“Tweaking” the Narrative of the Darfur Cause in America

Posted on October 6, 2007
Filed Under Darfur, America |

Remember this post I wrote a few days ago?

The majority of my blogging when I first started was aimed at explaining the complexities and correcting the inaccuracies, the most famous ones being the whole “Arabs Vs Africans” and “rebels: good, government: bad” narratives.

Well, JMac (someone who understands well what Darur is about) just wrote a review about a documentary on Darfur called The Devil Came on Horseback which she recently watched (and which I haven’t watched yet)

I’ll preface by saying that I appreciate all that Brian Steidle did while in Sudan and the fact that he was interested enough in what was going on there, to volunteer to work with the AU. But so many things in the film didn’t sit right with me.

… he introduces the 2 major rebel groups (there are now at least 10), and actually says something to the effect of “these groups are fighting for their rights under a repressive government, this is why they fight.” If you knew little about the situation in Darfur, you’d walk away from this film thinking those groups were somehow heroes in all this. RUBISH. Again, there is no “good” or “bad” guys here, toting guns around. They are all BAD GUYS.

Read the whole review here.

I wasn’t surprised at all about what the movie portrayed according to JMac’s account. It’s unfortunately the same simplistic narrative spiced up with the “if the US government sees these photos, they’ll send troops and end this right now” type of very heartening but dangerously naive thinking all too commonly associated with the Darfur cause in America.

US intervention could (and I strongly suspect will) stop the killing - but only momentarily. After that, the conflict will only get worse. Why? Two main reasons. Strong nationalistic sentiments and jihad (you can read more here).

Towards the end of the review JMac asked a very good question:

(I am still trying to learn how to be an effective advocate. Perhaps repeating simple phrases about a complex situation IS the best way to be effective?)

I’ve come across unique opinions saying the main reason the American people didn’t care about Congo as much as they care about Darfur now is because the marketing was bad. A simple “black and white” narrative is apparently much more effective to market than an accurate yet complex one.

Many consider it a dilemma. I don’t. Uninformed opinions have the potential to develop into an effective lobbying force demanding horrible solutions as we are currently witnessing.

The current dominant Darfur narrative needs some “tweaking”. Maintaining its emotional impact is easy. A picture speaks a thousand words.

Done. It’s not difficult.

On a related note, what I find funny and so ironic about the Darfur cause in America is that most of those calling for US intervention in Darfur are the same people calling for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq!

Comments

21 Responses to ““Tweaking” the Narrative of the Darfur Cause in America”

  1. Aaron on October 6th, 2007 9:51 pm

    At the rate that it’s going give Darfur enough time. In no time it could be a chronic crisis just like DRC with a half a million people dying every year and no one caring!

    I was trying to be tongue and cheek but I just depressed myself. Shit.

  2. Howie on October 7th, 2007 4:58 am

    Simplifying the complex into the simple is common and it is also wrong.

    The world does not line up neatly…not in anything and certainly not into good guys and bad guys.

    I am sure there are rebel dudes who are demonic…but I still see a picture of many many very innocent people getting a really bad deal…But few argue that point.

    So how does one try to get that mess improved…?

  3. JMac on October 7th, 2007 5:09 pm

    Hi Drima! Thanks for the shout out. I was thinking about what you said, “Uninformed opinions have the potential to develop into an effective lobbying force demanding horrible solutions as we are currently witnessing.” And I realized (or reminded myself) that when I began researching Darfur in early 2006, I too was shouting the simplistic version of the story. I had it all wrong and didn’t know it. My first blog posts simulated mainstream media, but I left those up because you can kind of see how larger thoughts progressed from those. I just wish more folks were motivated to dig further, or something like that….

  4. The Raccoon on October 7th, 2007 9:47 pm

    I dunno, man. If you want some sort of a positive international involvement, you’ll need simple explanations; you’ll need the plebes to bother the patricians enough for the latter to do something.

    And a mob is not exactly famed for its ability to grasp concepts more nuanced than “bad”and “good”.

    There are two questions that need to answered, I believe:

    1) do you want an international involvement?
    2) if you do, how do you go about rousing the plebes in a way that’ll be beneficial to you?

    :)

  5. Drima on October 7th, 2007 11:00 pm

    “1) do you want an international involvement?”

    Me personally? Convinced that if the intervention is forced, the conflict will get bigger.

    So since I don’t want a forced international involvement, question (2) doesn’t apply. :)

    However I will definitely say that most Darfurians do in fact want international involvement and intervention. However it seems like the rebels forgot how “useful” the lovely UN were in a recent neighboring genocide.

    Grrrr…

    Peace talks are currently not going well. Some rebels won’t attend talks unless there is a force on the ground first. Khartoum won’t allow the force unless there is some form of agreement. Deadlock so far.

    Man, this is some nasty shit. Maybe there will never be successful peace talks resulting in long term peace and fair agreements. It’s not like the Southerners are happy with how things are. North-South tensions are getting high and Southerners are blaming the North for not respecting signed agreements.

    I don’t doubt that.

    Whatever happens this current government ain’t going anywhere easily. It’s the strongest, most totalitarian and well organized one Sudan has ever witnessed since independence.

    From what I can observe, it’s no mystery that Darfurians and Southerners are willing to shed their blood for their freedom and equal rights.

    I’m not sure that’s a good choice especially for Darfurians. Believe me, if forced intervention happens, the conflict will get much worse. What will that mean?

    *** With lack of security we can say bye bye to all the humanitarian agencies keeping the women and children alive. And with them bye bye, we should begin preparing some mass graves. There are no “maybes”. It’s a big fat red confirmed YES. ***

    You can thank Iran for teaching the NCP all the nice and cute necessary tricks of course. China is another country we’ll eventually have to thank too.

    Arrgghh, screw you Raccoon. You’re depressing me man. :(

  6. Howie on October 8th, 2007 4:53 am

    Drima-

    So…no easy answer eh? Sounds a whole lot like..ah..let me think here…oh yeh

    All of life

  7. Roman Kalik on October 8th, 2007 5:54 am

    There is never an easy answer, no good choice between the short-term and the long-term problems, not when one has to come at the cost of the other.

    Drima, regardless of how many long-term issues open up with a military intervention in Darfur, the currently growing long-term issue is a revolt in yet another part of Sudan (the Nubians), and the possibility of yet another one in the South, should Khartoum refuse to abide by its agreements on the critical-most issues.

    The problem with Feudalism was that in the end, peasants had nothing left to lose. Sudan is too close to the Feudal system, so rebels will rise up time and time again, each group with its own vision for the future.

    There is no good solution. The question is, which bitter pill contains the least amount of cyanide? You have to decide. Better to live with a wrong choice than with the terror of indecision.

  8. Drima on October 8th, 2007 8:01 am

    “So…no easy answer eh?”

    Grrr, I guess so Howie.

    “The question is, which bitter pill contains the least amount of cyanide? You have to decide.”

    Hmmm… nice way of putting it Roman. Tough call. Too many damn question marks.

    Looks like the NCP is going down in history as the government that tore up Sudan into pieces - literally.

  9. The Raccoon on October 8th, 2007 8:32 am

    “Looks like the NCP is going down in history as the government that tore up Sudan into pieces - literally.”

    It’s OK, I don’t think Sudan will be alone in this… Iraq, Belgium, Lebanon, Thailand, Spain, Iran - that’s just off the top of my head - seem to be rapidly going the way of nation-splitting.

    I think it’ll be very fashionable in the next couple of decades.

    And I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

  10. Drima on October 8th, 2007 9:06 am

    The idealist in me doesn’t want Southern Sudan to separate. He thinks there is hope. The realist *wants* Southern Sudan to separate so Southerners can have their freedom, deal with their own issues and relieve us from our already too many headaches.

  11. Roman Kalik on October 8th, 2007 10:59 am

    Unless the NCP changes, or is changed by force, it will also go down in history for being responsible for killing a great deal of your populace when trying to keep it part of Sudan.

    The NCP is not likely to change, too much weath and power to blind them of the unfolding reality. Change by force is unlikely to work either, even from within. “popular” is not “good”, not by a long shot. Communist revolutions are a fine example, and so is the French Revolution. The Cult of Reason was born in France when the monarchs died, a militant, Atheist fanatical group, with social ideas very similar to Communism. It was destroyed only as the new French parliament destroyed itself, each faction cancelling each other out and thus paving the way to Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to power.

    You have the advantage of living in a post-Islamist society, so an Islamic Revolution is unlikely. How about Communism, though? It seems to be on the rise again as of late, if South America is any indication…

    I’m just thinking aloud here, mind. Maybe it will help, maybe not. I see no clear solution for Sudan’s ills, as your ruling aristocrats are obviously spoiled degenerates when it comes to their personal needs. Feudal systems evolve or collapse into peasant dictatorships, man, or into priest dictatorships. External forced change will mean internal revolt for many, so what I have left is the hope that the Sudanese populace will take matters into their own hands, and either cede from Sudan or force the NCP to wake up.

    …or that the military force sent into Sudan, should it come to that, be large enough and with enough forward planning. The French may wish to try and solve your problems, as they’re much more politically active now, and want to show France as a positive factor in the world.

  12. Howie on October 8th, 2007 3:51 pm

    I don’t think man was much made to live in nations…we tend to form tribes…and we still fight like crazy, even within our tribes.

    I am a big believer in federation…I still think the USA founding fathers were absolute genius when it came to understand human tendency and behavior. It is a very imperfect model…but a good one.

    Sudan…like so many countries, is attempting to rule, through repression, folk that just don’t feel a loyalty to the country. It ain’t gonna work…no way…

    But you see…this is the only reason why I have not accepted the position of King of the Universe. So many times a very good decision still hurts many. I can’t sleep with that stuff.

    No matter what direction one takes in Sudan…many are going to suffer…many will feel they were cheated and lied to, many will rebel…then many will say “I told you so!”

    This is why we need Jesus to return..or the other Messiah or the 12th Imam or just a huge comet to hit earth…because we just can’t get this together.

    I vote for Rodney King to be president…he already has the perfect last name…and his campaign jingo “can’t we all just get along?”

  13. Drima on October 8th, 2007 4:04 pm

    “I am a big believer in federation…”

    Same here.

    Sudan is a federation - but only on paper.

  14. Drima on October 8th, 2007 4:11 pm

    “You have the advantage of living in a post-Islamist society, so an Islamic Revolution is unlikely. How about Communism, though?”

    Roman, good observation. We’ve tried the Islamist experiment which turned out to be nothing but bitter. People don’t want it at all now. And no, Communism is bye bye in Sudan. In fact I think we’re closer to a secular liberal democracy than many other Muslim nations are. Gotta thank the late John Garang for being able to sell that vision to the masses. Too bad he’s dead now.

    Everything is wobbly. We are a nation in waiting.

  15. The Raccoon on October 8th, 2007 5:19 pm

    Drima - you, us, them… everybody. All of the Middle East. All of Europe. All of Asia. All of America. Everything is bloody wobbly, and every nation is in waiting.

    C’est la vie…

  16. Howie on October 8th, 2007 9:43 pm

    Let’s take my favorite analogy…

    Everything living, everything pieced together and held together is never more than

    “a house of cards”…

    That is how secure we are…

    Hey Raccoon…isn’t there one of our Jew songs that goes something like;

    Kol hachaim ho gesher tzar…or something like that?

    “All of life is a narrow bridge” and I forget the rest.

  17. Roman Kalik on October 8th, 2007 11:12 pm

    “Kol ha’Olam kulo, gesher tzar me’od, ve’ha’ikar lo lefahed klal.”

    “The whole world is a narrow bridge, and what is most important is not to fear at all.” This was said by Rabbi Nahman of Breslev, the founder and only leader of the Breslev Hassidim, a very central group in Hassidic Judaism, and Judaism in general. He visited the Holy Land in 1798, by the way, got to experience Napoleon’s attack as part of his trip through the Jewish communities.

    Here’s the song itself: http://www.aishfiles.com/audio/shabbat/05KolHaOlam.mp3

  18. cooper on October 9th, 2007 4:20 am

    I haven’t been here in some time as I graduated and am currently a liaison for a non governmental humanitarian agency, which means I work and do not get around as often.

    I am going to link to your post tomorrow. I feel as an American it’s like what do we do? Sometimes campaigns of the type you see are the only way to get anyone to notice anything, which is better than noticing nothing.

    There was what I thought was a good read a week or so ago at TPM cafe. Guest post by Ben Naimark-Rowse
    http://tableforone.tpmcafe.com/user/27769/recent

    If you have time to flip through it and opine I’d like to hear it.

  19. Drima on October 9th, 2007 11:56 am

    Hi Cooper, yeah it’s been a while.

    “I feel as an American it’s like what do we do? Sometimes campaigns of the type you see are the only way to get anyone to notice anything, which is better than noticing nothing.”

    I feel you Cooper, I really do. Darfur is a sensational issue that it’s hard not to get frustrated about it. The fact that you run your Darfur blog simply to try and inform means so much to me as a Sudanese.

    You’re right, getting people to notice something is certainly better than getting them to notice nothing.

    My only fear is what I wrote in my post:

    “Uninformed opinions have the potential to develop into an effective lobbying force demanding horrible solutions as we are currently witnessing”

    I’ll write more about this later. Meanwhile I’ll read the link you gave.

  20. Drima on October 10th, 2007 9:37 am

    Cooper, that guy certainly has good insights. I like what he has to say. He’s knowledgeable. Thanks for the link.

  21. Save Darfur Coalition Pissed Off Aid Groups : The Sudanese Thinker on November 12th, 2007 7:02 am

    […] Coalition criticizing their strategies? (They haven’t replied by the way). Or how about this and this? Well, let’s have a look at the article: Even as advocacy groups attained the […]

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