Top 10 Recommended Readings on Genocide
Published October 06, 2008 @ 08:17PM PT
My list of must-read books, blogs, columns...and one must-listen podcast.
Daily Darfur: Nowhere is Safe
Published October 06, 2008 @ 05:27PM PT
Voice of America reports that Khartoum is ready to work with the international community to resolve the crisis in Darfur, without preconditions. I'm not holding my breath.
Why such skepticism?
"Khartoum"--the regime of President al-Bashir and the National Congress Party hardliners--has mastered the fine art of being totally two-faced. (Think Mean Girls, but with guns and consequences.) Case in point: Peacekeepers sent reinforcements to the Kalma camp, home to 90,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur, amid fears that the Sudanese government is preparing to launch an attack.
Universal Jurisdiction: 'Judicial Activism,' or international law?
Published October 06, 2008 @ 04:40AM PT
In an op-ed in the L.A. Times this morning, two former Justice Department attorneys argue that the use of universal jurisdiction to indict and try suspected war criminals amounts to "international judicial activism." Universal jurisdiction grants national courts in one country the authority to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity, including crimes of genocide, that occured in another, and is another bulwark against impunity for egregious human rights abuses.
The authors base their criticism on a recent schism between the UN and Rwanda: The Rwandan government threatened to pull its 3,000 peacekeepers out of Darfur if the UN persisted with the removal of Major General Emmanuel Karake Karenzi, who is suspected of war crimes in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and was indicted by a Spanish court earlier this year.
This is a bit heady for early in the morning, but bear with me:
Sudan: A History in Three-Part Disharmony (Part III)
Published October 06, 2008 @ 03:18AM PT
Episode 3 of 3 (but hardly the final chapter): The Genocide in Darfur. Its roots, its beginning, but sadly, not its end.
300,000 dead, 2.5 million displaced, and counting.
Sudan: A History in Three-Part Disharmony (Part II)
Published October 06, 2008 @ 03:00AM PT
“Khartoum will never go back to being a secular capital.”
In Episode 2 of our three-part tour of Sudanese history, we turn to newly-imposed dictator General Omar al-Bashir and his penchant for violence and oppression. The Second Civil War with the South reached even greater levels of brutality under his direction, and the genocide in Darfur is a direct outgrowth of this period, as are the patterns of violence and ethnic cleansing.
Sudan: A History in Three-Part Disharmony (Part I)
Published October 06, 2008 @ 02:01AM PT
In Episode 1 of 3 on the history of Sudan and the genocide in Darfur, we review the historical roots of the crisis, starting at the country's independence from Great Britain. (Though it actually goes even deeper than that.) The post-colonial history of Sudan is characterized by constant instability and near- constant conflict. The patterns of violence developed during the First and Second Civil Wars are now seen in Darfur.
For those of you out there with history-induced narcolepsy--stop yawning. In order to fully understand the current situation in Darfur, it must be considered as part and parcel of this larger context. (Besides, it won't take you nearly as long to read it as it took me to write it.)
Team Darfur: Because it's more than just a game.
Published October 05, 2008 @ 10:28PM PT
"Why the hell did they give the Olympics to China?" - A Team Darfur intern, who shall remain nameless, in a moment of rhetorical exasperation.
Summer 2008 was a busy one for Darfur activists. Activists gained momentum as they capitalized on the Beijing Olympics to bring new attention to the on-going genocide in Darfur, highlighting China's substantial role in supporting the Sudanese government-not only as its largest trading partner, but through equipping and training the military. In a middle of it all, a group created by athletes for athletes, who are not only appalled by the genocide but offended by China's violation of the Olympic spirit, rose to particular prominence among the fray.
