Is the Conflict in Darfur Genocide?">Is the Conflict in Darfur Genocide?
“If language is not correct, then what is said is not what
is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains
undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice
goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This
matters above everything.” The Analects of Confucius – On Rectifying Names
When George Clooney was in Darfur (the same week as the fictitious doctors of ER made their pilgrimage), I read a number of Op-Eds in American and British newspapers asking whether the conflict in Darfur is really a "genocide."
I have a poll over at World News which asks just that question.
I did not offer my own opinion there, as I’m not one for attempting to influence the way people vote in internet polls. But of course, I do have one.
I am not a lawyer, and I hardly consider myself qualified to make any determination of whether the Darfur conflict meets the legal definition of genocide. Darfur is not as clear-cut a case of genocide as Rwanda was, and I do have my own doubts about whether the killings, forced migration, and starvation are really as ethnically-motivated as the media often suggests.
But does it really matter? Should that really have an ounce of bearing on what our other nations’ reponsibilities or actions should be?
Humans – and politicians in particular – often use language not in the
service of truth, but to confuse others or to advance their own
agendas (just ask George Orwell).
And so getting wrapped up in a word, when words are so easily manipulated and hold different meanings for whoever uses them, detracts from the problem at hand: that there are people dying and suffering in Darfur and the international community is either incapable or unwilling to do anything – at least anything adequate – about it. And in my view, addressing that truth is much more important than dissecting the debate that is happening around it.
To put it another way, if someone is pointing a gun at your friend’s head, do you try and take away the gun, or ask the bystanders what kind of caliber they think the gun is? Do you really have to rectify the name of the gun before you act?
Technorati Tags: Darfur, Genocide, Sudan, Chad, Africa, Civil War, Save Darfur
, but I do think it can give the completely uninitiated reader the tools necessary to understand what they read about Darfur in their newspaper or see on their TVs.
