Stop Genocide

Y'all Should Be Jealous...

by Michelle

Published February 05, 2009 @ 06:15PM PT

...because when I got home today, my new favorite t-shirt had arrived in the mail, from Amanda and Kate at Wronging Rights:

Definitely wearing it to work tomorrow.

Daily Darfur: 20,000 Pawns in Khartoum's War Games

by Michelle

category: Daily Darfur

Published February 05, 2009 @ 03:38AM PT

Khartoum claims that its military seized Muhajiriya, South Darfur, after days of aerial bombardment and ground assaults against Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The JEM retreated more than 50 kilometers away from the town after negotiations with the UN.

In an interview with Voice of America, ENOUGH Project Executive Director John Norris says the attack is a test for the Obama Administration:

"It's clear that the Sudanese government right now is testing the fence, as it were. Obviously, President Bashir is increasingly concerned by what looks very likely like it will be an arrest warrant handed down by the International Criminal Court (ICC), probably as soon as this month. And I think that they are hoping to escalate pressure, not only on the United States, but on the international community, to strengthen their hand and make the at least theoretical case that perhaps, an arrest warrant should be deferred."

Clearly, the way to stop to wheels of justice is to go on a rampage and commit even more of the crimes of which one is accused. (Mr. Bashir, you should fire your chief strategist.)

Read More »

Vatican Demands Retraction of Holocaust Denial (...and I want to know what you think.)

by Michelle

category: Antisemitism & Holocaust Denial

Published February 04, 2009 @ 07:11PM PT

After inciting an international row for lifting his excommunication, the Vatican today ordered that Bishop Richard Williamson publicly and "unequivocally" recant his ardent denial of the Holocaust.

As recently as November 2008, Williamson claimed that "historical evidence" is "hugely against" the mass murder of the Jews in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. (See video above.)

Read More »

Daily Darfur: You Can't Cry "Sovereignty" When Bombing Your Own People

by Michelle

category: Daily Darfur

Published February 04, 2009 @ 04:28AM PT

The situation in Muhajiriya, South Darfur, continues to deteriorate, with 30,000 civilians displaced by fighting between Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and the Sudanese government. A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights criticized both sides for jeopardizing the lives of civilians:

"The fighting is reported to have involved both ground offensives and indiscriminate aerial bombardment by government forces that failed to distinguish between civilian communities and military targets. And, on the other side, JEM [Justice and Equality Movement] forces are reported to have deliberately placed themselves in areas heavily populated by civilians, thereby jeopardizing their safety."

Somewhat to their credit, the JEM announced that it would withdraw from Muhajiriya, but only if the area became a de-militarized zone secured by UNAMID peacekeepers. As Maggie at the ENOUGH Project writes, Khartoum wasted no time rejecting the offer:

Read More »

Power on the Inside: Prominent Genocide Scholar Joins Obama

by Michelle

categories: Activism & Advocacy, Obama Administration

Published February 03, 2009 @ 07:04PM PT

In an Obama-esque show of conciliation --- or, perhaps, a display of skins much thicker than mine --- Samantha Power and Hillary Clinton have reportedly moved past the "monster-gate" scandal of last year's Democratic primary campaign, and, as Power was just appointed to a position in the National Security Council, will work together on Obama's foreign policy team.

And the world will hopefully be better for it, as the skills of both incredibly smart women are certainly needed to reshape American foreign policy. I agree with Mark at the UN Dispatch, who describes Power's Pulitzer Prize winning book, "A Problem From Hell': America in the Age of Genocide," as "probably number one on my list of all-time best foreign policy books." (Though I was say certainly number one --- not only for its foreign policy analysis, but for the seminal role it played in sparking the anti-genocide movement as we know it today.)

Read More »

Daily Darfur: Urgent Action Needed to Halt Bombing of Muhajiriya

by Michelle

category: Daily Darfur

Published February 03, 2009 @ 03:28AM PT

Sudanese forces dropped bombs near the rebel-held town of Muhajiriya, South Darfur on Monday, sending thousands of civilians running for cover. The attack comes just days after Khartoum asked UNAMID peacekeepers to leave the area --- ostensibly, for their own safety --- a request which the UN promptly rejected. But as Sudan expert Eric Reeves asks:

"But will they stand their ground once the fighting starts? And even if they stay, will they prove willing to use force to protect civilians--something U.N. peacekeepers have historically been extremely reluctant to do?"

He continues,

"And yet this peacekeeping operation is the only protection that the world has provided the people of Darfur. Now, the residents of Muhajeria are about to find out whether it can offer any real protection at all."

The UN Security Council imposed a ban on offensive military flights over Darfur with Resolution 1591 in 2005, but the government of Sudan has never felt compelled to comply --- and no one has taken any measures to make them.

More than a few people are asking, in the face of Khartoum's blatant violence (they aren't even trying to cover their tracks this time), where the is the Obama Administration and their "unstinting resolve" on Darfur? In an op-ed yesterday, Save Darfur president Jerry Fowler writes:

"Could the president be assembling a dream team of advisers who will begin rebuilding the peace process for Darfur and Sudan? They certainly appear to have an opportunity and an inclination to do so. On the other hand, we've been disappointed before."

But time is clearly wasting : The team at the ENOUGH Project is calling for the invocation of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine to prevent Muhajiriya from becoming the next Srebrenica, and the UN Dispatch reiterates the call for American leadership on the crisis.

Do your part: Call the White House and demand action to protect civilians in Muhajiriya. (Thanks to KTJ at Stop Genocide Now for passing this along.)

Read More »

Stories of Survival, Sri Lanka Edition: "They dropped bombs on us here."

by Michelle

category: Stories Of Survival

Published February 02, 2009 @ 05:53PM PT

A special edition of "Stories of Survival" tonight, to follow up last night's mostly macro-level political post on Sri Lanka with a sobering look at the suffering of Tamil civilians. The stories are from People for Equality and Relief in Sri Lanka (PEARL).

Singarasa Mary Josephine, on the murder of her son, who worked for the humanitarian NGO Action Against Hunger (ACF):

"We know very well that it was the Army that killed him. The Army is working for the government, they're the ones who killed him. They took all the documents in the office and all their hand phones. Their morning tea was just like that on their desks. Some people's tea was just like that, half drank. They were killed wearing their sarems, early morning, even before they had put on their clothes for the day. But they were all wearing the ACF symbol on their shirts because they thought the Army wouldn't hurt them with the ACF logo..."

Read More »