Russia-Ukraine War from a Global South Perspective: Unveiling Western Hypocrisy

I am writing to draw attention to the Western hypocrisy that is in full display following the developments taking place in Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “military operation” in eastern Ukraine in a televised speech.1 The West reacted with outrage at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The agitated Western world leaders took no time to condemn Putin’s actions. US President Joe Biden asserted that Putin has “chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Putin’s move a “hideous and barbaric venture”2 and raised concerns over the war crimes in Ukraine for which he blames Putin.3 Moreover, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg referred to the invasion as a “reckless attack” that “puts at risk countless civilian lives.”4 The Russian attack instantly stirred the West’s humanity. The Western understanding and portrayal of the Russia-Ukraine war in relation to the wars in the Global South reflect the West’s resort to a distorted Eurocentric lens in conceiving world politics.5

The war in Ukraine has generated massive regard for ‘European’ (human) life. Human catastrophe and war suffering are certainly not unknown in the Global South, which has paid tremendous human costs in Western wars.6 Today, the Western world is speaking in favor of Ukraine, but these voices were/are not raised over the violations of human rights or war crimes in Afghanistan,7 Palestine,8 or Syria.9 In these instances, why has not the West shown “overwhelming…solidarity” or spoken with “one voice” that PM Boris Johnson now urges for?10 This suggests that European lives are ‘worthy lives’ and those residing in the Global South are ‘less human.’ Exposing western hypocrisy, Anas al-Abdah, the head of the Syrian Negotiation Commission, commented, “in Syria, there is a massacre of an entire people in front of the eyes of the world and with international complicity, while in Ukraine, the whole Western world is trying to protect it and its people.”11 Similarly, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun emphasized the silence of the Western world over the attack of Israeli forces on Al-Aqsa Mosque and asked if “… law and justice only apply when it comes to you (the West) and your (the Western) interests?”12 It is a pity that the West holds selective empathy for people suffering due to conflict and oppression around the world, especially the Global South. It is also very hypocritical of the West to grant selective legitimation to war causes and efforts.

Further alarming is the Western media’s coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war. The Western media coverage primarily rests on racial, supremacist accounts of a ‘European’ conflict. Through its news reporting, the Western media has established a ‘superior Europe’ in relation to an ‘inferior non-European world.’ This has been achieved by separating Ukraine from any “developing, third world nation”13 such as “Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades.” Ukraine has been termed as a “relatively civilized”14 country and a country where “European people with blue eyes and blond hair” are “… being killed every day.” This is not a country where we see “Syrians fleeing the bombings of the Syrian regime backed by Putin” but “Europeans” who are “leaving in cars.”15 This signifies the West’s normalization of war and conflict for the non-European world, and its denial of humanness for non-Europeans.

The war in Ukraine has exposed the West’s double standards concerning European and non-European conflicts. Clear comparisons are being drawn between Europe’s welcoming of Ukrainian refugees and the influx of Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghans, which was viewed as a migrant crisis by the West. Let us not forget about the attenuated compassion for the Middle Eastern refugees and asylum seekers drowning in the Mediterranean some years ago. The racial hatred for the migrants approaching Europe became more apparent when Katie Hopkins compared them to “cockroaches” in a dehumanizing comment piece.16 Political scientist Ziad Majed registered his protest by stating that “we can understand that the Ukrainians are Europeans and that the memory of war in Europe can revive a lot of emotions,” but “when we hear some commentators speaking about ‘people like us,’ this suggests that those coming from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or Africa are not (like them).”17 In 2015, the Afghan refugees fleeing to Europe for refuge were unwelcomed in Germany. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel had indicated that where her country was dedicated to humanitarian obligations for Afghans, that did not mean that Germany also had to provide sanctuaries to those people on its territory.18 As Afghanistan collapsed into the arms of the Taliban following the hasty American withdrawal from the country, those involved in the immigration process remain unclear on whether the United States will fulfill its pledge of protecting those who put their lives at risk in support of the American government.19 Salem Barahmeh, director of the pro-Palestinian platform Rabet, has summed it up well that “refugees are welcome depending where they come from.”20 “Where they come from” automatically follows the Global North-South criterion.

Western thinking is rooted in ignorance and racial biases that favor the European world and its people. In light of how the West is dealing with the war in Ukraine compared to other conflicts, Fatima Bhutto, a Pakistani writer and columnist, tweets that “the neck breaking speed with which the West is exposing itself is fascinating.”21 It surely is. Voices from the Global South are angry and frustrated. The extraordinary regard for human life ascribed to Europeans shows a strikingly different attitude of the West opposed to when it comes to defending human life and dignity in the Global South. The colonial atrocities will not be forgotten. Western actions in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Libya, and Iraq will not be excused, and the Western silence over Palestinian and Kashmiri oppression will not go unnoticed. Western hypocrisy should be questioned. Let us not turn a blind eye to violence and injustice taking place anywhere in the world because all lives matter.

About the Author

Mahnoor Hayat Malik

The author is a Junior Research Fellow at Roads Initiative.