- Peter Jegva
- Lilongwe, Malawi
8 hours ago
caption,Cameraman Lu Ke claims he produced the videos to spread Chinese culture
Police have arrested a Chinese cameraman for racism and child exploitation from Malawi in southeast Africa. Lu Ke was living in the country when the BBC’s Africa Eye program revealed he was using local children to make personalized congratulatory videos, many with racist content in a language they didn’t understand.
These videos have been sold for up to R$350 on social media platforms in China.
The defendant denies producing videos with degrading content, claiming that he produced them to spread Chinese culture in the local community.
But in one of them, for example, a group of children are instructed by the cameraman to repeat racist slurs like “I’m a black monster! I have a low IQ” in Mandarin.
While being filmed with a hidden camera by a journalist (unidentified as such), Lu Ke admitted to producing the videos but denies it immediately afterwards.
caption,
“I’m a black monster,” repeat the children in the video
During the conversation he says: “Never feel sorry for her, you have to remember that. Never pity her. No matter what family situation you have, never feel sorry for them.
In one of the conversations captured by the hidden camera, he appears to boast that he recorded more than 380 videos in a single day, which would equate to at least $11,000 in income in less than 24 hours.
The case was investigated by Malawian police last week after the BBC released the footage, but the Chinese cameraman was on the run for days until he was located in a neighboring country, Zambia, in the town of Chipata.
According to Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman Pasqually Zulu, the two countries are negotiating Lu Ke’s deportation to Malawi to continue the investigation.
When the case came to light, a senior Chinese diplomat, Wu Peng, said he had discussed the matter with Malawian colleagues, stressing that China opposes any form of discrimination and that the country is taking steps to eliminate such discrimination. media content.
“China has been fighting these illegal online actions in recent years,” he tweeted. “And we will continue to fight these racist videos in the future.”
The clues that led to those responsible for the videos
These demeaning videos, linked to a popular content category in China, have been surfacing on social media since February 2020.
After months of careful investigation and forensic analysis of the video, reporters Runako Celina and Henry Mhango from the BBC’s Africa Eye TV show team managed to find some answers to try to uncover the story behind the recording.
Using geographic, topographical and signaling elements, the experts (assisted by investigative reporter Henry Mhango) were able to determine that the IQ video was shot in a small rural town in Malawi, southeast Africa.
caption,
Many of Susu’s videos contained demeaning content that satirized the poverty of the people of Africa.
Mhango discovered that Lu Ke had come to live in the area a few years ago and had recorded hundreds of videos with the local people.
According to local residents, they received him believing he had come to teach the little ones Mandarin.
In addition, reporters say it is not uncommon to see Chinese citizens in Malawi today.
Due to Beijing’s growing efforts to expand its influence in Africa through investments in infrastructure and the presence of Chinese companies and technologies locals have begun to adjust to the presence of foreigners in the country.
This also led some local residents to believe that through the videos, Lu Ke could get economic aid from China to improve the living conditions of the impoverished population. But they were frustrated when they learned of the producer’s true intentions from the BBC.
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