Her column from yesterday's "Palm Beach Post"...
My friend frequently participates in peaceful public demonstrations. Given a cause that appeals to her sense of morality and justice, this now-retired elementary school teacher will join with others who take to the streets, her short legs keeping up with the crowd no matter how swift the pace. Because I value her friendship, I haven't the heart to tell her I believe she's wasting her time.
I know that if she were living in the Washington area, tomorrow afternoon [Sunday] between 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., she would be in the crowd on the National Mall. There, a coalition of more than 155 faith-based, humanitarian and human rights organizations will rally to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. For this cause, I would join my friend, though I'm convinced that public protest will not halt the slaughter.
Typically, demonstrations are held to make the public aware of an issue and to shame those with power into righting what's wrong. Neither of these reasons applies in this case.
Since early 2003, we've known about the "ethnic cleansing" going on in the western area of Sudan. Three Darfur groups (the Sudanese Liberation Army, [the] Sudanese Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement) began the conflict to demand equal rights and representation in the national government in Khartoum. That effort was put down, but the Sudanese government continued the systematic annihilation of Darfur civilians. To date, the government-sponsored militia known as Janjaweed has slaughtered farmers, burned and pillaged rural villages and used rape as a weapon to drive residents out - all with air support and monetary assistance from the national government.
In September 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell declared the conflict between rebels and the Sudanese government "genocide," a status that, once acknowledged, should have led to intervention by the United Nations and NATO. Two years after that assessment by our government, except for humanitarian aid groups, the U.S. and the international community have abdicated moral responsibility to intervene. As the carnage continues, aid agencies report that between 180,000 and 300,000 have died, 1.8 million have been forced from their homes and 200,000 have become refugees.
Looking at pictures of the starving, emaciated women and children in refugee camps on the border of Chad, many of us accept their plight as predictable consequences of centuries of tribalism and religious differences. (Most of the residents of Darfur are black; the rest of Sudan and the government mostly Arab.) That simplistic rationale makes sense to those of us aware that, historically, such prejudices have canceled humans' respect for each other's dignity.
That simplistic rationale also blinds us to the reality that at the crux of the genocide in Darfur is the international lust for oil. The government of Sudan that once ignored the impoverished region where black Africans eked out a living now wants to rid that land of its people in order to gain control of the oil that flows beneath the arid soil without having to share the profits with the people of Darfur. Fortunately for an oil-hungry world and unfortunately for the owners of land in Darfur, the region, approximately the size of France, is oil-rich. Where oil flows, greed and corruption follow.
Sudan is the seventh-largest producer of oil in Africa. In consequence, the international community has refused to interfere because maintaining good relations with Khartoum could enhance possible access to the fuel that now drives the world economy. Meanwhile, genocide continues unabated. As does oil exploration by foreign countries. So while the Janjaweed terrorize Darfur civilians, the whole world watches in silence. I predict that once Darfur is cleared and the Sudanese government can dispense its oil to the highest bidders, an international sense of morality will emerge from hiding and allow other countries to get involved in Sudan. The world has priorities that precede human lives.
I won't be at the "Save Darfur" rally in Washington, but when I fill up at the corner service station, rather than the cost per gallon, I'll be wondering how many human lives are being spent to keep my car running.
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