Hypocritical Measures
July 28, 2008
‘International law is one long legacy of double dealing,’ writes Ramzy Baroud.
The crimes committed against innocent people in Darfur represent a shameful episode in the history of Sudan and its neighbours, including Chad, which has played a dubious role in sustaining the seething conflict. Equally disgraceful is the politicising of the bloody conflict in ways that will ensure its continuation.The decision of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor-general, Luis Moreno- Ocampo, to file an arrest warrant for Sudan’s current President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, and the international responses to his decision, demonstrate both the politicising of the crisis and the selectiveness of international law.
Consider this bizarre twist. The US Congress passed a resolution, on 22 June 2004, declaring that the violence in Darfur was state-sponsored genocide. The resolution — named the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act — was signed into law by President Bush in October 2006.
Between the vote and Bush’s signature the United Nations conducted a sweeping investigation — unlike Congress’s rash decision which was based almost entirely on lobby and interest group pressure — declaring, in early 2005, that both the government and militias were systematically abusing civilians in Sudan’s western province. It insisted, however, that no genocide had taken place.
War Crimes Paradox
July 18, 2008
Ah, the irony! The ICC for the first time moves to indict a sitting head of state for war crimes and it isn’t George Bush, Ehud Olmert or Tony Blair, but the president of Sudan! As is their wont, ‘Little Crimes Get Punished, Big Ones Don’t‘, writes Paul Craig Roberts in this excellent piece. (thanks Ali)
National Public Radio has been spending much news time on Darfur in Western Sudan where a great deal of human suffering and death are occurring. The military conflict has been brought on in part by climate change, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Drought is forcing nomads in search of water into areas occupied by other claimants. No doubt the conflict is tribal and racial as well. The entire catastrophe is overseen by a government with few resources other than bullets.
Now an International Criminal Court prosecutor wants to bring charges against Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
I have no sympathy for people who make others suffer. Nevertheless, I wonder at the International Criminal Court’s pick from the assortment of war criminals? Why al-Bashir?
Is it because Sudan is a powerless state, and the International Criminal Court hasn’t the courage to name George W. Bush and Tony Blair as war criminals?
Why Darfur Intervention is a Mistake
May 24, 2008
Alex de Waal analyzes the politics and practicality of intervention on BBC’s Viewpoints.
Analysts say that Darfur is Rwanda in slow motion, that we should send troops to protect African civilians from their Arab killers and disarm the infamous Janjaweed.
Khartoum came under attack by rebels just two weeks ago
In the Rwandan genocide, a million people were slaughtered in a hundred days. It was Africa’s holocaust. Few would have opposed a short sharp episode of colonial-style armed intervention to stop it.
The British Foreign Secretary, David Milliband, certainly leans towards such a policy for Darfur.
“Too many times, in the aftermath of mass atrocities, we’ve promised ‘never again’,” he said.
“But in a world where so many states remain wedded to the principle of non-interference and the primacy of sovereignty, how do we make the responsibility to protect a reality, not a slogan?”
His are good intentions but they pave the way to a problem from hell.
An Innocent Abroad
May 4, 2008
Sami al-Hajj — an al-Jazeera cameraman, an innocent man — has just been released from Guantanamo where he was held and tortured for seven years without charge. He was arrested and delivered to the Gulags of the ‘land of the free’ by the execrable Musharraf regime in Pakistan. His innocence proved no impediment to his American tormentors who kept him gagged and bound even during his final flight to Sudan.
(At the end of the first report, Al Jazeera interviews someone from Reporters Without Borders. The name may suggest a link with Medicins Sans Frontiere; there’s none. RWB is a dodgy outfit that receives funding from NED, and its targets predictably align neatly with the official US enemies list [Venezuela, Cuba etc])
An earlier interview with Sami’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith.
Heartbeat
April 28, 2008
Nneka, singing Heartbeat. So beautiful and impassioned, it leaves you speechless. This is the kind of authenticity that MTV and the like spend billions trying to imitate; they never succeed, but inevitably dilute the art in the process. This is heartfelt; a call for justice, recognition of our shared humanity and solidarity on a personal level.
“I get inspired when I take a severe look at the things going on in our world today; especially in my country. How people live, suffer and endure pain, politics and religion, when I see all that man has evoked and created out of self-centeredness and devotion to material things”.
Nneka’s voice strikes an eerie balance between rage and pain which mirror’s the abrasion of two continents, Europe and Africa, within Nneka’s life so far. Nneka reiterates her humility in the face of her musical talents.
“I do not see myself as a performer but as somebody who shares her heartfelt feelings with others. I have fortunately, by the grace of God, the opportunity to sing my message to you on stage.”
Thus Spoke Fanon
April 20, 2008
A documentary based on Frantz Fanon’s Peau Noire, Masques Blancs (Black Skin, White Masks).
How come Zimbabwe and Tibet get all the attention?
April 17, 2008
‘If a government wants to abuse human rights and rig elections, it needs to have the support of – or be – the western powers’, writes Seumas Milne.
There is no question that the struggle over land and power in Zimbabwe has brought the country to a grim pass. Nearly a decade after the takeover of white-owned farms and the rupture with the west, economic breakdown, hyperinflation, sanctions and Aids have taken a heavy toll. With the expectation now that a second round of elections, mired in claims of fraud, may after all keep President Mugabe in power, the prospect must be of continued economic punishment and crisis.
On a different scale, there’s also no doubt that in Tibet — the other central international focus of western concern in the past month — deep-seated popular discontent fuelled last month’s anti-government protests and attacks on Han Chinese, which were met with a violent crackdown by the Chinese authorities. Certainly, given the intensity of the US and European response, from chancellors and foreign ministers to Hollywood stars and blanket media coverage, you’d be left in little doubt that these two confrontations were the most serious facing their continents, if not the world.
Africa and the West
April 15, 2008
Onion News Network: In The Know panelists discuss whether we should spare Africa’s feelings by not telling them about the global economy.
Save Darfur
April 14, 2008
How Can We Let Darfur Know How Much We’re Doing For Them?
Panelists discuss the tragic lack of media access in Darfur and how we can help Darfurians realize how much we’re helping them.
Nonviolent Imperialism: Major Revision
March 10, 2008
A revision to Michael Barker’s earlier article.
On March 8, 2008, I wrote that Professor Stephen Zunes was correct to point out that Stephen Gowans was mistaken to claim that “the governments Zunes really seems to be concerned about (Zimbabwe, Iran, Belarus and Myanmar) are hostile to the idea of opening their doors to unrestricted U.S. investment and exports” (Point 5).
My statement was incorrect, because in Zunes’ first article “Nonviolent Action and Pro-Democracy Struggles”, it is very clear that he is primarily concerned with four counties in particular, that is, Zimbabwe, Iran, Belarus and Myanmar. These are all countries in which the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its democracy manipulating cohorts are highly active. Moreover, judging by NED’s project database, over the past five years the NED has funnelled over $13 million to the following groups working within (and also outside of) these four countries.
Zimbabwe ($1.5 million in 2004, 2005 and 2006 only; in 2006 groups obtained $1 million) Groups funded include: American Center for International Labor Solidarity, Centre for Policy Studies, Crisis Coalition, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Federation of African Media Women – Zimbabwe (FAMWZ), International Republican Institute, Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI), Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-ZIM), National Constitution Assembly, National Democratic Institute, Zimbabwe Community Development Trust (ZCDT), Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, and ZimRights.
Iran ($1.4 million) Groups funded include: Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, American Center for International Labor Solidarity, Center for the International Private Enterprise, Civic Education and Human Rights, Institute of World Affairs, International Republican Institute, Iran Teachers’ Association, National Iranian-American Council, Vital Voices Global Partnership, and the Women’s Learning Partnership. For further discussion of the NED’s work in Iran, see here.
Belarus ($2.9 million in 2004 and 2005 only) Groups receiving funding are not listed. For further discussion of the NED’s work in Belarus, see here.
Myanmar ($7.7 million – in 2004, 2005, and 2006 only) Groups receiving funding are not listed. For further discussion of the NED’s work in Myanmar, see here.
Needless to say these NED grants represent the tip of the iceberg of the ‘democratic’ monies following into these counties, as their grants topped up by better funded ‘aid’ agencies, like the US Agency for International Development: indeed, total official overseas development aid provided by the United States for 2005 came to $27.6 billion.
Michael Barker is a British citizen based in Australia. Most of his other articles can be found here.
