...DARFUR DIARIES: MESSAGE FROM HOME DARFUR DIARIES: A MESSAGE FROM HOME (, 2004, p. 2) When the Antonovs dropped bombs on us, we ran to hide under the trees. The one who were not killed ran away. Antonovs killed my father. I saw many people killed. I saw it with my eyes. Many people were killed with him. This is an excerpt from the documentary Darfur Diaries, and it is from a young man named Mubarak. Mubarak’s story is one of the many unimaginable accounts of the genocide currently happening in Darfur. Darfur Diaries is probably one of the most difficult film I have watched. I found the film very brutally honest and raw. It elicited three emotions from me. First was shock and disbelief. I cannot fathom the fact that a modern day genocide is happening at this very moment. Given our history with violence and war, it is only logical to expect that we, as human beings, have learned our lessons. And yet, it seems like history is repeating itself. What’s even devastating about it, is the fact that people like myself know so little about it. Second, was profound sadness. It was so heartbreaking to watch and hear the Darfurian people’s daily account of horror. The film provides such a vicarious sensation of their everyday nightmare. Not only are they deprived of the basic needs such as food and shelter but are also stripped off dignity in the most inhumane way. And lastly, the film instilled in me a great admiration for the people of Darfur. I commend their courage and great...
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...still occurring today. Many of the minority tribes have been forced into refugee camps and left to starve and die. Many others have seen their houses and lives burned to ashes or they have watched family and friends being killed by the Sudanese military. Amnesty International USA has reported that so far, 400,000 men, women, and children have been killed and 2.6 million have been left without a home. So how much is too much? At what point will we stand up and stop this genocide? After 500,000 have lost their lives? 600.000? 700,000? Has the world not learned from the tragedies that happened in Rwanda just over a decade ago? There is debate over whether Darfur is considered Genocide or a civil war. This is a crucial question, as this will affect the way other countries will react to the situation. Another country does not want to choose sides in a civil war in fear that it will only magnify the situation. They do not want to make it seem like a invasion to reform the country. However in the case of genocide...
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...Jennifer Doncan Senior Inquiry Per.1/2 Movies Analysis #1 due November 8, 2010 Avatar Written/Directed by James Cameron Director, screenwriter, and producer - James Cameron – has created another blockbuster movie, Avatar, to add to his incredible list of phenomenal top-grossing films. Avatar is in the company of movies such as Terminator, Titanic, Aliens, and Spider-Man: all crowd-pleasing, award-winning, top-selling films written, produced, or directed by James Cameron. Avatar is based on a script Cameron first wrote in 1994 and is the first big budget action film to be shot in 3D, using revolutionary camera technology Cameron developed. This film earned over $1 billion in its first three weekends. The story-line is simple and timely. In the year 2154, the fictional RDA Corporation (from earth) attempts to move the Na’vi, an alien race on the distant planet Pandora, off of their land to mine for a valuable mineral called unobtanium. RDA Corporation partners with earth mercenaries. These mercenaries are a back-up, in case the RDA Corporation science project - using avatars (Na’vi-human hybrids developed and managed by Grace Augustine/Sigourney Weaver) - fails to accomplish the task peacefully. Na’vi are colorful blue-skinned humanoids, who live in harmony with nature and worship their mother earth goddess Eywa, embodied in huge, luscious trees. This action/science fiction/thriller narrative features Jake sully/Sam Worthington and Neytiri/Zoe Saldana. Jake...
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...Genocide: Worse Than War explores many different aspects as to why genocides happen, and why it is that we are seemingly powerless to stop it. In my opinion, our power to stop such acts politically is limited by countries’ general reluctance to engage in an armed conflict. Since corrupt regimes are often responsible for genocide in the first place, it is usually up to foreign governments to intervene. When we don’t intervene, these genocides tend to get worse and worse. I’m from the inner city in Chicago, which is home to thousands of Bosnian Muslims who took refuge from the war. In fact, my best friend from my childhood is Bosnian, and I constantly heard stories that were unbearably brutal. Yet it wasn’t until I saw this documentary that I started asking the question as to why the rest of the world, especially powerful industrial countries, are so reluctant to stop it. The reality is that international politics is so complex that if something doesn’t directly effect our country in America, we have a tendency to ignore or downplay genocide as inevitable or unstoppable. Although as a nation we almost unanimously are morally against genocide, our reluctance to stop in my opinion reflects our value system. The cost of war and the notion that most genocides don’t directly affect us provides an easy excuse to put our moral obligations to the side in favor of capitalistic policies. Some say that money is the root of all evil, and in this case our obsession with capital appears...
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...Chapter 3: The International Criminal Court By: Robel Tesfai History: The International Criminal Court and Darfur On July 1st 2002, the International Criminal Court was created by the implementation of a Roman Statute. As of May 2013, the ICC had 122 state parties to the Statute of the Court. This large number of states included all of South America, most of Oceania, about 50% of Africa, and almost all of Europe. A paper published by the Political Science Department of Columbia University describes the statute as having the following obligations and limitations: “The statute empowers the Court to exercise jurisdiction with respect to these crimes under three conditions: 1) where a State Party refers a situation to the Prosecutor, 2) where the Prosecutor initiates an investigation proprio motu, and 3) where the UN Security Council refers a situation to the Court. Under the first two conditions, the Court may exercise. 25 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Part 2. Jurisdiction only over nationals of a State Party or over crimes alleged to have occurred on the territory of a State Party; however, where the Security Council has referred a situation, the Court may exercise jurisdiction over any individual alleged to have perpetrated a crime within its competence, regardless of the nationality of the person or the location of the crime” (Broache, 11). On March 31, 2005, the UN Security Council passed the referral of the situation to the ICC with a unanimous...
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...In early 2003, a horrific event started; genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Genocide is the intentional killing of a mass quantity of people, usually of people of a particular ethnic group. In the following, you will see how this gruesome act was put into action. Darfur, Sudan is located in northeast Africa. Surrounding Sudan is Egypt to the north, Ethiopia and Eritrea to the east, South Sudan to the south, and Chad to the west. The Sudanese government committed the genocide. The government orchestrated the genocide because they wanted to stop the rebel groups from their up rise against the government. In February of 2003 the Darfur Liberation Front (later the Sudan Liberation Army) attacked Gulu, the capital of the district of Jebel Marra. Their second attack was on April 25, 2003. In Darfur, Sudan, two rebellious groups, the Sudanese Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, attacked the El Fasher airport....
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...Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. One of the most commonly referred to and widely known genocide is the Holocaust, but this is not the only genocide. There are many different genocides that have gone on throughout the course of history, all of which could have been prevented. One of these is a 21st century genocide going on in the Sudanese region to this day. This paper will describe the genocide in Darfur, compare it to the Holocaust and discuss not only how it can be ended but how future genocides can be prevented. 6 million citizens reside in Darfur is a region in western Sudan that was created in 1956 (“Darfur Genocide”). There has been distrust between...
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...Bosnian Genocide Genocide is deliberate killing of an ethnic group or nation. The term was created after the holocaust when Hitler systematically tried to eradicate all the Jews. Genocide still happens today, and the effects will always be there. The Bosnian genocide is still a big issue in Eastern Europe. The Bosnian genocide fits into two different categories of genocide is ideological. They fit into these categories because Serbia generally thought they were better, they only attacked Bosnians, and treated them like the Nazi’s did with Jews. After WW2 ended many countries in east Europe formed The People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. These countries included Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia. In the late 80’s and early 90’s Serbia started to dislike the other countries. When the Serbian National Assembly was created it boosted national pride. Slabadon Milosevic, the head of the Assembly started to give Serbian’s pride. He promoted the fact that Serbians mainly made up the most of the Yugoslavia military, and said that they are the strongest race because they are the most represented group in the military. What they did with the military is a whole different story....
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... China aimed Africa in 1970s as the first diplomatic target due to its rich natural resources. Up till today, the Chinese investment occupies 44% of all areas combined in Africa.1 In Angola, Chinese investors own 37% of the investments, and they benefit from these investments by earning millions of dollars. Seen from the outside, The Chinese seems is making a significant effort of making a win-win situation between China and Africa. In fact, China is often dealing its investment with the rouge governments and even, dictators. Example has been given in the book The Beijing Consensus. “Beijing has maintained strong economic relations with Khartoum since 2002, focusing on Sudan’s considerable natural resources.”1 A year later the genocide broke out between the Khartoum’s government and the Darfur region in Sudan. The conflict killed over two hundred thousand Darfurians and millions were displaced. The UN Security Council failed on intervene the violence because China’s diplomatic protection of Sudan. Interestingly, China did all these publically. China today is not afraid of public opinions any more, it shows more initiative in international affairs. From the Sudan incident, China has been labeled as a hot potato in terms of the foreign policy which China practices. A major issue with the Chinese influence is human rights problem. In chapter three of the book, figure 3.1 shows that reported human rights abuses relate to China is extremely...
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...subjects. Additionally, he offers information as a means to create discussion, rather than judgment. At the top of Mr. Goodman's list are the topics of genocide, famine, and germ warfare, and their intentional application on various peoples. Genocide seeks "to destroy a race, culture, a linguistic or ethnic identity, even a class," (Goodman, L., 2010, pg. 2) operating successfully through fear, intimidation, and violence. The Armenian Genocide, in which many of my ancestors perished, is a perfect example of attempting to destroy an ethnic identity. Through the employment of "deportation, expropriation, torture, massacre, and starvation," the Turkish government attempted genocide upon the entire Armenian population between the years of 1915 and 1923. This all occurred thirty-three years prior to the adoption of the UN Genocide Convention, but still received worldwide condemnation as a "crime against humanity" (http://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocidefaq.html), Leaders seeking to wipe out an entire population as a means of control is not new to the history of the world. Famine was wrought on the people of the Ukraine by Stalin in 1933. From halting the collection of the census at the Famine's inception, to the hoarding of large "state reserves" in spite of the starvation of the population, this horrific example of genocide took the lives of millions of Ukrainian people in the name of power...
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...Running head: War Crimes and the International Community War Crimes and the International Community Abhishek Gandhi Professor Farber Sociology 300 Summer 2012 Abstract What are war crimes? Inhuman acts have been committed in all wars throughout human history. It has only been in the last 2 centuries that certain acts that were committed during war were found to be so reprehensible that they were labeled war crimes. Even thought these acts were committed during the "fog of war", they still merited punishment in a court of law in the eyes of the international community. When military and political leaders began to systematically target large civilian groups because of their nationality, ethnicity, gender or religion, then the international community began to see the necessity of holding political leaders accountable for their political decisions in a court of law, (Hauss, 2003). After World War II, when the atrocities of the Holocaust became well known, the victorious Allied powers decided to hold war crimes tribunals to punish the political and military leaders of Germany and Japan. The Nuremberg and Tokyo trials were the first of their kind in establishing international precedent for the prosecution of war crimes. Later war crimes that were committed in Yugoslavia and Rwanda resulted in the creation of separate tribunals by the United Nations to punish the leaders who perpetrated these acts. Attempts are...
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...Genocide Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Introduction The term genocide refers to the mass murder of a specific race or tribe or group of people with the sole intention of eliminating the said group. As the world came to realize with the discrimination of Jews by the Nazi forces, genocide does not sit on the same bench as other crimes such as burglary. The spirited effort towards the elimination of a single race or tribe is the driving force of this heinous crime. It is said “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. At the centre of genocide, power and resources are usually the propagators of this vice. In a state in which the availability and distribution of resources is anything short of equal, negative ethnic traits such as tribalism, nepotism and even clanism, in other cases, can easily result in the onset of genocide. Greed is also a consistent feature of many genocide-stricken states. The more worrying issue, apart from the killing of millions of innocent civilians, is the prejudice with which many of the leaders of these factions plan and coordinate these atrocities. The notion that leaders are well above the law is characteristic of states that have felt the iron grip of genocide. The case of Darfur is one of the most disheartening. Darfur has been embroiled in the throes of genocide for the better part of the 21st Century. Having been the first genocide of the 21st Century, the mention of Darfur does not resonate well on the global landscape. Upon...
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...Does the Spanish Conquest constitute genocide? Do you agree or disagree? The late 1400’s brought about the period of colonial expansion, initiated under the crown of Castile and the Spanish Conquistadors. This expansion continued over the next 4 centuries, seeing the Spanish Empire expand over most of Central and South America. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and the Incas spanned over decades and was not a peaceful conquest without bloodshed. The Conquista unleashed violence, death and destruction on a scale unknown until then. Charny acknowledged that it was possible for genocide to occur during the process of colonisation, as seen in the colonising of North America and similarly in Australia. This essay will discuss the various elements of genocide as defined by the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, as well as other sources. Through this discussion, the essay will relate it to circumstances and events related to the Spanish Conquest of Latin America, discussing the possibility of a connection between the conquest and genocide. There are a number of elements that must be satisfied in order to find a case for genocide. When defining an act of genocide, the UN definition is the internationally recognised and the framework by which this essay will follow when referring to an act of genocide. As found in the UN definition of genocide; the act committed must have the intent to destroy the target, in whole or in part, a national, ethical,...
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...The instances of genocide in the late 20th century stand as a testament to how unreliable the nation state can be when inalienable and human rights are concerned. As is shown in the case of Rwanda, non-state actors have taken steps to trample on these rights even when the victim technically has citizenship in a country. Additionally, the nation-state can reinforce the actions of the non-state actors through either sponsorship, or even inaction in the face of genocide. Civil society actors have taken steps to act where the nation-state has failed to do so out of what Ayers identifies as labeling the conflict as internal or a civil war. Ultimately, both Ayers and Power agree that labeling genocide as what it is, and taking other steps outside of raw military force can go a long way in preventing the atrocities of the 20th century. More specifically, since the nation-state alone cannot be trusted to handle these situations, civil society must take steps to better the diplomacy of the nation-state, along with creating an international community that can work together to remedy the problems of human and inalienable rights violations. In her article “Raising the Cost of Genocide,” Samantha Power examines the historical response to genocide by discussing the ways in which western powers have avoided responsibility for 20th century atrocities. She begins her article by explaining the invention of the word genocide as a word meant to “send shudders down the spines of those who heard it...
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...Final Paper Genocide Wade Harris HIS306: Twentieth-Century Europe Instructor: Fara Driver November 2nd, 2015 If anything could be described as a scar on the face of the twentieth century genocide would be that scar. Genocide is not the invention of those in the twentieth century, but rather the epitome, the refinement of a horrific act that the twentieth century has perfected. An act that has popular support and the backing of governments, so how can people who live side by side peacefully with others for so long suddenly flip and be able to kill their neighbors? Genocide is a series of choices, choices made by leaders to begin the killings, choices made by people to participate, and the choice to see something wrong and having the power to stop it, but choose not to. Many have written that it is deep seeded hatred passed on from generation to generation that always sits in the back of the minds of those committing genocide, things that may or may not have happened. Other scholars write that it is cultural differences that are ignored until a leader or group uses them for their own gain. (Churchill, R. P. 2014) Whatever the reasons, it is always the minority on the losing end, the bully mentality of a few whirling up hatred for someone else until everyone is in a frenzy and the rhetoric seems real, the threat conjured up is real, and the only action to keep things safe and secure is to remove the problem by any means. This is how genocide starts. But...
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