A few thoughts on this @NickKristof piece on the Central African Republic 1/n
@NickKristof Our team happened to be on the same flight as @NickKristof leaving the CAR one week ago 2/n
@NickKristof When we saw him at the airport, we all said: shit, the NYT almost never covers CAR and now Kristof is going to write some shallow, reckless "dark continent" article 3/n
@NickKristof Some of our team attempted to ward this off — expecting Kristof to write about "miserable" victims, they talked to him about some of the many Central African activists who work to promote peace, & provide education & other basic rights & needs 4/n
@NickKristof But the published Kristof piece is true to form 5/n
@NickKristof He actually uses the line “capital of human misery” and refers to the whole country as “wretched” 6/n
@NickKristof The “experts” he quotes are foreigners 7/n
@NickKristof Central Africans are “victims” 8/n
@NickKristof The solutions he offers are largely top-down, externally imposed 9/n
@NickKristof When he mentions the work of civil society, he focuses on foreign NGOs 10/n
@NickKristof There is little recognition of the agency and work of the countless Central Africans who run NGOs, provide healthcare, work for peace, prosecute crimes, risk their lives to protect others 11/n
@NickKristof He could have mentioned groups like AFJC - an NGO of Central African women lawyers who support women seeking accountability for sexual abuse 12/n
@NickKristof He could have discussed Central African humanitarian NGOs like JUPEDEC, which works around the country doing civilian protection & humanitarian work, helping communities respond to the conflict 13/n
@NickKristof He could have talked about the efforts led by Central African faith leaders to promote social cohesion 14/n
@NickKristof He could have discussed Central African human rights groups like RONGDH, whose members document violations and promote accountability for abuse 15/n
@NickKristof He could have discussed Central African activists like Moussa Abdoulaye, who started a school for marginalized youth in his neighborhood. 500+ kids are now receiving an education because of his work 16/n
@NickKristof He tells his readers that death results from “chaos and dysfunction,” and fails to grapple with the complexities of the conflict, the harms of colonization, the systems & structures leading to poverty 17/n
@NickKristof Amazingly, peacekeepers are @nickkristof’s unequivocal heroes, and he makes no mention of the killings and rapes they’ve committed, and how distrusted they are by many CAR residents 18/n
@NickKristof Yes, the CAR is one of the poorest countries in the world, civilians are regularly attacked, and suffering is immense & mostly ignored outside the country 19/n
@NickKristof The reality of those harms can be brought to the attention of NYT readers without painting the entire country as “wretched,” the residents all miserable victims 20/n
@NickKristof A better article would highlight the many harms and challenges faced by Central Africans, elevate the *many* local efforts to counter the war & humanitarian crisis, and amplify the reforms identified as critical by local leaders 21/21
