Why we should cease posting graphic photos on social media

No doubt we, as activists and those more professional media practitioners have tried and will continue to cover Burundi. The situation in our neighboring country is worrisome and requires our attention and possibly action. I think every Head of State of this region would be justified to ask his citizens to postpone elections in their respective countries due to the crisis in Burundi which requires their undivided, imminent attention. However, we may just be doing it in a manner that is not decent, informative or mobilising. Recently I spent the afternoon with my friend and journalist, Vincent Gasana, and he opened my eyes on yet another form of racism in reporting on Africa. One to which, we are among the purveyors, sadly. He pointed out to me that we like sharing on social media and in the media in general disturbing photos of dead Burundians. “Yes they are disturbing!” – I answered him; “Isn’t that what we want? To shock consciences until action is taken”? “No”, he said. “In fact, the more you post horrifying photos, you ultimately trivialize what is otherwise a matter of grave concern to the entirety of mankind. A human being is sacred. A dead person has a family, an identity and a story. Even in one’s death, one’s dignity mustn’t be infringed upon, by those, no matter how well intentioned they are”. A mutual friend triggered the conversation. She brought up the fact that Gasana had reacted to another series of similar gruesome photos, shared on social media as somewhat ‘prurient’. A word I learned recently, which means that, over time, people seem to find some voyeuristic thrill in posting and visualizing those images of yet another death toll of African people. “The only people who do not enjoy them though” – he explained, “are the families of those who lost their relatives. They find it inhuman that their loved ones are exposed like that, and wish their dignity could be preserved. But they are told that’s the only way that the world would know and justice would come”. As a matter of fact, that is a fallacy. As Burundi, after Syria, after Gaza, after Rwanda have all shown, the only thing to come, and rather late, is a bit of money, raised by NGOs and other well-wishers ‘to save Africa’. The same NGOs, mostly western based, do not see the need to share gruesome photos from France, because they have no fundraising agenda to ‘save the French’. Accordingly, no gruesome photos were circulated after the Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan or the 9/11 terror attacks. “If you do that as an editor in the UK you get sacked!” – Gasana told me. “Dans ces pays-là, un génocide, ce n’est pas trop important” [A genocide in those countries (that part of the world) it isn’t important]. It is in those terms that Francois Mitterrand, French president at the time of the Tutsi Genocide in 1994 justified his uninterrupted support to the Genocide government. A photograph of the theatre hall reveals the bloody horror that unfolded when terrorists opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers at The Eagles of Death Metal rock concert. (Internet photo) Those who are sharing those gruesome picture – and I take my part of the blame – do not know better. They’re all animated with good intentions. Except, they are involuntarily serving interest of forces with much more evil agendas, instead of serving the interests of Burundians. Nowadays, news of dead Africans or Arabs has become ‘faits divers’ – almost ‘dog eats man’- miscellaneous news. People do not get shocked anymore about it. The world has come to take it as an expected advent. While Westerners are keen to preserve their image of invincibility, their media vehiculate an imagery of misery and desperation of other races, such as Asians, Slavs, Blacks and Arabs, etc. Indeed in a Hollywood film, a white-man’s death is rare, or occurs after that of hundreds of Vietnamese, Blacks and Arabs… Two months ago, it was our sage, Faustin Kagame, who was deploring, in his Jeune Afrique article: ‘La façon de le dire’ – how western watchdogs and media tell the stories about Rwanda with deep indecency and prejudice. He was reacting to the Human Rights Watch report that attempted to dismiss the – globally reputed – cleanliness in Kigali and reduce it to the fact that we lock away all our dirty people and beggars; they picked a youth rehabilitation center as an example… The next day, it was France 24 Television, which attacked our -globally reputed- poverty reduction performance, saying Rwanda’s statistics are ‘finessed’, and poverty is actually increasing in Rwanda. To illustrate their story, France 24 didn’t hesitate to use images from Eastern DRC thinking that no one would notice. In the same week, I was quarreling with a foreigner, who contended that archives of the Genocide against the Tutsi of the ICTR in Arusha shouldn’t be sent to Rwanda because we have a ‘vested interest’. Him, and other ‘neutral Souls’ should be left to objectively administer them on our behalf – he proclaimed! I mean, you must be at a different level of arrogance to think that way. We were all baffled here, when a diplomat: Samantha Powers, US Ambassador to the UN, referred to the work of the Rwandan Parliament in revising the Constitution as ‘maneuvering’. She may agree with the process, she may not; that’s fine. But to refer to the work of a legitimate parliament of a foreign country, done in compliance with local and international law, and in response to petitions from the population of the said country, as ‘maneuvering’, isn’t dismissive: its outright narcissistic! I remember Arnaud Zacharie the head of a Belgian NGO: 11-11-11, declaring in a meeting: “Mais j’en ai marre des bonnes nouvelles venant du Rwanda”! (I am fed-up with all these good news coming from Rwanda). It’s uncanny how western media and activists find good news coming from Africa repulsive, but have compulsive lust to pervade and trivialize our pain. For instance, we have all been accustomed to the mantra: “Rwanda instrumentalizes the Genocide…” What an insensitive, immoral thing to say? Which people would like to unistrumantalize their own tragedy? Would you say the same about Israel and the Holocaust? Are we beggars, looking for world’s pity? We put an end to the Genocide ourselves, with no one’s help. We stabilized our country and reconciled our people. We do not seek out pity; we are humble but proud people. Also, have you noticed? They refer to their governments as legitimate ‘Administrations’ and ours as despotic ‘regimes’ waiting to be changed. The ‘Obama Administration’; the ‘Bush Administration’, the ‘Hollande Administration’ in (La Vème République). But they would say: The ‘Kagame Regime’, the ‘Museveni Regime’. It doesn’t matter that the Kagame or Museveni regimes have transformed people’s lives, and the ‘Bush Administration’ destroyed the world… Mind you, this has nothing to do with the percentage with which an African leader was elected, or the time he or she spent in power. They call it the ‘Merkel administration’ even though she’s on her third term as German Chancellor, vying for a fourth one. Or the ‘Chirac administration’ after he was elected with a modest 83% in his last term. Ironically, the latter scenario of 80+ percent results, is likely to re-occur shortly, as all polls indicate that the ‘Front National’ of Marine Le Pen will garner sufficient votes to reach the last leg of the upcoming French elections. At which point, elections in France will become, as they usually are in Africa, a matter of national survival; a Do or Die. Those in France, usually unmoved by sterile TV politics, or feel disenfranchised by the fact that most contending politicians are cut-throat crooks, with either impending lawsuits or suspended jail sentences; All will stand up as one man to save their nation from fascism – in extremis – even if they have to wear gas masks to do so. So, while I can’t change other’s bigotry, I can speak to you, my people and ask you not to try and fit into news formats that were designed to undermine our continent and our people. We ought to go out there, tell our own story and stand by it. I will not ask people here to be professionals in their reporting. After all, social media has democratised journalism now – and it is, in fact, the so-called professionals who have misled us. Ultimately we are all humans: Black Lives Matter, White Lives Matter, Arab Lives Matter, All Lives Matter. All these are areas that need coverage. 140 characters are not few after all. You can say what you have to say in a concise and respectful manner. So keep tweeting, posting and writing. Just do it with decency and purpose. The author is a human rights lawyer and activist.

News

Why we should cease posting graphic photos on social media