demanding an immediate withdrawal of russian troops was opposed by several MPs, and Irish MP Daley made a generous statement, pointing out that while the European Parliament was keeping a close eye on Ukrainian refugees, Afghan refugees who were in the same situation as Ukrainians were not cared about. She asked several times in a row: Is this because they are not white? Because they're not European? Because the invaders are the United States? Because the decision to plunder their wealth was made by the President of the United States and not by the President of Russia?
The question was deafening, but I was afraid that her colleagues would not dare to answer it head-on.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Wu Text Editor: Li Linwei Caption Source: Xinhua News Agency (Data Map) Photo Editor: Cao Liyuan
Source: Author: Reference News Network