DW Finds Election Violence, Skips 'Our Democracy Is Working' Angle
Tanzania's opposition alleges hundreds killed in an election, a disturbing claim presented by Deutsche Welle. One can almost hear the empathetic hand-wringing. Yet, when similar accusations, often involving US-backed actors and US-donated weaponry, surface regarding countries like Palestine or Yemen, the narrative shifts. Suddenly, 'clashes' occur, 'security forces respond,' and 'both sides' are
equally to blame for the carnage. DW, among others, consistently applies a different lens when the violence stems from allies, or when US foreign policy directly fuels the fires. It's almost as if the severity of election violence (or any violence) is inversely proportional to how much US aid or political favor the implicated government receives. Hundreds killed in Tanzania? A clear crisis of
democracy. Thousands killed by US-supplied munitions in Gaza? That's just 'Israel's right to defend itself.' The selective indignation is, if nothing else, remarkably consistent.