...made it impossible not to agree with commentators who see racism in the difference in how we're treating Ukrainians (and its refugees) and how we regard tragic large-scale violence dealt to brown-skinned people.

Not to diminish what the Ukrainians are suffering, but when you realize how they're being welcomed by the millions in the West, even being admitted in many cases with jobs ready for them...Bangladesh and refugee tent cities beset by monsoons, fires and hostile residents aren't exactly a comparable haven.

The difference is striking and sad.

Myanmar genocide of Rohingya Muslims


Rohingya children trying to escape to Bangladesh




Ukrainian girl singing "Frozen" in Poland.





AirBnB offers free housing in the UK to Ukraininan refugees.







Being fair and blond, is a passport to survival in today's world.

Who is easier to integrate into, say, Polish or even French society, a Ukrainian with a high school degree or even a graduate degree in engineering, or an illiterate Bengali. Yes, I'm sure there is racism in that acceptance, but there is also a very big helping of other universal and practical reasons.

Many Ukrainians are neither fair nor blond. Some are even Jewish!

It's not racist, it's cultural. It's also a matter of which situation has the larger ramification for Western civilization. WWIII is not going to start in Myanmar.

The US installed Ukraine's government in 2014, IIRC. If so (and probably for many other reasons), this, "virtue signaling," with Ukraine is something I could live without.

I concur with Amanda, conceptually, at any rate.

quote:

The US installed Ukraine's government in 2014, IIRC.

You don't.

Revolution of Dignity

One of my good sources for local knowledge

Ivan Gomza

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
Who is easier to integrate into, say, Polish or even French society, a Ukrainian with a high school degree or even a graduate degree in engineering, or an illiterate Bengali. Yes, I'm sure there is racism in that acceptance, but there is also a very big helping of other universal and practical reasons.

Many Ukrainians are neither fair nor blond. Some are even Jewish!

This is the reply I expected to elicit, at least from some. Sure, I get that about assimilation and culture. Also about the disparate appearances of Ukrainians (certainly not all are blond, sheesh!*They ARE very white, though.). They look more like "us" - whoever "us" is. That angelic looking little girl singing who's attracted great adoration is a perfect example of how much more easily they tug our heartstrings.

I also understand that the situation of the Rohingya's has little or no impact on our way of life, nor are they or the marauding Myanmaris of interest to any great power.

However, I challenge you to read my article about them that just appeared in the NYTimes yesterday, and not get my primary message.

Their million refugees are living in unspeakable squalor (I wasn't kidding about their tent cities being flooded, stricken by monsoons and attacked by unwelcoming Bangladeshis. And all that after enduring torture, rape, and the wiping out of whole villages in a true genocide. FWIW it was just officially designated as such)

My "primary message" is the striking difference in news coverage even though their suffering is - if one has to compare - far worse than the Ukrainians. THAT I contend is a function of their relative unworthiness to Westerners compared to the Ukrainians - in a tribal sense. The West just doesn't give a damn while finding depths of empathy and admiration for the Ukrainians. I was really horrified reading about the Rohingya's situation. I had known in vague terms, but if one reads more in depth, it turns ones stomach.

And wrenches one's heart, if one has one.

Without adequate coverage and exposure to their horror and helplessness, my point is lost.
****************************

*Of COURSE, I'm going to be aware that many Ukrainians are Jewish, including their president and past prime something or other, a disgraceful plutocrat! (I hate to admit I get daily fundraising pleas from a Jewish charitable group appealing for their welfare in particular.)

Amanda, the plight of the Rohingya dominated western news for quite some time. At some point the news cycle turned. Even the news from Burma changed, as the regime turned its guns on its young people. I'm not quite sure what you want. We're both old enough to remember pathetic photos of starving Ethiopians from famines A, B, and C, of the 1960s onward and my mom used to go on about "starving Indians" because that's what newsreels talked about in the 1930s. Human catastrophes abound in this world.

For western European nations, absorbing a few million relatively well-educated Ukrainians is a lot easier than taking in millions of Syrians/Kurds/Nigerians fleeing violence in the middle east and general poverty in Africa. I just don't find this much of a surprise. You can call the Europeans racist and 95% of them will lift an eyebrow and buy their next espresso.

The Rohingya are basically stuck in Bangladesh where they're not wanted. The United States isn't going to fly them to Kansas and France won't bring them to Montpelier. The UNHCR seems to be the main conduit of support for them, but as we know, the UN agenda often isn't fully aligned with the people they are supposed to serve.

UNHCR on Rohingya

I find it telling that at the bottom of the UNHCR page it immediately links to "other crises." The world has many.

PD, I guess there was just something about that Rohingya article being featured in the New York Times right below the latest about the Ukrainian refugees...And that beautiful little Ukrainian girl singing the Disney song.

You were clearly more informed about the Rohingya than I - except to have been drenched in the cold shower of disillusionment about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who used to be one of my great heroes. (Not to mention shock that a Buddhist country could behave the way Myanmar is. Naive? Guess so.)

The major media have a lot of blind spots. Little news from Africa, just for one example. More comprehensive coverage can be found, but you have to hunt for it.

In spite of every other possible and legitimate justification for the difference in treatment, it is still racist.

As is our immigration policy long before this war. Always has been.

When will human beings figure out that there is no "other"?

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:
In spite of every other possible and legitimate justification for the difference in treatment, it is still racist.

As is our immigration policy long before this war. Always has been.

When will human beings figure out that there is no "other"?

Yes. It suffices to remember our last president's referring to Haiti (and other poverty-stricken locales) as a "shithole country".

Undoubtedly, he and his followers would speak of the Rohingyas as shithole people (and apparently, also many if not most Liberals, though they'd never use such designations).

Just as Trump proclaimed losers deserved their fates, I guess those victimized like the Rohingyas, deserved what they got.