Monday, March 19, 2007
We hear their hearbeat
When questions of human rights achieve a prominent place on the agenda of world political discussion, it is because it is the policy of particular states to raise them. The world…after the Second World War witnessed the trial and punishment of German and Japanese leaders and soldiers for war crimes and crimes against the peace. It did not witness the trial and punishment of American, British and Soviet leaders and soldiers who prima facie might have been as much or as little guilty of disregarding their human obligations as Goering, Yamamoto and the rest. This is not to say that the idea of the trial and punishment of war criminals by international procedure is an unjust or unwise one, only that it operates in a selective way. That these men and not others were brought to trial by the victors was an accident of power politics.
In the same way….the rights of Africans in black African states, or of intellectuals in the Soviet Union, or of Tibetans in China or Nagas in India or communists in Indonesia are less likely to be upheld by international action because it is not the policy of any prominent group of states to protect them. The international order does not provide any general protection of human rights, only a selective protection that is determined not by the merits of the cause but by the vagaries of international politics. – Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, New York, 1977, pp. 89-90.
A few nights ago I watched the film Hotel Rwanda for the first time. Only 13 years ago, the world sat on its hands while 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered in the space of 100 days. There were UN peacekeepers in Rwanda at the time, along with foreign media reporting what was happening. But no one intervened.
Hotel Rwanda is worth watching if you haven’t already. If you’re one of those people who say: “Oh, but I don’t like watching ‘depressing’ movies”, then you should definitely watch it – welcome to the reality of life for millions of people. And (for my religious-type readers) here’s a good article contrasting Hotel Rwanda with The Passion.
“I think if people see this footage, they’ll say “Oh, my God, that’s horrible!” And then they’ll go on eating their dinners.” – quote from a foreign cameraman in Hotel Rwanda
Now we’ve had Darfur on our television screens. And again the world has failed to act.
Through my study this year I’m beginning to understand why world powers and organisations are reluctant to get involved in some places (Rwanda, Congo, Darfur) but happy to jump into other places (Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq).
On some level I suspect that the lack of action in Darfur is partly because we care less about Africa:
[T]here’s no way we can look at what’s happening in Africa and, if we’re honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn’t accept it. – Bono
The United States has called it genocide. For you [the UN], it’s called ethnic cleansing. But make no mistake, it is the first genocide of the 21st century….How you deal with it will be your legacy — your Rwanda, your Cambodia, your Auschwitz. We were brought up to believe that the Holocaust could never happen again….We are one “yes” away from ending this. And if not the UN, then who? – George Clooney (talking to the UN about Darfur)
[you know it’s bad when even rock stars and movie stars are being ignored :P]
