Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid criticized yesterday the double standards employed by Western officials and media in their coverage of the crisis in Ukraine/Russia, saying that oppression everywhere deserves the same level of backlash.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” the model captioned a screenshot of a note she posted on her Instagram.
“Question yourself, question how quietly you moved around other injustices, the footprint we leave here will be the clearest one we’ve left in a long time,” the model said. “If this is your first time realizing a war in some years, you’re not of the world… War, along with the position we take during it, is forever.”
Hadid added that people “should always speak up when we feel encouraged to,” but she believes “the most transformative speech comes from discomfort, when air has to break to make room for your voice.” The model said in sarcasm that “if the American president is defending a liberation movement, there’s no risk in joining that defense.”
She talked about Ukraine saying “nothing should undermine the magnitude of their suffering, of the violence against them but it’s not just about justice, it’s also about who is at the receiving end of injustice.” She highlighted that “the way we’ve failed to uphold it elsewhere dictates this. Our lack of tools here is a result of our neglect elsewhere.”
Hadid said that “the language we use to define oppression cannot favor one victim over another.”
“How many Muslim nations aflame? Invasions by the west, merciless drone strikes, executions, internment camps in China? How much of Palestine, how little of Palestine left?” the model asked.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)