FRAMING THE CRASH OF FLIGHT M17
July 27, 2014
In my country, the crash of
Flight M17 is framed across media news and commentary as proving who did
it. I think it is obvious that a
military force that was shooting down Ukrainian government fighter planes
bombing them, and made a mistake in a war zone.
Blaming one side or the other only fuels a civil war. In a war, economically and historically, all
sides are driven by real fears, real anger.
That being the case, it is high time that we in the US start covering
and listening to what drives rebels against the Ukrainian state, to give
balance to voices we hear and attend to.
The only US news outlet I find seeking voices from otherwise unheard
sides is democracynow.org, the first place I heard news that Ukrainian
government planes were bombing Ukrainian cities, and now in Gaza, is the one
place I hear both from Israeli advocates for lifting the siege of Gaza, and in
Gaza, as from UN personnel and from its former staff member, Sharif Abdel
Kouddous, on the tragedy there of killing Gazans for being human shields. There I suspect that UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon, present but silent, may be serving the role of neutral mediator. There, in Ukraine, in Syria, in Iraq, in
Afghanistan, among refugees from Central America, it is a particular challenge
to us who live in the heart of military empire to listen to the voices of those
we blame for “our” problems. Love and
peace, hal
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