Genocide in Sudan
Apparently today is going to be a many posts day. I don't know why. I feel like talking (bitching) about shit.
News Articles:
Sudanese President Accused of Genocide
Sudan head accused of war crimes
Sudan: Court Accuses Al-Bashir of Darfur War Crimes
What is wrong with the world? It's astounding it took so long for something to actually be done about this. I first found out about this shit about 3-4 years ago in my anthropology of African media class. We had to do these website assignments, where we all picked a country in Africa, and then we all researched it on the web and presented the websites and wrote a paper about it all. Someone did Sudan, and one of the websites they found was a game.
In the game, you are a refugee, running to get water from a well and trying to hide behind bushes and trees and stay out of the way of the "soldiers" (I don't even know if they're technically soldiers or not) trying to kill you. You could play as several different people, a child, boy or girl; a mother; a father; and I think some others. It's been so long I don't remember much now.
But that is how I found out about Darfur. (Darfur is a western region in Sudan.) And that was 3-4 years ago. And apparently it's been going on for 5 years, and only now is something happening about it. And who knows if anything really WILL happen.
I learned about this shortly before or after I learned about what had happened in Rwanda. Now I had previously seen Hotel Rwanda, but I didn't know much about what had been going on until I read some articles for class and we discussed it further. And I though, if this just happened 10 years ago in Rwanda, how can they be letting the same (similar, not same I guess) thing go on again. You know, United Nations, and whatever other groups there are that are supposed to keep the world in check and shit.
And I just don't get it. In the case of the U.S. - yeah, Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, I get that. I've gotten that since I saw Hot Shots, Part Duex when I was in elementary school, oddly enough. I didn't understand the Gulf War as I was like 6, but that movie made it more real for me in the mixed up way movies make you understand more than news when you are a kid.
But it made no sense to go there when we did. Iraq became a scape goat for 9-1, which was caused by Afghanistan-based terrorists (not eve necessarily the country of Afghanistan). We couldn't find Osama Bin-Laden, so we went after the next best thing. We went for weapons of mass destruction that didn't even exist.
And here's the clincher, and you can be angry at me for saying this, and not agree with me, as this is purely speculation, but here it is:
The U.S. had selfish reasons for going there: fucking OIL. Bush's family are from Texas, they are oil people. I'm not saying Bush went to "war" with Iraq simply to take control of their oil, but the whole situation is entirely seedy, especially with the fact there were no WMD's found. It's just all very seedy.
(It doesn't help that I'm all a-rage about the war in Iraq right now because I just watched STOP LOSS last night. Really good movie, really depressing. And it pissed me off. And 6 years ago when this all started and I was sitting in my friend's dorm room, watching them invade Baghdad, I said this was going to turn into another Vietnam, and I'm not saying necessarily that is has, but it's been 6 years. Why are we still there?)
But the U.S. had personal stakes going on in Iraq. So we went there. And yet, there is genocide going on in Sudan and we do nothing about it. Yet we're supposed to be this great nation that cares about freedom and rights and live and humanity.
We're not. We're a selfish country that is individualist and business oriented. Hell, we were founded BY A BUSINESS! The Virginia Company, that's what they were. Not explorers, not people seeking freedom, they people on a business venture, looking for gold and to grow shit and to make money.
That's how the U.S. started out, and that's how they still are, and it's all fucked up.
End rage.
Feel free to be as angry at me as you want, but these are merely my opinions.
News Articles:
Sudanese President Accused of Genocide
Sudan head accused of war crimes
Sudan: Court Accuses Al-Bashir of Darfur War Crimes
What is wrong with the world? It's astounding it took so long for something to actually be done about this. I first found out about this shit about 3-4 years ago in my anthropology of African media class. We had to do these website assignments, where we all picked a country in Africa, and then we all researched it on the web and presented the websites and wrote a paper about it all. Someone did Sudan, and one of the websites they found was a game.
In the game, you are a refugee, running to get water from a well and trying to hide behind bushes and trees and stay out of the way of the "soldiers" (I don't even know if they're technically soldiers or not) trying to kill you. You could play as several different people, a child, boy or girl; a mother; a father; and I think some others. It's been so long I don't remember much now.
But that is how I found out about Darfur. (Darfur is a western region in Sudan.) And that was 3-4 years ago. And apparently it's been going on for 5 years, and only now is something happening about it. And who knows if anything really WILL happen.
I learned about this shortly before or after I learned about what had happened in Rwanda. Now I had previously seen Hotel Rwanda, but I didn't know much about what had been going on until I read some articles for class and we discussed it further. And I though, if this just happened 10 years ago in Rwanda, how can they be letting the same (similar, not same I guess) thing go on again. You know, United Nations, and whatever other groups there are that are supposed to keep the world in check and shit.
And I just don't get it. In the case of the U.S. - yeah, Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, I get that. I've gotten that since I saw Hot Shots, Part Duex when I was in elementary school, oddly enough. I didn't understand the Gulf War as I was like 6, but that movie made it more real for me in the mixed up way movies make you understand more than news when you are a kid.
But it made no sense to go there when we did. Iraq became a scape goat for 9-1, which was caused by Afghanistan-based terrorists (not eve necessarily the country of Afghanistan). We couldn't find Osama Bin-Laden, so we went after the next best thing. We went for weapons of mass destruction that didn't even exist.
And here's the clincher, and you can be angry at me for saying this, and not agree with me, as this is purely speculation, but here it is:
The U.S. had selfish reasons for going there: fucking OIL. Bush's family are from Texas, they are oil people. I'm not saying Bush went to "war" with Iraq simply to take control of their oil, but the whole situation is entirely seedy, especially with the fact there were no WMD's found. It's just all very seedy.
(It doesn't help that I'm all a-rage about the war in Iraq right now because I just watched STOP LOSS last night. Really good movie, really depressing. And it pissed me off. And 6 years ago when this all started and I was sitting in my friend's dorm room, watching them invade Baghdad, I said this was going to turn into another Vietnam, and I'm not saying necessarily that is has, but it's been 6 years. Why are we still there?)
But the U.S. had personal stakes going on in Iraq. So we went there. And yet, there is genocide going on in Sudan and we do nothing about it. Yet we're supposed to be this great nation that cares about freedom and rights and live and humanity.
We're not. We're a selfish country that is individualist and business oriented. Hell, we were founded BY A BUSINESS! The Virginia Company, that's what they were. Not explorers, not people seeking freedom, they people on a business venture, looking for gold and to grow shit and to make money.
That's how the U.S. started out, and that's how they still are, and it's all fucked up.
End rage.
Feel free to be as angry at me as you want, but these are merely my opinions.