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Doc Rampage is as pissed off as I am about both the genocide taking place in Sudan and the American media’s lack of interest in covering it.
Here are some more stories about what’s happening there:
Again, if you have good ideas about what we can do (and that don’t involve sending contributions to the UN), send me an e-mail.
Arab nomads on horseback have been committing genocide in western Sudan. I’ve been reading and hearing about it for a while. Just yesterday, I forwarded a link from Bookslut about the UNICEF efforts of Irvine Welsh (author of Trainspotting) to raise awareness in Britain about what’s going on in Darfur (that area of Sudan), and how the Arab militias have driven as many as 1 million black Sudanese out of their villages, possibly with government backing.
For some reason, until 20 minutes ago, I never thought to do anything. I just wrote my senators (you can find yours (with their contact info) at www.senate.gov), imploring them to do something to stem the crisis. Here’s what I wrote:
Dear Senator,
What’s going on in Sudan reached atrocity level a while ago. PLEASE tell me that the U.S. is engaging in SOME sort of action to stop it. This has the potential to lead to more deaths than the genocide in Rwanda.
I understand that American troops are spread thin (and I support the actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq), but a key lesson from Rwanda and Bosnia was that even the threat of U.S. airstrikes can be incredibly effective in deterring tribal barbarism. We need to stand up and do our best to stop this latest bout of ethnic cleansing.
I know Sudan isn’t an oil hotspot, and it has no proximity to Europe (a key argument of President Clinton when justifying the Kosovo operation), but these are human beings who might die in the millions. (Further–and this is tangential, I admit–their assailants are out to spread a particularly barbaric form of Islam, creating just the sort of area that a Bin Laden could use for a base.)
Lastly, PLEASE don’t write to me about how this is a matter for the UN to address. I think the drips-and-drops of the Oil-For-Food scandal has gone to show that the UN is both morally and financially bankrupt.
Thanks,
Gil Roth
If you can think of other actions we can undertake to help raise awareness of this atrocity, and help get armed forces to stop it, please e-mail me.