By Hussein Amuri

“I’m very emotional… because… European people with blue eyes and blonde hair [are] being killed.. every day by [Russian President] Putin’s missiles, helicopters, and rockets”. In an interview with BBC, this is how Ukraine’s deputy chief prosecutor David Sakvarelidze commented on the humanitarian crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022.

But, amid a crisis of the likes of World War II, criticism amounted on Sakvarelidze for comments that many rightfully pointed out to be racist and xenophobic. But Sakvarelidze isn’t the only major figure in the international community caught on the wire for spewing racist comments, as Charlie D’Agata, Senior foreign correspondent for CBS’s London bureau, came under fire for his words on CBS Live. In speaking to CBS viewers, D’Agata commented on Ukraine not being “like Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades,” but rather describing it as “relatively civilized, relatively European… [country] where you wouldn’t expect” war. 

But in a continent that is used to refugees crossing their international borders, the way Europe and the western hemisphere media is covering the Ukrainian refugee crisis is different from how they covered past refugees crises. Specifically, the 2015 European migrant crisis met pushback by European leaders and their media. Fear of those seeking refuge being connected to ISIS aroused many. But it didn’t end there. From striking a deal with Turkey to stop the flow of Syrian immigrants entering Europe and deeming Middle Eastern refugees as others, Europe was determined to fight back. In a world that has long tried to force white, blue-eye supremacy on everyone, Sakvarelidze and D’Agata’s words are not surprising. Their words are part of a modern movement of European ethnocentrism meant to uphold white supremacy through the rejections of non-white Europeans from seeking refuge in Europe because they don’t look like them.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the story being told about refugees in much of the greater western hemisphere has a different tone than that of 2015. Instead of hordes of wild beasts and lice, Ukrainian refugees are being dubbed as “European people with blue eyes and blonde hair”, and their country is a civilized, European state unlike the likes of Syria and Afghanistan. This is ethnocentrism at its best. During the 2015 refugee crisis, many European countries made excuses that the reasons why they couldn’t accept refugees were because they didn’t have space for their excuses that they couldn’t accept refugees due to lack of space. But in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe now has space for over 2 million Ukrainians freeing their country than it did for 1.3 million refugees back in 2015.

In stating that Ukrainian people are Europeans with blue eyes and blonde hair and refugees from the Middle East as are wild beasts and lice, Europe is upholding an institution of white supremacy that sees the immigration of people who don’t share their racial identities as invaders due to their perceived barbaric, uncivilized, and unintelligent nature. By associating these statements with empathic traits, many Europeans and people in the west are feeling compassionate and kind to Ukrainians fleeing war because they have blue eyes and blonde hair just like them. 

In their 2017 European Journal of Social Psychology article titled “The unique effects of blatant dehumanization on attitudes and behavior towards Muslim refugees during the European ‘refugee crisis’ across four countries,” Professors Kteily, Hodson, and Bruneau from the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and Aarhus Universitet embarked on a journey to examine the blatant dehumanization of Muslim refugees during the “Refugee Crisis” that impacts much of Europe. In their examinations, the professors found that the dehumanization of Muslim refugees escaping conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan was largely fueled by anti-refugee, Islamophobia sentiments, but beyond that, it was also fueled by ethnocentrism. The professors described how:

“Consistent with our predictions, we found that the degree of blatant dehumanization of Muslim refugees was uniquely associated with resistance to refugee settlement, support for anti-refugee policies. Importantly, this was true despite the inclusion of a rigorous set of controls, including political conservatism, prejudice, and trait empathic concern.”

The key phrase there is “trait empathetic concern.” The phrase signifies human nature to act compassionate and helpful when they see other people in need. Images of conflicts that emerged from the wars in Syria and Afghanistan greatly helped people sympathize with refugees fleeing their homeland, seeking asylum in Europe. But while a great number of people were outraged at the lifeless body of a two-year-old Syrian boy named Aylan Kurdi at the shore of a Turkish beach, much of greater Europe felt was concerned about possible ISIS attacks. This was true because according to Professors Kteily, Hodson, and Bruneau, at its core, trait empathy pushes people to only feel warmth and compassion to those that look like them. In the case of the current Ukraine refugee crisis, the identification factors for the world’s sympathy toward Ukrainians are European heritage, blue eyes, and non-Islamic affiliation. This was the main concern for many Europeans and their leaders during the 2015 European migrant crisis, that the people who might be entering their countries are affiliated with ISIS. 

This is where we are with Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. Throughout the refugee crisis, many high-ranking political officials were highly critical of the possibility of Syrian refugees integrating into their countries, and often in vulgar terms. Then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron called the refugees a “swarm”, a Polish Member of the European Parliament by the name of Janusz Koran-Mekka referred to the crisis as an “invasion of human trash”, and Zsolt Bayer, founder of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party dubbed the crisis as a “hordes.. [of] wild beasts… and… lice.” 

As means to increase its arms sales, in 2015, Putin and Russia joined the Syrian Civil War, choosing the side of President Assad. As a result of Putin joining the conflict in Syria, chaos and instability in Syria escalated in a war that had begun four years earlier. To be more specific, Putin’s involvement in Syria resulted in the 2015 European Migrant crisis that saw thousands of Syrians flee their country to seek refuge in Europe. But as previously stated, much of Europe didn’t want them due to their non-European heritage. Furthermore, Putin’s involvement paved the way for a chemical weapon crisis that took the life of innocent Syrian civilians.

In an NPR article titled “Russia showed its playbook in Syria. Here’s what it may mean for civilians in Ukraine”, writer Jason Breslow brings the point that in Syria, Russia was accused of similar war crimes it is presently being accused by the global community. War crimes that resulted in “civilian locations such as hospitals, schools, and markets were repeatedly targeted over the course of a major offensive… and… at least 1,600 people and the displacement of another 1.4 million.” While the reality of Russia’s war crimes in Syria isn’t to discredit the global community’s empathy for Ukraine right now, where has the world outrage for Syria been though? While sanctions to disempower the Assad regime were taken by the U.S. and some of its NATO allies, where was and is the media/entertainment union against Russia’s war crimes and their effect on Syrians? And why weren’t those sanctions at an extreme extent as they are now? 

The answer is simple. Similar to the Syrians and Afghans seeking refuge in Europe in the 2015 European migrant crisis, Syrians who have been at the mercy of the Russia/Assad coalition war crimes don’t have blue and blonde eyes, and whose country is most definitely not “civilized enough” for the West and the greater global community to have pity on them. Trait sympathy simply doesn’t work that way.

There’s a crisis in Ukraine, but it is a crisis that is not equally weighed. The world needs to stand up to Putin’s aggression and he must be charged with war crimes. Humanitarian aid must be provided anywhere where aid is needed, regardless of the geopolitical situation of the region or the skin color of its people. Countries with the economic means to aid Ukrainian refugees must do so. But they must do so not because Ukrainians are European people with blue eyes and blonde hair, not because they are from a relatively civilized country, but because they are human beings. Human beings like those who fled their countries for Europe in the 2015 European refugee crisis and those in Syria who, since the second half of the 2010s, have been at the mercy of Russian war crimes.

There’s no other way to put it: Europe’s reasoning for accepting Ukrainian refugees is one embedded in racism, Islamophobia, and most importantly ethnocentrism. So, when standing up to Putin, it is imperative that we also stand up to racism as well. While the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a complicated one, we must not allow ourselves to foster a society embedded in white supremacy. Ukrainians are suffering, and they need the global community. They need our help not because of their European upbringing, but because just like that one child in South America, or that elder from Japan, we are all one tribe, the human tribe.