'Pure colonial reflex’: Trump envoy slammed for ‘animalistic’ jibe at Lebanese journalists

Insulting racial taunts by an American regional envoy against Lebanese journalists have sparked a whirlwind of criticism among countless social media frequenters, including anti-colonial activists and prominent Lebanese figures.

President Donald Trump’s envoy on Syria and Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack touched off a constant torrent of outrage on Tuesday after he told the journalists trying to ask him questions during a press conference in Beirut to “be quiet” and stop being “animalistic.”

“Act civilized, act kind, act tolerant,” he added.

The official went on to allege that the situation in the West Asia region – where Israeli and American aggression has claimed hundreds of lives and sown rampant chaos – was due to the behavior that he was trying to accuse the journalists of exercising.

Storming social media platforms, Netizens denounced Barrack’s “colonialist,” extremely overbearing, and racially-charged comments.

An activist identifying as Thomas Keith called the envoy’s remarks “pure colonial reflex.” 

The official, Keith added, was in no position to set “rules” for how locals could speak in their own country, while framing it as “the problem with the region.” He also underlined that press conferences in the US, itself, were far louder, but would instead be invariably interpreted as “vibrant free press” activity.

Geopolitical analyst, Kevork Almassian also called Barrack’s remarks “colonial condescension.”

A Yemeni activist identifying as Oday noted that the comments indicated “colonial mentality,” while it was America, itself, that had fueled wars and destruction throughout the globe, including the region, for decades.

‘You don’t run Lebanon’

Lebanese-British journalist and former Sunday Times correspondent, Hala Jaber likened Barrack to “a 19th-century colonial commissioner.” “You don’t run this country, & you don’t get to insult its people,” she added.

The envoy, she added, was in no position to blame the situation raging throughout West Asia “on our ‘region.’”

‘US envoy going to racist, Zionist extremes’

Asad Abukhalil, Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus, lamented issuance of such racist remarks on the part of a person of Lebanese descent, referring to Barrack’s own ancestral roots.

When such people get to represent Washington in the region, they strive their hardest “to prove their loyalty by going to extremes in their racism and Zionism,” Abukhalil added.

Palestinian writer and poet, Mosab Abu Toha, meanwhile, said it was rather the Israeli regime and its key military and political supporter, the US, which were being “animalistic.”

He pointed to the regime’s “committing a live-streamed genocide” in the Gaza Strip, which has been raging on for some 22 months, besides denouncing Washington’s “funding” of such atrocities.

A UK-based activist identifying as Fawz called the US official’s comments “a textbook example” of Orientalism, the West’s depicting Arabs as chaotic, uncivilized, and in need of guidance.

Another activist also warned that there was no “civilized” way to deal with “beneficiaries of Western hegemony and genocide.”

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