Once Again
Last night, I attended a talk by Nicolas Kristof, an editorialist for
the NYTimes, regarding the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of
Sudan.
I went because I am aware that there is a humanitarian crisis happening in the world right now, but I know so little about it. Having seen the film Hotel Rwanda about a month ago ignited this feeling of rage that I get everytime I think about the Holocaust, which is that it is unacceptable that genocide has happened and continues to happen post-1940s. Indeed, the event last night was sponsored by the local Hillel Chapter for Holocaust Remembrance Week, and the banner behind the speaker said "Never Again."
Well here we are, once again. Cambodia (1975), Guatemala (1982), Rwanda (1994), Bosnia (1995). I'm sure there are more.
The reason I'm writing is because Kristof spoke to the feeling that although we were there sitting in the room, we felt helpless, unsure if any action we took would matter. He said that former Senator Paul Simon (D-Ill.) made a statement after after the US failed to act in Rwanda, that if 100 people had written to their Congress-people in each constituency, Congress would have done something.
So here's whats happening from my understanding, in case you don't know. If I get anything wrong, someone please correct me. The Sudanese government is supplying arms to Arab "Janjaweed" (meaning militiamen) to slaughter the black African population. Both groups are Muslim. The Arabs are traditionally nomadic herdsmen while the black population is mostly crop farmers. The Africans wanted a stronger economy and began to rebel, the Sudanese government responded by arming the arab militiamen. Government-backed ethnic cleansing.
The US has supported the UN Resolution to up the pressure on the Sudanese government through sanctions and threat of being tried in the International Criminal Court. We could do more. While putting troops on the ground is probably not the course of action we should take, we could impose no fly zones and monitor them from US bases in Chad, expand sanctions including on oil, increase funding for humanitarian efforts in the area (probably in Chad, where refugees are fleeing), etc. I also think that expressing outrage at the situation goes a long way. Kristof noted the irony of world leaders gathering for the funeral of Pope John Paul and yet not taking the opportunity to meet up, to do anything to act on his message of striving for peace.
It is estimated that about 388,000 people have died already, and the current death rate is 10,000 people per month and could get as bad as 100,000 people per month if the international community fails to act. Just to give you a sense of how the killings are affected by our response, Kristof said that after the tsunami happened, the killings were the worst that month, because journalism and aid efforts were focused pretty extensively in Southeast Asia, leaving the Sudanese government to act unchecked. The tsunami was a tragedy, but it is ironic how if 100,000 people die in a day the world can focus on the event and feel strongly motivated to act immediately, but if just a couple of hundred people die a day for a year somehow we - especially the media I think - can't seem to be able to convey that tragedy as well.
Probably the most poignant story he conveyed based on his recent visit to Sudan was this: he spoke with a group of families whose only source of water was this one well, and each family needed a bucket of water a day. After some time, the militiamen in that area realized that it was more efficient for them to stand around the well, because every family would go once a day to collect water. Initially the husbands went. They were shot. Wives went. They were either gang-raped and mutilated, raped and killed, or unharmed. Knowledge of who returned and who didn't spread amongst the families, and they began to send their children. They soon found that children under the age of 5 were consistently spared. So every day, families would send their young children 1-2 miles to the well surrounded by armed men, to collect water.
This is one of those stories where you read about it and think, it is awful that this was real, that this could happen. Well, that story happened probably two weeks ago and that same situation may still be going on right now. This seems like a good site, if you want to know more.
*FYI, I'm not sure of the relationship between the situation in Darfur and the North-South Civil War in Sudan which has been happening for the past couple of years, but I think the US is pledging aid to Sudan for help post-civil war. At this point I believe that we are making it contingent on the situation in Darfur resolving first.
I went because I am aware that there is a humanitarian crisis happening in the world right now, but I know so little about it. Having seen the film Hotel Rwanda about a month ago ignited this feeling of rage that I get everytime I think about the Holocaust, which is that it is unacceptable that genocide has happened and continues to happen post-1940s. Indeed, the event last night was sponsored by the local Hillel Chapter for Holocaust Remembrance Week, and the banner behind the speaker said "Never Again."
Well here we are, once again. Cambodia (1975), Guatemala (1982), Rwanda (1994), Bosnia (1995). I'm sure there are more.
The reason I'm writing is because Kristof spoke to the feeling that although we were there sitting in the room, we felt helpless, unsure if any action we took would matter. He said that former Senator Paul Simon (D-Ill.) made a statement after after the US failed to act in Rwanda, that if 100 people had written to their Congress-people in each constituency, Congress would have done something.
So here's whats happening from my understanding, in case you don't know. If I get anything wrong, someone please correct me. The Sudanese government is supplying arms to Arab "Janjaweed" (meaning militiamen) to slaughter the black African population. Both groups are Muslim. The Arabs are traditionally nomadic herdsmen while the black population is mostly crop farmers. The Africans wanted a stronger economy and began to rebel, the Sudanese government responded by arming the arab militiamen. Government-backed ethnic cleansing.
The US has supported the UN Resolution to up the pressure on the Sudanese government through sanctions and threat of being tried in the International Criminal Court. We could do more. While putting troops on the ground is probably not the course of action we should take, we could impose no fly zones and monitor them from US bases in Chad, expand sanctions including on oil, increase funding for humanitarian efforts in the area (probably in Chad, where refugees are fleeing), etc. I also think that expressing outrage at the situation goes a long way. Kristof noted the irony of world leaders gathering for the funeral of Pope John Paul and yet not taking the opportunity to meet up, to do anything to act on his message of striving for peace.
It is estimated that about 388,000 people have died already, and the current death rate is 10,000 people per month and could get as bad as 100,000 people per month if the international community fails to act. Just to give you a sense of how the killings are affected by our response, Kristof said that after the tsunami happened, the killings were the worst that month, because journalism and aid efforts were focused pretty extensively in Southeast Asia, leaving the Sudanese government to act unchecked. The tsunami was a tragedy, but it is ironic how if 100,000 people die in a day the world can focus on the event and feel strongly motivated to act immediately, but if just a couple of hundred people die a day for a year somehow we - especially the media I think - can't seem to be able to convey that tragedy as well.
Probably the most poignant story he conveyed based on his recent visit to Sudan was this: he spoke with a group of families whose only source of water was this one well, and each family needed a bucket of water a day. After some time, the militiamen in that area realized that it was more efficient for them to stand around the well, because every family would go once a day to collect water. Initially the husbands went. They were shot. Wives went. They were either gang-raped and mutilated, raped and killed, or unharmed. Knowledge of who returned and who didn't spread amongst the families, and they began to send their children. They soon found that children under the age of 5 were consistently spared. So every day, families would send their young children 1-2 miles to the well surrounded by armed men, to collect water.
This is one of those stories where you read about it and think, it is awful that this was real, that this could happen. Well, that story happened probably two weeks ago and that same situation may still be going on right now. This seems like a good site, if you want to know more.
*FYI, I'm not sure of the relationship between the situation in Darfur and the North-South Civil War in Sudan which has been happening for the past couple of years, but I think the US is pledging aid to Sudan for help post-civil war. At this point I believe that we are making it contingent on the situation in Darfur resolving first.