Class Discussion: Darfur

I thought our discussion about Darfur and Not on Our Watch was very interesting. The majority of the conversation dealt with the actual content of the book. I thought that too much time was spent talking about whether the book should present only facts, statistics and data rather than the author’s political and activist stories and anecdotes. Personally, I feel that adding the Don Cheadle’s and John Prendergast’s back stories and accounts of how they got involved with Darfur and preventing genocide is essential is understanding how the average American can thwart genocide. You cannot have all facts – it would get repetitive very fast. Moreover, the majority of the book is explaining how you can help. It outlines key strategies to get your voice heard so that you can make a difference. You also need to know where these people are coming from to understand their objectives.

The open forum was interesting in many respects. For those who think that military options are not required are not well informed. Diplomacy was tried with North Korea and their nuclear program for many years with Bill Clinton bearing no results. Same goes with terrorism: you cannot bargain or negotiate with extremists who intend on killing people. It just cannot be done. Using sanctions on one of the poorest countries is not going to work either – it will just hurt the innocent. As for political pressure, the government will not back down to any demands that are not supporting the Muslim agenda. One comment I heard today said that China would counter any attack made against the Sudanese government. China would never risk sending their troops to battle the Western powers. They pick their battles and Darfur to them is insignificant.