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As the world reacts to horror to the war in Ukraine, there are echoes of the human costs of the wars in Syria and Afghanistan. At humanity’s best, tragedy and destruction can reveal solidarity, generosity, and respect. However, they can also reveal truths people find themselves unwilling to say in polite, normal society. Ask someone whether they believe some lives matter more than others, and they are unlikely to agree; ask them if they believe if some lives matter more than others based on their appearance or ethnicity and they are even more likely to disagree. Yet the discrepancy between the attitudes towards wars in the developing world, far away wars, and the war in Ukraine reveals that we do not treat everyone the same. Born in the right place, to the right family, and you die like a hero and flee like a victim. Other people die, and fight, and flee, and struggle as setpieces in far away wars, either terrorists or nobody at all. While people may profess that all lives are equally valuable, the actions of the privileged reveal that it is not true. The inequality after disaster is constant, widely known and widely practised. Perhaps what is shocking about the war in Ukraine is that people are not just acting as if some people matter more than others, they are saying it. Out loud and in front of cameras.
There is the statement from Spain’s Vox Party leader, Santiago Abascal, saying “Anyone can tell the difference between them (Ukranian refugees) and the invasion of young military-aged men of Muslim origin who have launched themselves against European borders in an attempt to destabilize and colonize it”. There is the Telegraph journalist who says “They seem so like us…That is what makes it so shocking. War is no longer visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone.” There is the NBC commentator who said “To put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria… These are refugees from neighbouring Ukraine. I mean, that is, quite frankly, part of it. These are Christians. They’re White. They are very similar to people in Poland.” There is the CBS correspondent who says “This isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. You know, 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.”
Where, then, do we hope for wars to happen? That might be an unfair question. There may be no place where anyone apart from oil executives or defence contracting CEOs hope for war. Where is war a tragedy and where is war a spectacle? War is enough of a devastation for an individual to endure in their homeland, without being treated as disposable by the world watching.
The treatment of refugees from Ukraine is honourable. It is the most decent human act to take in a needy, terrified stranger and shelter them from harm, even when it provides no benefits and requires sacrifice. This is not intended to criticise the sympathy and support the world has extended to Ukraine. It is simply asking that we extend it to everyone, even if they are not “relatively civilised”, or white, or “like us” at all. Not even everyone in Ukraine matches this description. Being black, or Asian, or brown should not translate to being shoved back at the border and told to wait in the cold. To those who say that now is not the time, that it is too dire to consider these things, I would say that it is precisely because we are in an urgent time that we must address such questions. No person should be subjected to war at all. When they are, we owe it to everyone to treat refugees for who they are: humans who deserve the utmost kindness and respect.
Written by Rachel Yi
Illustrations by Rosie Phillips
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