While We Were Sleeping
I remember after watching Hotel Rwanda, (which I should really add to my favorite movies list,) that I wondered what in the world I was doing in 1994 to be so oblivious. Had I become so desensitized to suffering that I could block the whole thing out as another "tragedy" in the headlines to skip through to something more palatable? Where was my high school idealistic zeal, the same teenager who wrote an impassioned editorial following the shooting of John Lennon, Give Peace a Chance. Did I stop believing that my voice could make a difference? Does it?
I don't know, but here it is happening again while I munch away on banana chips. This time, I signed the postcard on www.MillionVoicesForDarfur and am posting this here on my blog in the hopes that my meager efforts will get some more minds and pens involved, and maybe just maybe together we can do something. My friend Dennis sent me this in an email today, and it got me a bit riled up again. Woke me from some sort of slumber. Hmm. Maybe one voice can change a thing or two...Here's what he wrote:
I can hear the words of Madeline Albright who during her time
as Clinton’s right hand woman said “The people of America have no interest in
the situation in Sudan.” This is how I remember her saying it but this is how it
was quoted by Village Voice April 25, 2000 six months later "The human rights
situation in Sudan is not marketable to the American people.''-Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright-Sept. 15, 1999
This single statement was one of the most angering in my life.
I am writing to ask you to speak up for these folk ...
The Darfur site I listed above cites:
"Not since the Rwanda genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated
campaign of slaughter, rape, starvation and displacement. The Sudanese
government continues to flout international law with impunity."
I wonder when I see a movie about this ten years from now or so, I will recognize the times as ones that I lived through. Will I wonder where in the heck I was? I hope not.
I don't know, but here it is happening again while I munch away on banana chips. This time, I signed the postcard on www.MillionVoicesForDarfur and am posting this here on my blog in the hopes that my meager efforts will get some more minds and pens involved, and maybe just maybe together we can do something. My friend Dennis sent me this in an email today, and it got me a bit riled up again. Woke me from some sort of slumber. Hmm. Maybe one voice can change a thing or two...Here's what he wrote:
I can hear the words of Madeline Albright who during her time
as Clinton’s right hand woman said “The people of America have no interest in
the situation in Sudan.” This is how I remember her saying it but this is how it
was quoted by Village Voice April 25, 2000 six months later "The human rights
situation in Sudan is not marketable to the American people.''-Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright-Sept. 15, 1999
This single statement was one of the most angering in my life.
I am writing to ask you to speak up for these folk ...
The Darfur site I listed above cites:
"Not since the Rwanda genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated
campaign of slaughter, rape, starvation and displacement. The Sudanese
government continues to flout international law with impunity."
I wonder when I see a movie about this ten years from now or so, I will recognize the times as ones that I lived through. Will I wonder where in the heck I was? I hope not.
posted by gail-pilgrimage at 4:45 PM
5 Comments:
Gail, thanks for taking up the alarm on this. I sent one of the postcards to the prez. I don't think 'genocide' is precisely accurate in this situation, is it? Massacres, persecution, wanton violence, impending famine - more than enough reasons to intervene.
Hey John,
Yes, our government has actually officially called it a genocide.
Amazing, isn't it, that we all don't already know this?
What racial, ethnic, cultural, or religious group does our government say is the target of this genocide?
Here's a little something from the Washington Post, 5 Truths About Darfur. Here's truth #5.
5 The "genocide" label made it worse
Many of the world's governments have drawn the line at labeling Darfur as genocide. Some call the conflict a case of ethnic cleansing, and others have described it as a government going too far in trying to put down a rebellion.
But in September 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell referred to the conflict as a "genocide." Rather than spurring greater international action, that label only seems to have strengthened Sudan's rebels; they believe they don't need to negotiate with the government and think they will have U.S. support when they commit attacks. Peace talks have broken down seven times, partly because the rebel groups have walked out of negotiations. And Sudan's government has used the genocide label to market itself in the Middle East as another victim of America's anti-Arab and anti-Islamic policies.
Perhaps most counterproductive, the United States has failed to follow up with meaningful action. "The word 'genocide' was not an action word; it was a responsibility word," Charles R. Snyder, the State Department's senior representative on Sudan, told me in late 2004. "There was an ethical and moral obligation, and saying it underscored how seriously we took this." The Bush administration's recent idea of sending several hundred NATO advisers to support African Union peacekeepers falls short of what many advocates had hoped for.
"We called it a genocide and then we wine and dine the architects of the conflict by working with them on counterterrorism and on peace in the south," said Ted Dagne, an Africa expert for the Congressional Research Service. "I wish I knew a way to improve the situation there. But it's only getting worse."
The first 4 points in the article go into your question, which seems complicated, intertwined, mixed and downright muddy. See if you can sort it out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR2006042101752.html
Hey Gail
Just finished reading A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali with my book club. Combined with Elie Weisel's comment recently heard on Oprah (yes Oprah) and your blog entry it makes me more than ever interested in doing something - anything tangible. Thanks for the post card - will pass along to my book club buddies.
Sue in BC
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