A p ril 15. 2009
Page A4
O pinion
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The Question
of Genocide
Racism challenges term’s meaning
D r . M anning M arable
“G en o c id e” is an e m o
tio n a lly -p ac k ed w ord that
h as re c e n tly su rfa c e d in
th e p re s s in c o n n e c tio n
w ith P r e s id e n t B a ra c k
O b am a’s p roject foreign p o li
cies, and the p rev io u s in te r
n atio n al ag e n d as fo r fo rm er
P resid en ts W illiam Jefferso n
C lin to n and G eorge W. Bush.
C lin to n ’s fo rm er S ecretary
o f S tate, M adeline A lbright,
and his S ecretary o f D efense,
W illiam C o h en , recen tly d e
fin ed “g e n o c id e " in g en eral
term s as “the d elib erate m ass
m urder o f civilians.” But tech
n ically , the “C o n v e n tio n on
th e P re v e n tio n an d P u n is h
m ent o f the C rim e o f G e n o
c id e ,” an in te rn atio n a l body,
d efin es the crim e as the “in
flictin g on a gro u p co n d itio n s
o f life c a lc u la te d to b rin g
ab o u t its physical d estru ctio n
in w hole or in p art.”
T h is second d efin itio n im
p lie s th a t g e n o c id e ca n be
c o m m itte d b oth by g o v e rn
m e n ts, as w ell as n o n -sta te
by
Moderate Taliban is an Oxymoron
Falling victim to
new alliances
M artha B i rk
My book "mod
e ra te
T aliban"
ranks right up there
w ith
"o rg an ic
V ienna sausage"
as an oxymoron.
But, President O bam a jnen-
tioned reaching out to the so-
called moderate militias in Af
ghanistan a few weeks ago in
talking about how to quell the
violence and fix the mess Bush
left him with.
He fleshed out a blueprint for
gaining a peace w hen he an
nounced plans to send 4 ,(MX)
more American troops and a few
billion more dollars through a
supplemental appropriation.
Women's groups, both in the
U.S. and Afghanistan, want to
make sure any shifts in policy
don't further harm women and
girls. Despite Bush administra
tion claims to the contrary, fe-
by
males in Afghanistan have been
s e tb a c k — way back — since
2001. Most are once again in the
burqua, and girls are being at
tacked with acid for the crime
o f going to school. Women are
often deprived o f food, and
rights are hum an rights and not
su b je ct to so -ca lle d cu ltu ral
norms. Feminist Majority Foun
dation President Eleanor Smeal
called for increased attention to
health and education, and ex
pressed strong hopes that the
Women's groups, both in the
U.S. and Afghanistan, want to
make sure any shifts in policy don't
further harm women and girls.
have been kicked out of bread
lines by the Taliban.
Dr. Sima Samar, chairperson of
the A fghanistan Independent
Human Rights Commission, has
been making the rounds on Capi
tol Hill to sound the alarm. "1 do
not believe there are any moder
ate Taliban," she said. "The U.S.
m ust not provide support for
th o se w ho have te rro riz e d
women and girls and violated
their rights."
P ointing out that w om en's
O bam a adm inistration will at
tend to the plight o f women.
A fghanistan has ratified the
u n iv e rs a l w o m e n 's h u m a n
rights treaty known as CEDAW
(the U.S. has not), and the A f
g h an c o n s titu tio n has b asic
p ro tec tio n s fo r w om en. T he
challenge is bringing culture
and practice, still under the grip
o f Taliban oppression, in line
with the law.
Smeal announced a new cam
paign, chaired by Mavis Leno
and su p p o rte d by w o m en 's
groups and prominent leaders
around the world to insure that
Afghan women will not fall vic
tim to an y new a llia n c e o f
strange bedfellows.
With a Secretary of State who
is unapologetically pro-woman
and women in the Senate and
House on their side, the cam
paign has allies on both ends of
P en n sy lv a n ia A venue. C o n
gressional hearings led by Sen.
Barbara Boxer, D-Calif„ on what
is to be done for women have
been promised.
To his credit. President Obama
has indicated that women and
girls will not be forgotten in his
new push to break the hold of
the ex tre m ists, an d h e 's no
longer using the term "m oder
ate Taliban.”
But beyond that, there were
no specifics on how to protect
women.
Martha Burk is director o f
the Corporate Accountability
Project for the National Coun
cil o f Women's Organizations.
Impressive Debut on the World Stage
President Obama is a worthy
descendent o f Dr. K ing’s dream
M arc M oriai
P re s id e n t
O bam a m ade an
im pressive debut
on the world stage
in his first foreign
visits — to London
for the G 20 eco
n o m ic
s u m m it
and
to
S trasbourg, France w here he
met with his fellow NATO mem
b e rs . A n d w h ile O b a m a 's
standout perform ance has prac
tically m ade his status as this
country's first A frican A m eri
can president a non-issue, one
cannot help but notice how he
an d the F irst L ady a d d e d a
splash o f color to the m eetings
with their E uropean co u n ter
by
parts.
O bam a's em erg en ce as a
world leader also reminds us
that not so long ago, Martin
L uther K ing Jr. and others
w ere roundly criticized for
straying outside the accepted
confines o f the civil rights de
bate to rem ind us that "injus
tice anyw here is a threat to ju s
tice everywhere."
F o rty -o n e y e a rs a g o , on
April 4,1968, when Dr. King was
assassinated on the balcony of
the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis,
he was in the process o f broad
ening his message from one fo
cused exclusively on the suf
fering o f African A m ericans to
one that em phasized the eco-
nomic, political and spiritual in
terd ep en d en ce o f all people.
He spoke out against the war in
Vietnam, against apartheid in
South Africa, and he made the
point that w hile life for black
A m ericans was hard, "m illions
o f poor white Am ericans are in
e c o n o m ic b o n d a g e th a t is
scarcely less oppressive."
Dr. King bravely called for "a
worldwide fellow ship that lifts
n eig h b o rly c o n c e rn b ey o n d
one's tribe, race, class, and na
tion." Those w ords are ju st as
relevant for these times, as the
w orld faces the greatest eco
nomic crisis since the Great De
pression and the wars in Iraq
and A fghanistan threaten glo
bal stability.
T h a t is w h y P re s id e n t
O bam a's m essage o f global co
operation and shared respon-
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sibility and his singular brand
o f personal diplom acy on dis
play at both summits, was such
a w elcom e departure from the
go-it-alone policies o f the last
eight years.
In L o n d o n , the P resid en t
helped negotiate an agreem ent
by the leaders o f the w orld's
la rg e st e c o n o m ie s to m ake
more than $1 trillion available
for new lending.
W ith th e lo ss o f a n o th e r
633,0(X) jo b s in M arch here
at hom e, and u n em p lo y m en t
now at 8.5 percent, the P resi
d e n t e m p h a s iz e d th a t "n o
co rn er o f the globe can w all
itse lf o ff from the th reats o f
the 21 st century, or from the
n eed s an d c o n c e rn s o f fe l
low n atio n s.”
B e fo re h is N A TO a llie s,
O bam a stressed the need for
in tern atio n al co o p eratio n in
fighting the w ar in A fghani
stan and com bating al-Q aeda,
saying that the terrorist group
could attack any nation and
that every country has a stake
in its defeat.
On April 4 ,1967, one year to
the day before his assassina
tion, Dr. King gave a speech at
Riverside Church in New York
in which he called for a revolu
tion o f values saying that, "In
the final analysis our loyalties
m u st b e c o m e e c u m e n ic a l
rather than sectional. Every
nation m ust now develop an
overriding loyalty to m ankind
as a whole in order to preserve
the best in their individual so
cieties."
In his first foreign trip as
P re s id e n t B a ra c k O b a m a
proved to be a worthy descen
dent o f that dream.
Marc Moriai is president
and chief executive officer o f
the National Urban League.
w here the In tern a
tio n a l C r im in a l
C o u rt is ex p e cted
to h and dow n in d i
vidual indictm ents,
a n d in e a s te r n
C o n g o , w here an un d eclared
w ar for four y ears has c u lm i
nated into the d eath s o f p o s
sibly four to five m illion A fri
ca n s.
C o u ld B ill C lin to n h av e
sto p p e d , o r at le a st s ig n ifi
cantly reduced, the m ass m ur
d e r in R w a n d a th ro u g h the
d ire c t in te rv e n tio n o f U .S .
p ow er? Today, C lin to n claim s
th a t h is re fu s a l to ac t w as
b ased on faulty in form ation.
H e w o rried ab o u t the c o n
seq u en ces o f U .S. tro o p s b e
ing sent into y et an o th er A fri
c a n c o u n try th a t w as o n ce
a g a in d iv id e d by f a c tio n a l
fig h tin g . Yet S am an th a P o w
ers today in sists that C lin to n
a s P r e s id e n t “ c o u l d h a v e
k n o w n ” ab o u t R w andan
g en o c id e “ if h e had w anted
to k n o w .”
T h e re are m an y d iffe re n t
We are witnessing the
destruction o f the futures
and opportunities for young
African Americans.
ac to rs, “an d th at a se ries o f fo rm s o f g en o cid e. We u su
ac tio n s tak en ag a in st a sp e ally think ab o u t g en o cid e as
cific pop u latio n may not in d i th e en d p ro d u ct o f m ilita ry
v id u a lly h av e th e in te n t o f co n flict. H ow ever, gen o cid e
g en o c id e , b ut w h en c o n s id p ro p e rly d e fin e d is th e d e
ered to g eth er, have the lo n g stru ctio n o f a g ro u p ’s ability
term im p act o f “the ph y sical to rep ro d u ce itself, to provide
reso u rce s to n o u rish its c h il
d estru ctio n o f the g ro u p .”
In r e tr o s p e c t, o n e o f th e d ren an d y o u n g a d u lts, an d
g reatest political erro rs, and to p ro tect itse lf from both the
m oral lap ses, w as the C lin to n b ru tality o f law en fo rcem en t
A d m in is tra tio n ’s re fu sa l to au th o rities as w ell as the m ili
reco g n ize the m ass gen o cid e tary.
O n e m ig h t a rg u e th a t fo r
ta k in g p la c e in R w a n d a in
1994. P resid en t C lin to n had m il lio n s o f y o u n g b la c k
e a rlie r in his ad m in istra tio n peo p le in the U n ited S tates,
p laced U .S. tro o p s in S o m a u n d er A m eric a’s new system
lia, w hich resu lted in a m in o r o f color-blind racism , they are
m ilitary disaster. T he fiasco in ex p e rien c in g a su b tle form o f
S o m alia m ade C lin to n relu c g e n o c id e .
W ith b la c k y o u th u n e m
tan t to ta k e p ro a c tiv e m e a
sures in C entral A frica to d e p lo y m en t today ex ceed in g 30
percent, and high school d ro p
fend h um an rights.
In theory, the O b am a A d o u t rate s ab o v e 50 p erc en t,
m in istratio n has p ut to g e th er w e are w itnessing the d estru c
an a n t i - g e n o c i d e “ d r e a m tio n o f the fu tu res an d o p p o r
te am ” for id en tify in g and re tu n itie s fo r y o u n g A fric a n
a c tin g to g lo b a l a tro c itie s . A m ericans.
T he dim ensions o f this trag
T h e te a m in c lu d e s J o h n
edy
are not as trau m atic as in
P r e n d e r g a s t , h e a d o f th e
the
eastern
C o n g o o r D arfur.
“E nough P ro ject" that id e n ti
H
o
w
ev
er,
th
ey n e v e rth e le ss
fie s c o n f lic ts th a t can tu rn
rep
rese
n
t
fu
n
d am e n tal c h a l
into g en o c id e s; S usap R ice,
lenge
in
o
u
r
p
u rsu it o f racial
o u r U .N . a m b a s s a d o r; an d
H arvard P ro fesso r S am antha ju stic e in the U nited States.
Dr. Manning Marable is a
P o w ers, P u litz e r P riz e -w in
ning au th o r and a m em b er o f professor o f African-Ameri
O b am a’s foreign policy team . can studies and director o f
T h ese in d iv id u als w ill c o n the Center fo r Contemporary
c e n tr a te th e ir e n e r g ie s in Black H istory at Columbia
D a rfu r an d w e ste rn S u d an , University.
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