Jamie O’Connell
Sunday, September 23, 2007 The San Francisco Chronicle
President Bush’s recent decision to attend the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games looks as unwise as his May 2004 appearance on an aircraft carrier to proclaim “mission accomplished” in Iraq. Human rights activists have labeled the games the “Genocide Olympics,” highlighting the Chinese government’s support for genocide in Darfur, in western Sudan.
Just as Adolf Hitler used the 1936 Berlin Olympics to present Nazi society as a model of orderly virtue, they argue, Beijing will use the Games as an international coming out party, casting itself as an economic power, technological innovator and diplomatic leader of the first rank. An international campaign joined by the US Save Darfur Coalition – comprised of organizations as diverse as B’nai B’rith International, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination League, and the NAACP – aims to reverse this image unless China fundamentally changes policy on Darfur. This “Olympic Dream for Darfur” (www.dreamfordarfur.org), along with more action by the U.S. government and rising public outcry in Europe and elsewhere, could help end the first genocide of the 21st century.
KHARTOUM, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Violence is increasing in camps for displaced people in Darfur, where nearly a quarter million people have been displaced so far this year, a U.N. report said on Monday.
The United Nations said rising violence in the overcrowded camps of the remote region of western Sudan was making it harder to carry out humanitarian aid work to help the thousands of newcomers arriving each week.
“Over 240,000 people have been newly displaced or re-displaced during 2007,” the U.N. report said. “In many IDP (internally displaced people) camps, armed elements are present, and violent incidents are increasing.”
The Boston Globe – [Permanent Link]
By Eric Reeves – September 6, 2007
DOES GENOCIDE continue in Darfur? Do we still see “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, [Darfur’s African ethnic groups] as such,” the high standard set by the 1948 UN Genocide Convention? The question acquires urgency as skepticism grows in some quarters about the intentions of Khartoum’s Islamist regime. Genocide is a crime of intent, not motive; if the intention of Khartoum is no longer genocidal, their moral and negotiating equities change considerably in any peace talks with fractious rebel groups.
Some skepticism about genocide in Darfur is politically motivated: much of the British left regards Darfur advocacy as a diversion from Iraq. The Bush administration, embarrassed by its weak actions following a September 2004 genocide determination, has attempted to “walk back” the g-word. Yet others argue – to diminish the urgency of deploying military protection – that Darfur’s terrible realities are much improved and no longer deserve such strenuous characterization.
Escalating violence in Darfur and efforts by the international community to restore peace has dominated the news headlines this month.
Particularly prominent has been coverage of the first visit by the new UN secretary-general to the region and his thoughts on peacekeeping, political solutions and humanitarian aid. Noticeably absent, however, from Ban Ki-moon’s statements on Darfur has been any mention of the International Criminal Court, ICC, and the two arrest warrants it issued earlier this year for a Sudanese rebel leader and a government minister.
