A conversation on contemporary genocide and crimes against humanity by the Student Board on Genocide Prevention of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. What is happening in Darfur today? What can you do on your campus to bring an end to the genocide in Darfur? Check in as we discuss these issues as well as other regions of conflict, providing up to date news and analysis on areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chechnya, Uganda, and the Central African Republic.
It is also the first day of the start of the week-long, Congressionally-declared Days of Remembrance (April 15-22). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum offers resources for hosting your own remembrance ceremony, which includes information on the current genocide in Darfur. For those in the DC area there will also be a Days of Remembrance Names Reading Ceremony on Wednesday, April 19th.
Remembrance and future action must be inextricably linked. Advocates for Darfur of all backgrounds must take a moment this week to remember the victims of the most lethal and systematic of genocides, the Holocaust. And as we remember the Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust we must be sure that no remembrance is complete when we allow genocide to continue without protest.
Suffice it to say, I'm a little brain-dead this week. What with rehearsal 4 hours a night almost every night and homework and exams fast approaching I'm definitely feeling the end-of-semester-crunch. Given that and since there's not much news coming out of Burundi I was at a little bit of a loss as to what to write about this week.
Of course, like every college student I have survival food in my room for those late night, oh-my-God-will-I-ever-finish-this-paper kind of moments; and the cornerstone to college survival (besides Ramen noodles): PEANUT BUTTER, a jar of which is right beside my laptop so it's extra-handy.
So, I thought, "Huh, peanut butter is kind of like 'genocide'(the word, not the act)." Genocide is a word you hear from activists a lot to describe the situation in Darfur but something you rarely hear from politicians and supranational actors. Why is this? The answer: fear, or, more politely, apprehension. You see, "genocide" is a very politicized word, much like many other things this day and age. For "genocide" carries with it certain responsibilities, like the responsibility to act to prevent genocide. Luckily, the conflict in Darfur has been labelled a genocide by certain institutions including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the Committee on Conscience of the USHMM, and the US Congress. However, the UN has resisted calling it genocide and so has the AU.
As I mentioned a few posts back I don't care what you call the situation in Darfur so long as you agree that what is going on there is going from bad to worse and that the international community has the obligation to do something about it.
So, why is "genocide" like peanut butter? Because it's a word that sometimes gets stuck in your mouth. For student activists likes us "genocide" is like peanut butter in that in that it's often in our mouths at least once a week. For politicians, on the other hand, "genocide" is like peanut butter in that, for them, it gets stuck to the roof of their mouths and just stays there.
Activists are beginning to look beyond Darfur and realize that education may be our most powerful mechanism for developing permanent genocide prevention. The Genocide Education Task Force, a STAND initiative, calls for state legislation to mandate genocide education. Props to STAND for recognizing that education is the key. Now it's time to get more educators on board at the grassroots level - this is where students come in.
I wholeheartedly support genocide education. Something makes me nervous, however. Meet the worksheet.
Here's what some teachers might to do teach genocide. Question 1: Who were the main actors in the genocide? Question 2: Darfur is a ________ of Sudan. (Are you confused at what to insert in the blank? Yes, these worksheets are vague and confusing. I'm not giving you the answer). Question 3: _______ civilians have been killed. Question 4: _______ have been displaced. Question 5: Another genocide in Africa happened ten years earlier in the country of:______
Are you bored yet? I am. Perhaps the greatest success in the Darfur student movement is the passion with which students approach genocide prevention. I don't want busy teachers sucking the relevance out of genocide with dry worksheets in order to fulfill state mandated curriculum requirements. I want these teachers to care.
A student at Lake Forest College started a group called Students Educating Students. The idea is this: students use their unique experiences to provide authentic education for other students about issues that are important to them.
It's time for students to take education into their own hands at the grassroots level. It's time for educators to create lessons on genocide that motivate passion, action, and academic integrity.
Yesterday I sat in the packed Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium in the United Nations for a screening of the film "Beyond the Gates." The day already started off with a very disappointing clear absence of the Genocide Memorial exhibit. If you haven't heard of the film, it was formerly called "Shooting Dogs" and I can not tell you how powerful it was. Perhaps it was a sense of collective sadness within the auditorium, but several times, I was just overwhelmed with emotion. Tears flowed as I watched a movie INSIDE the United Nations, about the FAILURE of the United Nations to save lives. I couldn't help but think how many times we have said "Never Again" and how every day that nothing is done, more lives are lost in Darfur. One of the reoccurring themes mentioned in the film is the United Nations mandate not to intervene in Rwanda. Again, we are faced with these political language that all comes down to one meaning: we won't do anything. The one thing that continues to give me hope is the people around me, people like my fellow members of the student board who believe wholeheartedly in promoting change, and not giving up.
Jerry Fowler of the Committee on Conscience interviewed Ken Bacon of Refugees International on the Voices on Genocide Prevention podcast this week. Violence in Darfur is increasing and humanitarian organizations access to the region is decreasing and Sudan still refuses to approve a hybrid African Union/United Nations peacekeeping force.
This news is sad and discouraging. We have worked so hard for the past three years that it sometimes feels as if we have accomplished nothing and that the situation in Darfur is twisting out of control. We can at least be encouraged by Bacon's observation that President Omar al-Bashir is angry about the Save Darfur movement.
I am really excited to share this with you as I just found out about this: a compilation cd that brings well known artists together for awareness of the genocide in Darfur.
Crisis in Darfur, a new and innovative project launched yesterday. It's really worth exploring for yourself and kind of hard to explain with words, but the launch has gained a lot of attention, both in the blog-o-sphere and conventionalmedia.
Yesterday, April 9th, marked the 13th anniversary of the beginning of the Rwandan Genocide. The UN marked this in two notable, and ignoble, ways.
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon issued a statement calling for "a global partnership against genocide," declaring that the position of UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide will now be a full-time position, and the UN Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention will be "boosted". As Jerry Fowler at Voices on Genocide Prevention noted, there was "No reference to preventing genocide in any particular place, of course, and especially no reference to the whatchamacallit in Darfur," and the upgrading of the Special Adviser position was "his one example of fulfilling the stated imperative to do 'more, much more'".
The UN also had planned an exhibit commemorating the Rwandan genocide. It's been stalled, though, because Turkey objected to being blamed for the "murder" of "1 million Armenians". Rightly so, I believe - the exhibit should say what actually happened, that the murders occured in the Ottoman Empire. This stalling all points to some dangerous habits in the UN - Turkey objects to anything that says that 1 million Armenians were killed (even if the name of their modern-day country isn't mentioned) and the UN staff and member countries focus more time and energy remembering their past failures than they do stopping current and future ones.
The BBC reported today that China is beginning to change its tune in regard to Darfur. China buys over 60% of its oil from Sudan, is working on building roads and bridges there, and sells military equipment to Sudan. The BBC article, though vague in describing China's actions, reported that China did begin to pressure President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan to end the violence in Darfur and encouraged him to allow a hybrid peacekeeping force of United Nations and African Union soldiers into Darfur to protect civilians. Bashir has refused to let such a force into Sudan. Because of China's important economic relations with Sudan, China could possibly use that as leverage to encourage the government in Khartoum to put an end to the Darfur genocide. China could also continue to ignore the violence in Darfur in order to maintain its alliance with Sudan.
The article left me feeling hopeful until I read the following quote from one BBC correspondent, saying, "Thanks to its close ties with Beijing, Khartoum no longer has to worry about what the Western world has to say about the conflict in Darfur."
A few weeks ago, I met Suzanne Scholte, the Chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, and I learned about the travesties that occur in North Korea which are so rarely discussed in the United States. Over two million people have died in the past ten years, mainly from a famine as the government withholds food to the majority of its population. Kim Jong Il completely isolates the country, citizens cannot travel (even from town to town), nor can they communicate with people from other countries, and the only media they have access to is propaganda made by the government. Kim Jong Il also instituted political prison camps, families are defined as friendly to the government, wavering, or hostile. Hostile families are rounded up and shipped away to the camps. Anyone who dares complain about the government is sent away immediately. The government also controls food and material goods, those who are loyal have access to these goods, while the majority face horrific conditions. Forty-two percent of children in North Korea suffer from chronic malnutrition.
Meanwhile, those North Koreans who escape into China (roughly 300,000 reside there today) continue to suffer enormously. China refuses to recognize these North Koreans as refugees and instead views them as economic migrants. Chinese citizens are fined or arrested for helping North Koreans. Humanitarian aid workers from the United States and other nations who attempt to assist North Koreans are oftentimes arrested and imprisoned by Chinese officials. Seventy to ninety percent of North Korean women who cross into China are trafficked.
I was horrified by the situation in North Korea, the response of China, and how few people are speaking out against the atrocities. Suzanne Scholte mentioned the difficulty of mobilizing Americans about North Korea. There are virtually no pictures of what is occurring there. No one can visit, unlike Darfur where Americans have been to refugee camps and can return with pictures and stories to reach the American public. This situation demonstrates the power of isolating a country so thoroughly that raising awareness in America is exponentially more difficult. North Koreans are struggling for survival and we must raise awareness, pressure the Chinese government, and attempt to make a difference.
It was reported yesterday that talks would begin anew between the government of Burundi and the nation's last Hutu rebel movement under the supervision of South African officials. FNL, the Forces for National Liberation, seeks to have addressed new issues of importance after having just quit "a joint ceasefire monitoring team." President Pierre Nkurunziza has shown good faith in that he will seek to honor the requests of the FNL to be an integral part of Burundi's army, per the allowances of the constitution, as reported in the article.
News that the two parties are willing to return to the table for talks is certainly good news. However, each side must be willing to give and take, as the author notes.
I have to apologize to everyone for not writing in so long, but I’ve been a little short on both time and ideas lately. To continue on with the theme of my last post though, I’d like to make another book recommendation. (For anyone wondering what the answer to the title of my last pick - “Will Genocide Ever End?” is, it basically boils down to ‘yes - with a lot of hard work.’)
The book I’m onto now is one I picked up at the Holocaust Museum’s shop during the Advanced Leadership Summit last month. “Darfur: A Short History of a Long War” by Julie Flint and Alex De Waal is a little book packed with lots of information. Published in 2005, the book obviously lacks recent developments in the Darfur Genocide and war but makes up for it by being a great resource for the political history of Sudan and Darfur specifically, the origins of the Janjaweed, and the history of racial discrimination that led the rebels to rise up against the Khartoum government in 2003.
Although it’s a little daunting at first thanks to the wall-to-wall dates and hard-to-remember Arabic names, “Darfur” is definitely worth the effort and should be required reading for anyone who wants to know anything about Darfur.
We don't usually think of the Ivory Tower as a catalyst for change. One rarely hopes to effect action through doctoral theses and journal articles. But a session at last month's Genocide Prevention Advanced Leadership Summit at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum got me thinking. Entitled "Scholarship as Activism," and led by Scott Strauss, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the session emphasized the easily overlooked role academics play in genocide and human rights advocacy. It is safe to say, for example, that Professor Strauss's2005 article on Darfurin the journal Foreign Affairs reaches far more policymakers than my blog entries. Furthermore, the big take-away from the session was that human rights and genocide studies will remain "fuzzy subjects" only so long as talented, dedicated people ignore them. So my thought for the day/week is this: academic work can never replace phone-ins or rallies, letter-writing or meeting with Congressmen. But getting a Ph.D. and writing in journals doesn't mean you can't make a big difference in advancing the genocide prevention and human rights agenda among policymakers, intellectuals, and the public at large. A few programs in this area, if anyone's interested (they're on my Bookmarked list):
The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles has a heart-wrenching story of a Darfuri couple, Ahmed and Fatima, searching for safety in Israel. There are a number of Darfuris seeking asylum there (most currently in prision), but this story, coming out in the middle of Passover, is particularly poignant and raises important questions of responsibility to shelter victims of genocide.
Saddest part: Even as he sits in an Israeli prison, Ahmed's fate and the fate of his fellow refugees could still be determined by Egypt. Both the government of Israel and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would prefer to see the deportation of the refugees in Israel back to Egypt, if they were guaranteed not be to be deported back to Sudan.
Given Egypt's record with Sudanese refugees (the Mustafa Mahmoud Park incident of 30 Dec. 2005 in which at least 27 innocent refugees were killed, many more beaten) it is really upsetting that both Israel and UNHCR would rather have Ahmed and Fatima on their own there than safely in Israel. There are obvious security concerns - Sudan is officially an enemy state of Israel - but Ahmed and Fatima are also enemies of their own government! They have been victimized and tortured by the Government of Sudan, and deserve a safe place to rebuild their lives.
A New York Times article today featured the "neglected nation" of Central African Republic. The story is nothing new: no food, and fighting is driving people to flee across the border to Chad and even into Darfur.
John Holmes, the newly appointed United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, just returned from a trip to the region, including a visit to the CAR. He says the problems CAR faces are more urgent than the international community acknowledges, warning that the crisis "is bigger than we are aware of."
Yet Tony Lanza, UN humanitarian chief in the CAR, makes a distinction between that country and its large, complex neighbors. The difference between Chad/Sudan and the CAR? The international community is welcome in the CAR, Lanza says.
Meanwhile, CAR receives significantly less funding. Trendy activism and the use of the "g" word isn't going to provide regional stability. We should extend our attention span and commit to genocide prevention wherever we have the opportunity rather than anti-genocide rhetoric. If Lanza is correct in saying the international community has the power to make a difference in CAR, why aren't we directing our efforts where we can effectively implement - or try to implement - security?
This article from today's New York Times got me thinking. It reported that the world's poorest nations-- closest to the equator-- would bear the brunt of climate change, even though the world's richest nations have caused it.
Before I go into more depth, here's Gore's cutesy primer on global warming, in case you're still a bit lost on the basics of climate change, (as I think many of us are).
This connection is crucial. Yet both Africa activists and environmentalists overlook it. In reality, the immediate effects of global warming are less like the doomsday scenarios in The Day After Tomorrow, and more like the crises already taking place across the continent of Africa. Yet even those chanting "no more blood for oil" don't always know about the blood being spilled in Darfur.
But in today's political climate, that could easily change. In the minds of voters, Al Gore and Democratic victory in the Mid-terms have already turned global warming into the non-partisan, non-controversial reality it's always been. Although the NYT is famously liberal, it's noteworthy that today's article included no "fair and balanced" quotes from oil company "scientists", and no rhetoric from the Bush administration-- perhaps because even Bush is starting to believe.
As a nation, we have begun to move forward from accepting global warming as truth, to coping with its consequences. As we work to smooth our own transition into a warmer world, we must not do what we usually do about genocide: cope instead of prevent, as we forgot about Africa.
Since Dave Gethings interns with the UN, and is planning their conference on Global Warming, I'm very interested in what he knows and feels about this issue. Maybe if we're lucky, he'll make a post in response. :)
I was sitting in the auditorium at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum where a woman named Lisa Shannon stood before me. She had just returned from a trip to Congo, delivering money and supplies to the women that lived there. Her next slide came up. From this point on, I felt like I was alone. Just me and the picture.
This picture was not happy, not sad, but telling. It was of a woman that was not showing any emotion on her face. Instead, her face, her eyes-O those eyes-showed that she had had a life. Generose was a nurse, her husband a schoolmaster, and they had five children. One day, the whole family was at home, and a neighbor child was over playing with the kids. The interahmwe, a rebel group in Congo, approached the house, demanding from Generose all of her money. She quickly rounded up the $120 that was their life savings. The interahmwe took it, stating that they also wanted a contribution from the schoolmaster. She explained that they had no more, and they began to harass her. Her husband tried to stop them, and was immediately slaughtered. Generose, though distraught, asked what they wanted her to do-she had nothing left to give. They asked her to place her leg on a nearby chair. In front of the children, they chopped that leg off and divided it into six pieces. After searing this leg in the fire, they required that the children eat it. When Generose's 8-year-old daughter refused, she was also murdered. The rest of the children then ate Generose's leg. Generose awoke in a hospital.
Her eyes were just like anyone's eyes-full of love, full of pain, full of a life.
Do you know that New York State's money is tangled up in oil companies that are pouring money into Omar Al-Bashir's pockets, funding a genocide?
TODAY, New York is considering legislation to participate in targeted divestment, which will remove our public funds from indirectly supporting genocide.
Senator Joe Robach and Assemblyman Darryl Towns have written targeted divestment legislation that will take back New York State's dollars from companies that fund the genocide in Darfur.
However, this bill has not been introduced because the New York State Comptroller has not released a "Fiscal Note" which is needed to allow the legislation to go to a vote.
You can help today by calling New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli:
1. Dial (518) 474-4044 2. Say: I care about the genocide in Darfur, and I urge you to release the "Fiscal Note" and allow the legislation to be introduced by Senator Robach and Assemblyman Towns. This action will be vital in helping us stop the genocide
Like Elizabeth said, its time for advocacy beyond activism! Don't just feel good, DO good!
The message has been received enthusiastically: your voice can and will make a difference.The movement has grown loud and large in an effort to end the genocide in Darfur. Meanwhile, as we develop a culture of activism, the genocide continues, arguably worse than it was a few years ago.
Darfur experts circulate conferences, giving their 1-2-3 point speech about what needs to be done in Darfur, and taking questions from the audience about UN reform and the vagueness of the term "genocide." The debate about terminology and philosophy, while relevant, is useless in terms of action. Instead, ask:
What is our end goal? By what means do we plan to get there? How will our activism help us to achieve our end goal?
Overwhelming the American public with repetitive, depressing information is not effective. Four years later, arm bracelets aren’t enough. Activists will only achieve their end goal through scrupulous research and focused, coordinated efforts. A large movement is exciting; a refined, powerful movement can bring results.
First off, I apologize for not having blogged last week. Things were rather busy for me, especially once Thursday came around. This past weekend the Board participated in the Genocide Prevention Advanced Leadership Summit at the USHMM and I can tell you that after getting to know those on the Board and working with them I count myself extremely fortunate to be amongst their ranks. The work we are all a part of (not just the Board) is so important and spending time with the Summit participants I think reminded us all of that.
While at the conference one subject that kept resurfacing was what counts as genocide and whether or not the current crisis in Darfur should be considered a genocide. For my part I'm convinced on the issue per my interpretation of the Convention. In fact, I could care less what you call the current crisis in Darfur, so long as you agree that the situation is dire and something should be done about it. If the stories of women being gang raped daily do not strike a chord with you; if this picture of a little girl hit by a bullet does not make your stomach twinge in anger; if you are not swayed by hearing about those who barely escape their villages as government Antonov aircraft attack; if it does not bother you that some 2.5 million are internally displaced in Darfur; if after all this you are not moved to tears, or better yet, to action, then I don't know what to say. After all, what use is there in crying over spilt blood (or milk for that matter) if you don't do anything about it. The people of Darfur have no need of your sympathy lest it compel you to action on their behalf.
As for "Never Again," it's catchy, I suppose, but therein lies its problem. Whenever we've uttered those words the implication is that it has already happened again. "Never again" is rendered useless by those who say it and invest no energy into it. Those on whose behalf it is said depend on those of us who have the power to stop genocide when we see threats of it today to breathe life into these too often used words. Sure, it's nice to have it on a t-shirt or on your laptop or clipped to your bag. However, it must not remain simply a slogan but MUST become a credo. Perhaps there's a curse on "never again." All I know is that ever since we've uttered it after the Holocaust, after Bosnia, and after Rwanda it's been too late. There is some value in the phrase, however; the power lies in the charge the phrase entrusts to humanity and is a hope for the future.
Today is Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The message has been received enthusiastically: your voice can and will make a difference.