On Thursday, Poland detained and delayed a chartered plane from South Africa. The plane was carrying President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security detail and journalists who were scheduled to cover the Africa Peace Mission to Ukraine and Russia. The South Africans were detained for more than 24 hours, without food and other necessities, not only putting President Ramaphosa at risk but also hindering the journalists from freely reporting. Most worryingly, however, the actions further perpetuated the West’s racial discrimination against Africans.
Detaining African Journalists
While the Peace delegation successfully secured its freedom and proceeded to Kiev, the journalists who intended to cover the event were barred. From the look of events, Poland and Ukraine orchestrated these actions on behalf of NATO. Until now, compromised Western journalists have been the source of all information regarding the Ukraine war, after NATO banned all independent news channels that could provide an unbiased view of the situation. Anyone who does not align with their war propaganda is essentially prohibited from entering Ukraine.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that African journalists were detained and denied entry into Ukraine. The West is displeased with South Africa’s non-aligned stance toward the war, and they feared that South African journalists would report objectively, potentially contradicting their preferred war narrative. Indeed, the reasons for preventing the journalists from covering the peace delegation became evident as events unfolded the following day. Western media which holds the exclusive right to war reporting on Ukraine predictably reported lies regarding the situation in Kiev, following the arrival of the African Peace Mission.
Reuters, which is infamous for its pro-war propaganda, wrote a hit propaganda piece, deliberately lying that the African Peace Delegation had to hide in a bunker to survive an alleged Russian missile strike. According to Reuters, air raid sirens and explosions were heard in the city, and the African peace delegation was rushed to a shelter beneath a hotel. “At least two explosions rocked Kyiv on Friday and air raid sirens blared as African leaders began a peace mission, hoping to mediate between Ukraine and Russia”, Reuters claimed.
However, South African presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya promptly refuted these lies. Speaking from Kiev, he revealed that there were no sirens or explosions, and certainly no Russian missile strike. If anything, people were going about their day as usual, he tweeted. Nonetheless, Ukrainian officials, seemingly following a predetermined script, exploited the lies to accuse Russia of actions for which they themselves were guilty: undermining the African peace mission.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba tweeted, “Russian missiles are a message to Africa: Russia wants more war, not peace.” Andrey Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential staff, added, “Whenever a high-ranking foreign delegation visits Ukraine, Russia greets it with a missile attack on our peaceful cities.” It was clear that the Ukrainians, with support from their NATO allies, aimed to undermine African peace efforts by falsely portraying Russia as uninterested. In reality, it was NATO-backed Ukraine that lacked interest. Shortly after meeting the African delegation, Zelensky dismissively told the media that he did not “understand the logic of the decision by African leaders to visit Russia.”
Poland and Ukraine are racist and anti-African
Poland’s detention of the South African delegation is not a new occurrence but serves as a reminder to Africans that unless we protest such treatment, it will only continue. At the start of the Russian Military Operation in Ukraine, African students hurrying to leave Ukraine and Poland were racially humiliated. At that time, African leaders, perhaps out of fear of upsetting their Western allies, conspicuously remained silent. Such silence only encourages further disrespect, and it is likely why the Poles have once again boldly humiliated the South African team.
More worryingly, however, is that Poland’s racism seems ideological, deliberate, and meant to send a message to the rest of Africa. If they can humiliate Africa’s most powerful country, what better can the rest expect? Naturally, Africans should be outraged. They should be summoning Polish Ambassadors to express their dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, as Professor Lumumba, a renowned Pan-Africanist, rightly pointed out early today, there is no outrage from the African Union and African governments against Poland’s blatant racism. It points to divisions within the continental body, but also to the subservience of most African countries to the West.
Only recently in April, the Romanian Ambassador to Kenya, Dragos Tigau, referred to African delegates attending a meeting at the UN headquarters as “monkeys.” Before him, the European Union Top Diplomat, Mr. Josep Borrell previously sneered at Africa as a ‘jungle’. These incidents happening from within and outside the continent to Africans are not isolated. Indeed, they seem to have become the norm in the current European social architecture. However, unless Africans voice their protests, such incidents are likely to persist. Regarding the racial humiliation of South Africans, it is crucial for Africans to unite and push back, sending a clear message that humiliating one African country is an affront to all. The most immediate step would be for every African country to summon their Polish Ambassador to protest these actions.
Poland wants to escalate the war
If any country desires the escalation of the Ukraine war, it is Poland. The Polish government harbors an absurd fantasy of resurrecting the new Rzeczpospolita, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Winston Churchill was correct in his characterization of Poland as the Hyena of Europe. However, to better understand Poland’s involvement in undermining efforts to bring peace to Ukraine, one must also recognize the significant role this country played in triggering the Second World War.
If it weren’t for Poland, perhaps we would have never entered World War II. Now, with Poland playing a key part in NATO’s obstruction of peace, it is not far-fetched to suggest that if the Ukraine war escalates into a third-world war, Poland will have played a triggering role due to its misguided ambitions of expanding territory and gaining control over parts of Ukraine, thereby undermining peace efforts such as the Africa Peace Mission. It was precisely this type of behavior that led W. Churchill, on the eve of the Second World War, to rightfully label Poland as the “hyena of Europe.”
