Spectator

Defining Darfur: Is it genocide?

Posted on April 10, 2008 by Douglas Bell


Writing in yesterday’s Globe, the always engaging Jennifer Wells discussed the other politically charged movement of the moment that may disrupt Beijing ’08: Darfur. Wells interviewed Ellen Freudenheim, a consultant for a non-profit called Dream for Darfur that is dedicated to holding corporations sponsoring the Olympics accountable in light of China’s decidedly sinister involvement in Sudan.

Ms. Freudenheim declines to reveal either specific strategy or precise agenda—exactly which corporations will be targeted and when—but says the protests will follow the planned release next week of Dream for Darfur’s second report card grading corporations on their response to the coalition’s call for action on the Darfur genocide.

It was Ms. Freudenheim who conceived of the report card project, launched last summer as part of the Darfur initiative that, says the organization’s literature, ‘focuses on encouraging China to intercede with the regime in Khartoum to bring security to Darfur, using the Olympics as leverage.’

All of which most thinking people outside the perimeter of Tiananmen Square would think a good thing. But there’s a catch. Note the casual way in which Wells refers to Darfur, on first mention, as a “genocide.” Here’s the problem: there are a lot of incredibly well-informed, influential people who think that the use of that term is both unhelpful and wrong. How about this from the BBC:

One of a group of veteran statesmen visiting Sudan, Lakhdar Brahimi, has accused the West of pandering to unrepresentative Darfur rebel groups.

The former UN envoy spoke as Nigeria’s army chief was in Sudan to repatriate the bodies of Nigerian soldiers killed when Darfuri rebels overran their post.

The group of elders have urged the international community to speed up the deployment of 26,000 peacekeepers.

But they say the violence does not meet the legal definition of genocide....

“There is a legal definition of genocide and Darfur does not meet that legal standard. The atrocities were horrible but I do not think it qualifies to be called genocide,” said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

That group of so-called elders also included Archbishop Tutu and Nelson Mandela’s wife Graça Machel—not exactly warmongers.

The fact is, I don’t know whether it’s appropriate to call Darfur a genocide or not. Last week, I watched a series of articulate interlocutors at Princeton ask Samantha Power (who won a Pulitzer for her book on the subject) that same question, and she danced around like Gene Kelly on speed.

The point is that words like “genocide” are so loaded that if there’s a scintilla of doubt, it’s better to err on the side of caution and call it a crisis (which Wells does, though later in the piece).

I’ll have more to say on this soon, but for the moment let’s just say that a crisis by any other name would smell as foul.

• Olympic sponsors face fresh hurdle [Globe and Mail]
• West ‘pandering to Darfur rebels’ [BBC]
• Mission to Sudan [The Elders]

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Lit_200 April 10, 2008 at 11:43 a.m.

When the Arab Janjaweed kill all the Dufari black males they find and rape all the females they can get their hands on, and the Sudanese government does dick, and it has been going on for more than a year, what the hell do you call that? Just a crisis?

PCLG April 10, 2008 at 12:38 p.m.

Is there anything that Lit_200 doesn't have an (ill-informed) opinion about?

The idiot is clearly one of those people who have no life, no family, certainly no sexual partner, but who can form an opinion in seconds. Lit has never served in the military, that's for sure, but is always so gung-ho for exciting action. Just as long as it's other people who get killed. rather like Conrad Black in that, prancing around in a fancy uniform with the Queena nd all for war here, there and everywhere - but his own fat arse and that of his scofflaw son never gets in harm's way.

This is the part of the text worth reading: "The point is that words like “genocide” are so loaded that if there’s a scintilla of doubt, it’s better to err on the side of caution and call it a crisis (which Wells does, though later in the piece)."

In other words, take the softly softly approach where possible. But then, what would senior African statespersons like Mrs. Mandela know about anything? Certainly not as much as Lit, who really needs to get a life - or at least laid!

January April 10, 2008 at 1:04 p.m.

In my opinion, it is overly bureaucratic to debate whether or not this is "genocide" or a "crisis". Either way, people are dying. Why does it take so long to get help to civilians? Not just in Darfur but in many other countries that have similar types of conflict. Obviously, our soldiers can't just pick up and go abroad without the proper authority, as part of a UN mission. but does it have to take so long for all the participants to make the decision?

Casey April 10, 2008 at 1:22 p.m.

I find myself agreeing with Mr. Bell - the word " genocide " is indeed loaded and I have discovered that sometimes it IS employed rather cavalierly and without having given much thought to its useage. What transpired in Nazi Germany and Nazi occupied countries with the systematic and eventually institutionalized murder, etc. of Jews ( 6 million plus ) and other minorities WAS a bonafide genocide. Perhaps usige of the word might be used to describe any government sponsored instituionalized killing. I also agree it is better to err on the side of caution, as Mr. Bell claims.

Lit_200 April 10, 2008 at 1:52 p.m.

Mealy mouths.

Lit_200 April 10, 2008 at 2:14 p.m.

As I have mentioned before, Moses was guilty of genocide not once but again and again as the wandering Jews slaughtered one gentile tribe after another on their victorious march into the Promised Land. When his mighty men of war brought back prisoners Moses was pissed off. He ordered them to kill all the mothers and wives and all the males, presumably including newborn babes. But they could keep all the virgins "for their own use."

Was it genocide? Or is that too indelicate a word? were the Jews guilty of some lesser crime? If so, what was it?

Lit_200 April 10, 2008 at 2:24 p.m.

One might say without fear of contradiction that Moses was a serial genocidal maniac.

leaf April 10, 2008 at 2:30 p.m.

why don't donna and fickton (casey and PCLG) meet in darfur and report from there? forget finland!

if they meet a tragic and premature end there, oh well.... sheet happens.
a blessing in disguise for the blog, really.

ok, have at me now! lapidate! cut my fingers! 500 lashes! do the sensible thing!

PCLG April 10, 2008 at 3:45 p.m.

Now Lit shows her true colours: black in a white circle on a red background.

A story loses nothing in the telling and certainly not in three or four thousand years. If Moses and Co bumped off all those people, it was probably the done thing universally in those days. What international conventions did Moses break?

Lit is just trying to appear anti-Jew to balance out her more than obvious Islamophobia. It would be very interesting to know what if anything Lit is FOR - we all know what she is agin'.

Lit_200 April 10, 2008 at 4:19 p.m.

Unlike PCLG, who is really Ficton, I am against genocide. Apparently, the Finn is OK with it as long as the perpetrator doesn't break any conventions. And he's OK with it as long as it is "the universal thing to do."

As for the anti-Jew and the Islamaphobia BS, you're a liar and lower than your dog's excrement in the snow.

Casey April 10, 2008 at 5:20 p.m.

Lit_200 - you are simply another common neoNazi racist and antisemite. I knew instinctively that sooner or later your true colors would emerge. I bet you have Hitler posters plastered all over your walls. All the flowery and fancy language in the world won't obscure the fact that you are a repulsive loser whose sole pleasure in life is to wallow in your own garbage and sh-t. Welcome, posters, to the REAL Lit_200 - trash personified.

Lit_200 April 10, 2008 at 5:24 p.m.

Donna, you need to have your mouth washed out with soap, and your brain sanitized. Frankly, I don't care what you think of me. If you last post is any indication of what makes you tick, you need medical attention.

Fast.

Casey April 10, 2008 at 5:31 p.m.

Furthermore, NaziLit_200 ( which is what I shall address you from now on ), I have no doubt that you are another warped loner who, besides befriending a pervert like leaf, sits at a computer monitor and uses his / her web cam on his / her visits to porno, peadophile and hate sites. I sensed that something was definitely amiss with you when I began to wonder why you always defend or at best, remain curiously silent, when leaf spews his racist crap. Thank God your type of sh-t is mainly ( we hope anyway ) confined to the internet. Sooner or later you will give yourself away just as leaf has done...because sickos like you haven't the brains to be anonymous.

Lit_200 April 10, 2008 at 5:32 p.m.

Little did Doug Bell think to see so quickly an actual demonstration of Godwin's theorem.

And guess who provided it? Donna, of course!

Faugh!

Lit_200 April 10, 2008 at 5:34 p.m.

Good lord! I defy anyone to read donna's last post and make the case that a sane person could write that kind of filth.

leaf April 10, 2008 at 5:35 p.m.

her ancient fame has gone to her head and she never came down...

Donna July 30, 2007 at 2:29 p.m.

I am " the real Donna " - Actually, Richie Valens named his tune after me ( " Ohhhh Donna ) as did Dion and the Belmonts ( " Donna Donna THE Prima Donna " )

Casey April 10, 2008 at 5:40 p.m.

peadophile = paedophile - sorry for typo As for YOU, NaziLit_200, your last post above is simply a defensive attempt to defelct attention from who and what you really are. Your world view, sense of morality, values, principles and priorities can be epitomized in one word - sleaze.

Casey April 10, 2008 at 5:46 p.m.

Final comment to NaziLit_200 - For what it is worth, I stand by absolutely everything that I have stated above regarding you.

Lit_200 April 10, 2008 at 8:12 p.m.

You, Donna, are a very sick little puppy.

leaf April 10, 2008 at 9:06 p.m.

the expression has been done to death but nowhere more appropriate than referring to donna: her hatred knows no bounds.

Barbara_in_BC April 11, 2008 at 1:32 a.m.

Some intelligent commentary:

"Why Darfur was left to its pitiful fate" by David Blair

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main....

But why listen to David Blair? He was proved to be a dupe back in the days when he worked for Conrad Black.

PCLG April 11, 2008 at 1:42 a.m.

For all those like NaziLit the denier who believe CB is having a whale of a time in the slammer, here's a letter published in his own old paper:

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/stor...

Bit different picture, ne cést pas?

"...where medical care is minimal, the food is atrocious and there is no rehabilitation or education available ..."

And that's not all, you might even end up sharing a cell with a total swine like CB!

Barbara_in_BC April 11, 2008 at 2:22 a.m.

The Daily Telegraph used David Blair as a pawn, and almost ruined his reputation as an honest journalist when they published stories defaming anti-war George Galloway, based on forged documents:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/apr...

leaf April 11, 2008 at 3:11 a.m.

blondie, are you still recycling old news?

fickton, it's n'est-ce pas, ok?!
don't mess with what's over your head.
a redneck wanting to impress with his faux french. hahaha

he's NOW learning that in prison "...where medical care is minimal, the food is atrocious and there is no rehabilitation or education available ..."
what a dip.....

PCLG April 11, 2008 at 4:25 a.m.

Oh dear, I've upset poor little raggedy doll leafie again! can't figure out why. All I did was post this quote from a Canadian who has served time in an American prison and presumably knows how things are there:

"...where medical care is minimal, the food is atrocious and there is no rehabilitation or education available ..."

And that was published in the National Post, the paper Black founded!

I suppose they edited out the bits about prisoners getting it dans le cul on a regular basis. Sorry, leaf, if my faux French (note, in English adjectives denoting nationality are capitalized) upsets you.

When are you going to call a helpline and exorcise that ghost from your past?

LOL

Lit_200 April 11, 2008 at 12:01 p.m.

Gerard Kieley

When you have stopped masquerading as PCLG, and using my ID on other blogs, and are ready to "return from India" and reclaim your OTHER ID as Fintan, don't neglect to let me know how you made out with the wire brush, as I instructed you. I hope it was a tight fit. Don't forget: bristle end in.

Good luck!

Sincerely

Lit_200

PCLG April 11, 2008 at 1:22 p.m.

LOL, NaziLit the twit. More words of "wisdom" from the idiot who still thinks CB is an honest genius and his gruesome hag wife beautiful. Who do you think you are to "instruct" anyone?

Do you believe all that "Gerard Kieley" nonsense that leaf posts? No wonder you also believe Black will be out of Bubbaland before 2013! I'm actually very close to Fintan, but he's in a place called Sriharikota right now. He told me to "watch the shop".

Thanks for the tip re wire brush. You should have told that to Black several months in advance of his going to Coleman so that he could have "blazed the trail" for Bubba, so to speak. Haw-haw!

You must be the most gullible idiot in the world. And you are no less a thug than leaf, whom you applaud and encourage. But she is riding for a fall. She doesn't believe it, of course, but neither did Black - or you - ever believe he'd be where he is today.

That "bristle end in" tip might be useful for "Lady" Black (the dark-haired one, LOL) now that what little in that line of business that she had up to nearly six weeks ago is "away" for the foreseeable future.

To quote my colleague and mentor. ROFLMAO

Lit_200 April 11, 2008 at 2:28 p.m.

How utterly predictable and lame Fintan is, whatever his chosen ID for the day. I feel a great deal of pity for it. It must hurt, rolling around on the floor like that all day. Especially with the wire brush!. Good lad, you follow instructions quite well. Keep up the mediocre work.

Sincerely, your instructor

Lit_200

PCLG April 11, 2008 at 2:30 p.m.

Wake up from you sweet dreams, leafie. Don't call anyone abroad tonight. It's so pointless. Call a helpline. They might even be able to help you.

ROF

PCLG April 11, 2008 at 3:12 p.m.

Good night, NaziLit, your response to Fintan, whom you imagine to be sneering at you, is awfully weak. Perhaps because you couldn't Google it.

Expect really interesting posts at the weekend, when the moderators are even less vigilant than usual and you and leaf and PG and maybe even Cory the dodgems driver are even freer to do your thing.

But, since you seem to have cred with leaf, advise her to call a helpline instead of Fintan's dodgy number.

To quote my mentor: ROFFLMAO (explanation of acronym on request)

Lit_200 April 11, 2008 at 4:07 p.m.

Oh everybody knows that acronym, it means you are a:

Really Offensive Fat Fuk Lurking Maliciously Anywhere Online.

PCLG April 12, 2008 at 1:26 a.m.

Ha-ha, Lit, I love it when you talk dirty! Today is Conrad Black the crook's 40th day in the slammer you said he would never go to. Now, just to show the blog how good you are at getting things wrong, tell us all what day tomorrow is. It wouldn't surprise me if you did some Googling and "discovered" it will be Wednesday.

By the way, did you advise leaf to call a helpline? If you cared about her, you would.

ROFLMAO

scottfenwick April 15, 2008 at 8:48 p.m.

As a student of genocide, I found the headline "Defining Darfur: Is it genocide?" from this blog post troublesome. It served to perpetuate the myth that genocide and civil war are mutually exclusive - that if Darfur is "only" a civil war, then the rest of the world can absolve itself of responsibility for the hundreds of thousands dead, and the millions who have been displaced.

As Rwanda clearly demonstrated, civil war and genocide are not mutually exclusive. In fact, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other crimes against humanity usually happen under the fog of war.

What is clear though, is that government sponsored militias burning crops, and throwing corpses into wells has not helped.

Lastly, there is a wider range of policy options available to Canada beyond having to either “step-in” or “not step-in”. STAND Canada has a comprehensive set of 10 policy recommendations for the government to consider, all of which stop short of unilateral invasion.

Only once we stop making excuses, and assume our responsibility to protect in the truest sense will the effects of genocide and mass atrocities cease to plague the human race.

charley April 20, 2008 at 10:49 p.m.

very well said, scottfenwick- I agree completely.

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