(Before It's News)
Politicians and mainstream media silent when media workers killed regularly across global south
Incredible examples of deeply racist political double standards have been on full display over the past couple days across the world, as
politicians and
mainstream media outlets express unwavering solidarity with the media workers and the accompanying police officers killed at the offices of the
Charlie Hebdo magazine on Wednesday in Paris.
Seldom does the world hear such sustained moral outrage, such emotional outcry, voiced by the globe’s most powerful political figures,
from Obama,
to Ban Ki-moon, in response to the killing of journalists and media workers. In so many ways this clear and pronounced double standard in reaction to the shooting, speaks to the heart of the deeply colonialist and racialized mainstream political framing on the Paris shootings.
At the heart of this moral disaster of a response is a basic tenant, some life is more valuable than others, or by extension, some journalists are more valuable than others. In this case, the life of French cartoonists, at a journal with a clear history of
publishing deeply racist drawings, intentionally targeting the faith and culture of Muslims in France, are now to be considered ‘
heros,’ according to French President, François Hollande.
“
Satire is about challenging power, not belittling the oppressed,” wrote
comedian Aamer Rahman yesterday and by that excellent definition, a great bulk of recent cartoons published in
Charlie Hebdo have little to do with satire. In reality the journal is an arrogant and racist publication, that has consistently worked to enforce oppression and communities in France, already facing an incredibly violent mix of
racism, economic inequality and often
uncertain immigration status, in a country where
right wing nationalist politicians continue to gain political momentum.
The double standard at play is even clear within the scope of those killed in the incident,
as French police officer Ahmed Merabet, also killed in the shooting, has received much less mention from the political class in France, although that is now changing in response to the
#JeSuisAhmed hashtag. In many ways Merabet’s shooting,
on the sidewalk outside of the Charlie Hebdo offices, also illustrates the racial dynamics of French society, where immigrant and racialized communities are much less likely to find space for political expression in the media world, socially pushed into robotic, inherently soul stifling jobs, like those in the police force, or even more common, faceless work in factories within the suburbs of Paris. Immigrant communities in France are right now facing growing poverty rates and
socio-economic marginalization, people being hit the hardest in many cases
within the context of
austerity measures.
On journalists and media workers, there has rarely been such outrage at the killing of journalists in recent years.
How much have we heard about
Rami Rayan, a 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist with the Palestinian Media Network killed in the US-backed Israeli bombing of Gaza this past summer? Or,
Ahed Zaqout, 49, a presenter on Palestinian sport programmes, killed in an Israeli bombing of a residential apartment tower in Gaza City.
Any outcry about the killing of
Octavio Rojas Hernández, a reporter at
El Buen Tono in Córdoba, in Veracruz state, Mexico? A killing that is unsolved in full, but by many
accounts is linked to reports uncovering state resource theft done in collusion with local police, Mexican military forces (
increasingly funded by the US Mérida Initiative) being involved with people linked to the
Los Zetas criminal gang.
“Probably the major threat is murder,” said Espina directly, contiuning on to explain that, “since 1986, when we were suppose to have recovered democracy over 150 journalists have been murdered in the Philippines.”
On a visit to Manila, Philippines last spring,
Obama simply heaped on praise for an administration that according to the
Committee to Protect Journalists, is presiding over one of the most dangerous countries in the world for media workers, Obama instead stated that the Philippines, is “a vibrant democracy,” and that “the Philippines reflects the desire of citizens in this region to live in freedom and to have their universal rights upheld.” Are the universal rights for journalists in the Philippines being upheld?
In reality the list of journalists targeted and killed for exercising their voice, their pens, their images, to speak truth to power, is extremely long. However rarely do we see the freedom of the press and the importance of free speech held up so vigorously by the western politicians responding to the shootings at Charlie Hebdo from their colonial bully pulpits in the capitals of France and the US.
There is only one conclusion to draw from this difference of response, which is that the humanity and work of some journalists is simply more valuable than others according to Obama, Hollande and also
Harper in Canada. Never do we see such theatrical moral outrage invoked when journalists are killed in the global south, as they are regularly, week-by-week, month-by-month, year-by-year, often in killings linked to
very governments armed and supported by France, the US and Canada.
By extension, the political gains for both France, the US and allies, stemming from the Paris shooting are clear. Although politicians now are claiming to be beyond ‘politics,’ most certainly we can clearly read within the statements made by politicians, that the shootings at Charlie Hebdo magazine are already being exploited for political gains.
Most directly, politicians like US Secretary of State John Kerry in recent remarks in Paris, or the national address by Hollande a couple days ago, are using the blood of the killed cartoonists to blur the injustices of the ongoing ‘
War on Terror.’ Politicians are figuratively tagging
the bombs being dropped right now on Iraq and Syria,
supposedly to save the people from the Islamic State (ISIS) group, with the blood of the dead media workers in Paris. All the pronouncements about not being intimidated and standing in solidarity are ludacris, simply opportunistic slogans being mobilized to justify current neo-colonial military adventures.
Source:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/fr/story/selective-outrage-paris-journalist-killings-shaped/32804