Kristof: The pain of the G-8’s
27. Juli 2008 | Von atsil | Kategorie:KristofNicholas D. Kristof is pondering the pros and cons of making the Darfur genocide a priority.
On the one hand:
“Genocide is regrettable, but don’t lose perspective. It is simply one of many tragedies in the world today – and a fairly modest one in terms of lives lost.”
“Civil conflict in Congo has claimed more than 5.4 million lives over the last decade, according to careful mortality surveys by the International Rescue Committee. That’s at least 10 times the toll in Darfur, but because Congo doesn’t count as genocide – just as murderous chaos – no one has paid much attention to it.
Does a mother whose child dies from banditry, malaria or AIDS grieve any less than a mother whose child was killed by the janjaweed?”
“So instead of pushing Bush to worry about Darfur, where it’s not clear he can make a difference, get him to focus on bed nets or deworming or iodizing salt in poor countries or stopping mother-to-child transmission of the virus that causes AIDS or so many other areas where his attention could have a humanitarian impact.”
On the other:
“Genocide has always evoked a transcendent horror, and it has little to do with the numbers of victims. The Holocaust resonates not because 6 million Jews were killed but because a government picked people on the basis of their religious heritage and tried to exterminate them.”
“There are also practical arguments, for genocide can create cycles of revenge and displacement that make it far more destabilizing than any famine or epidemic. The Darfur genocide may well lead all Sudan to fragment into civil war, interrupting Sudanese oil exports and raising oil prices.”
Kristof declares:
The G-8’s collective shrug today about the Darfur genocide – because the victims are black, impoverished and hidden from television cameras – will be a lingering stain.
And he points to the Islamic World that
“has been even more myopic, particularly since the victims in Darfur are all Muslims.”
Asking:
“Do dead Muslims count only when Israel is the culprit? Can’t the Islamic world muster one-hundredth as much indignation for the genocidal slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Muslims as it can for a few Danish cartoons?”
Read the full article of Nicholas D. Kristof (New York Times) and join the discussion in his “On the Ground”-blog
Additional video information:
Phil Cox of Channel4 held an interview with Arbab Idries, a former Sudanese army commander.
Excerpt:
Cox:
“I then asked the commander about where the weapons came from that he and the Janjaweed militias used?’ “Idries:
“Yes, China is the strongest ally of Sudan. They benefit greatly from our oil revenues. ‘That’s why China keeps a strong relationship there. Why they support Sudan militarily. Why they support Sudan by army training, by weapons and so on.”Cox:
“Do you believe that China still supports with weapon”Idries:
“Yes, it still support, because China is still in Sudan, in the field of Sudan – the field of the oil”
Watch the video:
Philip Cox is the winner of the Rory Peck (Sony) International Impact Award of 2004
