Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Words of Yousef Aboh . Survivor of Darfur.
This is the personal account of Yousef Aboh, a survivor of the Darfurian genocide. The only teacher for 500 students in his village of Amar in Darfur, he tells one story of how his uncle was murdered before his eyes. And how the world must act. Please allow the video to download. I apologize for the poor quality and my attempt at writing his words.
"It's really hard what I am going to say...I will tell to you [about] my uncle. When people came...six people came with their guns beside the village and they [the villagers of Amar] were working, they said his name. When he came out, they said to shoot him. And I said, 'Please stop. Don't shoot him. What do you want? Tell me what you want?'
And they said, 'You or him.'
And I said that, 'Me. Shoot me.'
When I said shoot me, they refused to do that. They tried to shoot him. I hugged him and they shoot him. It is real that was.
Always I don't like to say that. When I say that, I am always thinking something bad. It doesn't let me think more. And this morning you see that 20 or 25 people will die again.
...Because the power that we have in our hearts and we promise ourselves that we will enter Khartoum. Because of the evil ways that they do to our friends. And even nobody complains but it's true to say.
Always talking and no action. It will cause another problem for Darfurians."
I have been awake all night listening and recording the accounts of two men from the Darfurian delegation.
In this case, Yousef's words are far more fitting and appropriate than my own. I sincerely hope that one watching on a screen can feel the compassion in this man's voice as well as his urgency.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Badges revoked. Durban delegitimized further.
Tuesday 4/21/09
Today we woke up alive with the momentum and media coverage of the first day to soon discover that our entire delegation of Jewish students had our UN accreditation revoked as what seemed to be a typical diplomatic response to the events of the prior day.
It was demobilizing, debilitating, and discriminatory.
The students responsible for the clown disruption were from the French Jewish student delegation not from our group. And while there were quite vocal members from our own group, this was by no means legitimate foundation to deny every civil and abiding student the right to enter and bear witness to the Durban Review Conference as well as all of the surrounding and contentious events.
On a lighter note, the YouTube video of the French clowns was nonetheless, simply awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyiUIuIaZkY
During our paralysis we were unable to leave the Jewish Welcome Center for security reasons. Eventually when the security was cleared, with covert bodyguards in the background, the two American students and I decided to see if the UN Watch would be able to accredit us, which because we were already in the UN system, was fruitless.
Several hours, numerous debates, and rolls and rolls of bureaucratic tape later, we finally regained our passes and hurried into the UN in order to make use of the few hours left in the day.
We then attended a panel titled “Racism: The Road to Genocide,” where a Pakistani man began by discussing the racial conflict between Bangladesh and Pakistan where the darker-skinned Bengali majority originating from eastern Pakistan were being ruled and subjugated to racist treatment by the lighter-skinned minority. According to this panelist, 10 million people had died in a period of ten months between 1970 and 1971 until India decided to militarily intervene. I knew of the conflict but had no idea of this bloody history.
He furthered his discussion to the Sudanese genocide where half a million Black-Muslim Darfurians have been ruthlessly raped and murdered as a result of the genocide by the Arab-Muslims since 2003. The UN has done little if anything while Black Muslims and non-Muslims throughout the Arab world are frequently referred to as “Ya’ Abdi,” or “black slave” which is yes in fact, a racial issue.
The panelists continued until a Q&A session where a brief but impassioned argument ensued about the Sri Lankan human rights conflict between the Tamil and the Sinhalese groups. According to these speakers, the violence has escalated where nearly 300 people were killed only yesterday and approximately 300,000 people have been displaced via state-sanctioned bombing. Please do not take my word on these statistics. I will be doing much more in-depth research on this issue about which I am embarrassed to say as a human rights activist, I know very little.
Lastly, Charles Small, Director of Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism Studies, who naturally discussed the growth and danger of anti-Semitism throughout the world courageously and thankfully called out the few individuals in the room, certain members of an Iranian delegation and once again the Neturei Karta, the Jewish extremist group who collectively refused to stand during a moment of silence to commemorate the Holocaust on the day of Yom HaShoah.
Having a dissenting opinion is one thing. Disrespecting a moment of silence for a horrific event such as the Holocaust is absolutely absurd. No moral relativistic argument can be justified here. This was one of the loudest, most appalling, and most offensive statements I have witnessed thus far. And a new line was crossed for me today.
On a side note, watch this video where one of Ahmadinejad’s entourage is calling Eli Wiesel a “Zio-Nazi.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV3rw_QOD7U
Unbelievable.
Thankfully the panel came to a close right when the temperature in the room had almost reached a boiling point. And thankfully again, we were about to attend one of the most meaningful experiences of my life—a rally with the Darfurians.
We assembled in the Place des Nations in front of the UN as an assembly of Jewish students from around the world and a handful of Darfurians speaking in a united voice.
“Stop genocide in Darfur!”
“Shame shame Al-Bashir!”
“Human rights in Darfur!”
“UN! Let’s go! Its not too late to save Darfur!”
Our voices hoarse from yelling and our feet sore from stomping—we were exhausted and smiling at this alliance. My new friends in particular, Yousef, a forty-three year old Darfurian who had immigrated to Canada wearing a jacket too large for his narrow shoulders and Ibrahim, a nurse who had immigrated to France, shared their stories with me which I will share in a future post.
For me it was not the honking that mattered. It was the sincere handshakes and smiles exchanged. It was the support pledged by the Darfurians that they stand with us and with Israel and our promise that we stand with them. It was the mutual commitment to fight until the genocide in Darfur ends and our devotion to preventing future genocides. So we can say, without cringing at our guilty consciences, “Never again.”
Today we woke up alive with the momentum and media coverage of the first day to soon discover that our entire delegation of Jewish students had our UN accreditation revoked as what seemed to be a typical diplomatic response to the events of the prior day.
It was demobilizing, debilitating, and discriminatory.
The students responsible for the clown disruption were from the French Jewish student delegation not from our group. And while there were quite vocal members from our own group, this was by no means legitimate foundation to deny every civil and abiding student the right to enter and bear witness to the Durban Review Conference as well as all of the surrounding and contentious events.
On a lighter note, the YouTube video of the French clowns was nonetheless, simply awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyiUIuIaZkY
During our paralysis we were unable to leave the Jewish Welcome Center for security reasons. Eventually when the security was cleared, with covert bodyguards in the background, the two American students and I decided to see if the UN Watch would be able to accredit us, which because we were already in the UN system, was fruitless.
Several hours, numerous debates, and rolls and rolls of bureaucratic tape later, we finally regained our passes and hurried into the UN in order to make use of the few hours left in the day.
We then attended a panel titled “Racism: The Road to Genocide,” where a Pakistani man began by discussing the racial conflict between Bangladesh and Pakistan where the darker-skinned Bengali majority originating from eastern Pakistan were being ruled and subjugated to racist treatment by the lighter-skinned minority. According to this panelist, 10 million people had died in a period of ten months between 1970 and 1971 until India decided to militarily intervene. I knew of the conflict but had no idea of this bloody history.
He furthered his discussion to the Sudanese genocide where half a million Black-Muslim Darfurians have been ruthlessly raped and murdered as a result of the genocide by the Arab-Muslims since 2003. The UN has done little if anything while Black Muslims and non-Muslims throughout the Arab world are frequently referred to as “Ya’ Abdi,” or “black slave” which is yes in fact, a racial issue.
The panelists continued until a Q&A session where a brief but impassioned argument ensued about the Sri Lankan human rights conflict between the Tamil and the Sinhalese groups. According to these speakers, the violence has escalated where nearly 300 people were killed only yesterday and approximately 300,000 people have been displaced via state-sanctioned bombing. Please do not take my word on these statistics. I will be doing much more in-depth research on this issue about which I am embarrassed to say as a human rights activist, I know very little.
Lastly, Charles Small, Director of Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism Studies, who naturally discussed the growth and danger of anti-Semitism throughout the world courageously and thankfully called out the few individuals in the room, certain members of an Iranian delegation and once again the Neturei Karta, the Jewish extremist group who collectively refused to stand during a moment of silence to commemorate the Holocaust on the day of Yom HaShoah.
Having a dissenting opinion is one thing. Disrespecting a moment of silence for a horrific event such as the Holocaust is absolutely absurd. No moral relativistic argument can be justified here. This was one of the loudest, most appalling, and most offensive statements I have witnessed thus far. And a new line was crossed for me today.
On a side note, watch this video where one of Ahmadinejad’s entourage is calling Eli Wiesel a “Zio-Nazi.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV3rw_QOD7U
Unbelievable.
Thankfully the panel came to a close right when the temperature in the room had almost reached a boiling point. And thankfully again, we were about to attend one of the most meaningful experiences of my life—a rally with the Darfurians.
We assembled in the Place des Nations in front of the UN as an assembly of Jewish students from around the world and a handful of Darfurians speaking in a united voice.
“Stop genocide in Darfur!”
“Shame shame Al-Bashir!”
“Human rights in Darfur!”
“UN! Let’s go! Its not too late to save Darfur!”
Our voices hoarse from yelling and our feet sore from stomping—we were exhausted and smiling at this alliance. My new friends in particular, Yousef, a forty-three year old Darfurian who had immigrated to Canada wearing a jacket too large for his narrow shoulders and Ibrahim, a nurse who had immigrated to France, shared their stories with me which I will share in a future post.
For me it was not the honking that mattered. It was the sincere handshakes and smiles exchanged. It was the support pledged by the Darfurians that they stand with us and with Israel and our promise that we stand with them. It was the mutual commitment to fight until the genocide in Darfur ends and our devotion to preventing future genocides. So we can say, without cringing at our guilty consciences, “Never again.”
Monday, April 20, 2009
Ahmadinejad and Technical Difficulties…
3:14 pm 4/20/09
The entire day was preparing for this moment. We had attempted without success to sneak into the room where Ahmadinejad and the government delegations would be speaking. Retreating into the room designated for NGOs to watch the conference through video, tension was high as Ahmadinejad took the stage, and as we placed the translating earpieces on our ears.
I have been to a fair amount of UN meetings in Geneva since I studied and interned there last semester. And in my experiences, the translators have always worked. Coincidentally or not, for the first time I have witnessed, the entire room was unable to understand his speech, unless of course one spoke Arabic. Due to technical difficulties. It was an outrage.
Alan Dershowitz, a world-renowned American advocate for Israel and author of "The Case for Israel," and "The Case for Democracy," stormed out enraged and yelling that we were being denied our fundamental rights to hear what was being said. What happened next was something I anticipate I will never see again.
The room was in uproar. People were standing on tables. Everyone was engaged in some form of debate. I was watching heated arguments take place between the Neturakarta and fellow students, an extremist ultra-orthodox Jewish group believing so vehemently Israel can only be created when the messiah comes that they actively and vocally support Ahmedinjad and terrorist actions against Israel. There were debates between Iranian and Palestinian delegates with Jewish and Israeli delegates. There was even an African American group seeking economic reparations from the transatlantic slave trade who stated the Jews controlled the slave trade and slavery in the United States, and economically benefited from the civil rights movement. One of my engagements during this mayhem was with an African American from the latest group. I had asked her a question as to why the other slave trades, including the one across Sub-Saharan and eastern Africa which is estimated to have enslaved 14 million Africans, were blatantly ignored. Not expecting such a verbal affront on my question (she came within inches of my face, raised her voice to near screaming, and grabbed my arm) I asked her politely to simply “take it down a notch so we can have a discussion.” With this, she launched into how I [as a white person] was using my “superiority” over her.
So my first experience with racism happened at the World Conference Against Racism. Ironic.
Moving beyond an argument that did not seem to add greatly to my experience or mood, I asked an African man where he was from and what cause he was supporting. He told me that he was there as an NGO delegate for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Once again, my first exchange with a person from the DRC. I told him I was personally appalled at the fact that his country’s tragic and terribly situation which has recently escalated to 4 million casualties, was not being appropriately addressed at this forum. That an issue without racial claims was hijacking and dominating all of the other injustices that demand much greater global attention than they were receiving. His answer was heartbreaking. He said it did not seem to matter because his country was a weak one and was not a part of the international power structure so thus, no one cared. As defeated as he sounded, I offered my support to his country and told him my delegation was here to fight indiscriminately and proportionally against all cases of prejudice around the world.
We were then interrupted by chaos on the screen as two French Jewish students with rainbow clown wigs and red noses ran up to Ahmadinejad in protest of his welcomed—even honored—presence on a UN platform. The two students were instantly removed and our room broke out in applause followed by a mass walk out. Soon after, several Western delegates as well as Jordan and Moroccan delegates also walked out in protest of the Iranian President’s speech stating Zionism "personifies racism," calling Israel a Nazi regime and an apartheid state.
And let me remind everyone the extent of the mockery. To add insult to injury, Ahmadinejad, who was welcomed to Switzerland by the Swiss president himself, spoke today on the eve of Yom HaShoa, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance.
Despite the rise in blood pressure that occurred all across the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the day closed in peace with words of Elie Wiesel, Irwin Cotler, Bernard Levy and others, and a reminder to all of us of our duty to humankind.
To speak out against injustices.
To truly fight against indifference.
To "never forget" and commit ourselves to "never again."
The entire day was preparing for this moment. We had attempted without success to sneak into the room where Ahmadinejad and the government delegations would be speaking. Retreating into the room designated for NGOs to watch the conference through video, tension was high as Ahmadinejad took the stage, and as we placed the translating earpieces on our ears.
I have been to a fair amount of UN meetings in Geneva since I studied and interned there last semester. And in my experiences, the translators have always worked. Coincidentally or not, for the first time I have witnessed, the entire room was unable to understand his speech, unless of course one spoke Arabic. Due to technical difficulties. It was an outrage.
Alan Dershowitz, a world-renowned American advocate for Israel and author of "The Case for Israel," and "The Case for Democracy," stormed out enraged and yelling that we were being denied our fundamental rights to hear what was being said. What happened next was something I anticipate I will never see again.
The room was in uproar. People were standing on tables. Everyone was engaged in some form of debate. I was watching heated arguments take place between the Neturakarta and fellow students, an extremist ultra-orthodox Jewish group believing so vehemently Israel can only be created when the messiah comes that they actively and vocally support Ahmedinjad and terrorist actions against Israel. There were debates between Iranian and Palestinian delegates with Jewish and Israeli delegates. There was even an African American group seeking economic reparations from the transatlantic slave trade who stated the Jews controlled the slave trade and slavery in the United States, and economically benefited from the civil rights movement. One of my engagements during this mayhem was with an African American from the latest group. I had asked her a question as to why the other slave trades, including the one across Sub-Saharan and eastern Africa which is estimated to have enslaved 14 million Africans, were blatantly ignored. Not expecting such a verbal affront on my question (she came within inches of my face, raised her voice to near screaming, and grabbed my arm) I asked her politely to simply “take it down a notch so we can have a discussion.” With this, she launched into how I [as a white person] was using my “superiority” over her.
So my first experience with racism happened at the World Conference Against Racism. Ironic.
Moving beyond an argument that did not seem to add greatly to my experience or mood, I asked an African man where he was from and what cause he was supporting. He told me that he was there as an NGO delegate for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Once again, my first exchange with a person from the DRC. I told him I was personally appalled at the fact that his country’s tragic and terribly situation which has recently escalated to 4 million casualties, was not being appropriately addressed at this forum. That an issue without racial claims was hijacking and dominating all of the other injustices that demand much greater global attention than they were receiving. His answer was heartbreaking. He said it did not seem to matter because his country was a weak one and was not a part of the international power structure so thus, no one cared. As defeated as he sounded, I offered my support to his country and told him my delegation was here to fight indiscriminately and proportionally against all cases of prejudice around the world.
We were then interrupted by chaos on the screen as two French Jewish students with rainbow clown wigs and red noses ran up to Ahmadinejad in protest of his welcomed—even honored—presence on a UN platform. The two students were instantly removed and our room broke out in applause followed by a mass walk out. Soon after, several Western delegates as well as Jordan and Moroccan delegates also walked out in protest of the Iranian President’s speech stating Zionism "personifies racism," calling Israel a Nazi regime and an apartheid state.
And let me remind everyone the extent of the mockery. To add insult to injury, Ahmadinejad, who was welcomed to Switzerland by the Swiss president himself, spoke today on the eve of Yom HaShoa, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance.
Despite the rise in blood pressure that occurred all across the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the day closed in peace with words of Elie Wiesel, Irwin Cotler, Bernard Levy and others, and a reminder to all of us of our duty to humankind.
To speak out against injustices.
To truly fight against indifference.
To "never forget" and commit ourselves to "never again."
Meeting my First Darfurian
The first day of the conference began with a group of young, restless students who were primed and ready to debate. Within five minutes of receiving our UN accreditation, there was already an immediate crowd gathering around an Iranian man holding gory, inflammatory photos of Palestinian children, and a fellow Dutch student.
Due to my Darfur activist experiences and personal feeling of connection to their cause, I was immediately drawn to the stoic Darfurian delegation standing in the background. When I showed them my matching green bracelet stating “Not on my watch—Save Darfur,” we began discussing the similarities between our people’s experiences as victims of genocide. Pictures were taken, hands were shaken, and smiles exchanged between Jewish students from Italy to South Africa to Los Angeles and a handful of delegates from Darfur.
Then the group discussions began to merge. The Darfurians asked the Iranian man why, as a Muslim, he was solely supporting the Palestinians in Gaza and completely ignored the state-sponsored violent elimination of a conservative estimate of 200,000 African Muslims in Darfur, a region of Sudan. The Iranian man soon lost credibility as he could not legitimately answer this question and a few of the Darfurian men shed tears as they recounted their tragic stories and the lives lost of their loved ones.
It was a powerful and necessary exchange. I have never had an opportunity to tell a Darfurian citizen first hand how sincere and passionate I feel about the plight of their people and I think it is safe to assume they have rarely, if at all, ever received first hand support from a white, Jewish girl from California.
This chance meeting was enough to energize and motivate me for the entire day. I was ready to finally take on this conference.
Due to my Darfur activist experiences and personal feeling of connection to their cause, I was immediately drawn to the stoic Darfurian delegation standing in the background. When I showed them my matching green bracelet stating “Not on my watch—Save Darfur,” we began discussing the similarities between our people’s experiences as victims of genocide. Pictures were taken, hands were shaken, and smiles exchanged between Jewish students from Italy to South Africa to Los Angeles and a handful of delegates from Darfur.
Then the group discussions began to merge. The Darfurians asked the Iranian man why, as a Muslim, he was solely supporting the Palestinians in Gaza and completely ignored the state-sponsored violent elimination of a conservative estimate of 200,000 African Muslims in Darfur, a region of Sudan. The Iranian man soon lost credibility as he could not legitimately answer this question and a few of the Darfurian men shed tears as they recounted their tragic stories and the lives lost of their loved ones.
It was a powerful and necessary exchange. I have never had an opportunity to tell a Darfurian citizen first hand how sincere and passionate I feel about the plight of their people and I think it is safe to assume they have rarely, if at all, ever received first hand support from a white, Jewish girl from California.
This chance meeting was enough to energize and motivate me for the entire day. I was ready to finally take on this conference.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
On my way
So here I am. My first blog in Warsaw during an 8 hour layover at a Polish Internet Cafe with clubbing music in the background when I would otherwise be asleep in my bed in my apartment at 4:19am on a Sunday morning. For those of you who don't know, I am on my way to Geneva, Switzerland to take part and be witness to the UN Durban Review Conference which "will evaluate progress towards the goals set by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa, in 2001." For more official info, here is the UN's official site: http://www.un.org/durbanreview2009/.
And am I nervous. With the last conference where the United States and Israel walked out in disgust and where for the first time in UN history, the governmental body could not accept the NGO's virulently anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western document that did not recognize basic rights of gays and women around the world, eight years later, the world has witnessed: September 11th, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorist attacks in every corner of the globe from Spain to Mumbai, and not to mention the intensified, politicized Israel-Palestinian conflict with intifadas, the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the changing of leadership on both sides (remember Hamas was chosen by the Palestinian people), the Lebanon War, etc.
But what is important to remember is the purpose of this conference. It is NOT a political one. It is to address racism around the world. And the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is blatantly not a racial one. It is a political conflict between two peoples vying for national claims.
I don't know exactly what to expect with guests such as the most infamous Holocaust denier, Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which is a mockery of this conference on racism, as well as one of the most famous Holocaust survivors and a personal hero, Elie Wiesel.
I can't even say what my role will be. Just know that I will keep this blog updated and honest. I will discuss my personal experiences (I anticipate learning a lot) as well as the climate of the conference as a whole. The United States, Israel, Canada, Italy, and Australia have already refused to take part in this conference for very understandable reasons.
I am desperately hoping this conference will not be a repeat of the last. And I hope issues pertinent to this platform on racism and related human injustices such as the plight of women in Saudi Arabia and in Afghanistan, the genocide in Sudan and its criminalized President, Omar al-Bashir, the persecution of gays in Iran, tragically the list goes on...
Questions? Challenges? Thoughts? Let me know.
Alisa
And am I nervous. With the last conference where the United States and Israel walked out in disgust and where for the first time in UN history, the governmental body could not accept the NGO's virulently anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western document that did not recognize basic rights of gays and women around the world, eight years later, the world has witnessed: September 11th, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorist attacks in every corner of the globe from Spain to Mumbai, and not to mention the intensified, politicized Israel-Palestinian conflict with intifadas, the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the changing of leadership on both sides (remember Hamas was chosen by the Palestinian people), the Lebanon War, etc.
But what is important to remember is the purpose of this conference. It is NOT a political one. It is to address racism around the world. And the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is blatantly not a racial one. It is a political conflict between two peoples vying for national claims.
I don't know exactly what to expect with guests such as the most infamous Holocaust denier, Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which is a mockery of this conference on racism, as well as one of the most famous Holocaust survivors and a personal hero, Elie Wiesel.
I can't even say what my role will be. Just know that I will keep this blog updated and honest. I will discuss my personal experiences (I anticipate learning a lot) as well as the climate of the conference as a whole. The United States, Israel, Canada, Italy, and Australia have already refused to take part in this conference for very understandable reasons.
I am desperately hoping this conference will not be a repeat of the last. And I hope issues pertinent to this platform on racism and related human injustices such as the plight of women in Saudi Arabia and in Afghanistan, the genocide in Sudan and its criminalized President, Omar al-Bashir, the persecution of gays in Iran, tragically the list goes on...
Questions? Challenges? Thoughts? Let me know.
Alisa
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