Column in Jerusalem Post on Darfur
This Palestinian stands with Darfur
By Ray Hanania
Jerusalem Post August 15, 2007
One would hope that what is going on in Darfur would bring people together. Instead the tragedy has blurred moralities because it has cast ethnic black Africans as victims of Arab oppression.
Rather than subdue Sudan, the Arab League has stood by doing nothing, except to argue that bringing up the Arab aspect of the conflict is wrong. And why should the Arabs act when the United Nations – where Arab clout is practically non-existent – has done so little?
The UN is characteristically shackled by larger political forces which have stymied plans to create a truly international force over four years of worthless rhetoric.
Although Muslims around the world are quick to champion Muslim rights, even when they are “Muslim wrongs,” there is a cultural hesitancy over Darfur driven by racism; the victims, who are mostly Muslim, are “Abeds” – the Arabic word for “slave,” which, when used in this context, is equivalent to “nigger” in English.
Much of the movement to protect the persecuted black Africans in Darfur from the Sudanese government’s militia allies, including the notoriously brutal Janjaweed, is based in the West, where good causes make for great celebratory music festivals, fabulously huge fundraisers, and news media coverage for headline-addicted Hollywood types.
THE JANJAWEED were unleashed by Sudan’s government to repel a rebellion in Darfur, although the Sudanese claim they have no ties to or control over the Janjaweed. Yet the best that a spokesman for the government of Sudan can do is to blame it all on the Jews. During an interview with a Saudi newspaper, Sudan’s defense minister, Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, accused “24 Jewish organizations” of “fueling the conflict in Darfur.”
Hussein brushed off what the rest of the world decries as genocide as the result of “friction between farmers and herders and shepherds.”
Sudan’s response sits well with many who would love to distract attention from the atrocities by claiming the negative publicity is being generated by a Jewish conspiracy. The logic goes that Jews are only too happy to help because Darfur refugees are not Palestinians but black Africans oppressed by Israel’s sworn enemies, the Arabs.
EVIDENCE CITED by Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein and other Sudanese officials is that often heading up the do-gooder campaigns such as Save Darfur are an array of Jewish American organizations. Actually, I counted nearly 50 US Jewish groups in the coalition.
Yet overlooked is the presence of many Arab American and Muslim American organizations, too, including the Arab American Institute, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), Muslim American Society (MAS), American Islamic Congress (AIC), American Islamic Forum, and the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA).
Not included, however, is the largest Arab grassroots organization, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).
Many of the 78 Arab American newspapers have run stories that reflect Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein’s line of thinking.
SAVING DARFUR is not a cornerstone of Arab or Muslim American concerns, and I suspect that even the involvement of many of the Arab groups participating in the coalition is related to politics; knowing full well that if they are not part of the effort, the Jews might turn Darfur into one big bash-the-Arabs (and Palestinians) campaign.
But I ask: Is there anyone who just cares about the lives of innocent people? Can’t we just help people without blaming things on “the Jews,” or “the Arabs,” or “the Muslims?”
Sudan is no different than any other country in the world. The rich get richer, living off the enormous profits of the oil industry, while the poor get poorer, struggling to survive with dwindling food and water.
Why should the Arab-Israeli conflict play a role in the Sudan crisis? It may be true that US Jewish organizations are seizing an opportunity to cast the Arabs in a bad light. But on the other hand, why bother when Arabs are already portrayed so negatively in the Western news media?
Even if Jewish leaders may be enjoying the drubbing the Arab reputation is taking in Darfur, are the Sudanese government and Arabs in general saying the Jews started the fight there?
From a Palestinian standpoint, I know it is exactly troubles like these that harm our cause.
But we are undermining our cause if we insist that the world not pay attention to other crises as bad or far worse than our own.
The first people who should be standing up to tell the Sudanese government to stop oppressing innocent people and to disband the Janjaweed are the Arabs, Muslims, and especially the Palestinians.
The writer is an award-winning Palestinian American columnist, author and stand-up comedian. www.hanania.com
END
Join the Conversation
Ray Hanania wrote, “Why should the Arab-Israeli conflict play a role in the Sudan crisis? It may be true that US Jewish organizations are seizing an opportunity to cast the Arabs in a bad light. But on the other hand, why bother when Arabs are already portrayed so negatively in the Western news media?”
The more the better.
The United States and Israel are supplying the rebels with weapons, not enough weapons to subdue the Sudanese government, just enough to create chaos and perpetuate the violence.
This is similar to when the United States, during the George Bush Sr administration, had encouraged Iraqis to rebel against Saddam Hussein with the promise of helping them. The United States broke its promise and the rebellion was brutally crushed by Saddam Hussein.
How come there is not as much concern for the black Afican in the COngo and surrounding countries? Is it because the United States, Israel and other democracies benefit from the diamonds, natural reosources, and sale of weapons that the deahts in Centrral Africa are not worthy of sympathy and attenton?
RandalJones,
I’m just curious, are you American?
Yes, there is definitely a possibility that the US and Israel are supplying the rebels in Darfur with weapons just like they supplied the Southern Sudanese during our previous civil war.
Listen man, no disrespect but this is exactly the kind of shit, that makes Arabs and many of us Northern Sudanese ourselves ignore the suffering of Darfurians. We come up with elaborate conspiracies about how evil the US and Israel are for exaggerating the story of the conflict to the point we ignore the real and immense suffering happening there.
You are all over the place commenting and jumping on the issue of Darfur trying to prove that it is primarily caused by America and Israel. Fine, cool with me. The problem is I have NEVER seen you mention a single thing about the humanitarian side of Darfur, not even a SINGLE word about the crimes of the Janjaweed. To me that is a real problem.
Like I said, no disrespect but seriously man, I find your views very biased. Is this all about bashing Israel and America or is it truly out of concern for the suffering of the people in Darfur. What’s up? I’m getting a strong feeling it’s the former. Am I misunderstanding you man? Tell me please because I’m dying to know.
Drima,
I am American. My blog and my comments on other websites address what is not discussed in the mainstream media.
The reason why I do not say anything about the crimes of the Janjaweed is because the media activists, the media and politicians already talk about them.
Are you aware that Ethiopia has had the same type of racial violence as Sudan? See http://www.mcgillreport.org/darfuranuak.htm But the number of deaths and damage has not been as extensive. I wonder is it because the Ethiopian government is more benevolent than the Sudanese governmnet or is it becuase foreign powers have not supplied weapons to the rebels that perpetuates the violence?
Why haven’t the people who cry crocidile tears for Darfur not cried the same crocidle tears for Central Africa? Is it because they benefit from the genocide in Central Africa?
I’m shocked. I made a comment on Jerusalem Post‘s website under Hanania’s column about Darfur http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186557448523&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull and the website allowed it to be posted. See comment # 18
Ray,
Thanks for writing this piece, indeed, as a Muslim, I have written a similar piece and have continued to write urging Muslims to speak out against injustice and the genocide.
I have made this appeal time and again for Muslims and every human on the earth to take time to understand this crisis; nearly half of a million people have been killed and more than 2 million innocent Citizens have been displaced and it is a shame if we sit in silence, and in another note, I wrote that to regain our lost moral grounds, we have to express that we stand for justice.
This disgusting act of apparent silence of Muslims has a additional shameful turn to it – it is the Muslims killing other Muslims and this is where we need to speak out most. We have to condemn this barbarism, first because as Muslims we have to speak out even if it is against our own family members. Justice is the most important element of world peace. If there is an organization doing something about it, please join them, one such group is http://www.Savedarfur.org.
We have to speak out and speak up when there is injustice no matter where and to whom. That is the least we can do. I am glad the Jewish organizations have taken this up and we support them.
The Arab reluctance on the issue is wrong, even if they think Jews are taking advantage of this situation, they should have simply joined the voices of Justice on Darfur. May be this would have been an opportunity for Israel to ponder over its’s own apartheidic policies.
When it comes to nearly 75% of Muslims who are not Arabs, they have raised voices against Darfur genocide, they have spoken, but they are not given the voice in the media, that does not mean they have not.
By the way, Savedarfur organization that we support has not listed our organization, despite three follow ups and requests via emails and additional phone calls. I am sure there are plenty of Muslim Organizations who support these efforts out of conviction for Justice, but because either they are Muslim they are not listed to make it appear that there is no Muslim organization and feed the wrong information to the writers around the world. I do not understand if they have other reasons, I have coped the emails to some of my Jewish friends to let them know about this as well.
Mike Ghouse, President
World Muslim Congress
2665 Villa Creek Dr, Suite 206
Dallas, Texas 75234 – USA
http://www.WorldMuslimCongress.com
http://www.FoundationforPluralism.com
Mike Ghouse you wrote,
“By the way, Savedarfur organization that we support has not listed our organization, despite three follow ups and requests via emails and additional phone calls.”
This is just one of many examples to show that the “Save Darfur” activists are doing this for political reasons rather out of concern for Black Africans. When there was a march held by the “Save Darfur” activists in Washington D.C. in 2006, they had not even invited anyone from Darfur to speak at the event. It was only after complaints were made that they decided to invite people from Darfur to speak. Also some Muslim organization were prevented fro speaking at the demonstration. Then the “Save Darfur” activists go around and complain that Muslims are not doing enough to speak out about the violence in Darfur. Why is attention only paid to the Sudanese refugees in Chad but not those in Egypt? Only when something negative happens, then attention is focused on Egypt. Let’s not forget that Egypt has also taken in Iraqi refugees, (although it is Syria and Jordan that has taken most of the burden of the Iraqi refugees).
The people crying the biggest crocodile tears for the people in Darfur are the ones benefiting the most from the deaths of millions of Congolese.
By the way, millions of Iraqis have died through two invasions and sanctions. All these deaths are due to U.S. animosity to former puppet/ally Saddam Hussein. Where is the sympathy for the millions of refugees flowing out of Iraq?
Why can’t George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Mia Farrow, Steven Spielberg and other celebrities cry some crocodile tears for the Iraqis?
The United States had helped Saddam Hussein into power and supported him, strategically and financially, when he was committing his worst atrocities. The Iraqis are scapegoats for U.S. foreign policy.
Hi, friends!
Thank you for this forum. I have underlied a lot of useful infomation for me.
I have a question: can i ssppaamm in this topic ny sites to ads they?
Sorry, if I made the mistake, when asked this question.
Thank’s.