New Hope for the New Year
Class is over, but the genocide is not. So, I continue to post on this blog in the hopes that people will come and read and be informed. There are many different sources for gathering information out there, but allow this to be an account of our journey towards discovering and providing African solutions for African problems. We love seeing organizations reach out and offer solutions to problems in Africa, but we also acknowledge the ability of mankind to fight to protect their own humanity.
My partner, Jahkova, and I are now working to do just that. What started as a plan to host a few parties to raise awareness to the crisis in Darfur has escalated into a full-blown attempt to host a concert in the Darfur region. It will be a concert for the Refugees and/or Internally-Displaced Peoples of Darfur. Relief Web shows the
numbers of refugees and IDPs at-a-glance for the passing Fiscal Year 2005 and they are staggering. There are millions of people in need. This concert will be an attempt to bless just a few of those millions.
There are camps all over Darfur, bordering
Chad and even Kenya. Global Security.org shows the
locations of camps in the region. The plight of IDPs and Refugees should be of major concern, especially in light of the Katrina disaster here in the States. We can learn how our government may respond to this crisis from how we respond to crisis abroad.
The Long Journey Home: an IRIN Web Special on the challenge of refugee return and reintegration addresses the challenges Sudanese refugees face daily in the camps. Sudanese refugees continue to be confronted with hard realities after escaping the genocide that has destroyed their homes and families. There seems to be no safe or fair place to run. Not to depress you, but simply to alert you to more atrocities occurring in the camps, visit the web for the
Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT).
And people in the camps are frustrated. It is no way to live. This
LA Times article highlights recent happenings at the Kalma camp in Southern Darfur are an example of this frustration. Over 90,000 people have been “living” at the Kalma camp since 2003. That’s an entire city of people (unemployed) receiving UN issued water and other aid while still fighting off attacks from rebel groups.
So, why a concert in light of more pressing concerns? Well, alleviating the situation in Darfur and in the camps requires a long-range plan that the UN and international community are working on diligently. Unfortunately, stopping the genocide is not a priority. To give credit where due, the crisis is the focus of numerous individuals whose lives are often in danger for the work they do.
Jan Egelman, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, speaks about the crisis and possibility of peace. A bit outdated, but this info sheds light on efforts being made and needs that require meeting in order to slow the tragedy.
In the meantime, music is a medium of hope. There are several
music festivals coming in the New Year on the Continent. While there are security issues to be resolved in order to hold a similar event in or near a camp, a concert would be an amazing means of offering hope as a means of survival. Hope is often times just as critical for life as food, water, or medicine. One must will to live. Like
Emmanual Jal-a Sudanese survivor, former child soldier, now rapper. More on his story, and his connection to our story to come.
Be a blessing to others in some way this New Year.
Peace.
Moving Away From Africans as Victims - Redefining "corruption" and "Inventing Popular Culture"
"Victims look at the cause, power players look at solutions."
Although I think that John Storey’s outlook on globalization a bit “optimistic,” I can dig his solutions-oriented approach. Looking for the positive impacts globalization has on culture in the end, he sees globalization as an attempt to close the gaps created by the invention of popular culture by an elite intellectual group.
"The world is made up of many changing centers of power. Therefore cultural flows can no longer be understood as moving from the American imperial center to the colonial periphery." (115)
This read challenged me to look at African solutions to African problems from a changed position. Placing the African not as victim.
Mostly, I came up with a bunch of questions. But in a nutshell, in our group this last week and perhaps for our podcast, it may be beneficial for us to look at redefining corruption, and re-positioning our view of Africans not even as victims of colonization (there’s no arguing, they were). However in light of a more optimistic outlook on globalization, we can consider how this shift in our economy and our universe, can change the shape of the Continents future.
Then, from this position, what could possible solutions to corruption be? Also, if the African is not a victim of corruption, but merely a contributor to the global corruption, how do the possible solutions differ?
If there is not American imperial center, what is the center of power now? Does Africa have a place in that center?
If Africans are no longer viewed as in need of colonization, they are then seen as being in a position to provide to the global community. What can Africans provide to the global community?
What African qualities can they retain as they participate in global culture and; What cultures do they influence?
In rethinking our position or rethinking our identity; even as we do in Christ we may begin to see Africans as we see ourselves in Christ. As overcomers and powerful forces of influence and change in this world.
Week 6: "Common Heritage of Mankind?"
I got stuck on the details of the development of the UN Charter model in chapter 1 section 3. This is what I want to comment on for the purposes of our group looking for “African solutions to African problems.”
I’m especially concerned with “how restrictive provisions of the charter have been” or may be to Africa. I guess for this continent, whose very lack of autonomy (in light of mass colonization) has seemingly led to its demise and an inability to function justly, sovereignty is exactly what they should be striving towards. Yet this UN Charter model seems to limit them from positioning themselves to be the power players they must be in order to fight corruption pressing in on them from outside and subsequently resist and fight against corruption from within.
Veto power is accorded to permanent members of the UN Security Council. In 2005, there are 5 permanent members: China, France, Russia, UK and US. Africa, the entire continent, is given one membership seat, presently Algeria in northern Africa. This is a major concern of mine on a global level; that we view Africa in the same light as we view the United States, however, the US is ONE country while Africa is a whole continent made up of many countries. Does that not warrant special status in the UN Security Council? Especially in light of the security issues that arise on the continent? Just something for us to think about.
And as issues of white global privilege enter into our domain as we focus on solutions to the social problem of corruption in Africa, I can’t help but to be suspicious of a UN Charter Model established in 1945 in light of racist tensions that still presently exist and we can imagine existed much more strongly then. Africans, as dramatically illustrated in Hotel Rwanda, didn’t mean anything to UN even in 1994. It is no coincidence that the nations in the African Diaspora of our global world all fall into the category of underdeveloped, yet house so many important trade resources from oil and diamonds in Africa, to fruit and coffee beans in the Caribbean. How is it that predominantly African nations are so underdeveloped, yet so filled with rich necessary resources?
The issue is with the “common heritage of mankind” (p. 64), is how Africans were not really considered a part of our heritage as a Western world, yet the UN charter states, “Systematic inequalities among peoples and states are recognized and new rules – including the concept of the “common heritage of mankind’ – are established to create ways of governing the distribution, appropriation, and exploitation of territory, property and natural resources.” This seems designed especially to keep Africans in the powerless position of giving up their resources and watching others nations prosper at their expense.
And still yet, China is allowed to continue to be the major force in the oil business in regions of the Sudan, and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It’s as though the UN is saying, we can’t let “their” (African) crimes against “their” (African) kind limit the distribution of resources for the world. I guess my question is, since when have Africans been included as sharing a common heritage with our Euro-dominated world?
Week 5: Catching Up
These are my last posts of sources for us. I'm happy about these. Though late in coming, I feel like I was able to find some definite connections with Sudanese organizations working to combat the corruption in the region. I was also brave enough to dig into some of the oil issues.
After talking with
Steven Watts, a Fuller Phd student studying poverty and corruption in the sub-Saharan region in Africa, I am intent on identifying sources that lead us as a group to look for "African solutions to African problems." He is mentioned here as one of my sources.
We spoke for an hour and a half about the conditions in the Sudan, in neighboring Chad and the refugee camps there. We spoke of the armed and government backed military groups mentioned in previous posts and of the Chinese who continue to do oil business in the region. See
this
Washington Post article about how China subsequently funds those groups, literally arming them with oil money.
For informational reports about the oil business and how this contributes to corruption in the region, see this
Christian Aid report documenting how the presence of international oil companies is fueling the war. While some of this information may now be outdated, the relationship between oil and violence is clear. Africans, long exploited for their resources, are acting out in violence in an attempt to control them. Corruption seems to have have bred corruption. Also, the
European Coalition on Oil is a wealthy resource I look forward to exploring in more detail.
Alertnet posted an article entitled,
Oil discovery adds new twist to Darfur tragedy. Posted June 2005, the article reports how the discovery of oil in Sudan has turned the quest for peace in Sudan's historically war torn region into a fight over resources. Allafrica.com features an even more to date article on the conflict over oil in the region.
Oil Sector Proves a Hard Nut to Crack, published in October 2005, looks at Sudan, post-January 2005's peace agreement, saying the
new war over oil rages on.
And this is the last! See
National Geographic's September issue dedicated to Africa. This is what first prompted me to look at oil as a factor in war amongst Africans. They profit so little compared to the wealthy industry that is the oil business, strife is inevitable.
Finally, even in focusing on "African Solutions for African Problems," I came across this organization. A council of churches in the Sudan,
New Sudan Council of Churches, whose vision is of "a new transformed Sudan at peace, where the spirit of Christ inspires the full and equal development of all peoples." Yet even in reading just of such an organization (and I am beyond impressed by Christian organization after hearing negative feedback about large non-profits such as World Vision), there is question of corruption within. I came across a critique of the NSCC,
New Sudan Council of Churches: Christian Voice, or Mouthpiece for War Criminals? It serves as somewhat of an admonishment to exercise caution in exhorting Christian orgs that are so closely linked to gov't agencies. AfricaAction has posted a resource page with links to discussion paper entitled,
Great Expectations: The Civil Roles of the Churches in Southern Sudan. I can't wait to get my hands on this. The summary of the paper,
Argues that the involvement of church institutions in
relief aid as well as conflict resolution, and their
complicated relationships with different sectors of
Sudanese society, should lead to caution against
exaggerated hopes for their achievements in conflict
resolution. While church agencies should remain ready to
facilitate negotiations between factions, they also need
to be less reticent in calling attention to human rights
abuses, and more ready to participate in international
Christian-Islamic dialogue.
I think we can all take something home with that.
Analysis: Wk 4 - Exploring Sudan's Political Structures
So this week I’m focusing on the
political groups and parties existing in the Sudan. I figure to assess power structures affecting the region and contributing to the genocide there, it’s best to have an understanding of the physical power structures in conflict. The websites listed give both a history of the existence of several of such structures in the region and address their goals.
So far, I’ve been very focused on aid organizations, like
Save Darfur, and what the international community is doing or failing to do to help, without looking to the groups already in existence on the home front. One of the concerns in looking to the Sudanese groups for guidance for the church is the issue of corruption, but this is just as prevelant in looking to the US (even the
Embassy of the Sudan within) and international political groups (like the
United Nations). This link to the UN is actually a website for the United Nations System in the Sudan and contains facts pertaining to UN action specifically in that country.
But just this brief amount of research admits that both of the main political/military opposing groups in Sudan, the
National Islamic Front (NIF) and the
Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) reportedly manipulate the media. Both are reportedly active in violent fronts against the other parties contributing to the violence and civil unrest in the region. Granted, the SPLM/A was proposedly formed to resist the NIF’s Arabic regime in the a country that is predominantly African in population. Research suggests that most Southern Sudan organizations, like the
Sudan Liberation Movement/Army are promoters of unity in diversity; that is, a democratic unity that reflects the countries varied racial and religious make-up.
I was delighted to find a Christian organization called
South Sudanese Friends International which exists to promote “grassroots peacemaking and self-reliant living for Southern Sudan.” Interestingly, the founder of this organization served and resigned in 2004 as Chairman of the South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM – one of many southern Sudanese military/political groups) citing a desire to serve as an activist outside of a political military group. He had grown disheartened by the other Southern Sudanese parties that sought self-seeking power over the welfare of the civilians. The problem of corruption is clear. These resources will definitely assist in identifying smaller practices that may lend to a discussion of how the church can respond to the social problem of corruption in Africa.
Another strand that keeps recurring is this issue of oil in the region. Maybe next week I’ll get into that. But there’s something more to that story and my fear of economics is keeping me out of it, but I think I’ll have to jump in and see what’s really going on. Stay tuned.
More general background information regarding the political structures in the Sudan can be found at the following websites:
Wikipedia gives a good overview for those wanting to familiarize themselves with the Darfur conflict in a more general way.
Sudan.net gives a more cultural look at the region.
Note: Without a real knowledge of the conflict, many of these political groups sound very familiar because the names are really similar. I assure you, each are different, and I myself continue to process the distinctions between each faction.
Analysis: Beginning to Identify Practices
This week I’m trying to focus by looking at how our government responds or fails to respond to genocide. I’m trying to identify practices – doings and saying and/or shared understandings and while those terms are still quite new to me, several of the articles listed below address the issue of Practices of Silence, Avoidance, Aversion, etc. that contribute to the development of our (US) governmental Foreign and Defense policies.
Now, by taking into consideration Tracy’s note about practices being fallen, and therefore being “good” at one point in creation, I’m not finished really processing through this all. So some of these ideas may seem like a stretch, but I’ll narrow it down in time. But my overall understanding of this is that if social problems are the result or consequence of structures, then by identifying practices that give rise to those structures, in coming weeks I hope to better identify what those structures are. Right now it is rather loose and/or obvious, like structures of government, but I plan to dig deeper than that. The most specific example of a practice I’ve found, from the perspective of corruption in Africa (and Tracy I seriously note your admonishment that we are careful to look at both how the West contributes to this and Africa) is the issue of systematic rape. On the surface level, it is rape, but for the purpose of this study, it is the practice of sex, corrupted.
So in consciously not focusing on our government alone, several articles address practices of the Sudanese and Rwandan government officials and rebel groups that contribute to the rise of corruption through various practices. The most egregious of which is the structure of systematic rape used in genocide – rape being the practice of sex corrupted. I hope to identify more in the coming weeks.
Since corruption is such a massive and layered problem, I am beginning to understand how identifying the practices and narrowing our focus to smaller, possibly more manageable issues, we can identify action points for the church. And by identifying action points, the church can then participate in God’s work of redemption.
What follows are sources that point to fallen structures and/or practices, but I admit I need a bit of time to really flesh out which falls in to which category.
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people2/Power/power-con0.html
Interview with Samantha Power, author, “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide. An interview with Powers regarding the Structure of Silence shaping US Foreign policy regarding genocide in Rwanda and throughout history.
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=5227
An article highlighting the international debate over whether or not to call crisis in Sudan genocide and failure of international community powers (including US) to approve the new permanent International Crime Court which will hold the authority to convict perpetrators of genocide and other war crime cases – including those involving the US. Practice of Aversion and Avoidance.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/evil/interviews/gourevitch.html
Frontline interview with Philip Gourevitch.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16001-2004Jun29.html
We Want to Make a Light Baby – Washington Post article
Dicussion of systematic rape used as a tool by Janjaweed militia men in ethnic cleansing.
http://www.africaaction.org/newsroom/index.php?op=read&documentid=634&type=14&issues=1152
Africa Action: Africa Action Talking Points on How to Stop Genocide in Sudan
Defines genocide in general, in relation to Darfur, and how US government fails to act.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07394830.htm
Bandits beat, whip aid workers in Sudan's Darfur, Opheera McDoom. Self-explanatory. The Sudanese government is working to deter food delivery to refugees in Chad and other displaced people in the Sudan. I’m looking at this to identify some practice, but I can’t fully identify it right now.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sudan/thestory.html
Sudan the Quick and the Terrible, Amy Costello. Frontline video news report emphasizing political crisis and addressing internal potential sources of corruption on Sudanese government denial of involvement in Janjaweed terror attacks.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/sudan.html
Sudan Country Analysis Brief
Information about oil reserves and US sanctions imposed on the Sudan due to civil war. Human Rights orgs accuse Sudanese government of using oil profits to finance genocide.
Books/Articles:We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch.
Documenting stories of victims interviewed by author and the authors account of his post-genocide visits to Rwanda.
“Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire.”
Interesting article by Irving Greenburg in Holocaust : Religious and Philosophical Implications. This is kind of off topic, but addresses that larger issue of the church’s response to genocide by looking at Jewish/Christian responses to the Holocaust. Perhaps useful for later discussions, but I just read it for class and thought it would be useful to our research.
Research and Analysis - Week 2
Okay. So I think I am going to stick with genocide. After our discussion today about powers and how or what forms of power structures play out in our ideas about corruption, I’m starting to maybe see some links between structures of race and learned superiority complexes that contribute to acts of genocide in Africa. I don’t even fully understand what I just wrote! But it sounds good and it sounds like I might be being led somewhere and I’m just going to chill, and dig up some resources and maybe 60 resources later, it’ll start to make a little bit of sense.
I think these links in the beginning are just going to be resources I’ve found while researching and informing myself of the ongoing genocide in Darfur in the Sudan. Occurrences of genocide have taken place in other countries throughout the Continent (the way I like to refer to Africa to remind me that it’s so much more than just a country) so maybe I’ll try to broaden my scope a bit in this first assignment too and find out where, besides the obvious – Rwanda, and post links to that information as well. It’d be interesting to see what nations, if any, are entrenched in all of these issues we are individually researching across the board. And if so, what the connections are between the issues – much like Kirsten’s brilliant idea of mapping the process of corruption. So we’ll see where genocide fits along the map. I look forward to your feedback and your own research.
It seems like on a very surface level; my initial impression (from our discussion today) is that by forcing Africans to operate within a western system of …everything, the stress of being torn from their own customs and systems has bred major corruption within their own borders.
What follows is my initial research and as I spent more time researching, my search was narrowed to the genocide in Sudan. What is unique about this situation, in comparison to the past situation in Rwanda 1) is that it is present and 2) our president has declared the crisis in Darfur a genocide calling even more attention to the crisis. But now our government does nothing and relies upon the African Union, the Continent’s military force that is widely reported to be under-staffed, under-trained and wholly ill-equipped to handle the crisis.
So for now, excuse my informalities and lack of properly cited and documented research. I hope you browse some of these sources and learn for yourself from others way more knowledgeable about the crisis. I encourage others to commit themselves to first being open to learn and then from there, open to be moved to act.
Films:
http://www.theconstantgardener.com/
A great must see film on many levels; specifically related to the issue of corruption. How it could fit into each individual issue is probably left each to his/her own interpretations.
http://www.hotelrwanda.com/intro.html
A powerful film documenting the effects of civil war in an African nation ignored by the international community.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601625.html;
http://www.ericdsnider.com/view.php?mrkey=2348
Two separate reviews of documentary, Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire; the story of General Romeo Dallaire who in 1993 was chosen to command the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Rwanda. (Unfortunately no website for actual documentary)
News Articles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/opinion/07kristof.html?ex=1128830400&en=e64066a331746934&ei=5070&ei=5070&en=9db0a6d520de9
Nicholas Kristof’s June 2005 op-ed “Uncover Your Eyes” comments on President Bush’s labeling of the crisis in Darfur as genocide and again, as in previous genocides (and fairly, as in previous administrations), doing nothing.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/218498/112627525676.htm
WOW! “RWANDA/GENOCIDE - RWANDAN GENOCIDE COMES TO HAUNT A SILENT CATHOLIC CHURCH” This article is about accused priests of the Catholic church and a Seventh Day Adventist pastor in Rwanda who allegedly contributed to the acts of genocide in Rwanda. My reactions: Racial supremacy overrides religious allegiance? Loyalty to political structures over loyalty to God?
http://www.sudanreeves.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=66
“The Economics of Genocide in Rwanda” by Eric Reeves, leading researcher and expert on the genocide in Sudan.
Research Tools:
http://www.yale.edu/gsp/
The Yale University Genocide Studies Program homepage. Links to resources. Really looking forward to exploring this!
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3060&l=4
Overview of the crisis in Darfur. Links to resources.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5424.htm
Background Notes on Sudan. Overview of government, economy, geography, people and political situation.
Aid Organizations:
http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/sudan/632
An aid organization. Link to details about the structure of their programs/initiatives. It will be interesting to track and compare these orgs that have a presence in the Sudan to consider how to frame a church response. One thing I’m noting and is rather disappointing is that none of the organizations I’ve observed so far give details about travel to the regions to volunteer. It’s like, why are we not aloud to choose to risk our lives to help. Perhaps it’s a liability issue? I don’t know. The only way to help is to give money and that kinda turns me off.
