A meeting in Paris of hard core activists of Urgence Darfour, who have spent years trying to alert public opinion of the horrific massacres perpetrated by the Islamist regime of Khartoum.
The atmosphere is less than jolly.
One could even qualify it as downright gloomy.
For what have we done, all these years?
What, in particular, have we done since the big rally we -- those actually present -- organized at the Mutualité at the outset of the 2007 presidential campaign? Since this huge demonstration, almost three years ago, intended to pressure the main candidates to take a decisive stand, what have we gained, in concrete terms?
Bernard Kouchner was with us that evening. He gave one of those resonant, impassioned and, moreover, down-to-earth speeches that were his trademark at the time. Elevated to head of French diplomacy, what happened to that talent that was his alone? What became of his anger, so beautiful and so sound?
Nicolas Sarkozy was not present; in his stead he had sent Nicole Guedj to sign, in his name and with a flourish, a "charter" inviting the next President of the Republic, whoever he might be, to take the appropriate diplomatic, political, and financial measures of retaliation against the assassins. Once elected, what became of his promise? What happened to his resolution to be the first President of the Republic to make human rights an integral part of France's foreign policy with regard to Darfur? Does he even remember the text he signed by proxy?
I took the floor myself to describe what I had seen working with photographer Alexis Duclos on a story that took us all the way to the regions of Bir Mezza and Jebel Marra. But just before that, I read a letter from then-President Jacques Chirac, pledging that France would act to urge international justice to address the case of Al Bachir and treat it with the all the rigor called for. That, at least, has been done. The International Criminal Court has indicted Al Bachir for war crimes and crimes against humanity. But ten months later, who cares? Who is contemplating taking note of the fact? Where are the "accompanying measures" to prevent this indictment from remaining a dead letter?
So, on the morning after this meeting that has left us all with a sour taste of the bitter and morose, we face two possibilities.
Either each of us gets hold of himself. Bernard Kouchner remembers he is Bernard Kouchner. Nicolas Sarkozy honors his signature. We ourselves, intellectuals and activists, return with our American friends to the task of convincing the international community to see to it that the ICC's decision takes effect. And that Al Bachir is at least hampered in his attempts to travel freely, if not arrested, his financial assets at least frozen, if not seized. In sum, that the word of States and of the justice they should defend regain a minimum of credibility. Then perhaps we shall have a slim chance, a very slim chance, of saving those of the Darfouri who can still be saved.
Or else we do nothing. We wash our hands of the hundreds of thousands of nameless, faceless dead, who have no graves and whose actual numbers we cannot know, already massacred by the Janjaweed and their scorched earth policy. And better still, we condemn to a slow agony the last survivors who have been able to gather in the zones controlled by Abdul Wahid al Nur and the fighters of his Sudan Liberation Movement. In this case, it is preferable to make things very clear.
It is 2010. And I realize that I'm talking about Darfur the same way I spoke of martyred Bosnia, fifteen years ago. I'm afraid so. Same causes, same effects. And the same disaster that goes on and on. Unless --
I'll come back to this.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Statement_from_Barack_Obama_on_Darfur,_Sudan
1. Blame- the- West for everything, the tired 60s slogans “neo imperialism".... neo-colonialism... tyrannical stooges of Western greed ... the nobility of the indigenous people... etc.... we all know the drill.
People who repeat these slogans are generally ill -informed of the complexities of the situation. The goal is to mask lack of knowledge about the particular situation with rote memorized slogans.
2. Struggle with understand of a very complex situation taking into account the aspects such as: religious oppression, lack of investment; ecologic catastrophe; Arab petro-dollars supporting Islamic militarism; over- population; appalling governmental inefficiencies; gross mismanagement of international aid; primitive tribal allegiances, graft and corruption on all levels of government and societal interactions;
3. Ignore the subject all together because the situation does not conform to politically approved dogma and isn't politically fashionable at this time- the most common approach.
In a real holy war, one side at least would be acting in association with a divine entity. If that union did not confer some tangible benefit. What would be the advantage of such an alliance? Surely a deity actively wishing to supply succour and support, would be open to approaches from devotees. Supplicants would not be wholly dependant upon committing acts of war themselves, in order to ensure victory. But instead would merely petition their protector to perform those functions necessary, to deal with the foe. Any reluctance to resort to such a process, might be construed as either evidence of the complete absence of true faith in a professed follower. Or else, the morbid dread of requesting their defender to physically confirm the legitimacy of their own warring actions. In case no corroborate manifestation was forthcoming, and the pursuit of advancement through “holy” war was for ever discredited. A deity who maintains complete detachment from the prosecution of a conflict, cannot truly be interested in the outcome.
The cause and solution for all revolutions and civil unrest has been very well studied and known. And it it rarely acknowledged or talked about.
Economists, Diplomats, Warriors, Spys, Journalists, Academicians, and Politicians all know it.
Communist, Fascist, Populist, Religious Fanaticism - these are only symptoms.
Do you know the answer?
It's all about indigenous people being dispossessed of their lands, resources, and means of making a living. Once pushed past well known thresholds, they go into unrest and revolt - always happens.
Fanned.
More guns? Education? Teach them to farm?
Back when wars were more 'quaint' it seems i could more tangibly make a difference, but with all this technology and social network we struggle to bring our virtual realities back into the real life, but what do you propose we do about it? and how?