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Genocidal Tendencies

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This past week, the Cornell community stood up against the genocide in Darfur. Darfur Week, a series of events meant to educate students about the atrocities, took a three step approach: It started with a screening of Darfur Diaries as a way to put a human face on the suffering. Then, via a lecture given by John Prendergast, human rights advocate, and a town hall discussion panel featuring Prof. Nina Tannenwald, government, and John Weiss, history. Darfur Week organizers hoped to inform students about international policies regarding genocide, and the obstacles faced by policymakers. To close the week, student groups hosted a benefit concert to promote philanthropy and political action. Donations collected were given to Oxfam International.

Prendergast, who now works at the International Crisis Group, formerly advised both President Clinton on the National Security Council, and the State Department on issues of international policy. From C-Span, to the pages of Men’s Vogue, Prendergast is using his “moral glamour” to advocate for the victims of genocide and crimes of atrocity around the world.

Bush slurs not withstanding, Prendergast’s lecture was informative and encouraging. He explained the crisis of genocide, the hundreds of thousands who have been killed by the Sudanese government and rebel groups in the area. The actual number is unclear, as the “sands of the Sahara swallow up the evidence,” but numbers are projected in the 500,000s. And the prognosis for 2007 is more dismal than ever. Sudan is on the precipice of famine, and the government is “slowly ratcheting up the obstacles of getting aid” into the region, ensuring more deaths than ever. Aid agencies are the targets of increased violence, and now over three million Darfurians are without access to aid, a situation that Prendergast calls a “recipe for unmitigated disaster.”

He accused the U.S. government of “walking loudly and carrying a toothpick” — a response to the crisis in Darfur that will do nothing but encourage the Sudanese government to continue their actions. Instead, Prendergast offered a three prong approach to future genocide prevention. He suggests using 1) peacemaking, 2) protection and 3) punishment in our dealings with foreign governments to eradicate genocide. In the past, punitive measures have proven persuasive. The Sudanese government has changed its behavior in response to American pressure three other times, and Prendergast hopes for a fourth. Targeted sanctions, freezing assets of government officials and divestment are only some of the proposed solutions. Any way to put Darfur, and those responsible for the genocide in the global spotlight, will help to dissuade officials from continuing their actions. The Sudanese government wants to play ball with the international community; they do not want to be called out as war criminals. To join the ranks of Charles Taylor, Osama Bin Laden, Joseph Kony and Slobodan Milosevic is not in their or their country’s best interests. Highlight the officials responsible and their crimes, and they will shrink from the spotlight like the cockroaches they are.

Prendergast, while claiming he is not a bleeding heart liberal, still maintains that military force is not the best option. While in other genocides (such as the one in Kosovo) military action was taken very soon after the beginning of the conflict, Prendergast doubts that there would be any support for force by the U.S. government in Sudan. “Africa is at the bottom of the pecking order,” he stated, implying that the global community cares much more deeply about a genocide happening in Europe, to white victims, than atrocities occurring in Africa, where the victims are black. The implications of this are obviously dangerous and tragic. Just because the United States is not accessing Sudan’s oil like China is, and does not have the same vested interests, is no reason to stand by and allow thousands of innocent people die every day. We may not be exploiting Sudan’s resources, Darfur may not be located in central Europe, but that doesn’t mean that its citizens are any less important or significant than those killed by Milosevic.

The entire series of events that made up Darfur Week was well attended … by Cornell standards at least. Ray Bai ’07, the president of STARS, one of the groups behind Darfur Week, said, “Being in upstate New York can make Darfur seem like such a remote problem that doesn’t directly affect us. So it’s good to know that Darfur is on the radar for many Cornellians.” But maybe it’s not on the radar of enough Cornellians. The John Prendergast lecture boasted the largest audience — a half-full Uris Auditorium, maybe 250 people. However, at a school of almost 20,000 students, 250 people don’t even represent 2 percent of the Cornell population. Interestingly, this may be one instance where the Cornell administration is actually ahead of its students. While students may not be as engaged as they could be, the administration has taken steps to discourage the actions of the Sudanese government. Cornell decided last fall to “bar investment of its endowment assets in obligations of the Sudanese government and in oil companies currently operating in the Sudan,” as a way of rejecting the genocide taking place. President Skorton recently explained this decision to the Cornell community in an e-mail. He stated that “divestment is not by itself a remedy, but it is one means by which to register our opposition to the policies and actions of the Sudanese government and represents a modest contribution to a much larger effort by many institutions and individuals to influence the course of events in Sudan.”

Prendergast encouraged the aspiring human rights activists in his audience, noting the newly formed Principles Committee, led by national security adviser Steve Hadley ’69, which is constructing a more comprehensive approach to Darfur. It has have met six times in the last four months, providing hope for Darfur advocates across the country. Prendergast urged students to seek help from the “two greatest allies of human rights advocates, conservative Christian groups and Jewish groups” and to continue to push their legislators to pressure the administration to get involved. “We need a comprehensive multi-lateral, pressure based strategy” in order to prevent the hundreds of thousands of more Darfurian lives that are predicted to be lost in 2007. Darfur Week was an excellent example of Cornell student’s involvement in the crisis. President Skorton’s decision to divest is an excellent example of Cornell’s involvement in the crisis. Now it’s the government’s turn. The U.S. government needs to take stronger steps to pressure the Sudanese government. The administration needs to publicly hold the officials involved responsible. The current policy of constructive engagement will not suffice. John Prendergast knows it. Cornell knows it. Hopefully the global community can figure it out … before it’s too late.

Hannah Stearns is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at hes32@cornell.edu. Paint the Town Red appears alternate Mondays.

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