“The UNB community stands in solidarity with Ukraine”: A humanitarian or political stance?
(Identities, by Incé Husain)
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, media streams have been documenting the war daily. Sanctions and protests flare worldwide. The war remains cemented in public consciousness as it fluctuates; even university administration, like the University of New Brunswick, has begun informing its students, staff, and faculty of its stance on the world affair.
On March 9th, 2022 at 10:10am, the University of New Brunswick sent a mass email to all students, staff, and faculty titled “UNB stands in solidarity with Ukraine”. Signed by President and Vice Chancellor Paul J. Mazerolle, it communicates “deep concern over the escalating situation in Ukraine” and summarizes how “the attacks have resulted in the displacement of millions of refugees from their country, their homes, and their families”. It lists counselling services that UNB offers its community as venues of support for those who are concerned about the situation or are directly impacted. It concludes by stating that “The UNB community stands in solidarity with Ukraine and calls for an end to violence and the return of peace and safety for all.”
It is arguable that UNB has ventured into dangerous territory by sending out a mass message that explicitly imposes a political stance on its community. Though the overt content of the message is politically void in highlighting only the human aspects of suffering, violence, and death, there is a political statement in the act of sending such a message in response to violence in Ukraine when similar and more extreme violations have been wreaked in other countries world-wide with no acknowledgement from educational institutions.
Without minimizing or normalizing the violence in Ukraine, here are examples of other instances of human life being obliterated by illegal occupations and mass violence as we speak.
Palestine has been under illegal occupation by Israel for over 50 years. The violence spans Israeli armies regularly bombarding civilian areas, to Israeli settlers abusing Palestinian farmers and destroying olive trees on their farmlands. Far from being globally acknowledged as apartheid, activism attempts on social media have been systematically blocked by tech industries such as Facebook, Zoom, and YouTube. Even McGill university administration has threatened to defund it’s Student Society for their stance of solidarity with Palestine, an activism initiative established by student vote.
In Myanmar, the Rohingya people are being subjected to full-scale genocide by the Myanmar army. This includes mass killings, gang rapes, and burning of Rohingyan villages, based on the government’s false statement that they are “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”. The United States only acknowledged the genocide in March 2022, over five years into the killings, when political desires to placate the Myanmar government apparently dissipated.
The war in Syria has lasted over eleven years, escalating from internal revolt against the Syrian government to a war zone involving foreign powers - such as Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the US - and terrorist groups. Bombings, chemical weapon attacks, humanitarian aid suppression, and starvation have caused millions of Syrians to be displaced or seeking asylum in a mass refugee crisis. Despite this, daily news updates on the situation are not custom.
Since the United States pulled its troops from Afghanistan last year, the Taliban oppressively seized control. Starvation and poverty ensued and stimulated a refugee crisis. Though the state of deprivation was acknowledged as a “humanitarian crisis”, regular updates on the situation are absent from mainstream news.
In Africa, civil wars in Ethiopia and Cameroon are scarcely addressed in media coverage. The Ethiopian civil war, fought between the government and rebel groups, has caused mass starvation, killings, rape, and displacement of millions of people. In Cameroon, civil war has resulted in school and hospital bombardments and village burnings.
Unlike Ukraine, these violations are not documented daily by mainstream news such that they remain rightly stained in public consciousness. Neither have countries across seas united to globally condemn these occupations and commandeer sanctions. It seems, frankly, that humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is special. And thus UNB cannot claim an unpoliticized message given these clear biases in global action.
This is problematic. A university cannot be a place of equity if it aligns with the biases of global politics. Indeed, such a university is defeating its own ideology of fostering critical thought, inclusion, and diversity in doing so.
The litmus test for whether UNB’s message is indeed humanitarian rather than political is simple: is UNB now committing to standing in solidarity with every victimized country? Or are students, staff, and faculty who are affected by the bloodshed in Palestine, Myanmar, Syria, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and other war-torn countries, not deserving of UNB reiterating its counselling services?
I await clarification. ♦
Full message sent to students, staff, and faculty from UNB admin.