After the Jews, the Cambodians, the Bosnians, the Rwandans, the people of Darfur are the victims of systematic rape, murder, pillage and displacement.Read the whole thing. This is a holocaust actually happening as I tap out these letters on the keyboard. When will we stir ourselves to take the substantive steps to bring it to an end?
In a three-year-old war between ethnic African rebels and the Arab-led central government, more than 400,000 people have died. The Holocaust Museum was one of the first institutions in the world to call the Darfur tragedy "genocide." The U.S. government followed suit.
Leaders of the museum, who consider it part of their mission to address contemporary cases of genocide, deliberately picked the week of Thanksgiving to thrust Darfur in Washington's face. The display runs from 5:30 p.m. to midnight through Sunday.
"During Thanksgiving week, a time of reflection and gratitude, we are lending the museum's moral stature to alert the public to the urgency of stopping the human catastrophe in Darfur," said Fred Zeidman, chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Council. The idea was that as commuters and pedestrians hurry by in a fog of preoccupation, they might be jolted to consider other dilemmas beyond free-range or Butterball? Mashed or sweet? Store-bought or baked?
If the pictures "stir some sort of curiosity in the average person as they go by and see it, then the job is done," said Omer Ismail, a refugee from Darfur who was on hand last night. "They will go out and ask, Why?"
[See more about the Holocaust Museum photo display on Darfur here.]
5 comments:
Mark, the world community is too busy trying to manufacture a genocide in Iraq to stop one in Africa.
Besides, the scale of action in Darfur is far too large. Sudan is approximately six times larger than Iraq in area, and has more than half again as many people as Iraq. To make matters worse, Darfur is the most remote region of Sudan. We don't have the troops to spare, and no one else has sufficient logistical capability to send in the hundreds of thousands of troops it would take to do anything substantial. (I know there are those who think a few thousand special ops troops from the Western nations could stop it, but they're deluding themselves. If 150,000+ can't keep the peace in Iraq, how will a tenth or less of that number stop what's going on in the Sudan? Look at the numbers above comparing Iraq and Sudan, and consider that the violence in the Sudan is even worse.) Additionally, the Chinese are backing the Sudanese government in this to get at Sudanese oil, so the UN (which is worthless anyway) won't sanction any action. And of course, if the UN doesn't sanction the action, then it must be immoral and unjust.
Politics, logistics, scarcity of troops, a growing reluctance for using the US military for anything other than patroling the US-Mexico border, and thirst for cheap energy means that the people of Darfur will not be receiving any salvation any time soon.
That's the tragedy. The comedy is that a large portion of the world's ruling class thinks that the MOST URGENT issue facing the world today is the threat posed by soccer moms & their SUVs.
When will we stir ourselves to take the substantive steps to bring it to an end?
Mark,
What would those substantive steps be? I am very interested in getting behind any substantive steps that can be taken, but I have yet to hear of any. There are protest marches here in the States, and petitions, and calls for greater awareness... none of which has any chance of being substantive. I therefore have a very hard time motivating myself to spend my time on them.
Do you have any specific substantive steps in mind? If so, could you point us to them, so we can get behind them?
Thanks,
Mark
Frankly, Mark, the question was more a plea for suggestions about those substantive steps than anything else. I am baffled.
At the risk of being dismissed, whatever response we undertake must begin with prayer.
I seriously doubt that at present, the US government has the capability of responding.
A concerted effort by the UN is definitely indicated. But I don't see that happening either.
It's a truly agonizing situation!
Mark
Mark,
Definitely prayer... I agree with you there.
As for the US government and/or the UN... I'm not even clear what substantive steps they could take. Apart, of course, from a massive military undertaking... and even that would have very uncertain results.
Do you have any suggestions for what an ideal American government or an ideal UN could do in this situation?
Mark
Mark:
I suppose that an ideal UN would send blue helmets in to clear out the bad guys and enforce a ceasefire.
As it is, I think that somehow the EU countries are the ones most well-suited to buttress the weak pan-African force. But the EU seems to lack the will to do anything.
Mark
Post a Comment