Sudanese President Threatens to Expel Aid Groups, Diplomats

This recent report from the AP is very disturbing.

In the past few weeks, the International Criminal Court formally charged Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity and formerly issued a warrant for his arrest, a giant leap forward in the six-year old conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

In response, President al-Bashir has kicked out several aid groups, calling them "spies" and has threatened expulsion of many more if they "interfere in something that doesn't concern [them]."

Pray for peace.

Rock on.

A Breif History of the Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo has become the center of nearly every civil war in the Great Lakes region in central Africa.

If you are unfamiliar with the history of the region, I prepared a short piece for the UGA Invisible Children blog.

Rock on.

A Problem from Hell: A Brief History of Genocide in the Twentieth Century

In light of recent events in Sudan, I thought it might be fitting to take a look back at all of the times the US and other western nations vowed "Never Again" only to turn our backs as soon as the promise required any real action.

It was my freshman year of college and I had just finished reading An Ordinary Man, Paul Rusesabagina's autobiography. Sitting in my dorm lobby, I flipped through his list of recommended books - when the man who saved over a thousand lives during one of the most violent massacres of our time tells you to look into a book, you listen. In this list, Samantha Power's A Problem From Hell: America in the Age of Genocide is called "an indictment of the West's tendency to fold in the face of evil."

Without hesitation, I went to a bookstore and grabbed a copy. Decade by decade, Powers lists the genocides of the twentieth century, charting the complacency of the US throughout, citing government memos, many of which urge a willful ignorance of the slaughters.

So, with great gratitude to Ms. Power, here is a list of six distinct cases of genocide and six distinct failures of humanity.

1. Armenia - During the early days of the First World War, the Ottoman Empire faced both enemies on the front lines and from abroad. Within the Armenian population, a small group of rebels, backed by czarist Russia, began fighting against the Ottoman government. As tends to happen in these situations, the government turned on the entire group of people, forcibly evicting Armenians from their homes and sending them, on foot, into the deserts of the Middle East. During this forced exodus, women were raped and entire families were killed. Notably, the Allies did condemn these "crimes against humanity and civilization" and the concept of "race murder" first came into being. To this day, the Turkish government refuses to recognize the Ottoman massacre of the Armenian population as "genocide".
2. The Holocaust - World War II is the defining event of the twentieth century. And during Hitler's campaign of destruction, the world would not (and perhaps could not) bring itself to the realization that the Nazi government was leading a mass extermination of Jews, Africans, the Roma people, the handicapped, and anyone deemed to be a lower class of human. Given the tremendous amount of study devoted to this bleak period of history, I will cut discussion of this event short.* The resulting Nuremberg Trials came to set the path for acting on genocide: Wait until after the fact, then arrest a few perpetrators for show.
   
3. Cambodia - Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge led a campaign of extermination against their own culture. Targeting all who were educated, wealthy, or connected in anyway to the pre-communist government, "reeducation" (read: torture) and mass killings were used to return the nation to an agrarian society. The US, in an attempt to maintain relations with China, was soft on the Cambodian government. Just as the US started to put pressure on the Khmer Rouge to stop the killing, Vietnam invaded Cambodia. The West immediately condemned the invasion and sided with Cambodia. Noam Chomsky has stated that the reports of "killing fields" are anti-communist propaganda.
4. Iraq - During the war with Iran and before the war with Kuwait, Saddam Hussein targeted the whipping boy of the Middle East - the Kurds. The Kurds, allegedly supported by the Iranian government, used the war as a distraction and attempted to gain independence from the Ba'athist government of Iraq. Saddam Hussein, along with other top officials, ordered attacks using chemical and conventional weapons on Kurdish villages, arrests and torture, and mass deportations. Following the invasion of Kuwait, the Kurds once again used the resulting war as a distraction, and were once again put down brutally. The Ba'athist regime also targeted other non-Sunni non-Arabic populations for oppression.
5. Serbia/Bosnia/Kosovo** - Following Bosnian independence, Serbs living in Bosnia, backed by the Serbian government, took up arms and attempted to gain control of the new state. In so doing, the targeted Bosnian Muslims, deporting families, indiscriminatly bombing villages, raping women, and butchering men. After NATO and UN intervention, the Serbian government began to target ethnic Albanian seperatists in the region of Kosovo, using the same tactics used in Bosnia. It is worth noting that even with the UN and NATO presence, the war in Bosnia did not immediately cease - 1995 saw the massacre of Srebrenica. Many of the perpetrators remain at large and the region remains volatile today.
6. Rwanda - Following years of Hutu rule and Tutsi rebellion (the distinction between the two "races" was made by Belgium colonists), the assassination of the Hutu president*** plunged the nation into a power vacuum in which Tutsis and "moderate" Hutus were killed. Within a hundred days, between 800,000 and one million people were killed. Europeans in the country were evacuated. After ten UN peacekeepers were killed, the UN mission was drastically downsized. The US avoided involvment by claiming that the goings-on were only "acts of genocide", not genocide itself. France sided with the perpetrators. The rest of the world ignored it.

This list fails to completely describe the attrocities of the twentieth century - a total number of lives lost to genocide is impossible to give. Many of the names of those killed are lost to history, known only but to God. And of the small number of people who stood up to do something, an even smaller number are named in the history books.

And it is because of these people that we do not know that we must act. It is because of these people that we will never know that we must act. It is because of these people that we were not allowed to know that we must act.

Never again will we watch Armenians die. Never again will we watch the "non-Aryan" die. Never again will we watch the Cambodians die. Never again will we watch the Kurds die. Never again will we watch the Bosnians and Albanians die. Never again will be watch the Rwandans die.

Never again will we say "Never again" only to never act.

Rock on.

*It is worth noting that while Power does not mention it, there is a very strong case for applying the term "genocide" to the Japanese action in the Pacific; namely, the attempt to destroy the native cultures of any and all conquered lands, most famously Korea and China, but let us also not forget the plight of the people of the Philippines and Pacific islands. Much like the government of Turkey, the Japanese government still refuses to admit any wrongdoing during this time.

**The situation in the Balkans is so incredibly complex and took place over such a long period of time (nearly a decade) that it recieves three fully devoted chapters in A Problem from Hell.

***The president was negotiating an end to the war with Tutsi RPF rebels. The assassination was blamed on the Tutsi, but some believe it was done by Hutu nationalists angry with the president and aiming to start a massacre.

Post Script: There are many excellent books about the problem of genocide, and I encourage you to do further research. But beyond that, I ask that you write your Representatives, Senators, and the President and encourage them to do research as well, looking not only into the problems in Sudan, but the Congo as well.

Photo: Poster distributed by the American Committee for Relief in the Near East during the Armenian genocide. Retrieved on Wikimedia Commons.

Sudanese President Charged with Genocide

More on this later.

Edit: Oh. And this. Not as good.

Sudan's One-Sided Trials

The Sudanese government started the trials last month for members of a rebel army fighting in Darfur.

They have not, however, attempted to so much as restrain members of the Janjaweed militia.

Can't say I'm surprised. Just disappointed.

Rock on.

In What Do You Have Faith?

I have previously written on proponents of fundamental atheism who argue that religion is inherently a bad thing. Part of their argument depends on faith: If we can will ourselves to have faith in a god that cannot be proven, this faith can be used and/or manipulated to drive us to commit horrible atrocities.

To this, I say that their basic premise is correct: Faith in the divine can be manipulated, and it has been in the past.

But does this mean that the problem is the faith or the manipulator? And what does the manipulator have faith in?

The Crusades are a dark, dark period in the history of the Church. Especially for Catholics. And they were fought over faith - faith in Christianity and the Church, faith in the Pope, faith in God. Many of the soldiers had faith that they were doing the right thing - delivering the Holy Land from Muslim conquerors. But what did the leaders have faith in? I would suggest they had faith in the money they could earn by capturing artifacts and royalty, faith in the ransom they would be paid, faith in the power they could gain by controlling the land, faith in themselves. This same theme pops up in many acts of religious violence: the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the sale of Indulgences, the wars of the Reformation, the White Power movement, the Wahhabi extremist movement, the Lord's Resistance Army, and many more.

Likewise, let's look at the Khmer Rouge, the perpetrators of the Cambodian genocide. What did the soldiers have faith in? I would imagine that they had faith in the world they were fighting for, faith in the Revolution and the liberation of the workers, faith in Pol Pot. This faith in a cause, leader, and higher power - the same faith held by the Crusaders, though placed in a different cause - Communism, not Christianity - a different leader - Pol Pot, not the Pope - and a different higher power - the Government, not God - manifest itself in the same way. That is to say, it lead to violence and genocide, to the loss of life, and the murder of the innocent. And why did it reach this level? Because Pol Pot had faith as well. Faith that he would be rewarded for his trouble, faith that he could take power, faith in himself. And like the violence committed by those who have faith in God, those who have faith in humans and ideas have the same theme: the purges of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Kim Il-Sung, the genocide in Nazi Germany, the race-fueled violence in the Sudan, Rwanda, and South Africa, the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, and many more.

Faith can be dangerous. It must be taken with a grain of salt. Faith in most things can be manipulated. Believers in both God and Freedom must take into consideration what they are being told. They must think about the end results; they must think about whether or not their leader has faith in the cause or faith in the power delivered by the cause.

But faith can also offer hope of a better world. It can offer more than skepticism and rationality ever will. Faith has brought freedom, charity, love. Faith has brought peace. Faith has brought as much good as it has bad. And it is not worth abandoning.

Rock on.

Serbia Must Reign in Their Citizens

The US embassy is on fire in Belgrade. After Serbia sponsored a rally against Kosovo. After Serbia brought Serbs in from all over the country - literally paid for their transit to this rally.

Now call me biased. In fact, I wager that several of my readers are thinking that very thing just now. I don't care - I'll even admit that I'm sympathizing with the Albanians. But despite any prejudice I have against Serbia or any prejudice that some of my readers have against Albanians, Serbia must do something to keep the order. They can disagree with Kosovan independence all they want, but inciting their people to riot is something entirely different. At this rally, pictures of Ratko Mladic were displayed. There is no reason other than hatred to glorify a fugitive and murderer. If there is to be an end to this debate, there must be reconciliation between the two states.

This smacks of the period leading to the genocide in Bosnia (once again, Serbian Christians butchering and raping non-Serbian Muslims - of course, after our interference, they turned their anger towards Albanian separatists in Kosovo).

Milosevic may be gone, but his influence is unfortunately still in power.

Pray for peace.

Applauds for Kosova Independence

Last semester, I had an amazing opportunity to hear the Serbian ambassador to the US speak here at UGA. This was a man who had fought to overthrow Milosevic - a worth goal to be sure. But as his lecture concluded, I was quite disappointed about his statements regarding the independence of the Kosovo region. His argument was mostly that the area was important to Serbs as it housed many medieval Orthodox monasteries and that the Serbs in Kosovo would be in danger. And I'll agree that protecting historic buildings and people are both laudable goals. But he offered no evidence that the Albanian majority in Kosovo (Kosovo is actually Kosova, an Albanian term for the same region - Serbs call it Metohia, which means "church-owned land") would try to destroy the monasteries or butcher the Serbs.

There is a young Serb woman in my International Relations class who has, for two semesters now, used the argument that Kosovo is in Serbia and is important to Serbs, no matter if it is also the homeland of Albanians as well - and more recently, at that (in essence, the Serbian government is trying to undo the actions of the Ottoman Empire by keeping the region under Serb control).

I'm usually cautious of nationalism - it has this nasty habit of leading to genocide, such as in Turkey, Germany, Rwanda, and Serbia. And it would be really easy for the Albanian majority (90% of the Kosovan population) to take revenge on the Serbian minority (about 5%) for the genocide of the 1990s. But for perhaps the first time in history, a nationalist movement has lead to a new state and included other ethnicity/cultures on the flag (for those who don't know, the Kosovan flag is a blue field with a gold outline of Kosova and six gold stars, one for each of the six main ethnicities). In times past, the flags of nationalist movements have been nothing more than images of ethnic superiority (the "Aryan" swastika serves as a pretty good example of this). As small of a gesture as this may be, I have great hope that the Kosovan government will do all in its power to ensure human rights are protected. I wish I could say the same for the Serbian government.

Let us pray that Serbia does not take military action.

On the US side of the event,we are recognizing the new nation. But more interesting, especially, in an election year, Obama and McCain have yet to comment (at least, on their website) about the new state. Clinton (First Lady during the Serbian genocide - though, allegedly, she encouraged Mr. Clinton to not act, and he didn't, or at least until we found out about his cigar) has not only given the new state her blessing, but taken up her husband's tradition of referring to the region as Kosova. Although, the last part of her statement is mostly about how the Bush Administration has failed to keep the Balkans on the top of his priority list. But enough politics.

Congratulations, Kosova!

Rock on.

Mass Graves in Sudan

This article from the Associated Press is too important to not post.

Playboy, Darfur, and the School Paper

UGA's student newspaper, the Red and Black, is the butt of many student jokes. Independent of the University since 1980, the paper deals primarily with the superficial "needs" of students - dating, fashion, music, movies, and sports. The opinion page is devoted mostly to the mockery of the student government and university administration. Every so often, a student on one of the far sides of the political spectrum will send in a letter concerning national politics - every so often.

A few weeks ago, I was more than a little shocked to see the front page headline "Reporter Bares All for Playboy". I'll say this again, just so it can set in - FRONT PAGE. This special interest piece was deemed so important that it took the main page of the paper. In other news that day, the Speaker of the House was in Syria, the Israeli Prime Minister rejected the Speaker of the House's peace plan for Israel/Palestine, and the Iranian President announced the release of fifteen British sailors and marines. But Playboy made the front page. The reason why is obvious - on a college campus with a student body that's 40% male, you're guaranteed at least 39% readership running an article like that. The article concluded with the author stating that every girl deserves to feel beautiful and posing for Playboy helped her with that (on a related note, how pitiful a job the men - I mean boys - of my generation are doing!)

Three days later, in a short article on the back page, the paper reported on the local Amnesty International chapter's attempts at raising awareness of the Sudanese genocide. This article was about the same size as the picture that accompanied the Playboy piece. The article included quotes from eight students, asking if they thought students could bring an end to the bloodshed. Most confessed to not knowing much about the crisis, while others said that students are unable to make a difference.

I can't help but wonder what's wrong with my generation. Why are we so apathetic about anything and everything off campus? There are a few notable exceptions - the Roosevelt Institution, Liberty in North Korea, Students Helping Orphans Worldwide, and UGA for Fair trade - but they are far and few between and attract little attention (though the local Habitat for Humanity group built a cardboard city in the courtyard by our student center to raise awareness for poverty in Clarke County - try ignoring that!). But outside of these wonderful groups (I have a suspicion that most active members in one are members in most), my campus is dominated by Greek life, a beast of a football program, and parties. This is the general trend in our culture - MTV, BET, VH1, UGA . The superficial and unimportant before the urgent. I'll never understand it.

News in Brief

First, let's look at Virginia Tech, where a gunman killed thirty-two students on campus. I'd always known college campuses weren't the safest place, but I'd never imagined anything like this. Please pray for the families, friends, and victims of this atrocity.

Now some good news: Sudan has decided to allow UN peace-keepers to operate in the country's borders. Accepting 3,000 troops, the country is slowly, but finally, accepting help to reign in rebel and Janjaweed militias, two warring factions responsible for well over 100,000 deaths and two million refugees. This is a small step in the direction of accepting a proposed 20,000+ peace-keepers. Hopefully, the US will chip in with, at the very least equipment, and maybe even a some boots on the ground.

Speaking of the US, Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on ministers in the Iraqi cabinet to resign over the lack of a timetable for redeployment of US forces. Six cabinet members answered his call.

Now, for a laugh: A church just for men (Not only am I the founder of the Church for Men, I'm also a member). To combat the trend of women making up the majority of the congregation (as a single college male, I'm not complaining), a church in Florida is offering a more masculine-themed service. Meeting in a gymnasium, timing the preacher, and guaranteeing a service under one hour, the "Church for Men" is drawing about seventy men every Saturday night.

And something that I'm not even sure qualifies as news: In New Dehli, protesters burned pictures of Richard Gere because he kissed an actress at an AIDS rally. Apparently, Indian culture frowns upon public displays of affection.

For those of you wondering why I'm posting on so many news stories (I rarely even post one story, and that normally concerns Sudan), I'm beginning to look at how news reflects our culture. How can so many wide-ranging stories all be headline news? And why are the good news on Sudan and the odd story of Gere seen as equally important by news agencies? Why is it that my neighbor is more worried about how the VT shooting will affect gun control than he is about the victims? In short, what is wrong with our society?

I'll be posting more on this later. Look for a post on UGA students, Playboy magazine, and the Sudan in the coming week.

Rock on.

"Possible" Humanitarian Catastrophe in Darfur

Today, John Holmes, the UN's coordinator for humanitarian relief, warned that if aid agencies began pulling out, the UN "could face a rapid humanitarian catastrophe", blaming both rebels and the government in Sudan for harassment of aid workers.
See the story via AFP here.

While I applaud the UN's commitment to aid work in Darfur, isn't it a little wait to be warning of an impending "humanitarian catastrophe"? The genocide is entering its fourth year. Warnings are a little overdue.

An update on the International Criminal Court's investigation into the Sudanese genocide:The ICC's investigation yielded some fruit, naming several Sudanese officials to stand trial. The Sudanese government, however, has decided not to recognize the court's authority and states that it will conduct its own investigation. This act leaves the court virtually powerless.

On the subject of western reaction to the Sudanese genocide, I am noticing a disturbing trend in the US response to the crisis. It seems that the administration's official response is to condemn the civil war and resulting slaughter and call for aid and an end to the problem. But at the same time, it will not act on its calls. Recently, one State Department official denied that the situation, while horrible, still qualifies as genocide. It rings bells of the Clinton Administration's assertions of "acts of genocide" in Rwanda and the Balkans. This does not stop the increasing reports of targeting of civilian populations, reports of rising number of "displaced persons" (or the more powerful but less politically correct term, refugees), and the still-unanswered call from the AU for UN logistical help in quelling the violence. It is time that the administration and congress quit leaving wiggle room in their calls for action and actually act.

Is the political power they seek to guard worth the lives of the refugees they refuse to protect?

Rock on.

An Open Letter and Confession to My Fellow Ecclesia

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We are the called out. Christ commands that we show our faith in love. Love for God and love for others. Paul told us not to be of this world. Time after time, the Word dictates that we who are in God, and that only through the grace of his blood, be different. It is time that we live this out.

I must first confess my own short comings. All of the sins listed below our my own and for committing them, I sincerely apologize. It is out of my love for you, my brothers and sisters in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, that I warn you of these.

First, and the root of all, is apathy. It is in our own sinful nature to care only for ourselves. The thinking goes, "If it does not impact my life, it does not concern me in the least." But in the words of the martyr Martin Luther King, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Christ did not and will not stand for injustice. He comes to "preach good news to the poor" and "to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the opressed." Christ protected the adultress, cleared the temple, and forgave those who killed him. To be like Christ, we must fight our own self interest and our own apathy and cange the world.

Second, and very closely related, is greed. I do not need that new shirt or that new CD. It is worth food for fifteen days in Africa or another trinket for me. So instead of providing the basics for others, I cushion my own existence. This extends, though, beyond our affluent lifestyles. It goes on to the everyday spending of everyone. Businesses export jobs to take advantage of lower wages. They overcharge and overpay to maximize on profit. We have a responsibility to support humans worldwide. It is time for us to support Fair Trade and fight against poverty. It is time for us to go out and in the name of God help the poor, in the US and the world. Likewise, the planet belongs to the human race. Respect the creation of God, for he called it good. Support environmentally friendly companies. Pick up trash. Recycle.

We shold set ourselves apart by loving others. We are all sinners, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Show our equality. Fight prejudice. We can start with our own. The term "gay" has become synonymous with "stupid". While I believe homosexuality is wrong, there is no reason to discriminate agaisnt or degrade those who are, in fact, homosexual, or those who are affeminate. Fred Phelps misrepresents the Lord and accuses God of hatred. We should not follow in his footsteps but instead actively work against him and love all. The crime of genocide is a travesty and it is our job to stand against it. We must follow through on the promise of "Never Again". Nationalism is a plague among the world. We are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of God. I may be from Georgia and I may be an American, but this is nothing more than where I live. As such, we should fight for freedom everywhere, not just at homre or for our "national interests".

Brothers and sisters, we are the children of God through the grace of God. It is time to act like it. It will not be easy. Quite the contrary, it will be very difficult and is only possibly through love, given freely through the death and resurrection of Christ. This is our challenge, our calling, our job.

May the grace and peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you now and forever.

Rock on.

ICC to Hear Evidence

As reported by the AFP:

The International Criminal Court will hear evidence on whether or not to open an inquiry into the Sudanese genocide. If the judge rules to open the investigation, this will be a very historic case, the first time an investigation is launched into an ongoing conflict. I have not seen anything to indicate that Genocide will be listed among the formal charges, but this is a step in the right direction.

For those who don't know, the ICC is the new embodiement of the International Court of Justice, the legal branch of the UN. In the event that a local government lacks the jurisdiction or ability to hear a case, or refuses to do so, the ICC can step in.

Again, for those who don't know, the US decided to stop referring to the on-going (albeit improving) war in Sudan as genocide.

May the world finally see the tragedy of the Sudanese genocide.

Rock on.

Update as of March 4, 2007: The ICC has ruled that several key Sudanese officials will stand trial. The Sudanese government, however, has refused to turn the suspects over to the court, claiming it will conduct its own investigation into the matter. This, in effect, leaves the court powerless.

An Open Plea for Darfur

The US Special Envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, has backed off of his claim that the current situation in the Darfur region of Sudan no longer constitutes as genocide. The US has never acted on allegations of genocide.

In 1994, officials were careful to avoid the term to describe the Rwandan crisis, as use of the term requires action. Both President Bush and the State Department have condemned the genocide, but failed to act. Now, while encouraging African nations to contribute peace keepers to the joint United Nation-African Union peacekeeping operation, the US has stepped down.

Please, right your Representatives and Senators and ask for action.

Never Again