Not on Our Watch: Number Two.

The chapter 4-6 reading was interesting for me for various reasons. One of the first things that struck me was that the genocide truly is a political strategy, besides its roots as a religious struggle. It is a way for the Khartoum government to maintain power. Secondly, I think that the history of Darfur has greatly affected the way that the situation is being handled today. Until recently it was being dismissed as another one of the many civil conflicts within the country. If you look at the pattern of events it is clear that the stage has been set, and the government has taken advantage of this fact to commit the atrocities that they are. For example, even in previous struggles, the Janjaweed has been a party present and instrumental in the violence. In a conflict from 1987 to 1989, the Janjaweed stole cattle from the Darfurian people, and burned four hundred villages (73). A quote I found interesting can be found on page 127; it regards the reasons why the United States must act. It states that if we stand by and do nothing history will judge us harshly…again. Conversely, I believe there would be some much satisfaction, when,\ looking back we could say, “Glad Darfur wasn’t a lost cause, I’m glad we made the effort to make a change.”
Another part I found interesting was when John says, "Unless people like you reading this book become more vocal, little will change about how we respond to Africa." Like I said last week, this must be a people’s movement. Our staying quiet will do nothing, if we all put a little bit of an effort imagine what we could do.