International Perspectives on National Events at the US Capitol
How might US-based educators use international news media to help their students make meaning of the recent events at the United States Capitol?
In the wake of significant, volatile national events with international resonance and impact, many global educators in the United States have sought out news media coverage from around the world to help their students process what is happening in their own country. Recognizing and understanding perspectives from nations other than one’s own place of residence or citizenship is a key global competency for many schools, as is the knowledge that events and actions close to home can have far-reaching geo-political implications.
Approaching a topic with these global competencies in mind can support student sense-making and provide students with additional context beyond their accessible, preferred social-media or national-news outlets. However, while many well-known organizations provide lists of materials and discussion questions for educators to consider (such as this great resource from Facing History and Ourselves), these resources very rarely include international perspectives.
As a natural consequence, many teachers turn to trusted international newspapers or to domestic news sources that curate international responses (such as this article from PBS, this one from NPR, or this one from Reuters) to engage international viewpoints; these educators might even identify a piece of analysis or commentary with a global scope for student discussion or response (such as this analytical piece by Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post or this piece by Sarah Leonard in Aljazeera’s AJ+).
However, educators with global networks or personal/familial connections abroad have additional methods and opportunities: they often reach out to partners to assist in identifying articles or other media coverage from various locations around the world that would be accessible to their students. Connecting with partner schools abroad or through global networks of educators generates a unique list of customized news sources that are identified by trusted colleagues with local linguistic and cultural knowledge. Ideally, educators also share these resources with their colleagues, helping to bring global competencies and global perspectives into the learning beyond their own classroom. This method of resource curation ensures that the perspectives shared with students are not simply the first to appear in a quick Google search; instead, this method helps educators practice the media literacy skills and the intercultural awareness that they seek to teach their own students.
TIMES OF INDIA coverage of the incident
With this understanding and these opportunities in mind, we have developed the following list of curated resources through our own research, recommendations from our global partner schools, and engagement with peers in global education networks like GEBG.
Resources from Africa and the Middle East:
- Often-lectured Africa sees irony in US political violence (The Nation, Kenya)
- Insurrection and racism in the US: A disgrace and a warning (Daily Maverick, South Africa)
- Heed the DC insurrection, for South Africa is a first-class candidate for widespread constitutional delinquency (Daily Maverick, South Africa)
- China goes online to mock “beautiful sight” of US Capitol chaos (The Citizen, Tanzania)
- “Nothing can stop us”, – slain Trump supporter tweeted conspiracy theories in days before her death (Business Insider, South Africa)
- Failure of Western democracy’: How world leaders reacted to the storm on the US Capitol (South Africa)
- Plans to storm the Capitol were circulating on social media sites for days before siege (Business Insider, South Africa)
- ANALYSIS | Was it a coup? No, but siege on US Capitol was election violence of a fragile democracy (South Africa)
- Daily News Egypt: The Fall of American Democracy
- Jerusalem Post of Israel
Resources from South and East Asia:
- Perspectives from India
- Editorial from The China Daily: Storming of US Capitol, epilogue or prologue
- Beijing mouthpiece says US Capitol attack proves democracy is ‘a failure’, South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
- Xinhua Commentary: The destructive legacy of Washington’s confrontation mania
Resources from Europe:
- Editorial: The Guardian view on the storming of the US Capitol: democracy in danger (UK)
- Editorial: Violence on the Capitol: a day of shame in the United States (Le Monde, France)
- Berlingske’s foreign editor: “Trump has not received a revelation in the middle of the night” (Berlingske, Denmark)
- Capitol riots: What is happening in Washington? (UK)
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
Resources from Canada:
- Shock and Disbelief’: Americans in Canada’s capital react to Capitol Hill riot (CTV News, Canada)
- Jonathan Kay: The storming of the U.S. Capitol wasn’t about white supremacy, whatever Canadian pundits say (National Post, Ontario, Canada)
- Opinion: Police response to storming of U.S. Capitol should not surprise anyone (CBS, Canada)
- Democracy can be fragile’: Canadian prof and American daughter say Canada can learn from pro-Trump insurgence (CTV News, Canada)
Resources from South America:
- Buenos Aires Times: World Leaders’ responses to yesterday’s attacks.
- Colombia Reports: Colombia condemns pro-Trump assault on US Congress
- Opinión: La profanación de la democracia: (Pagina 12, Argentina)
- Una potencia en problemas: El daño que dejó la irrupción en el Capitolio a la imagen y el poder de EE.UU (Emol, Chile)
- La democracia bajo ataque en Estados Unidos: (El Universo, Ecuador)
The list is not comprehensive, rather, one comprised of sources shared across educator networks and global partnerships. For more country-specific newspapers, please click here.
Yom Fox is the Director of Community and Global Partnerships and a history teacher at Dalton School in New York City, and Karina Baum is the Director of Global Education at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.