You Can Stop Genocide
Friends in the Blogosphere,
I feel like one thing that those of us on the left and right can agree on is that genocide is very bad. Please consider this petition to ask the US government to pressure the UN and African states to intervene in the crisis in Darfur. If you aren't familiar with what's going on there, please see Nicholas Kristof's recent work in the New York Times.
I know that many of you have problems with the United Nations, but I think this issue is far too important for the world to sit idly by. Please note that this is NOT a call to send US combat troops to Sudan, it's merely a request that the administration use its bully pulpit to stop the slaughter, rape and torture of hundreds of thousands of people. It only takes a few minutes, and it seems the least that each of us can do to give meaning to the phrase "Never Again."
I feel like one thing that those of us on the left and right can agree on is that genocide is very bad. Please consider this petition to ask the US government to pressure the UN and African states to intervene in the crisis in Darfur. If you aren't familiar with what's going on there, please see Nicholas Kristof's recent work in the New York Times.
I know that many of you have problems with the United Nations, but I think this issue is far too important for the world to sit idly by. Please note that this is NOT a call to send US combat troops to Sudan, it's merely a request that the administration use its bully pulpit to stop the slaughter, rape and torture of hundreds of thousands of people. It only takes a few minutes, and it seems the least that each of us can do to give meaning to the phrase "Never Again."
posted by Jason at 10:40
8 Comments:
I think the big question is, "Exactly what is going to be done to stop the slaughter?". I seriously doubt that a scornful tone will be enough to end the massacre, so what do we do? The U.N. is in turmoil over the new revelations about Kofi "COTECNA" Anan, so who is going to step in? Perhaps we could have Libya, Iran, or China intervene?
NC, not knowing the perfect answer isn't a reasonable excuse to do NOTHING. For starters, there's the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005.
As Kristof put it, the world (and for better or for worse, that probably means the UN) must put "unrelenting pressure on Sudan to disarm the janjaweed, on intransigent Sudanese rebels to negotiate seriously for peace (instead of lounging about their hotel suites) and on governments like Egypt's and China's to stop being complicit in the Darfur genocide."
Logistical, diplomatic and cash aid could be given to the African Union force there - see what they can accomplish. I'm not naive, these actions won't save every person in Darfur from the possibility of rape or murder, but if it helps even some, why can't the the West at least try?
Try is the key word. Do what we can, and that's not asking too much. The likelihood that my actions will have no affect is not a reason, in my mind, to do nothing.
I plan on using information regarding this crisis in my Holocaust unit next year with my freshmen. History not only can, but does repeat itself.
Thanks, jason. I've already sent the e-mail and will be going to the links you've provided for some additional research to compliment that which I already have begun compiling. Yesterday was my last day of classes, so today I've begun looking ahead to next year.
Don't get me wrong, I believe that SOMETHING should be done, but I am worried that WE are the only ones who really care about what's going on. By we, I mean the people of the United States (evidently not the government). Other nations have had plenty of time to take the lead, but they have not. The African Union should step in, but it will not. The United Nations has every right to intervene, but being a collection of thugs and dictators, they choose to stand silently by. It is a horrid, terrible thing. I just wish someone, anyone, would end it.
NC,
I AM the dreaded Europhile that the American Right likes to label as being an appeaser and anti-American. That said, the Administration's statements on Darfur have been FAR more appropriate that anything coming from "my" side of the Atlantic. But let's keep our eye on the ball: this isn't about Europe vs. America - it's about the Sudanese government/the janjaweed vs. Sudanese civilians. And the world is sitting still. I'm an American voter - all the pressure I can wield lies can only be directed at my leaders.
Yet it seems uncongruous for the United States - which claimed it could not sit "idly by" and allow Saddam Hussein to govern waiting for UN approval - to claim that it shouldn't have to be the one to do something. Either the US is the global superpower, or it's not (and here I echo the fine point made by Nigela). Or as I heard Uncle Ben utter last night to a young Peter Parker on TNT, "With great power comes great responsibility."
While it is not unfair to criticize African leaders for failing to act in Darfur, the African Union is an embryonic concept, hardly even an "entity" in any sense. Yet unlike the UN, EU, NATO or the US, they HAVE put at least token forces on the ground there. Money, logisitcal /military support, and diplomatic efforts by the US could increase their presense. As Hamel said, it sure doesn't hurt to try - and might even have long-term benefits of increased security cooperation between African states.
As for your (somewhat expected) swipe at the UN, I think that you are missing the point: the UN is made up of member states, and the charter specifically envisions that permanent members of the security council have disproportionate responsibility to manage world affairs. (Too often the UN has acted in the way you describe, but there is at least efforts to reform it - I encrourage you to look at some of the specific recent reform proposals by Kofi Annan, such as keeping thug regimes off the human rights bodies.) But the silence of the other members of the SC is no excuse for the silence of the United States - that's basically a re-hashed Nurenburg defense.
Hamel,
Please keep me updated on your project with your students for next year (feel free to email me directly) - I'm very interested. My bully pulpit in the blogoshere pales in comparison to your ability to influence the world, and I sincerely applaud your efforts. I hope you don't mind, if I come across anything on the subject I find useful, I'll pass it along to you - but "Kristof Responds" at nytimes.com has some really good links to all the goings on (both on the ground, NGOs, and diplomatically) in Darfur.
Jason, please feel free to pass on whatever you find. I'm currently on hiatus regarding starting a non-profit for my class, as it seems the administration is worried I may offend someone by raising money for my students. So right now it's working on a set of lessons to teach my lower-level freshmen how to write, while I'll be gathering facts on Darfur. Then, it's off to rework my entire Holocaust unit so it's new title will be something along the lines of Discrimination or the like.
That said, I'll add to this thread (sorry for getting a bit off topic) by noting that Jason and Nigela both make several fine points. However, the two that stand out in my mind are Nigela saying that it's never wrong to be the first to do the right thing, and Jason's comment that we must be consistent in our foreign policy. Our argument for going to war regarding human rights issues (it obviously never was about WMD, because there weren't any the administration new it) and a corrupt government clearly must hold true in Darfur.
Honestly, I agree with almost everything that has been said. It sickens me that we are doing nothing in Darfur. My heart goes out them, but the world, including (as much as it pains me to say it) the United States, stands idly by. Meaningful action MUST take place, I'm just not sure that anyone has the strength or the resolve to do it just yet. It's too easy to dismiss it as just another series of violent acts in Africa.
Just as we had and have no business meddling in Iraq, and imposing our will and values on that part of the planet, we have no business in Darfur. Nearly every time we have ventured forth from our shores with good intentions, we have managed to muck things up and leave them worse than before. From our history, I don't see that our involvement can make a positive change.
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