On Darfur and Hypocrisy
For some peculiar reason, a lot of conversations I’ve been having seem to be centered around the situation in Darfur, and none of them were a result of me bringing it up.

Met up with Maz a few days ago, who lives in the Sudan. We talked about Darfur, and he says it is completely blown out of proportion. It was interesting hearing his perspective on the issue, considering he’s lived in Sudan for two years. According to him, there are economic and political reasons for the hype of Darfur, and it is part of a US agenda that has little to do with the humanitarian concerns.

I told Maz that regardless, people are dying, and so something bad is going on. His reply, “bad things happen everywhere, everyday.” Perhaps not the most convincing solution, but it did get me thinking.

Similarly, met up with D. two nights ago, and she brought up the heavy Zionist backing of Darfur on campus, as an attempt to i) show a more humanitarian side of Hillel, ii) demonize Arabs and Muslims, and iii) take attention away from Iraq and Palestine. Her frustrations stemmed from Hillel’s hypocrisy in what constitutes a human rights abuse, which, granted, I am all for.

But, where does this issue really lie? I agree totally with both arguments: the issue is definitely being overblown. Both arguments Maz and D. make are mentioned in greater detail in this article, for those interested.

I am no Darfur expert, although I know enough to know that people are dying. The fact that they are Africans makes it worse because I fucking love Africa. But where do we draw the line between pointing the finger at hypocrisy of right-wing Zionists/ Christian Evangelicals while also trying to analyze the issue from an impartial standpoint.

I guess what I’m trying to say is: when a group that I have huge issues with (right-wing Zionist lobby, and right-wing Evangelical Christians) take up a cause for strategic reasons, I need to find a way to continue to support the cause without feeling like I am being forced into a choice (or rather, being co-opted by the aforementioned groups). I don’t know where I stand on Darfur, as I have been a bad Development Studies student and have been ignoring the ongoing Darfur drama.

But I also can’t be a hypocrite myself, because I don’t apply it to other aspects of my politics: I continue to support the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, despite the fact that the movement has been hijacked by everything from oppressive authoritarian governments in the region to politicized Islamo-fascism. My support comes from the basic ideology that Palestine and the Palestinian people have been wronged, and continue to be wronged.

It is much more difficult to do this with Darfur, I guess, since it is not such a personal issue that is close to my heart. I need to find a way to do so.