He also laments the rest of the world’s inability to focus on Darfur, and finds that, with the U.S. in no shape to intervene and the rest of the world apparently uninterested, we have nowhere to go:

At such times in the past, we turned to the community of nations, and although that proved, for the most part, a disappointing instrument, it is even more unsettling to find ourselves led by an Administration whose incompetent unilateralism has weakened America’s influence around the world. As the catastrophe in Darfur confronts us with the limitations of our power, the idea of a common international humanity appears as remote as ever.

So bleak. The Enlightenment gave us the mistaken notion that we are rational beings, and that the force of reason could sway us toward the “good” in the face of evil. In addition to lacking an awareness of the power of the unconscious, this worldview also assumes that we learn from our mistakes. As is clear in Darfur, in Congo, and elsewhere, we don’t. As Gourevitch points out, we didn’t intervene in WWII or Bosnia for humanitarian reasons; we intervened to stop regimes that were antithetical to our world dominance. And after the Holocaust, we let Cambodia and other atrocities happen without blinking an eye.
Yet those that aren’t in power continue to work undiminished. They work at the grassroots, using tools that are cheap and available. Groups like Never Again adopt things like wikis. Will it always be up to them to fight the good fight?

technorati tags:human-rights, Darfur, genocide, technology

Find out more. The conflict in Darfur may be complex and the context somewhat daunting, but it’s hard to help when you’re ignorant about the issues involved. It’s going to be a lot easier for you to help the people of Darfur if you try to understand the situation and use your knowledge to take certain actions (see the following points) or to influence others. No matter how good your intentions, uninformed opinions or arguments will not take you very far. Reading Darfur news (for example on Alertnet or Sudan Tribune) or the work of Darfur activitists and academics like Eric Reeves is a good start.

Give money. Yes, in some cases throwing money at a problem does help. Particularly if you are throwing it into the hands of a respectable and effective aid agency.
The UN HAS (Humanitarian Air Service) desperately needs some cash to ferry around the aid workers in their helicopters and planes, while the UN JLC (Joint Logistics Center) is running short on funds for things like plastic sheeting, blankets and soaps. Then of course, there’s always us NGOs – and we always need money. You might have your own favourite organsition already, but if you don’t it’s hard to go wrong with some of most long-standing and reputable outfits like the ICRC, MSF, Oxfam or the IRC.
In addition to supporting the organisations who are providing relief on the ground, you might also want to support human rights and policy groups like Human Rights Watch or the International Crisis Group so they can continue to carry out research and advocacy work on Darfur – unlike the aid agencies working on the ground, these groups are not as restricted in what they can say about the situation, and they often make concrete suggestions on political solutions.
The African Union, as I pointed out yesterday, also need support – they haven’t got enough cars, fuel or even ammunition (and there are people like the folks at the Genocide Intervention Fund who are doing direct fund-raising for the AU troops).

Nag the politicians - and the newspapers. Politicians rely on you for votes, and they actually pay more attention to emails, letters and phone calls than most people think – particularly if these arrive en masse. Writing to your political representatives to highlight an issue – and to your local media outlets to demand they dedicate more coverage to it – can be an effective way of putting pressure on those who make the decisions.

Join an activist group. wear a wrist band, support a divestment campaign, join a student group. There are many people out there who are interested in Darfur and can give you ideas on how to take action.

Be creative. The ideas I’ve listed here are nothing new. People who want to make a difference sometimes need to be a bit more innovative, like the students who founded the Genocide Intervention Fund.
If you’re a filmmaker you might be inspired to make a documentary about Darfur, if you’re a priest you might want to discuss the issue with your congregation. You might even decide to use your existing skills to come and work in Darfur – I’ve had many emails asking if this is possible, the answer is absolutely, as long as your skills can be applied usefully over here (for example, medical agencies always need trained doctors and nurses, major aid deliveries only arrive with the support of pilots, mechanics, and skilled logisticians, and pretty much any aid operation can use experienced and effective managers with relevant overseas experience). Darfur jobs are usually advertised on Reliefweb – if you’re qualified for a job, apply.

Tags: Darfur| genocide| human rights| sudan

(I have to read about this thirdhand because, broken record that I am, I can’t pay for the fricking TimesSelect coverage because I’m a student with mounting debt already.)

I found a great new blog today (new to me, that is) called Radio Open Source, the online companion to a radio show hosted by Christopher Lydon. They have a podcast too and I can’t wait to hear it. It’s all about my kind of stuff: open-source technology and journalism.

Anyway, today “Katherine,” a writer for the blog, discusses Kristof’s cry of “Never Again, Again,” in which he pleads with the world community to stop this genocide, as they said they would for all genocides following the Holocaust. She asks a question I wish I could ask everybody I know:

Our own American track record on humanitarian intervention during genocides is questionable at best — what do you think we should do in Darfur? And what would you like to know in order to make that part of the world more understandable and immediate?

Really, if we can invade and destroy the birthplace of civilization, why can’t we stop this? We have the might and influence but we lack the will. And here’s another question that might be difficult to ask in public (the joys of the blogosphere!) Is it because they’re black? White people chafe at that question. But imagine if a whole section of the American South was totally neglected and thousands of people were left to die, despite the relative ease with which we could help them?

Oh, wait…

Read Sleepless in Sudan. It’s an amazing blog written by a relief worker in Darfur. Although she describes the bleakest of bleak situations, she punctures the morbidity with humor and humanity despite her tangible outrage.

Tags: Africa| Darfur| genocide

After navigating to Never Pay Retail, I was able to go to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (I always knew that paper existed but never actually read it before) to read Kristof’s latest column on Pervez Musharraf’s disgusting blame-the-victim crap concerning a rape epidemic in Pakistan.

I’ll also miss those great multi-media packages Kristof and his online producers put together, in which Kristof records commentary over photos and videos that for me are the most powerful statements against the genocide in Darfur. Maybe the Grey Lady won’t charge for those features, which are of course only available online, but I doubt it since they’re even charging for a video called “Meet Gretchen Morgenson,” which I’m guessing is a riveting intro to their new business writer. I wouldn’t know, since it’s subscription only.

UPDATE: Jay Rosen wrote a fascinating article about the new TimesSelect deal and places it in the context of the Times laying off 500 workers this week. He too sees a problem with losing “Nicholas Kristof’s brand of human rights journalism” to this idiocy:

Nick Kristof’s brand of human rights journalism, which depends on the mobilization of outrage, is simply less potent if it can’t reach widely around the world, and pass by every door.

Rosen also reminds us that a Thomas Friedman op-ed piece about democracy in Egypt will be read in Egypt by Egyptian, something that will surely cease now that they’ll have to fork over “the equivalent to buying a few martinis” a year to read about their country.

Tags: New York Times| Pakistan

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. School’s started and taken up nearly all of my time and the kind of headspace reserved for this kind of stuff. I’ll do my best to keep on top of it; stay with me.

I’d love to link to my boyfriend Nicholad Kristof’s latest piece on Darfur, but the New York Times has introducing their suicidal TimesSelect “feature.” You pay $8 a month or $50 a year for the same editorial content you were used to getting for free online. Great deal, guys! Hey, wanna run that series on class in America again? If you do, only the wealthy will be able to read since it will be subscription-only.

Anyway, in his piece Kristof once again shames the leaders of the world, not least Georgie himself, about their lack of action about Darfur. As Kristof, Samantha Power and others have said, regimes like the one in Sudan will actually stop or slow genocidal behavior when they know the world is watching, and when leaders like Georgie make public statements against them. But he hasn’t been willing to even mention the subject since last year, despite the urging of his most cherished interest group, the Christian right (most of the victims in Darfur are black Christians, and the aggressors are the Janjaweed, a group of Arab Muslim militias). So, as Kristof documents, villages continue to get destroyed, women are continually raped and mutilated, and men live in such fear of their lives they must send the women to the village well, a trip that often involves rape along the way. But Bushie has lost interest.

What can we do to get him to speak up? Well, you can email him. He may never read what you send, but it’s a start. And check out darfurgenocide.org , a site with tons of resources that can get you started.

Again, the most important thing is to get Georgie to put aside his realpolitik support for the Sudanese regime and say something against their actions.

Tags: Africa| Darfur| New York Times

Have you noticed that there is sudden surge in the number of people who want to transform society, help people, and in general, play “Jesus to the lepers in your head”?

I don’t think I’ve noticed a sudden surge like this, but maybe others have. It wouldn’t be surprising, since even the scant media coverage of things like AIDS and starvation in Africa, the human cost of war in Iraq, and other disasters like the 2004 tsunami makes the developing world out to be a pretty inhospitable place.

I’ve questioned on this blog what people’s motivations, or ultimate goals, are when putting on a large concert in support of Africa, or posting images of starving children online. Certainly, the use and overuse of images can deaden people to the reality those images portray, but do we allow cynicism to take over and say, “screw, it won’t help, so let’s do nothing”?

It’s unclear whether Fadereu is joking. But he echoes a certain mindset that suspects that people only “do good” in order to please themselves or make themselves feel better.

Why are NRI’s returning to India to improve the life of villagers? Why is the sympathy business or shall we say, guilt-driven industry so much in the money right now? What sins are we seeking atonement for? Is this a market-correction mechanism to redistribute wealth in a different demographic strata? Is this love?

The “guilt-driven inudstry” of NGOs and relief orgs is so “in the money” right now because a lot of people need help. The world has never seen such massive refugee populations living in destitute camps, and as more and more people leave their villages in search of work in large cities, or as villages are depopulated by war and disease, there will be even more work for people to do. Yet Fadereu even calls the Buddha in to buttress his case.

In the face of all this a relief worker in Darfur finds time to joke about the place yet still write about the hopeless condition of life there:

While my friends at home agonize about the uncertainty of getting a new job, getting into the right college, or whether or not that gorgeous man will really call, the people of Darfur are held hostage to an entire life that is nothing more than a big question mark.

Why do relief workers do it? Maybe some aid workers do feel guilty, and others selfless, and others heroic or egotistical. But who cares? I admire them for they’re willingness to try.

Technorati Tags: Africa| aid agencies| Darfur| famine| human rights| ngo| poverty| Buddha| refugees