December 29, 2008
Hope for Darfur
Nicholas Kristoff writes a NY Times piece which gives tangible things that the US can do to help the situation in Darfur, get the Sudanese government to hand over President Bashir, and to prevent a horrific war between the north and south of Sudan. Interestingly he mentions in the article that China is supporting Bashir’s regime less and less.
Here’s the article. (you may need to do a free sign up for the NY Times, but it’s not a big deal and probably worth it)
TJ
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I commend the HP Alliance for covering the human rights situation in Darfur, especially… but can we talk about the brutal, unjust carnage of innocents in the Gaza Strip? Why so silent? Can we talk about what’s going on in the Middle East and why? Can we talk about the United States’ involvement?
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081229_party_to_murder/
http://fromgaza.blogspot.com/
Vanessa
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Thank you TJ!
I had never heard of Gaza before today but now I will definitely be educating myself on the subject!
Thank you for alerting one more person to help in the fight against genocide
andrew
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Vanessa: for clarification, what is happening in Gaza is horrible but it’s not a genocide. While I don’t like it when people are reluctant to use the word “genocide” when it’s more than applicable (for instance: Darfur), in the case of Gaza, it is certainly not a genocide–it really isn’t. It is, however, a horrible war. I am praying for peace and it is heartening to hear how much you care! If all of us could work for peace, in our selves, in our lives, and in this world, particularly in places like Israel and Palestine, this world would be so much the saner, so much the healthier, and so much more the just.
Vanessa
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What defines genocide? What makes the difference in between war, and genocide?
Are all genocides wars? But not all wars genocides?
Thank you for correcting me andrew.
Andrew Slack
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Vanessa: this is a very powerful question and honestly, I am not qualified to give a truly accurate response. There is a strict legal definition of the word “genocide” and in fact, in many cases, that definition becomes problematic. Many countries have yet to refer to the genocide in Darfur as a “genocide.” By using the term “genocide” it means that they must act, and they are afraid to. So they find ways to try to prove that what’s happening in Darfur does not fit the legal criteria (though it seems that they are wrong…what is happening in Darfur has met the legal criteria for years). But I’m no expert in international law — and in fact, I’m not even going to be able to give a great answer on this outside of the legal answer. But I can try. So I’ll be trying in my next comment right below this one.
Andrew Slack
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Keep in mind that the term “genocide” is still debated on what it actually means and that this is a reason for why it’s so problematic to use. But what’s happening in Darfur is a goal to completely end the way of life of Darfuri people and it seems, to completely destroy every one of their ethnic groups. Hitler’s goal was to completely wipe out the Jewish population. On a different level, the goal of many Europeans in the US was to completely destroy the way of life of the Native American population — to break the back bone of the culture. In Rwanda the goal was one group trying to completely wipe out the other group. And so on.
Let’s look at a war that is not a genocide. The US invasion of Iraq–I was against this invasion personally. But the goal of this invasion was never to destroy the Iraqi people completely. It was not to annihilate them or wipe them off the face of the Earth. But the invasion has led to the killing of countless Iraqi civilians — one of the many reasons I am opposed to the war in Iraq. However, as much as I am passionately against this war, there is no conscious intention to make the Iraqi people extinct –to wipe them off the face of the Earth (though perhaps you’d hear a racist white person suggest such a horrific thing…it has not been an implemented policy). The Israeli government for all their faults, has never made it a conscious intention to completely destroy the Palestinian people. They have oftentimes been brutal – we have in fact, seen brutality from every side of the conflict. And even when you see a few people who are so racist on one of these sides (both Israeli and Palestinian) that they remark about something terrible like making the other group extinct, it is not a truly implemented policy. Civilians are still being killed as are soldiers in Israel and Palestine — and this is all terrible. So terrible. And of course, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE TO THE PARENT OF A CHILD, WHEN THEIR INNOCENT CHILD IS KILLED whether they were killed in a war or killed in a genocide? Either way, they were murdered. And that’s important to remember.
However, looking at the larger pattern of what’s happening, there still is a key difference. While it’s still indescribably horrible no matter what we say, the difference is that in Darfur, children are killed on purpose. They are not accidental casualties. They are on purpose and intended to be killed in many cases so that their ethnic group will not have another generation. This is very different from what’s happening in Gaza. It seems that the Israeli government both wants Hamas to stop firing missiles and also wants to cause so much destruction and damage so that Hamas (the leading political party in Palestinian) and neighboring countries, are reminded as to why they should fear Israel. And the insanity comes in when we see that in doing this, they are killing innocent people and homes are being destroyed, etc.
However, it is not the Israeli government’s attempt to ultimately destroy the Palestinian people.
I’m not sure if this answers your question and I would be happy to hear someone else try and answer it.
Andrew Slack
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Another thing: I don’t mean to minimize any one’s pain here. What’s happening is horrific and about 400 Palestinians have been killed. On the front cover of the Washington Post today was a woman who lost I believe, four daughters over this. It is clear that every side has something to say here, but the scope of the tragedy is enormous.
Vanessa
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Thank you for answering my question! I really appreciate it!