In a part of the world not far from the Middle East, there is a war-ravaged country whose government is supporting a brutal military offensive against a population of Muslims living on territory under its control.
According to UN estimates, 300,000 people have died in the conflict so far; the Coalition for International Justice put this number at almost 400,000 -- and that was in 2005.
The United States has officially termed it a "genocide."
In July 2008, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan -- who has funded and supported the Janjaweed militia that has carried out the murder and systematic rape of non-Arab African Muslims in Darfur -- charging him with war crimes, genocide, murder, and crimes against humanity.
For five years, the Arab League was functionally silent.
But last year, they finally spoke out -- against the head of the ICC's prosecutorial team against al-Bashir, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, slamming him for having an "unbalanced stance".
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), made up of 57 Islamic countries, issued a statement declaring its solidarity with al-Bashir, calling the indictment "unwarranted and unacceptable".
Less than a year later, at the Arab Summit held in Kuwait City January 19, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria called on other Arab countries to brand Israel a "terrorist state". Millions of Muslims worldwide voiced their outrage against Israel's military offensive in Gaza. Massive protests were organized in most major cities across the world. Real-time casualty counts were posted on Facebook statuses. I was asked to sign more petitions in support of Gaza in three weeks than I have for Darfur in five years.
Where are the large-scale protests and outrage from the Muslim community over the senseless deaths and rape of hundreds of thousands of poverty-ridden African Muslims?
Why is there such a glaring discrepancy between the Muslim world's response to the atrocities in Gaza and the atrocities in Darfur?
If the Darfur genocide was being carried out by Jews or Christians instead of Arab Muslims, would we see a different response?
We must understand the nature of movements and how they are created. The fact of the matter is that Darfur has become a movement free of any association with Arab or Muslim pride. The support by "Jewish" (dub them, too, Western) Hollywood, or even a broader public, has made any Muslim involvement as unattractive than ever. What would the result be of a successful lobby to end this genocide? Nothing that would make the Arab world look any better...and, yet, what would the Arab League give up? Yet another precedent of a "domestic" issue of theirs being violated. Muslim involvement in this lobby? Religious and ethnic cleavages being undermined for the sake of humanity. Heaven forbid.
In the Arab media, the Gaza conflict was portrayed as an attack on Islam by the Jews and Christians(=USA). So you see the uproar over Gaza was not so much about the Palestians, it was more about a lot of Muslims seeing the Gaza conflict as an attack on their religion. On the other hand, the atrocities in Darfur, is a conflict between two races: Arabs vs. Africans. And it is a well known fact among African Muslims like myself that many Arabs consider Africans to be of inferior race. I have family members living in Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, their stories speak to the fact that racism against blacks in Arab countries is a normal occurrence. So in other words, in many Arab minds some Muslims are less equal than others.
Fact. THIS thread;12 comments.
ANY Israel or Jewish thread-- thousands of comments. Many bordering on psyc.hotic. Mostly by Arabs Muslims!!!
But black Africa threads-- no one cares. Racism?
I do not think that these atrocities and killings are for the faith of Christianity or Islam or Judaism. They are rather a response to human population explosion. This transition cycle has been going on since the day the world evolved. It is a serious crisis in the name of religion, and the people involved in the destruction of the world have labeled themselves according to the religion they happened to be born in.The groups supporting the people of Palestine or Kashmir are not just Muslims but come from all faiths, and they are not coming out for Islam or any religion, but for a human cause.
5) As a Muslim, I and millions of us believers condemn the actions of the Sudanese government in Darfur. We also reject rebellion for the sake of nationalist secession. We reject the system of ruling which Sudan and the rest of the Muslim governments employ. Rather, we call for the resumption of the authentic representation of Islam in governance which so far has not been for almost 100 years. W
Ok, fine.
Have you tried to compare the humanitarian aid from the West versus the aid from super rich Arabs, swimming in petro dollars?
Do and then post.
Otherwise, make like a fish.
Yes, the Muslim world has positive relations with nonMuslim countries around the world. Even sir, these governments still are not living up the standard of charity which the Prophet Muhammad set.
I invite you to read the many media sources from the Muslim world in order to see how their relations are.
1)The Western media portrayal of the conflict in Darfur is not representative of reality. To begin, Western nations such as America, Britain, as well as Israel, have supported Sudanese rebel groups for decades with the aim of fractionalizing Sudan and empowering its adversaries: divide and conquer. This is a colonial strategy carried out by Westerners for centuries. Israel supported SPLA AND the eastern Sudanese rebel groups and there is some evidence is behind the Darfur rebels too.
2)Omar Bashir is a dictator and rules like one. But most people in the Muslim world like the Sudanese people. They know them as gentle, softhearted, amiable. People are not inclined to blame them for the acts of Bashir and his military junta. Omar Bashir is a product of Egyptian military training per American $$$.
3) The conflict in Darfur appears to be a rebellion. The original rebels actually took over a city and military bases. This happened at the beginning of the fighting. This action, while it may have won the rebels support from amongst their backers, did not win nor was intended to gain the sympathy of people who do not normally agree with rebellion. And that speaks to the next point:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/901138.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0906/p05s02-wome.html
Yes. This has been a travesty for many years and yet the Islamic word has been mum. They're passion is saved for Big Bad Isreal. Elected officials don't have to govern as long as the state of Israel exist. All problems can be attributed to a Jewish State smack in the middle of the Islamic world.
But the US and other countries around the world are just a guilty of the slaughter and execution of countless bodies and soul that is taking place in the country of Sudan.
I suppose this kind of utter nonsense is a dime-a -dozen in Islamic MSM.
Always easier to blame a convenient bete-noir (whichever is in fashion) than actually to deal with the problems of corruption, illiteracy, intolerance, over population, cultural and political bankruptcy that besets the Islamic civilization.
The tragedy is the masses, like this poster, actually buy into this ahistorical narrative.
Another tragedy: ANY minority unfortunate to find itself in the midst s of Islamic majority:Christians, Buddhists,atheists, socialists etc. are told EXACTLY the same thing," If only YOU weren't here, things would''ve been much better.: What breathtaking intolerance!