Should Muslims in North America Be More Involved in the Issue of Dar Fur?
My perception is that we are not taking the issue of the suffering of Muslims in Dar Fur in Sudan seriously enough. I have a number of theories, but I'm more looking for feedback on this issue:1. Are there significant efforts North American Muslims are making to improve the situation there?
2. We are not making significant efforts because:
- Fur (the primary ethnic group suffering in the area) are not well-represented among North American Muslims.
- A general discounting of Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Muslim U.S. citizens should be more concerned about preventing harm the U.S. government is causing before preventing foreign governments from doing harm.
- North American Muslims doubt that there is a true humanitarian crisis and suspect there is a plot to weaken the country of Sudan.
- There is genuine concern, but really there is no good solution given the demographic, geographical and political circumstances. Therefore there is limited action.
- We are concerned, but we are having difficulty cooperating with other North American organizations involved in this issue.
My own guess is that there is a combination of most of these factors in our underinvolvement. I personally believe that the best option is a strengthening of the African Union's involvement rather than the United Nations. In fact, an Associated Press report dated November 16, 2006 reports on moves towards such measures. But I am not an expert in this, and the primary United States-based advocacy organizations such as SaveDarfur have, to my understanding, called for a United Nations peacekeeping mission because the African Union is not able to undertake such a large mission.
Islamic Society of North America Statement of May 2, 2006
http://www.isna.net/index.php?id=35&backPID=1&tt_news=707
Links from Islamic Relief
http://irw.org/pdfs/Darfur.pdf
http://www.irw.org/news/pressreleases/20041012
Other Resources
University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog
http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/2006/11/us_involvement_.html
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Podcast "Voices on Genocide Prevention"
http://blogs.ushmm.org/index.php/COC2/ (this link is not working as of the time of writing, but I've subscribed to this podcast through iTunes for almost a year.)
posted by Ayman Hossam Fadel at
11/26/2006 06:58:00 AM
2 comment(s):
By
Anonymous, at
11/26/2006 09:40:00 PM
North American Muslims doubt that there is a true humanitarian crisis and suspect there is a plot to weaken the country of Sudan.
Honestly, I'm not unsympathetic to this for the following reasons:
1. Whatever problems the government of Sudan poses, I don't see how partition of the country would help anybody but multi-national corporations and local elites.
2. North American and British support of the Biafran rebels in Nigeria in the 1960s was extremely damaging to Nigeria.
3. I believe the best hope for most African and other developing nations is increased political integration.
Having said this, if one believes the numbers of people killed and displaced from the Dar Fur region which SaveDarfur.org and others cite, then the urgency of saving these Muslims' lives should press us to some kind of action. I don't know if "Anonymous of 11/26/2006 9:40 PM" will read this, but does he or she believe there are 400,000 dead since February 2003 and 3.5 million people at risk (http://www.savedarfur.org/page/-/Darfur%20Backgrounder%20and%20Policy%20Talking%20Points.doc)? If so, what should be done? If these numbers are exaggerated, what evidence can you present me so that I am no longer "naive" and I can become "alert to understand and follow the enemy intelligence?"
By
Ayman Hossam Fadel, at
11/27/2006 05:39:00 AM
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