|
Even though there were nine nationalities aboard the
Boeing 737 jet which burst into flames and crashed
into the sea minutes after taking off in a violent
thunderstorm on the Monday morning of January 25,
2010, the Lebanese, naturally enough, only concerned
themselves with one.
There were 54 Lebanese, almost all from the
country’s predominately Shiite southern region, who
are probably dead and the nation’s outpouring of
grief has been intense.
Monday was declared to be a national day of mourning
for the victims by Prime Minister Saad Hariri; the
education minister closed institutions for two days
as a mark of respect.
The funeral of a southern businessman, who worked
for a food import country in Angola, attracted
international media attention, with veiled women
throwing themselves on the coffin.
Distraught friends and relatives are still thronging
a hospital in Southern Beirut, waiting to identify
mangled bodies being dragged from the Eastern
Mediterranean.
The search for the plane’s black box is continuing,
with families of victims waiting anxiously for clues
on what befell flight ET409 in the seconds before
disappearing off radar screens for good.
As
with any air disaster in a post 9/11 world,
terrorism has been raised as a possible cause, with
several Lebanese dailies carrying uncorroborated
allegations that the crash was the result of a
“deliberate attack.”
Whatever the cause of the disaster, it has exposed
the uncomfortable and often unuttered truth that
many Lebanese are still virulently racist.
There were 23 migrant domestic workers from Ethiopia
onboard the ill-fated flight, along with at least
seven airline crewmembers. The pilot was also
Ethiopian.
In
the absence of concrete facts, Lebanon’s transport
minister suggested that pilot error may have downed
the plane, with the jet having undertaking “a very
strange and fast turn” seconds before crashing.
This was all the information many media outlets
needed. Naharnet, an English-language news site to
be read with a shovelful of salt, carried the
offensive headline, “Ethiopian Pilot Flew Wrong
Way!”
The complete lack of evidence aside, it is certain
that no such exclamatory tone would have been used
if the pilot were Lebanese. The inference here is
simple: an Ethiopian pilot - silly him - ignored the
learned Lebanese air traffic controllers (who have
an exemplary record for departure punctuality) and
his mad error killed 90 people.
Such scandalous journalese, however, pales in
comparison to the appalling treatment of friends and
relatives of Ethiopian passengers.
At
Rafik Hariri International Airport, while wailing
Lebanese family members were consoled by round after
round of politicians, offered food and drink and
drip fed information on victims as and when it was
received, Ethiopians concerned were sidelined
totally.
Desperate women, dressed in the scrubs which often
adorn domestic workers, pleaded with authorities for
information only to be shepherded into a separate
room from Lebanese mourners.
DNA databases that will be used to identify mangled
corpses are only being compiled from Lebanese blood
samples. No Ethiopian has been asked to participate,
even if relatives were on board.
A
normally well-respected broadcaster conducted a live
piece outside a hospital with their Beirut
correspondent on Monday night, January 25, 2010. An
Ethiopian, wracked with grief, unwittingly wandered
into shot only to be literally hauled out of view by
the Lebanese crew. Had she been Lebanese, it is
unthinkable she would have been treated like this.
Much has been written on the plight of migrant
domestic workers in Lebanon. Their daughter was on
the way home to Addis Abeba for good after years of
being beaten by employers, said the relatives of one
Ethiopian victim.
To
witness the neglect of friends and relatives left
behind in Lebanon will offer Ethiopian families no
comfort.
The BBC even commissioned a special report on the
Lebanese Diaspora in Western Africa. No such article
was mooted for the reverse demographic. It is
entirely understandable for news agencies and
civilians to take interest in their own nationals
during times like this.
But to systematically sideline, even vilify
Ethiopian victims, many of whom would have led a
pitiful existence in Lebanon in domestic servitude,
exudes exactly the opposite of the mercy that
relatives of Lebanese victims are pleading for.
In
times of disaster, people let down their guard. The
disaster of flight ET409 showed large parts of
Lebanese society for what it is. |
