We talk a lot here about the need to impose targeted multilateral sanctions against the Sudanese government’s senior leaders.
We first called for such action a few years ago. Now, in 2010, the Sudan movement’s bullhorn is still very much on — and we don’t think it’s worse for wear. Omar al-Bashir continues to kill Darfuris. He has decimated the medical support system for Sudanese rape victims. And he is rigging the upcoming national elections in Sudan in his favor. The voices of many Sudan activists might be tired, but we can’t stop now. Not while there is an urgent need to organize and speak out for the rights and dignity of millions of Sudanese citizens.
Pushing the U.S. government to “impose severe consequences” on the Sudanese government might appear too technocratic to some — why are activists demanding that the Obama administration take the narrow action of imposing asset freezes and travel bans against Sudan’s dictators, anyway? The answer, as Enough pointed out recently, has to do with practical precedent:
“These consequences [e.g., multilateral sanctions] that allegedly reside in the Obama administration’s confidential annex to its policy are the only instruments that can prevent an all-out national war in Sudan. Consequences, or the meaningful threat thereof, have altered the calculations and behavior of [Bashir's National Congress Party] in the past. They led to the expulsion of Osama bin Laden, the end to slave raiding and aerial bombing in the South, the acceleration of intelligence cooperation after 9/11, and the CPA itself.”
History is revealing here: we know that there is a policy strategy that has been effective in stopping impunity in Sudan on multiple occasions.
The primary issue at hand isn’t whether or not the Obama administration will heed the lessons of history, given the promises contained in its heavily (self-)advertised Sudan policy document. Rather, the issue is us: Will we (the OurPledge team included) step up and give our elected officials holy hell for not doing enough for the people of Sudan? We have great hope for a new year of intense activism, but ultimately, the extent and effectiveness of the Sudan movement’s work in 2010 aren’t guaranteed. The book hasn’t been written yet.
This inaugural new year’s post comes late, but we have to say: thank you for sticking with us. We look forward to working with you this year on behalf of the people of Sudan.
