Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

On Darfur . ..

just found this was dinking around to find something and think 'progress''s name came up .. lol . .this was i March of this year ..You've got to read this .. it's long but worth it and it's loaded with the embedded links ..here is just a small part of the last half..including down to the last paragraph .. BUT you must read the first part PLEASE.. ;) .. I'm still going through it... haven't even gotten through the first two paragraphs links yet .. . . ... .. ;)

What does all of this have to do with the modern anti-genocide cause, which became organized during the Darfur crisis ten years ago? It suggests it’s the frontline of the next logical extension of progressive commitments: the creation of a more cosmopolitan global order. The most basic universal right, presumably, is the right not to be killed without cause. Genocide is a political program whose entire existence spits in the face of that right; it declares that no human life of a certain kind, however innocent, has a right not to be killed. In essence, then, the campaign against genocide is the campaign for equal protection of all people’s rights, regardless of their nationality, under law — making it the most recent in a long line of egalitarian political movements.

Sudan remains a critical test for this cause. Though Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted for war crimes by the ICC, he still remains at large. While there’s increasing evidence that human rights prosecutions are concretely helping advance rights protections, the fact that Bashir (the first sitting head of state indicted) can escape trial by virtue of his standing is clear evidence that these systems are in dire need of improvement.

Moreover, the escalation in South Kordofan (whose governor, Ahmed Haroun, has also been indicted for war crimes in Darfur) suggests the Sudanese government isn’t fazed by the prospect of accountability for a renewed campaign of civilian slaughter. International law, despite several modern advances, simply isn’t strong enough to deter human rights abusers in far too many cases.

What to do about this state of affairs is a fraught question. It’s often assumed that the necessary implication of the above argument is more military force in more cases, but that’s not true: sometimes, military intervention can be counterproductive to humanitarian ends even if it’s the right response in other cases. But one thing is for sure: figuring out what to do to make the international system more amenable to treating the citizens of Sudan with the same dignity and worth accorded American, Japanese, or Austrian citizens will be one of the critical questions progressives serious about the implications of their own value system going forward.

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/03/05/1669981/10-years-later-what-everyone-should-know-now-about-the-darfur-genocide/


I'm all for this .. . now I can't think of how to change the momentum when we see this beginning to happen . .We DID SEE IT in SYRIA .. . oh yes we did.. NOW, IF we had a way to change that Momentum right then .. ! . .in those first six months .... .. oh boy.........lots and lots of lives saved .....and no one talking about 'stopping Assad and how to be doing it! ... .........then we could all be feeling good ........but we're not. Not feeling good and not accomplishing a remedy that works better than what we're NOT doing. I have some idea of WHO will come up with some ideas here ... ;) .......just an idea I have .... ...shrugs shoulders ..