Comments on: Can Sudan Activism Transform Itself for the Obama Era?

By: Alex de Waal

Alex de Waal — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:08:08 +0000

Dear Helena, human rights principles may be universal and absolute, but human rights activism as a practice is a social and political activity, subject to the same kind of sociological critique as any other human activity. I would not want the only analysis of the activities of the Roman Catholic Church to be carried out by ordained members of the clergy, nor analysis of Islamism to be the preserve of the sheikh of al Azhar. Best regards, Alex

By: Helena V.

Helena V. — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:03:10 +0000

I do not agree. Human rights are fundamental and do not change. Human rights activists should campaign for fundamental rights under all governments and should not adjust their principles to shifts in the political winds.

By: Abdallah Khalil

Abdallah Khalil — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:09:47 +0000

Dear Alex. The core crisis with the Western Activism Movement concerning Darfur is that they have consciously or not linked thier existance and survival with the continuity of escalated situations in the region. When the levels of violence in Darfur have considerably declined, thier line of life has started to be weakening, a reality that pushed them to behave in a way that denies the ground facts.
Phrase like ” ongoing genocide in Darfur ” has been the mobilizing factor to rally people behind the causes of the activists. When president Obama’s special envoy to Sudan General Scott Gration announced on 06/17/2009 that the current situation in Darfur is ” remnants of genocide ”, advocacy groups like Enough Project didn’t like it because they still talk about ongoing genocide in Darfur. To seek support for thier claim among the U.S. administration, they refer to every speech by every official looking for thier beloved phrase, ongoing genocide in Darfur. When they found it mentioned in a speech on 06/15/2009 by U.S. ambassador to U.N., they childishly shouted we found it and we will stay alive.
For an advocacy group like Enough Project, fed by genocidal claims, it is a high time to bravely confess that thier mission in Darfur is ended because there is no genocide there.