Athletes or Advocates?

Do the competitors at the Beijing Olympic Games have an obligation to speak out about the suffering in Darfur? It’s not like they don’t know about it. In fact a number of US athletes have spoken out about the genocide, but will they have the nerve to risk losing sponsors or worse, their freedom at the hands of the Chinese government?

While most of the vocal athletes come from sports like softball, speed skating and badminton, a number of high profile athletes made strong statements about the suffering in Darfur and even denounced the Chinese government. This list includes NBA All-Stars Kobe Bryant, who filmed a public service announcement for an NGO called Aid Still Required, and Lebron James, who signed an open letter denouncing the Chinese government’s complacence about the genocide in Darfur.

So in the next couple of weeks we will see whether these athletes continue to do the right thing. While it’s understandable that they keep the issues off the field, you can’t help but wonder about the type of impact they could have if they decided to be advocates.

What's up with Kenya, redux

While every fan of sports and competition is looking forward to the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, Kenyan fans will watch the opening ceremonies knowing that one of their country’s most renowned and respected athletes is no longer there to enjoy the event.

The man is Lucas Sang. He gained notoriety running for the Kenyan national team in the 1988 Seoul Games and continued after that for a number of years as a professional. Eight months ago he was spending his time teaching Kenyan youth the sport that had provided him so much, not knowing that his heritage would lead to gruesome death.

Life was changing rapidly for Kenyans as the calendar turned to 2008. Days earlier—by all accounts—the ruling Kikuyu tribe rigged the election and kept their leader, Mwai Kibaki, in power. The ensuing clashes and riots between the ruling Kikuyu and a group of tribes led by the Kalenjin burned and destroyed neighborhoods.

In the midst of all this, a man that had always been a Kenyan decided instead to be Kalenjin. This led him to the streets with his fellow tribesman and ultimately his death at the hands of a Kikuyu mob wielding machetes.

No country expects to see their Olympic athletes hacked to death in the middle of a field. But it really makes one wonder, what’s up with Kenya?

What's up with Kenya

Kenyans are surrounded by violence; Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda are some of the violence stricken neighboring countries. Residents in Nairobi (Kenya) have lived relatively peaceful lives until the election of President Mwai Kibaki in 2008. The election was close, Kibaki won with 51.3 percent of the votes, his opponent Odinga with 48.7.
Violence broke out and gangs of young men armed with machetes were seen roaming the streets of Kenya. Kenyans sought refuge from the violence in a church. The church was burned with 200 people insides. Its estimated that 50 people were burned alive, although it is difficult to count ashes. Burning people alive and hacking them to death seems to be a common trend in Africa. Kenya’s violence is very similar to what occurred in Rwanda.

After an estimated 1,500 deaths both Kibaki and Odinga came together to help end the violence and let Kenyans return to their peaceful lives.

That's what is up with Kenya.

Peacekeepers killed

While investigating the murders of civilians, seven peacekeepers were killed in the Sudan on Wednesday. Also murdered five Rwandan soliders and two police officers from Ghana and Uganda. Outnumbered three-to-one 200 gunmen ambushed a joint U.N.- African Union force in Darfur. The gunmen were believe to belong to the janjaweed militia who are "pro-government Arab nomads".

US efforts with Africa

In Rwanda in 1994, 800,000 Tutsi were murdered by the Hutu government and its extremist allies. Using the most violet methods possible to purge the region of undesirables, the Hutu and their allies burned, dismembered, and shot Tutsi’s. Bill Clinton, president at the time, claimed he had no idea of the events taking place in Africa. He lied.
Bill Clinton and the government knew of the events taking place in Rwanda. They knew enough information early on to where they could have save lives, yet he, and his administration, neglected to act. In documents found through The National Security Archive, an organization that uses the Freedom of Information Act to release information that is otherwise classified, paperwork has been uncovered that indicates that Bill Clinton and the government knew more than they led people to believe at the time. I
In March of 1998, after the death of 800,000 Tutsi’s, Clinton went to Rwanda and offered his apologies. In his speech Clinton apologized for not sending troops, saying "We come here today partly in recognition of the fact that we, in the United States and the world community, did not do as much as we could have and should have done to try to limit what occurred" in Rwanda. Many people think that if the people in Rwanda were white, Clinton, and others, would have paid attention sooner and prevented some of the deaths.
(http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200109/power-genocide)
The new area of problem arising in Africa is in Darfur. Many people claim that if there was oil in Darfur, Bush would be there with troops. In the days of Rwanda, the government was hesitant to label the mass killings as “genocide.” After pressure from congress and citizen from across the U.S., the crisis in Darfur was finally labeled as genocide as well. President Bush is now, however, making the same mistake that Clinton made in 1994. Bush is so wrapped up in the “war on terror,” he has also neglected his moral responsibilities as president to put an end to the genocide and atrocities inflicted on a segment of society that is unable to defend themselves. Since 2003, the U.S. Humanitarian Assistance for Darfur has been an estimate $710,000,000 and the U.S. spending on Iraq War & Occupation is at a staggering $192,000,000,000. (http://www.africaaction.org/newsroom/index.phpop=read&documentid=1359&type=15&issues=1024).
. In Darfur, it is estimated that 400,000 people have died from disease, murder and mal-nutrition. In the past few months, many presidential candidates have touched on the issue of the genocide in Darfur. None have offered ways to fix the problem and they only acknowledge that they know that there is genocide taking place there. In an interview for the Save Darfur Collation, Hilary Clinton presses the issue that if she is elected she will stop the genocide in Darfur, yet it is obvious she is well rehearsed and reading from a prompter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyEYtHIOGhI).
Quite frankly, nothing can be done about the past. However, now that evidence is clear that Africa needs outside help to bring stability to the region, the United States has a moral obligation to assist. Foreign policy should include diplomacy aimed at bringing peace to the region, healthcare to the people, and the creation of a sustainable and viable economic environment. It would include tougher sanction for those countries or regions that are not interested in peaceful solutions support for international peacekeeping, and support for negotiations between rival groups, as well as humanitarian aide. Incentives must be created that bring and keep health care workers and industry to the region. Often, doctors and health care workers who are trained in Africa leave for countries that offer better opportunities. Africans need to be educated so that they understand the severity of the situation and the benefits that change will bring to them as well as to their country.

AIDS

The AIDS epidemic is Africa is out of control, plain and simple. Over 15 million Africans, close to the combined populations of the cities of New York and London, have died from AIDS. Over 42 million, worldwide, are living with HIV/AIDS, and 74 percent of these infected people live in sub-Saharan Africa where the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is located. See the attached map showing the countries located in this region.

The presence of AIDS has caused the life expectancy of Africans to drop from 60 years old to 40 years old. An estimated 15 million children worldwide have been orphaned from AIDS. 12 million of these children live in Sub-Saharan Africa. In a country where survival is already a struggle for the healthy, orphans lead an especially difficult life. In addition, another 9% of the children in this region have already lost at least one parent to AIDS. In a family where one parent has died from this disease, the possibility of the other parent being infected is generally high since it is transmitted by sex. Children who are infected are usually infected at birth. This often means the child’s mother will not survive long enough to take care of the child without proper medication. In the DRC, 2.6 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and in 2005, an estimated 680,000 children were orphaned due to AIDS.

Anti Retro Viral drugs, often referred to as ARVs, can actually increase life expectancy anywhere from 6-24 years. However, the drugs are not available due to high cost. It is estimated by UNICEF that only 20% of people who need ARVs get them, with only 5% of those being children and 10% females. It’s now up to pharmaceutical companies to make the ARVs in generic form so people and children in Africa may have a chance at life until something can be done to prevent or cure AIDS.

Being killed for who you are, not what you did

People are not being killed for what they did they are being killed for who they are. The trend has spread and become far to common.
When we think of genocide World War II comes to mind. Hitler blamed Germanys problems on the Jewish people, claiming the Germans were superior and all other races should be eliminated. Concentration camps were set up and the extermination of the race began. It is suggested that over 11 million people were killed while Hitler was in power, 6 million of those Jews and the other the “undesirable population”.
From 1975-1979 an estimated 1.7-2 million people were killed in Cambodia. With the overthrow of the government, Pol Pot (new leader in Cambodia) believed that the communist model of Mao’s China should now be followed. Anyone who opposed the communist model was to be put to death, they assumed all intellectual and those educated were included in those who were against them and orders to exterminate were given. Among those killed were lawyers, doctors, teachers, bi-lingual’s, people were killed simply for wearing glasses. In 1978 with the invasion of Vietnam Pal Pot was overthrown and the genocide was ended. Rebuilding Cambodia was difficult due lack of foreign aid and the help of professionals who had been put to death.
After one genocide one would like to assume people have learned and surely after two. This is not the case for Bosnia- Herzegovina. From 1992 to 1995 there were over 200,000 deaths caused from conflict between the three major ethic groups: the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims. After the death of Tito (the communist leader) Yugoslavia economic situation declined dramatically. These were not the first genocides, nor will they be the last.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is another place in Africa that has experienced extreme tragedy. From 1991 to 1999, more than half of the people who lived there were forced from their homes and their villages ransacked.The rebel leaders who were in need of money (to buy weapons) decided to force civilians into slavery. The RUF (the main rebel forces) intimated the people by cutting off their arms, carving "RUF" onto their bodies, raping, and/or killing them. They would jokingly ask ,"would you prefer short sleeves or long sleeves?" and then cut the persons arms off. They did not discriminate. Young or old, nobody was safe.



In 2004, the Congo faced United Nations sanctions because, despite the lack of a diamond industry, the country was exporting large volumes of diamonds for which they could not account for the origins. The United Nations feared the diamonds were being used to finance rebel violence. Conflict diamonds or blood diamonds, as they are known, are diamonds which are traded in a war zone in order to fund rebel groups and finance civil wars. They are often bought by large companies such as De Beers and then resold to the public. Customers in war-free zones unwittingly then indirectly subsidize cruel and inhumane conditions inflicted by rebels who control by terror. De Beers, after much public scrutiny in the 1990's, began a public campaign to assure it's customers that as of 1999, their diamonds were not conflict diamonds.

Morals on Killing

There are few consequences, if any, for people who commit acts of violence in the Congo. In the United States citizens know (for the most part) if you commit a crime there will be consequences. In the Congo, people are rarely charged with crimes and even less likely to be prosecuted. If someone knew why they rape and kill people as well as slaughter endangered wildlife, they may be able to stop it. This is probably why I'm so interested in the Congo. I don't understand it and I don't think many do. The idea of something being "immoral" doesn't exist in a place without rules. Without rules it would be difficult to determine the difference between what is "right" and what is "wrong". A Utilitarian would ask if murdering and raping would produce the best overall consequences. Any sane person would agree that it doesn't.



If you were to analyze the killing of the endangered hippo you could think of alternatives to killing the animal. The poacher could find another way of making the same amount of money doing something that does not harm endangered wild life. The action of killing the endangered animal hurts more than it helps. It is considered immoral. When endangered animal populations are reduced to zero, they cannot be recovered. Any future potential benefit to society dies with that particular animal.

Congo Wildlife

The Congo is filled with many beautiful animals which are being killed for their meat and byproducts. Nothing that breathes is safe in the Congo. With only 700 mountain gorillas left in the world, they are in danger of extinction. The gorillas trust humans. So it is not difficult for rebels in eastern Congo to slaughter and eat the animal. Another animal in danger is the hippo with only 900 remaining. In 1998, twenty-two thousand existed. More than 400 hippos were killed last year. The elephant is also endangered. At one time, there were as many as 10 million but now only 1,900 remain. The park rangers are in charge of the task of protecting wildlife and since 1996, over 97 rangers have perished.

www.wildlifedirect.org/gorillaprotection.

Rape in the Congo

Rape became a problem in the beginning of the war when rival militias used it as a tool to “threaten and demoralize communities that they believe supported the other side.” Since the beginning of the war sexual crimes have increased South Kivu, for example, had “27000 sexual assaults in 2006 and in the first half of this year 45000 cases have already been reported."


Many victims are raped and tortured in front of family members; family members are often forced to rape within the family (incest). Women are being raped to a point of vaginal fistula, a condition which requires multiple corrective surgeries. Many women do not even live long enough after the offense to have the option of surgery.

One woman visits the Congo in a effort to provide relief and reflects on her trip-

"Before I went to the Congo, I’d spent the past 10 years working on V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. I’d traveledto the rape mines of the world--places like Bosnia, Afghanistan and Haiti,where rape has been used as a tool of war. But nothing I ever experiencedfelt as ghastly, terrifying and complete as the sexual torture and attempted destruction of the female species here. The violence is a threat to all; young girls and village elders alike are at risk. It is not too strong to call this a femicide, to say that the future of the Congo’s women is in serious jeopardy." -Eve Ensler, V-Day founder and playwright

Brief History of the Congo

The Congo used to be considered an “Island,” maybe where one could vacation and soak up the sun. The Congo is now a war zone, and only those with a death wish would wish to bring their family here for summer vacation. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is also often referred to as the DRC. The massacre which continues today, began with the genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994. It is said that the Hutu and Tutsi have had problems due to three underlying factors: the coexistence of pastoralists and sedentary farmers, a higher than usual population density, and a cultural divide between the original sons of the land and Kinyarwanda speaking immigrants- both Hutu and Tutsi. The extremists Hutu militias were “at war” against dissenters to their Hutu extremism. In 100 days an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 people were gruesomely murdered because of their religious beliefs. The Congo war began with the ‘Rwandan Genocide’ and continues to this day only now there are new victims of choice.