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Nothing New to Report
For years, George Clooney argues, there has been little hope in Darfur. Today, Sudan's president was indicted for crimes against humanity. Now the world should bring him to justice.
Last week, I visited a camp in Chad—a camp of about 12,000 refugees and internally displaced persons. I was there three years ago. The violence there is nowhere near the scale that is going on just miles across the border in Sudan.
I think what was most disturbing about the place was how little it had changed. "Normal" is 800 calories a day, sickness, threats of rebel violence, or just crime. When you see their faces, the hope that was there three years ago was all but gone. There are still moments. We walked through a village where children would follow me and chant the name “Obama.” His promise of “hope” having such a different meaning here. But there’s too little hope. Time and time again they’ve seen the convoy of white trucks and even whiter faces pull up, drag out their camera crew and pull aside the most damaged family they can find. We film them as they give honest answers to questions no person should have to answer. “What happened?” “How did you lose that arm?” “Were you raped?” “By how many?” Then, just as they’ve seen time and time again, we jump back in our vehicles and run to the next place. “Not really tragic enough,” is said out loud (probably by me). “Maybe there’s somebody that’s been attacked more recently.” It’s all been covered before.
Will his government turn him over? Not likely. Will the UN go in after him? Doubtful.
I stopped on the side of the road on the way back to my fenced-in shelter to talk to a waif of a girl who surely was raped. But the answer was “no.” She was just sick and alone and scared. Not great headline-grabbing stuff.
We all meet back up that night to assess. “Not much new.” “What's the hook?” “What makes it fresh?” These are all the best intentions. Finding a new outrage is the only way to catch the world’s attention. You spend your time looking for (and even secretly hoping for) something or someone tragic to report. A good personal story to get the attention away from what dominates our days and nights. The economy. Iraq. Ponzi schemes. The Oscars.
We all know why we’re here and it’s not simply to report the status quo. Even though this status quo is beyond the pale of what is acceptable. It's beyond our understanding of how much a person can take.
Nothing new to report—except the shame of what man can do to man. And the secret seems to be that the longer it goes on, the more tolerant all of us become of it.
And yet, in the middle of all of this, we get a tiny window of hope. The International Criminal Court has now brought charges and an arrest warrant to Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan. He is indicted for crimes against humanity. It’s the first time a sitting president has been charged by The Hague. By the time the ICC got to them, Slobodan Milosevic and Charles Taylor were both finished with their reigns of terror. Omar al-Bashir is not. Not by a long shot.
How effective these indictments will be is now in the hands of the rest of the world. Will his government turn him over? Not likely. Will the UN go in after him? Doubtful. Even if he’s caught travelling outside the safety of his country would his government be much better with other equally dangerous leaders like “The Sudanese Six”—Harun, Taha, Kushayb, Hilal, Minawi? If I were a refugee I wouldn’t bet my life on it.
So then why is this such a significant moment? Because it tells the 300,000 brutally killed and 2.5 million displaced and raped and maimed that justice must always prevail. That the rest of the world sees their struggle and stands up and demands justice.
This is the moment. And if the UN can’t use it to insist on tougher sanctions, and the United States can’t use it to pressure China, and China can’t feel the eyes of the world looking to them for leadership in the country that they profit so greatly from, then the court and the rule of international law is lost.
Now we have a headline:
PRESIDENT OF SUDAN INDICTED
No need for sad stories of starving children or heart-stirring pictures of a baby koala bear with burnt paws drinking from a water bottle.
Instead, millions of voices standing and demanding “JUSTICE!”
I visited a school in a camp in Goz Beida. The name above the door had been changed to “Obama.”
It seems this message of “hope” is catching on.
In 2007, George Clooney, along with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, co-founded Not on Our Watch, an organization whose mission is to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities in Darfur. Among the many honors received as a result of his humanitarian efforts in Darfur was the 2007 Peace Summit Award given at the eighth World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates at their annual meeting in Rome. In 2008, Clooney was designated a UN Messenger of Peace.
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"So then why is this such a significant moment? Because it tells the 300,000 brutally killed and 2.5 million displaced and raped and maimed that justice must always prevail. That the rest of the world sees their struggle and stands up and demands justice."
I am afraid your optimism may shroud the fact that many in this world are unaware or simply don't care about the happenings in Darfur. As proud as I am to see results from years of protest and civil action, I don't feel like the IDPs feel vindicated. They still live in refugee camps, struggling to provide for their families, the simplest of needs. They need to see the results of the ICC's action.
More intense governmental action needs to be taken from or global community. If al-Bashir is persecuted, we need a plan of action to instill peace and reform in eastern Africa. These recent actions will be worthless if we don't.
I think it is nice that this man is using his celebrity to help a bad situation. I could have done without the Obama worship. Hopefully, while you are filming here in flyoverland you will give a few hours to help the poor we have right here. A group of conservatives to which I belong have built a new low housing project just blocks from where you are filming today. There is a great need for help here as so many our jobs have gone overseas. I also hope you will use your time here to talk to some real Americans, not just the butt kissers on your set, and learn why so many of us disagree with Obama. Meet some real people. I think you will be surprised.
The recent action by the International Criminal Court at The Hauge will undoubtedly bring spotlight on an area ravaged by the horrors of war. Having spent time in Kosovo after the slaughter by the Serbians the only hope the people have is placed on an international court who may or may not find the President guilty and sentence him to death or other severe penalty.
What happens to the individual? The female denied justice based on archaic gender laws? Those injustices won't change with a conviction by The Hauge. Will an international law firm take on the people of the Sudan or the people of Kosovo to ensure that any monies the government leaders have squirreled away are awarded in wrongful death or as civil penalty for the crimes committed? Unlikely.
The IWP, sponsored by The Soros Foundation's, The Open Society, indicates that women are repeatedly denied justice for the crimes described. The gender based approach to prosecution is the equivalent of a two gender law system.
Women internationally and domestically (yes, even in the United States) face the same type of ordeal if they DARE report assaults. They are harassed, threatened, disparaged, stalked, and are left with the inadequacies of the system that is filled with innuendo of consent and favors men.
Many women face a blacklisting stigma and are denied employment, face terminations and any action that cripples them financially and these are in countries that are considered Superpowers. The women in third world countries are left to die and are repeatedly assaulted as a weapon of war. Third world women face persecutions unlike anything we, in a Superpower, could imagine: Unless you've lived through it.
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Should the USA invade a Muslim Country with Oil under it's ground ? I thought that is why the World Hates us ? Much of Africa's problems are from the vast exodus after the Cold War ended. The AU has a the faculty to aid Sudan and slowly will do more, but to believe Obama will do anything is a pipe dream.
i commend george clooney the person (not the actor) to bring attention this very serious issue in our history at the moment. the atrocities that are being waged on the refugees in Darfur and Chad are incomprehensible and i don't think there is a word in the english language that can serve as an accurate descriptor. having said this, one cannot, should not, compare the situation in Darfur/Chad to the jobless situation described by "flyoverland" in his/her part of America. that would be an injustice and a slap in the face to the woman who was gang raped and left for dead in Darfur, a slap in the face to the diseased and starving children who have had their right and will to live snatched away from them due to a tyrant who will likely never suffer the hand of justice, ICC action or not.
Being a rich and famous celebrity must be nice. You could be sailing around the world, or be with some beautiful model having her feed you grapes. Instead you're in Darfur helping poor people try to get medicines and food. You are bringing attention to the plight of Africa. Mr. Clooney I salute you. While the people like Rush, Hannity, O'Rielly set on their dead asses and slam people like you and Mr.Pitt, they talk the talk but do not no how to walk the walk.Mr Clooney, while all I can do is send a little money for the cause, You and your friends are doing something that will change peoples lives forever.
Thank You
Peace, scanner
Modern communications makes it hard to sleep at night. I sit here worrying about my 401K and Clooney reminds us that evil men still rape children for sport and politics. I get so angry I could cry... but somehow not angry enough to stop buying Chinese products or even put on a bumper sticker. Sometimes I hate myself as much as I hate the bastards in Sudan.
Justice in Africa? Are you sure, George?
Bless you for trying, that bridge, to forge
There is no true justice in America
Unless you are rich (and rich, you 'ah'r)
They do what they please, with impunity
(can you say Madoff, George Bush or Boesky?)
The justice will come when you use some of your wealth,
to hire an assassin and kill al-Bashir in stealth
African leaders, they have no remorse
for killing those innocent people, of course
There's no moral backlash against killing bad men
It's just like entering a lion's den
The US, a 'pinnacle of integrity?'
We committed genocide in our history
Look at our foreign policy, too,
we're not opposed to a Third-world coup'
(when the cause is getting the oil,
you know the plot will not be foiled).
'Cause we're all hypocrites in all we do:
whether it's drink, or kill, or screw
We'll lie and cheat and jump in goo,
to go for the gelt, that's what we do!
So thank you for keeping us in the loop
In time, we will hopefully give more than soup
But since you are rich, hell, while you are chillin',
Hire that damn Ninja, and do some good killin'
CountRaoul,
In this world, it is so easy to preoccupied by the inundation of pettiness. I try so hard not to forget, but still find myself struggling with what would be so trivial in that world.
CountRaoul
you and i can only stop buying chinese made products once those products are sent somewhere else (or within North America) to be produced. until then, we are forced to continue to support the Chinese gov't who reaps profits from the Sudanese Oil industry, and turns a blind eye to the fate of the refugees in Darfur. Not surprising behaviour from the Chinese gov't, as evidenced by the continuing human rights abuses within China..
I understand what you're saying, but the koala's burnt paws count too. We're all in this together, all of us animals, whether we like it or not, and we'll all go down together if we don't get our priorities straight.
The poor in flyoverland have voted themselves into the poorhouse, and so get no sympathy. When you vote Republican you get globalization, to that your job is sent to China. Darfur can hardly be compared to middle-America and the fact that you think it's even close should tell you to fire your local government.
I think it's also funny that you hate George Clooney and you don't know why. But I do. You have been told he's the bad guy. Not your senator taking money from lobbyists to pollute your town.
The hatred for Obama is the same thing. You don't know why, you have no proof, but somehow you know things under him will be worse than under a Republican. Screw you idiots. It's been one month. Get yourselves together and get over the election.
Flyoverland is what we call places you would never want to visit, because there is nothing there, the people are dumb, and they don't have anything interesting to say. Most people don't care about George Clooney, but you've somehow made him an enemy of your values.
I want to say this to all the Red State idiots: You are not real the real Americans. Most Americans don't wear cowboy hats, watch Nascar or vote Republican. We don't listen to country, we don't think the devil made us do it. We don't listen to Rush or Hannity and we get information before we just speak on a topic we know nothing about. The MAJORITY is what represents Real America. And the majority voted for Obama. So feel bad, cry yourself to sleep, but understand you have been replaced. You are no longer the norm. You are fringe, a minority.
I feel for George Clooney and admire him. There are enough hypocritical, excessively rich and self-involved Hollywood stars, faking their altruism to last into the next century--but I believe he's not one of them.
Perhaps instead of giving him a lecture (something we 'commenters' are apt to do when not ranting a political ideology) we could get to the "why" we can't get engaged part.
What is "Africa fatigue?" Are we just out of gas with it all? I've been looking at those sad faces of those sad children my entire adult life. It's just a different country and a different civil war, another drought, different tribes, different corrupted dictator. Should I be sickened about the Sudan or should I be frantic about Zimbabwe or the Congo or Somalia? In the best of times it's overload. In the worst of times, it's damn near impossible.
Of course talking about a comparison between the American poor and the African poor is apples and oranges and the analogies are a result of shoddy thinking. Of course this isn't about Obama and Bush for chrissake. But it is about something. Unfortunately the truth about the something is not only up against the tide of self-interest in a recession but also very deep seeded apathy about Africa that silently screams: "What's the point?"
I could offer some advice via my own need to lecture. Mr. Clooney and the 'media' are wrong to look for the big shocking story to get our attention--short of another Rawanda--it won't work. What does work and what has always worked is the very small story. Anne Franke has a penetration into the psyche that stacked up bodies doesn't have actually. Take the girl by the side of the road and make her a person. Her story tells the whole story without trying to tell the whole story. You are "Hollywood." You should know this. Get her story on Good Morning America--forget the thousands, concentrate on the 'one.'
Are you kidding me flyoverland, Gang rape and murder are comparable to unemployment? I'm positive, that those people in Darfur, if given a choice would pick being dirt poor in America to the hell they live everyday. Can't you for once allow your self to feel empathy for these people without tearing the person who is trying to help them down. This is not a pissing contest, this is life and death. Just be thankful for what you have and wish Clooney well on his mission to help these unfortunate people and raise public awareness to their plight.
@ Fentro
impressive
but I fear you need more than only one ninja
for one emperor down, ten hurry up
a good intense venting
but now turn back and grasp your coolness, and switch on your brain engine
see u
XBRAINLESSX
The poor to which I refer live in North St. Louis. They are all black and all voted for Obama who received 99.99% of the vote, in spite of the fact that only Repbulicans, like Kit Bond, Jim Talent and Peter Kinder have been willing to help them save their neighborhood.. So, in that regard, I agree with you they have voted themselves into trouble. Your amazing lack of intelligence is astounding and only surpassed by your hate.
I like what you've done there, changing my screen name. Very good. Why are there no jobs? Who was in charge for 8 years? Did you think things would change over night? I thought you conservatives don't want government help. That's socialism! Call me what you want it just makes me smile more. You are clearly not black, so hate the fact that these poor people voted in their own interest.
There are many layers of tragedy operating here. First off, there is the atrocious, inhumane acts occurring in the Darfur region (along with many others), while the international community's response has been irresponsible and oblivious (at the very least). Throughout history, there have been situations where human decency and compassion clearly dictate intervention (the Holocaust, for example). I would argue that Darfur is another such example. Unfortunately, people are rarely motivated to get involved until their own self interests suffer and both Iraq wars are arguably examples of this fact. Sadly, the last eight years were spent on a quest for power, control and acquisition of wealth rather than spreading the American ideals of freedom, liberty, equality and justice. We had, and fortunately continue to have, the opportunity to preserve survival, offer protection, provide compassion, restore dignity and demand accountability for millions of human beings. Ironically, the largest challenge thus far has been to just recognize the unity of humanity - we are all human beings and there is no valid or tangible reason why some suffer and others don't. Eventually, it will all come full circle and we will be forced to recognize that all is connected and interwoven, that a effects b and dehumanization perpetuates these atrocities. Ignorance must no longer be acceptable - we must teach our children to be aware of their global society and instill compassion so they realize that every baby born deserves their basic needs (food, shelter, etc.) met. We all have an obligation as human beings to get involved and help our fellow man. Education is key and if we do not learn from our past mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them. I appreciate Mr. Clooney's determination to publicize these countless tragedies and force us all to hear these peoples' voices calling out for help.
"Nothing new to report-except the shame of what man can do to man."
Really?
"The International Criminal Court has now brought charges and an arrest warrant to Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan. He is indicted for crimes against humanity. It's the first time a sitting president has been charged by The Hague."
That's huge. It's not a magic wand, but it's huge thanks to a certain celebrity's guts to stand up and point at something truly horrific going on.
My opinion?
"Something new to report- the result of what man can do for a man."
There is the "ripple effect" to happen. I prefer the magic wand like everyone else. The thing is we all have the choice to DO something, not just sit around and complain. Wait - that makes us the magic wand. There was a moment when our man Clooney made the decision to get involved - without that decision, this day for the UN to walk the talk wouldn't be.
Everybody's got the potential to "be the change". Shut up and do it.
As a Sudanese women I think Darfur is a very sad complicated case. True, the people who suffer the most there are the women and children. That is universally the case with all wars.. Those who are most vulnerable due to gender, ethnic or socioeconomic reasons are always the ones that suffer first. I really applaud what Mr. Clooney has done to highlight the problem in the region (which I am sure carried alot of personal risk). However, the problem in Darfur is extremely complicated, and to name it ethnic cleansing is simplifiying the situation.
There are few elements to this war: oil (big factor), corrupt government (also big factor), illiteracy and severe poverty (experienced by both rebel and Janjaweed people), humanitarian agencies (who could have all the good intentions and other "western powers" that are arming the rebels.. At the end of the day if you add all these ingredients and testerone to a petrie dish you get one outcome WAR..
To solve the problem, instead of AlHague indicting the puppet president (no less of a puppet dare shall I say than GW Bush) who lacks the understanding to figure out what is going in Darfur, I think the West should have another apporach.. I think Mr. Clooney should run for presidency in Khartoum, and I am sure he will get at least 51% of the votes (all females are allowed to vote), and the world can become a better place.
nothing new to report, and this is a statement of 'disappointment' by people with the best intentions - the brutality of this piece of truth of makes my heart sink.
we are living in a sick world. people lose compassion. narcissism is the norm, greed is everything. rhetorical or punitive justice can be delivered to a certain extent by court rules or a change in political slogans, but honestly, i don't think an effective solution can be delivered solely by imposing that from above. that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop pushing it. we should, and i applaud you for your efforts (what's the meaning of fame afterall, if u don't use it for some good?). my take is that it ultimately calls for a change in heart from below to make this world better in the long run. i am all against paternalism and would label myself as an armchair liberal when i was younger. the older i get, however, the more i believe that things must start from below - cultivating a sense of community (something long lost these days), a sense of compassion towards humanity (and with the budget cuts in arts and humanity classes in colleges, that is not going to look good)...i think there is an even greater agenda and biger battle on top of all these in the long run, and the cultural/ media industry would have a great stake in it, overtly or covertly. that's my stance.
George's father Nick is one of the main reasons I became a filmmaker. His Dad would talk about films on AMC when I was a kid and it really inspired me to watch the classics. Good peeps both of them.
Way to guilt out the Prez! It' subtle, it's oblique; I approve.
Thank you.
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