Monday, September 18, 2006

Darfur - The world cannot stand by (Normblog)

Unfortunately, with too few exceptions, on the whole the world is standing by--or worse, since some governments and publics are actually supporting and protecting the genocidal Khartoum regime. But at least "the world" should be compelled to face what it is doing, rather than be allowed to hide behind evasions, distractions, and euphemisms.

--Jeff Weintraub
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From the weblog of Norman Geras (Normblog)
September 17, 2006
The world cannot stand by

Mary Riddell:
[T]here is now the spectre of a reprise of Rwanda and of death on such an extravagant scale that the world cannot stand by.
Desmond Tutu:
In Darfur 2m people have been ethnically cleansed since 2003, women and girls are systematically raped and tortured daily, there is cholera in the refugee camps and the violence is spilling into next door Chad, and all without the attention, or response, it deserves.
.....
We should be suspicious when people say the ethnic cleansing of defenceless civilians is in fact a civil war. They really mean: "These exotic people are all as bad as each other." How can we be expected to put our soldiers in harm's way when there is no good side to defend?

Another justification for our inaction is: "The situation is more complicated than you idealists appreciate."

Today [now yesterday --JW] is the Global Day for Darfur.

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