Western celebrities and 'white saviourism'

 

I really agree...

Editor's note

The story by our reporter Aisha Down last week was a warning of a new era of “poverty porn” as leading aid agencies were found to be using AI-generated images to promote public sympathy for their causes. Arsenii Alenichev, a researcher into the production of global health images at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, told the Guardian: “The images replicate the visual grammar of poverty – children with empty plates, cracked earth, stereotypical visuals.” That delicate line between raising awareness and entrenching stereotypes popped into my inbox a few days later in the shape of an email from the Unicef media office looking for coverage of a visit by the Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson to South Sudan. That Neeson, one of a stable of Unicef goodwill ambassadors that includes David Beckham, cared enough to give up his time to meet children suffering from malnutrition in an inhospitable place is not in question. The UN agency is not alone in using the tactic of sending celebrities from the northern hemisphere to bring attention to issues in the global south, but is it really the right message? For me it edges uncomfortably close to “white saviourism”, and shows we are far away from decolonising the humanitarian community’s approach to aid and the people who need it. Clearly there is an argument to the contrary, but I have never seen any measure of whether this approach does more good than harm. Take the recent visit of a British royal, the Duchess of Edinburgh, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Media coverage of the visit of Sophie – wife of the king’s brother Edward – did cover the horrific rates of rape in the country where sexual violence continues to be very much used as a weapon of war, but also focused intently on just how brave she was. “Secret”, “high security”, “high risk”, a “royal first”– hammered down on the stereotype of the dark frightening place that is the African continent where people must find it an honour to be visited by a great white lady. No matter that it is the great white lady’s imperial family who helped reduce the DRC to its current state, surely an international audience can be trusted to understand the issues without the caravans of unqualified, privileged western celebrities standing in front of the camera in freshly pressed linen shirts? Tracy McVeigh, editor, Global development - Also we should add: Sending high profile celebrities and even head of programme of these charities and UN agencies... It cost a small fortune!! Money taken from donors' gifts and crucial donations for local people. So let's stop this mascarade only feeding the stereotype that these figures are needed... They're not, really not.