Ramblings: Nicholas D. Kristof, Sudan and Intervention
Every so often I get up on my soapbox and talk about certain
things in this world that really, really bother me. I suppose “every so often”
is really a euphemism, seeing as I rant about things to anyone who will listen,
and also to anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis. I try to read about
everything that is going on and then get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of
atrocities that are happening in this world that we live in on a continuous
basis. I often feel like a fraud, because all I am doing is reading and writing
and talking about all these things, and that’s not enough. I want to go to
these places, DO something. Talking about it just isn’t enough, because I can
talk and talk about it, but in the end what is it going to do? Maybe a few
people will listen and agree with me, maybe a few others will listen and
disagree, but in the end it will all fall amidst the deep well of other stories
and articles that are forgotten, while, in the meantime, whatever I am talking
about continues to happen on a daily basis.
This is exactly why I admire people like Nicholas D.
Kristof. He goes to places that are the furthest away from paradise and reports
back to us on what is going on there. He takes photos and videos and uses his
power as a celebrated journalist to show us the realities of what is going on
in places like Sudan and Uganda and China and Haiti, as well as right here at
home in the US. The man covers topics such as sex trafficking, bullying,
starvation, civil war, bombings, death, massacres, hope, love and revolution in
any place that he can find it. He doesn’t seem to be phased by obstacles that
are thrown in his path – just recently he snuck through the Sudanese border to
report on the fate of the Sudanese people hiding in the Nuba mountain region from
their own government’s regular bombing campaigns on them. On top of dodging the
bombs that are trying to wipe them out, these people are literally starving,
living off leaves and insects. Many of them do not have the energy to make the
long (and dangerous) trek to the refugee camp that is across the border in
South Sudan, so they are stuck in the mountains, hoping that something will
change before they all starve. Click
HERE to see Kristof’s most recent article on the plight of these people who are
stuck watching their children starve away.
For those who thought that the problems in Sudan ended last
year when the territory was divided into two separate countries were wrong. It
was a good step towards a better life for those living in the South, but
nothing has really changed for those living in the South Kordofan region, the
only region in North Sudan where oil can be found. When a country is divided
into two there will always be a part of the population who suddenly finds themselves
in the wrong country, and this is a prime example of this happening. South
Kordofan is the home of many pro-south communities who now find themselves
being governed (and terrorized) by the Northern government. Foreign aid has
been restricted to the area and humanitarian groups have been expelled, leaving
the population to fend for itself, with next to nothing to eat. So what can be
done? Kristof calls upon Obama to step in and do something, but what exactly
can he, or we, do? There has been conflict in Sudan for so many years now,
conflict that nobody really cared about until it had been going on for years
(see The Devil Came on Horseback, a terrifying documentary of one man’s mission
to show the world what was going on in Darfur).
When it comes to a country that doesn’t really have much to offer the western
world it is easy to turn a blind eye and figure that they will just sort it all
out themselves. I agree that some kind of intervention needs to happen, but not
the type of intervention that involves sending US troops yet again into another
country. Intervention should happen in the manner of world leaders getting
together and putting enough pressure on the North Sudanese government in order
to stop the bombings, and to let aid groups back into the affected region and
feed the starving people. How can this be done? It’s not like Sudan is the only
place in the world where the government is killing people (Syria for example)
or where famine is taking its toll on an entire population. It’s not the only
place where people are leaving their homes with nothing but the clothes they
are wearing and trekking across borders to refugee camps, not knowing if they
will ever make it back home again (DRC). There are still countries in this
world where conditions are so dire that many people don’t make it past the age
of 40 (Mozambique, Swaziland for example – taken from the UN World Populations Prospect, 2006 revision),
and that’s if they even make it through childhood. So what makes it more
important for us to intervene in one country and not another? Should we
intervene?
From a global view I can’t answer that question without
asking a bunch of other questions. From a personal view I think we should
intervene, in the most pacifistic of manners. We don’t need to go stomping into
another country, guns ablaze, to settle a conflict that is not our own, or that
really doesn’t have anything to do with us. But we do need to HELP people who
are being murdered for no other reason than because someone said they should be
killed. We don’t need to find political reasoning for this type of
intervention, or even financial gain, we should just do it for humanitarian
reasons. It’s as simple as that – no one needs, or wants, another Vietnam,
Afghanistan or Iraq, where one country goes into another country under the flag
of “democracy” with the aim of installing a law that may or may not be wanted.
But other countries DO need the help of those whose lives are better off. This
is the reason why the UN exists – exactly to avoid the types of atrocities that
happened during WW2. Since then we have seen acts of genocide in many countries
that have been allowed to go on before anyone tried to intervene (Rwanda,
Yugoslavia, the Congo, Sierra Leone, Darfur). We all have our own opinions of
what is right or wrong, and they will all differ from person to person, but
there is nothing to justify the murder of children, or the use of children as
soldiers. Right? If anyone disagrees with that I invite you to explain why.
Kristof asks Obama to put pressure on Khartoum, and I agree
with this. But the only way that one can put pressure on one government to put
pressure on another is by constantly bringing it up. I admire Kristof for not
only his reporting, but also for his constant reminders to the world that the
situation in Sudan still exists and that people are going to continue to die
until someone on the outside does something about it. I may have really bad
credit and work 7 days a week, but I live in a place where I am relatively
safe, and do not need to worry about where my next meal or glass of clean water
is going to come from. The least I can do is talk about people who don’t have
these things that we take for granted. The very least.
Kristof writes columns that appear twice a week in the New
York Times and you can find them online HERE. He has an ongoing competition that is open to students and
people over the age of 60 to join him on a journalistic adventure to another
country. I wish I were part of one of those groups because it has been a dream
of mine for a while to go to Sudan or the Congo or even Syria and to report
back on what I see happening with my own eyes, words and images.
More information:
For a very in-depth study on Sudan you can read Mahmood
Mamdani’s book entitled Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror
It’s not an easy read, and you may not agree with everything
he brings up, but it provides a lot of insight into the country and the issues
that have been ongoing for years.
For a very moving true story from three Lost Boys of Sudan
you can read They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky by Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng
and Benjamin Ajak (my review can be read HERE)
For Nicholas D. Kristof’s columns you can go to the NYT
website HERE