Darfur continues its relentless slide into greater catastrophe, with no adequate humanitarian or diplomatic response on the horizon. More than 100,000 displaced Sudanese have died, and another 2,000-plus die daily. By the year’s end, the death toll could stand at more than 400,000. Conditions in the refugee camps in neighboring Chad range from poor to appalling. Many of the displaced persons—perhaps… return to article
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Reader Comments (8)Page 1 of 1 pagesI am going to be sick…it’s hard to have faith in humanity when This kind of Terror goes unchecked…I hope something can be done soon….
Posted by Dan on Aug 27, 2004 at 1:53 PM The situation reminds me of what I have learned only recently about East Timor. Years of brutally were ignored by the media while the US and the world looked the other way.
Posted by Nora on Aug 27, 2004 at 6:13 PM I try not to be heartless, but from long experience I question when I hear the terms genocide/humanitarian crisis. I’ve been exposed to these tales of “catastrophe” on a regular basis, i.e. Somalia, Ethiopia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Chad yet things remain the same. We all know the informercials of bloated bellies/fly covered children with a Christian droning in the background for dollars. Most Americans are unaware that 70 percent of Ethiopia citizens live normal middle class lives, work, raise families. Most hear Ethiopia and think it’s nothing but death. I’ve read these tragic Africa stories for 4 decades now and wonder if there’s a template with “insert country name” here and “bad guy group here.” Somalia, how quickly that “humanitarian” crisis faded after the Blackhawk went down. How quickly Chad and Angola faded after Reagan left office.
What generates these “crisis” for most of the African nations, some folks have figured it out, but for the average American, the scenes of famine/disease/slaughter indicate ignorant, backward, barbaric tribes. It reinforces their bigotry and nothing more. The displaced and undesirable in the US are not slaughtered in mass (maybe Waco). No refugee camps, but inner cities. If not for handouts in the US, both welfare and wealthyfare and a myriad of government scams for the middle class, we’d see similar arming and coordination of groups to have their way and will. We do already to an extent. Simply in a more hidden, methodical, less ugly, slower civilized manner.
Seems to me every nation has its “crisis.” Whether it’s healthcare, drugs, poverty, crime, economic, food, energy, none seem to ever resolve. What would the contractors do w/o governments and NGOs continually declaring a crisis somewhere over something that needs money and/or troops thrown at it.
Posted by elita rr on Aug 27, 2004 at 10:34 PM For me all those numbers say nothing because even US can’t have an approximated of victims of Iraq War.
If you state your numbers from the Holy Media, then ...
Talk a little bit more of the relation between China Russia and Sudan, or about oil in Sudan, it seems to me the truth lies in all those.
Posted by Cold Hand on Aug 27, 2004 at 11:35 PM Elitta rr:
Try not to let our culture of denial
de-sensitize you to the point where the spectacle of people dying from famine and slaughter in Africa has the impact of a bad infomercial.
If modern wo/man has no heart it is because s/he is no longer capable of perceiving things beyond their monetary implications.Many of us no longer are capable of seeing the world
you just but that like a lot of us, you have trouble seeing the world beyond the scope of dollars and cents.
Just be grateful that your government you are not living is If you pretend for one second that North America is less violent Slaughter is what North America was founded upon.
It is just as much
You say the displaced and undesireable in the US are not slaughtered en mass and that is because the US military is too busy slaughtering the displaced and undesireable in other countries, where they are also pilaging the earth like mad pirates. This is the failure of modern wo/man:
An ability to see the world in terms of anything moree than dollars and cents.Even To try and see everything in economic terms
Don’t forget that it was Europeans who displayed brought slaves to America in order to exploit their labour and I can understand why this kind of suffering can be difficult to grasp - Africa as a continent has been completely written out of history. No one talks much about the rape of the African continent by western powers and subsequent enslavement of the people that has been going on for centuries. But think of the industrial revolution in America for example: Did you know that it was fuelled by cotton plantations in the southern states? That’s just a small example of how the basis of our comfort and wealth in North America is the exploitation of people in the third world.
Posted by FENTON on Sep 2, 2004 at 12:27 AM Whoops! Mind the sketchy parts.
I only intended to post paragraph 1.
Thanks.
Posted by FENTON on Sep 2, 2004 at 12:35 AM Fenton,
I’ll never be desensitized. But I am disgusted with the decades of standard reporting, the stories don’t change, just the bylines. Sending “peace keeping” troops and bags of rice won’t cure it. Arming both sides in all the little civil wars won’t help it. And that seems to be the standard solution from the West. Those in power in the We$t don’t care, never have, never will. They circle, swoop.Africa, a perfect example of Anglo plundering. And still plundering, until every last ounce of gold, the last cash crop, the last diamond is mined. There’s many more decades to come of sad stories and commercials and little change. Until the cradle of civilization is a carcass.
Posted by elita rr on Sep 2, 2004 at 1:20 AM Remember China and Pakistan after this. Remember. As for the U.S., What’s new?
Posted by Arby on Sep 8, 2004 at 6:28 AM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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Also by Eric Reeves
- Genocide by Attrition
- Despairing for Darfur
Despite increasing coverage, the press has failed to impart the extent of the genocide - Deathly Silence
The growing genocide in Darfur testifies to the world’s disgrace - Too Little, Too Late
Colin Powell’s visit to Darfur only highlights the United States’ inaction - Oncoming Catastrophe
The United Nations’ continued inaction could lead to 1 million deaths in Sudan - Genocide in Sudan
The United Nations suppresses its own report on ‘the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis’
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