The Secret Genocide Archive

NY Times op-ed columnist NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF reminds us all in an article published February 23, 2005, that the world is accountable for standing by when genocide takes place. As he puts it:

During past genocides against Armenians, Jews and Cambodians, it was possible to claim that we didn't fully know what was going on. This time, President Bush, Congress and the European Parliament have already declared genocide to be under way. And we have photos.

It seems that there is "a secret archive of thousands of photos and reports that document the genocide under way in Darfur." Kristof shares four of these photos with us, undoubtedly not the most grisly.

While the UN has declared that it cannot definitively say that genocide has taken place in Darfur, it is clear that grievous crimes against humanity have occurred and they need to be dealt with. Yet we seem more ready to launch an invasion over the unproven possibility that weapons of mass destruction may exist than to deal in any effective way (I would hope multilaterally, and especially in cooperation with African states) with mass killings we know are happening. Where is our collective sense of horror? of outrage? Are we content with wringing our hands, making tut-tut noises, and telling ourselves we are helpless?

Helpless? The victims of Darfur were helpless. How dare we think that we are? We are free to speak out, to mobilize, to educate, to rally public opinion, to raise awareness, to pressure our elected officials, to make our opinions known. We have access and networks. The people of Darfur do not have such means.

The Anglican Communion News Service was sending reports from southern Sudan about various forms of injustice and violence long before this was making headlines in the mainstream press, and I found myself praying for the Christian and traditional animist peoples there before there was talk of genocide. Yet for all my awareness of the issue, I was not taking proactive steps to learn more, nor telling others what I had learned. So I join the ranks of guilty bystanders and cannot pretend to more righteousness than anyone else.

What does it take for me, for all of us to wake up?

Ask not for whom the bell tolls....

The BB