'How long does it take to wear down a mountain?'

July 17, 2020 4:23 PM

Doctors Without Borders Responds To Charges Of 'Racism' From Its Staff Over the last month more than 1,000 current and former staffers with the aid group Doctors Without Borders have signed a letter with an explosive accusation: The vaunted organization, they say, is built on a mindset of "white supremacy" that perpetuates "racism by our staff, in our policies, in our hiring practices, in our workplace culture, and through the imposition of dehumanising 'humanitarian' programmes by a privileged, white minority workforce."
posted by Toddles (17 comments total)

soo.... why has NPR put the word racism in quotes?
posted by EllaEm at 4:29 PM on July 17, 2020 [16 favorites]

This is important. I'm glad leaders in the organization acknowledge the whole white savior model is not acceptable, thanks to the brave community of people speaking up. Now to see if real action will follow.
posted by latkes at 5:09 PM on July 17, 2020 [17 favorites]

I think it's in quotes to show it's a word directly used in one of the documents involved in the story, and is not a word being used by NPR as some kind of summation word about the story.
posted by hippybear at 7:06 PM on July 17, 2020 [14 favorites]

A good alternative model is Partners in Health. I'm sure they have their problems but their mission is in the name. They aim to partner not fly in and save.
posted by latkes at 7:29 PM on July 17, 2020 [5 favorites]

soo.... why has NPR put the word racism in quotes?

Because they are quoting the signatories of the letter. It’s from the source material and not a word introduced by the reporters.
posted by mr_roboto at 8:12 PM on July 17, 2020 [10 favorites]

They may have "White Savior" issues. But they are helping in ways that I can not, and would not do. So they are still getting my monthly payments. Will research PiH as well.
posted by Windopaene at 9:38 PM on July 17, 2020 [10 favorites]

NPR appears to be holding 'racism' in quote-tongs because it's a Very Weighty Accusation and they reflexively disavow responsibility for laying such an accusation. I say this because they then do make a summation: "explosive accusation". When it's a totally routine thing actually that a white-founded[*] organization perpetuates racism and white privilege. It's not a statement to be shocked about, just buckle down and deal with it. And to be fair the quoted MSF people are not the ones displaying explosiveness!fragility, that's NPR's routine.

[*] just guessing from names, corrections appreciated
posted by away for regrooving at 11:43 PM on July 17, 2020 [11 favorites]

Tangentially so briefly: The New Humanitarian has been hosting some discussion worth reading about the liberal-capitalist order and neocolonialist 'aid', the U.S. as a failing state, defunding the IMF and World Bank, humanitarianism's non-engagement with racism.

(Also, I really need to make time to read some Ivan Illich.)
posted by away for regrooving at 11:50 PM on July 17, 2020 [3 favorites]

This Telegraph piece mentioned a statement "by MSF Italy, suggesting it should not use the term “racism” and that “everyone, starting with MSF”, should talk about “all lives matter”."

I couldn't find any mention of these actual statements locally, but it rings totally in line with the Italian/European blind spots on these issues.

This New Humanitarian piece has a take from the Avril Benoît, head of MSF US: "“MSF USA labels problems in a way that ruffles some feathers in our Eurocentric organisation. The North American lens through which we see this issue of structural anti-Black racism, and the language we use to describe it, doesn’t always translate well to other cultures and places. We get a lot of ‘all lives matter’ reaction from colleagues from different parts of the world,” she said. “Context is everything.”"

Decolonising Europe is going to continue being long hard work...
posted by progosk at 1:26 AM on July 18, 2020 [7 favorites]

NPR appears to be holding 'racism' in quote-tongs because it's a Very Weighty Accusation and they reflexively disavow responsibility for laying such an accusation

Yeah, it's cowardly as hell. There are any number of other of -isms that if they were reporting on they would not have felt the need to quote that single word in the headline, they would have just used it, because it's a perfectly appropriate summary of the complaint.

I say this because they then do make a summation: "explosive accusation". When it's a totally routine thing actually that a white-founded[*] organization perpetuates racism and white privilege.

It is, and it's also not news to anyone in international aid that practically the whole industry is complicit in/a key part of neo-colonialism, even if lots of (white) folks prefer not to talk about it.
posted by solotoro at 6:05 AM on July 18, 2020 [7 favorites]

"I said, 'Why didn't you tell me about that part of it?' My daughter laughed and said, 'Then you wouldn't have gone.' She just really believes in the mission of [Doctors Without Borders]."

On reflection, Ngunang says she still does too.

Smart kid.
posted by Chickenring at 7:18 AM on July 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

There's no link to the letter in the article, unless I'm somehow totally overlooked it. I've only looked for a few minutes, but so far I've only found other news articles, and none of them link to the letter either. I found this statement by the MSF Board, but it's not the letter, and if I understand right was released before the letter.

News sources can be strangely lazy about linking to their sources even when they're available online. But I didn't expect it to be this hard to find.

Am I missing something?

The details in the NPR article aren't at all surprising to me, and honestly 100% on brand for an international aid organization without strong anti-racist policies and practices. Colonialism poisons everything and its legacy can't be avoided with good intentions.

I don't really understand the full scope of what the letter signers are asking for, though - I get the sense that NPR is picking a couple of illustrative examples but leaving out a lot.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 9:08 PM on July 18, 2020 [3 favorites]

Just scrolling down the NPR homepage, 'doomscrolling,' 'sleepy joe,' 'blacktop wasteland,' 'we're embarrassed' and 'showbiz kids' are all also currently quotation marked in article titles.
posted by bracems at 9:31 AM on July 19, 2020

These are charges to be taken seriously but also it is fair to see what the charges actually are. As others have said, where is the letter? I tried looking around as well and didn't find it. Is it private?

I couldn't find any mention of these actual statements locally, but it rings totally in line with the Italian/European blind spots on these issues.

Sorry, but can we not take statements by the Telegraph, a right-wing rag, at face value?
posted by vacapinta at 9:48 AM on July 19, 2020

There's no link to the letter in the article

To add to the MSF UK Board of Trustees response linked by Kutsuwamushi above, here is a MSF UK/Germany/Amsterdam Operational Center response to what is referred to as "the open letter from staff across MSF".

I believe the letter itself is this google doc (found via @shaistaAziz on Twitter), signatories are here.
posted by progosk at 12:02 PM on July 19, 2020 [3 favorites]

Sorry, but can we not take statements by the Telegraph, a right-wing rag, at face value?

Not what I did, methinks?
There is this 6th of June tweet by the head of MSF Italy that might be where things germinated from... [my translation]:
"You cannot classify the world according to genetically determined characteristics! We should do so based on characteristics that depend on everyone's capacity for self-determination: the ability to reflect, solidarity, love for humanity...
#BlackLivesMatter
#EveryLivesMatter"
posted by progosk at 12:22 PM on July 19, 2020

After looking a bit more, it seems like the statements by the MSF Italy head that the Guardian piece quotes might be referring to notes posted on an MSF-internal message board. Another voice quoted there, a member of the MSF UK board, has also posted this personal piece on MSF UK's site: Addressing racism in MSF. It contextualizes the antiracist push as coming from MSF US, and... encountering European bias.
As an aside, given the revolting initiatives afoot to criminalise NGOs in Italy for several years now, especially those active in aiding Mediterranean refugees, I'm particularly loath to anything that arms those who have MSF in their sights per se. But that notwithstanding, the post-colonial "blindspot" here really is a huge issue to tackle.
posted by progosk at 1:15 AM on July 20, 2020 [2 favorites]