Why is the mainstream media ignoring the mass death of Afghan civilians?
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Subject: Why is the mainstream media ignoring the mass death of Afghan =
civilians?
Media indifference to Afghan crisis
Why is the mainstream media ignoring the mass death of Afghan =
civilians?=20
THE ECOLOGIST, March 2002
It is a long-standing tradition of 'free press' reporting to glare =
intensely at atrocities committed by 'them' while flashing the briefest =
of glances at atrocities committed by 'us'. Cognitive dissonance is a =
necessary feature of this kind of reporting =AD as, for example, when =
the world's richest country resolves to bomb the world's poorest country =
as part of a 'war for civilisation'.=20
For much of the media, the war in Afghanistan ended with the fall of =
Kabul on November 13. As usual, reporting was focused on the hideous =
crimes of others, and on our need to destroy the Taliban and al-Qaida. =
With the goal (partially) achieved, journalists declared another =
glorious humanitarian victory and moved on. Suddenly the war in =
Afghanistan was yesterday's news, although not for the civilians killed =
in the continuing bombardment. A different story =AD the price of our =
'victory' for the people of Afghanistan =AD threatened to turn the =
spotlight on our crimes and so was ignored by our media, in accordance =
with the long-standing tradition. The sheer scale of what has been so =
casually passed over is extraordinary.=20
A careful reader of the press might discover that Afghan casualties =
of the bombing now exceed the loss of life on 11 September. But this =
'collateral damage' represents a small fraction of the total horror =
inflicted on Afghanistan. On 16 September, the press reported that the =
US government had demanded that Pakistan stop the truck convoys of food =
on which much of the already starving Afghan population depended. In =
late September, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation warned that =
more than 7 million people were facing a crisis that could lead to =
widespread starvation if military action were initiated, with a likely =
'humanitarian catastrophe' unless aid were immediately resumed and the =
threat of military action terminated. Dominic Nutt of Christian Aid =
warned: 'It's as if a mass grave has been dug behind millions of people. =
We can drag them back from it or push them in. We could be looking at =
millions of deaths.'(1)=20
It is interesting to imagine a coalition launching an attack to root =
out terrorism in, say, France on the understanding that some 7 million =
French civilians might lose their lives as a result. Remarkably, though =
the media communicated these aid agency warnings of impending mass =
death, and the need to pause bombing before the snows came, the story =
then simply disappeared.=20
How many did die when the snows came? How many of the 7 million were =
'pushed' into the mass grave? Certainly our government =AD the 'moral =
crusaders' of Kosovo =AD showed no interest in raising such questions, =
for obvious reasons. Likewise, the fate of millions of innocents =
imperilled by state policy has been a matter of supreme indifference to =
our media. We can gain a sense of the moral health of our democracy from =
the minimal coverage that has emerged.=20
On 3 January, in a small article on page 14, The Guardian reported =
conditions facing 350,000 Afghan refugees in the Maslakh camp, 30 miles =
west of Herat city. Doug McKinlay described how 100 refugees were dying =
every day of exposure and starvation (a disaster on the scale of 11 =
September every month). The small size of the graves in the graveyards =
on the edge of the camp was 'clear evidence that most of the buried are =
children', McKinlay noted.(2)=20
Ian Lethbridge, executive director of the charity Feed the Children, =
said: 'I always judge everything by what I have seen in Africa. And this =
is on the scale of Africa. I was shocked at the living conditions of the =
new arrivals.'(3)=20
No aid was reaching these 350,000 people. One woman at the camp =
confronted McKinlay: 'You are just taking pictures. You are not here to =
help. We can't eat pictures. We are dying. We need food and medicine.'=20
Conditions outside the Maslakh camp were more horrific still. On 4 =
January, Christian Aid reported: 'Refugees arriving at Maslakh camp near =
Herat have described the 'calamity conditions' their families are now =
living in. Heavy snowfall is making it difficult to transport =
humanitarian supplies to the most vulnerable areas of the mountainous =
Ghor province of Afghanistan...'(4)=20
Hayat Fazil of Christian Aid's partner organisation NPO/RRAA =
(Norwegian Project Office/Rural Rehabilitation Association for =
Afghanistan) 'warned that rural villages are being neglected while =
refugee camps like Maslakh get the lion's share of aid.'=20
About these catastrophes the major broadcast media, ITN and BBC TV =
news, have had nothing to say so far this year. To my knowledge, the =
BBC's sole reference to the plight of Afghan refugees consists of a =
documentary filmed in November on the 5,000-plus refugees in Makaki camp =
(5). Conditions in Makaki, though appalling, did not approach the horror =
of Maslakh and elsewhere. In the BBC's film, Dr Pauline Horrill of MSF =
reported three child deaths in Makaki over a five-day period.=20
The BBC's main rival has gone some way to reporting the misery in =
Afghanistan. On 9, 13, 22 and 26 January, ITN reported the story of =
Marjan the one-eyed lion in Kabul zoo. Marjan's 'battered image touched =
people around the world,' we were told on the 9th, 'his plight a symbol =
of maltreatment under the Taliban'. As a result, a team of vets had =
flown out to deliver 'much-needed help... treatment and food'(6). The =
closing clip featured a happy Marjan chewing on a large piece of meat.=20
We could discover what was being eaten elsewhere in Afghanistan on =
that day in one of The Guardian's rare reports: 'The village of Bonavash =
is slowly starving', Ravi Nessman wrote. 'Besieged by the Taliban and =
crushed by years of drought, people in this remote mountain settlement =
have resorted to eating bread made from grass and traces of barley =
flour. Babies whose mother's milk has dried up are fed grass porridge. =
The toothless elderly crush grass into a near powder. Many have died. =
More are sick. Nearly everyone has diarrhoea or a hacking cough. When =
the children's pain becomes unbearable, their mothers tie rags around =
their stomachs to try to alleviate the pressure.'=20
'We are waiting to die. If food does not come, if the situation does =
not change, we will eat it [grass] ... until we die,' said Ghalam Raza, =
42, a man with a hacking cough, pain in his stomach and bleeding =
bowels.(7)=20
Nessman related the story of Khadabaksh, a former farm labourer, who =
looked in despair at his four young daughters: 'Three weeks ago, his =
children had a mother and a baby sister. Both have died. Khadabaksh begs =
his neighbours for pinches of their small amount of home-grown barley so =
his family can make grass bread... "It is better to die in our house," =
he said, "not in some strange place with strange people."'=20
About this, both ITN and BBC TV news have again had nothing at all =
to say so far this year and through the second half of December.=20
By contrast, readers will doubtless recall the TV images of =
thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting and bombing in Kosovo in =
1999. ITN and the BBC repeatedly showed dramatic footage of whole =
hillsides covered in desperate refugees =AD with daily on the spot =
reports, interviews and investigation, detailed and emotive coverage of =
the human suffering was given.=20
Similarly, while we might consider The Guardian reports a sign of =
the paper's openness and independence, a comparison with reporting on =
other issues in 1999 tells a very different story. Since 11 September, =
The Guardian and The Observer have mentioned the catastrophe afflicting =
the 350,000 refugees at Maslakh five times =AD an average of once per =
month. By contrast, as of 27 January, the same papers had mentioned the =
story of prisoners held at a US camp at Guantanamo Bay 72 times that =
month =AD a suitably safe and trivial issue, compared to our =
responsibility for the mass death of Afghan refugees.=20
Also by contrast, between April and June 1999, The Guardian =
mentioned the plight of 65,000 Kosovan refugees stranded at Brace on =
Macedonia's border with Kosovo 48 times =AD an average of once every two =
days. The scale and intensity of the suffering then is dwarfed by that =
of Afghanistan now.=20
The vital difference is the direction in which the finger of blame =
can be pointed. Although much of the Kosovan human flood was in response =
to NATO's air campaign =AD independent monitors, and even the US State =
Department, reported that the mass exodus and increased atrocities began =
after the onset of bombing =AD the media chose to accept British and US =
claims that Serbian 'genocide' was to blame. As a result, during the =
Kosovo crisis, the plight of refugees was used as powerful propaganda =
justifying NATO's assault =AD politicians repeatedly drew attention to =
the suffering caused by the Serbs, describing 'the kind of ethnic =
cleansing we thought had disappeared after the Second World War', as =
NATO Secretary General, George Robertson, described it (8). The media =
were happy to do likewise. In Afghanistan, by contrast, it is clear that =
the 'war against terrorism' bears considerable responsibility for the =
calamity, for the disruption of food supplies, and for the mass =
suffering and death both inside and outside the Afghan camps. In a =
report in the Sunday Telegraph, Christina Lamb wrote of refugees in =
Maslakh: 'Most come from the northern provinces of Faryab, Ghor and =
Sar-e-Pul as well as Ghazni in central Afghanistan, mountainous places =
to which the World Food Programme was giving food aid but stopped =
because of the bombing. Now their villages cannot be reached because the =
passes are cut off.'(9)=20
In the latest mention in The Observer, Suzanne Goldenberg writes =
that Maslakh was already in crisis last summer, but 'its population =
swelled after 11 September when international aid workers were evacuated =
from Afghanistan'.(10)=20
This is deeply embarrassing for the US and British governments, for =
the 'war for civilisation', and for the establishment media supporting =
them. Politicians have not repeatedly drawn attention to the plight of =
refugees and, again, the media have been happy to follow their lead.=20
This standard pattern of obedience was repeated with even more =
dramatic clarity over East Timor. Massacres that happened before, during =
and after NATO's 'moral crusade' in Kosovo were all but ignored by the =
press prior to the 30 August referendum. The subsequent hypocrisy of the =
West's moral crusaders in failing to respond, or even speak out, as =
atrocities committed by our Indonesian trading partners continued, also =
went unnoticed. Another example is the media's respectful silence over =
the mass death of Iraqi civilians, despite the resignation of high-level =
UN diplomats in 1998 and 2000 describing Western sanctions policy as =
'genocidal'. New Labour's performance on this issue was not considered =
worth discussing by the media during last year's general election, for =
example.=20
The profound moral sickness afflicting our society is also revealed =
by the contrast between the passionate intensity and extent of coverage =
afforded US victims of 11 September compared to Afghan victims between 7 =
October and the present. In early January, US writer Ed Herman estimated =
that media coverage afforded to the death of Nathan Chapman, the sole US =
combat casualty, had exceeded coverage afforded to all Afghan victims of =
bombing and starvation. Noam Chomsky reports one reference to the =
Maslakh camp in the entire coverage of the US media. CNN Chair Walter =
Isaacson is reported to have declared that it 'seems perverse to focus =
too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan.'(11)=20
It is an understandable aversion, given that Afghans may well be =
losing their lives for no good reason at all. Professor Victor =
Bulmer-Thomas of the Royal Institute of International Affairs argues =
that increased security, measures against money laundering, and an =
increase in intelligence sharing around the world are degrading global =
terrorism. He also supports an approach that addresses the causes of =
disaffection in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. But the bombing, =
Bulmer-Thomas argues, 'has unfortunately given ammunition to many =
countries around the world, which is exacerbating the problem'. His =
conclusion is a sombre one for the grieving masses of Afghanistan: 'If =
anyone thinks that this temporary degradation of al-Qaida's capabilities =
through the elimination of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan =
somehow or other will reduce the risks of terrorist attacks in the =
future, I'm afraid they're wrong. Because terrorist training camps don't =
have to be in Afghanistan, they can be anywhere. And indeed the =
temptation now for al-Qaida will be to site the training of its =
operatives in Western Europe, Canada and even in the US.'(12)=20
David Edwards is co-editor of Media Lens, which provides regular =
Media Alerts at www.medialens.org=20
References=20
1 Stephen Morris and Felicity Lawrence, 'Afghanistan Facing =
Humanitarian Disaster,' 'The Guardian',19 September, 2001.=20
2 McKinlay, 'Refugees left in the cold at 'slaughterhouse' camp,' =
'The Guardian', 3.1.02.=20
3 ibid.=20
4 Christian Aid website, Hunger forces families to abandon mountain =
homes 4 January, 2002.=20
5 'Correspondent', 'The Dispossessed', BBC2, 20 January, 2002.=20
6 'ITN Lunchtime News', 9 January, 2002.=20
7 Ravi Nessman, 'Afghans eat grass as aid fails to arrive,' =
'Guardian', 9 January, 2002.=20
8 Interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, ITV, 11 June,2000.=20
9 Lamb, 'They call this Slaughterhouse,' Sunday Telegraph', 9 =
December, 2001=20
10 Goldenberg,'Hunger and vengeance haunt Afghanistan's sprawling =
tent city', 'The Observer', 27 January, 2002=20
11 'Washington Post', 31 October, 2001.=20
12 Bulmer-Thomas, 'Jonathan Dimbleby', ITV, 28 January 2002.=20
Source: http://www.theecologist.org=20
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a.. Kabul residents fear northern alliance, worry for their =
safety Kabul=20
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