Some media outlets believe that Muslims are only newsworthy
when behind the gun, not in front of it. There has been systematic targeting of
Muslims in the Central African Republic (CAR), a nation ravaged by strife since
March of 2013, which has now developed into massive scale ethnic cleansing. In
the past several weeks, armed militias have roved through the western part of
the nation, intimidating and brutalising Muslims. Anti-Balaka, a fundamentalist
group comprised of animists and Christians, is forcing Muslims to worship in
private, remove religious garb, and convert at gunpoint. In addition to
compelling Muslims to convert and decimating mosques, reports about Muslims
paying anti-Balaka militants large sums of money to spare their lives are
widespread. Anti-Balaka militants intensified their killing and
forced-conversion spree during this past Ramadan, which proved dangerous, and
even fatal, for CAR Muslims fasting, praying, and openly observing the holy
month. Yet few are even minimally aware of the problem. Anti-Balaka's aim is as
plain as it is gruesome: rid the nation of its Muslim population. At any cost. While
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) remains in the headlines, the
mere mention of anti-Muslim terrorism in CAR - which has claimed at least 6,000
lives, pushed 30,000 Muslims to live in UN protected enclaves, and left scores of
mosques destroyed - remains largely unknown. Would this be the case if Muslims
were the villains of the human rights atrocities in CAR, instead of victims?
While the description “fundamentalist” seems reserved
exclusively for Muslim groups, Christian and animist militias in CAR have
brandished religious fervour to terrorise the nation's 750,000 Muslims - who
make up 15 percent of the nation's population. The media quickly concentrtes
attention towards Muslim villains, but it is consistently slow - or wholly
absent - when the victims are Muslim. Mainstream media outlets have long
neglected the humanitarian plight of black victims, particularly on the African
continent. Unfortunately for the victims in CAR, they are both black and
Muslim.
Media outlets may fashion themselves as objective
bystanders, but they are functionally key actors in any unfolding crisis. Media
coverage, particularly within the most prominent outlets, means far more than
simply highlighting and sharing a story. Events like in CAR, coverage means
generating global consciousness that would spur political mobilisation,
fundraising, and pressure on governments to act, typically energised by the
pressure headlines. Robust and active media intervention can check the actions
of culprits and prompt humanitarian rescue, while neglect facilitates, and
indeed emboldens, the aims of terrorists. The CAR case vividly illustrates the
latter. Anti-Balaka forces have benefited immensely from the lack of coverage.
Their numbers have grown, and their violence is ever increasing in severity.
Cameras and reporters flocked to Rwanda when it was far too
late. When they arrived, the genocide had claimed virtually all of its targets.
Since then, scores of scholars, human rights advocates, statesmen and
stateswomen have argued that timely media attention could have created the
pressure needed to spur more comprehensive humanitarian intervention. Thousands
upon thousands of lives, and future generations of Tutsis, could have been
saved. As highlighted in CAR, lessons from Rwanda have not been heeded, exposing
its diminishing and imperiled Muslim population to unspeakable violence and
arming its anti-Muslim militias with the green light to continue the killing
spree.
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