Other crises comparable to Darfur, such as those in Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia today, get little or no coverage just as Ethiopia's attack on neighboring Somalia, done entirely with U.S. planning and support, seems to stir at best limited outrage with the Save Darfur! crowd.
Likewise, the professed concern for Darfur, helps numerous western politicians, intellectuals and the western media deflect attention from the catastrophe in Iraq in which the U.S. war and occupation have caused over a million deaths and one of the worst refugee crises in the world.
This writer does not wish to encourage cynicism or turn a blind eye to the very real suffering in Darfur. Nevertheless, while there are many real questions about what the U.S. peace movement can do to help end Sudan's suffering, the key starting point is an insistence on honest discussion and a real accounting of U.S. actions—not the supposed lack of action—in Darfur, Sudan and in Africa more generally. The first priority for U.S. officials, NGOs and citizens who want to stop the violence is to get their government to stop participating in it.
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1. See James Adams, "Americans Move to Destabilize Sudanese Regime", Sunday Times Nov. 17, 1996. Also: John Cherian, "A Promising Deal", Frontline July-Aug 2002.
2. See e.g. Eric Margolis, "No Time For a Crusade in Sudan", Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2004. The SLA is one of the two main rebel groups, the other being the islamist Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The rebel groups have since fractured and there are now over 25 different rebel factions.
3. See Pratap Chaterjee, "Darfur Diplomacy: Enter the Contractors," Corpwatch, March 13, 2004. Also Wall Street Journal Sep. 24, 2007. The A.U. mission also received logistical support from NATO. The A.U. countries providing troops Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria are U.S. clients and their soldiers have committed serious atrocities against their own people. The North-South peace agreement is in serious jeopardy and the SPLM recently quit the current Sudanese government.
4. At a 1997 U.S. Institute for Peace Conference, John Prendergast confirmed that the U.S. was providing "non-lethal defensive military equipment to Uganda, Ethiopia and Eritrea" as part of the "Front Line States Initiative". Allegedly, this was to help them "defend themselves from Sudan's campaign of regional destabilization".
Likewise, the professed concern for Darfur, helps numerous western politicians, intellectuals and the western media deflect attention from the catastrophe in Iraq in which the U.S. war and occupation have caused over a million deaths and one of the worst refugee crises in the world.
This writer does not wish to encourage cynicism or turn a blind eye to the very real suffering in Darfur. Nevertheless, while there are many real questions about what the U.S. peace movement can do to help end Sudan's suffering, the key starting point is an insistence on honest discussion and a real accounting of U.S. actions—not the supposed lack of action—in Darfur, Sudan and in Africa more generally. The first priority for U.S. officials, NGOs and citizens who want to stop the violence is to get their government to stop participating in it.
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2. See e.g. Eric Margolis, "No Time For a Crusade in Sudan", Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2004. The SLA is one of the two main rebel groups, the other being the islamist Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The rebel groups have since fractured and there are now over 25 different rebel factions.
3. See Pratap Chaterjee, "Darfur Diplomacy: Enter the Contractors," Corpwatch, March 13, 2004. Also Wall Street Journal Sep. 24, 2007. The A.U. mission also received logistical support from NATO. The A.U. countries providing troops Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria are U.S. clients and their soldiers have committed serious atrocities against their own people. The North-South peace agreement is in serious jeopardy and the SPLM recently quit the current Sudanese government.
4. At a 1997 U.S. Institute for Peace Conference, John Prendergast confirmed that the U.S. was providing "non-lethal defensive military equipment to Uganda, Ethiopia and Eritrea" as part of the "Front Line States Initiative". Allegedly, this was to help them "defend themselves from Sudan's campaign of regional destabilization".
Dimitri Oram is a writer and researcher based in Western Massachusetts. He was born and raised in Northampton and graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 2000. He woke up to the realities of the US Global Empire back in 1999 during the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia.
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