As we watch the Ukraine conflict unfold, we ask, whose stories are told? Who is erased?

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Dear Friend,

We are following the developing situation in Ukraine. We stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and their resistance to Russian imperialism. MediaJustice remains committed to self-determination and freedom for marginalized communities around the world.

With each new voice added to the widespread media support for Ukrainian sovereignty, we can’t help but notice the contradictions in how media and tech companies have chosen to respond to this conflict.

Facebook and Twitter have moved swiftly to ban ([link removed]) Russian accounts amplifying “anti-Ukrainian” disinformation. Where was this sense of urgency back in 2016 as Russian disinformation operatives targeted Black voters to suppress their vote? Where are the bans for Zionist propaganda that mischaracterize and vilify the Palestinian resistance?

NPR ([link removed]) pushed back on Putin’s “denazification” rhetoric, placing fascism in Ukraine in a historical context and noting that the presence of some Nazis doesn’t justify Russia’s invasion. Why did US media fail in calling out the pretext for the War on Terror leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan? The ongoing bombing campaigns in Somalia and Yemen?

The United States quickly mobilized ([link removed]) $54 million in aid and offered temporary protected status (TPS) to Ukrainian refugees fleeing violence from Russia, but refused to extend the same protection to Central American and Haitian refugees fleeing equally harrowing conditions. Instead, as Biden declared in his State of the Union, he is spending billions ([link removed].) on high-tech surveillance and policing of the border and deporting Black and brown refugees back to their home countries.

This isn’t hypocrisy - it’s hegemony. Community media outlets diligently report on struggles for liberation, but must work overtime against the narratives put forward by mainstream, traditional, and social media outlets facilitating the rising tide of fascism. We call on our media justice allies to look not only at mis- and disinformation, but also media narratives. Who is centered? Who is erased?

Until the people control not only the stories we tell, but how, when, and where we tell them, we will not be free. This is our collective task as the media justice movement. We are grateful to be in the struggle against imperialism and white supremacy with you.

In solidarity,

Team MediaJustice

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