Vanessa Nakate, Uganda’s climate activist, said she had been “erased” from an image where she appeared alongside several white activists at the Davos summit.
“What it is like to be removed from a photo”. It was this phrase that Vanessa Nakate, 23, wrote along with a video message, on the social network Twitter, in which she says she now understands “the definition of the word racism”.
At stake, a photo taken with four other climate activists – the young Swedish Greta Thunberg, Loukina Tille, Luisa Neubauer and Isabelle Axelsson – after a joint press conference on Friday in Davos, within the framework of the World Economic Forum. What was his surprise when he saw that it did not appear in the publicly released image.
Nakate said that “several” agencies, including the United States AP news agency, removed it from the original photograph. “We do not deserve this. Africa is the least carbon-emitting continent, but we are the most affected by the climate crisis … Deleting our voices will not change anything. Deleting our stories will not change anything,” he criticizes.
“They didn’t just erase a photo. They erased a continent. But I’m stronger than ever,” says the young activist.
“The photographer was taking a photo within a tight deadline, and cropped it only for composition reasons, because he thought the building in the background was a disturbing element,” justified AP news director of photography David Ake , quoted by BBC News. The agency has already removed the photograph from the controversy and released the original image, saying it was “without bad intent”.
Several Nakate supporters and climate advocates expressed their support for the Uganda activist’s complaint. “I’m sorry they did this to you … you are the last one who deserves it! We are all very grateful for what they are doing and we all send love and support,” wrote Greta Thunberg.
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