Wellington, Epelbaum, McIntyre, Byrams
Middle East {Israel-Palestine}
The social fabric of society is threatened when a nation's state or non-state actors use violence to accomplish their goal. The state as well as non-state groups posses the power to "frame, control and direct public discourse" {Egan & Chorbajian, Power: A Critical Reader, 239}. This abuse of power is what leads to political violence. Political violence is violence used on civilians in order to achieve political ends. Let's examine the nature of political violence in the Middle East.
The Middle East is a region comprising the land around the Southern and Eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea. This area boasts a geostrategic uniqueness, which Napoleon described as "the mother of politics-geography". The Middle East forms that part of the world where the most dramatic and decisive episode in the history of mankind were enacted. Politically the Middle East area includes several nations, which have imitated, more or less successfully, the institution of Western Democracy. There are Nominal republics like Turkey, Constitutional Monarchies like Iraq and an older form of Monarchy with the ruler limited by custom and religious law is found in Afghanistan.
The Middle East since 1945 have experienced numerous accounts of political violence through conflicts and wars lead by state as well as non-state actors. The Palestine-Israel conflict, over land; the Superpower conflict, which sought to end Iraqi occupation of Kuwait and the war in the Gulf, fought by Iraqi and Iran for reasons of national interest and regional "hegemony" {Antonio Gramsci, Hegemony, Power: A Critical Reader, 10}.
Charles Tilly writes about the legitimate and illegitimate users of violence to achieve political goal. Legitimate forms of force Tilly associates with states and illegitimate force with "bandits and pirates" {Charles Tilly, War Making and State Making as Organized Crime, Power: A Critical Reader, 245}. The Middle East post 1945 has not encountered pirates and bandits but has been plagued by terrorist groups. One such group is Al-Qaida. Al-Qaida is an organization established by its leader Usama Bin Laden in the late 1980's to bring together Arabs who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. This group can be described as being the epitome of what Charles Derber describes as the "Corporate Mystique". Al-Qaida is not a large corporation, but it indubitably boasts many characteristics of one. Derber tells us of a corporation's disguised rising power and quiet shift of sovereignty. Similarly, Al-Qaida over the years has subtly grown increasing its number of members and associates, having several thousands. Al-Qaida serves as a focal point or umbrella organization for a worldwide network that includes many Sunni Islamic extremist groups. The organization maintains moneymaking front businesses, solicits donations from likeminded supporters and illicitly siphons funds from donations to Muslim charitable organizations. Al-Qaida is a powerful organization that has cells worldwide.
Al-Qaida's current goal is to establish a pan- Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow regimes it deems "non-Islamic" and expelling Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countriesÑparticularly Saudi Arabia. The reason for the war began back in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and gave them help. This bombardment began and many were killed, injured and others were terrorized and displaced. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on their homes. During this time Usama Bin Laden and his organization Al- Qaida began deciding how they would punish the oppressors and the towers in America came to mind, because this was only the way to punish those that killed their women and children. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance. The group emphasizes the symbolic value of targets when making its selection {i.e., U.S. embassies, World Trade Center, military barracks, USS Cole}. Also, the group is one of the few terrorist organizations that employ suicide bombers in delivering its strikes. These militants fight not only for their cause, but also because it is the only life they know.
For many centuries every society or ethnic group at some point has used violence. The question remains why use violence? There are many other ways for a group's cause or point to be understood. Violence comes in many different forms but physical force has been the consistent form used by Al-Qaida. Considering the topic of genocide, violence fits perfectly in the topic. Violence accomplishes genocide in more than one of the described ways in the article by Ward Churchill. Churchill describes genocide as "the planned disintegration of the political, social, or economic structureÉ of a nation" {Ward Churchill, The United States and the Genocide Convention, Power: A Critical Reader, 259}. Charles Hauss in his article 'Violence' talked about the importance of violence. He stated, "Violence by far takes the heaviest toll"{http://www.beyondintractability.org/m/violence.jsp}. Using violence sends a stronger message. No one wants to be viewed as a "bluff" when it comes to their cause. Violence leaves a longer lasting multiple effects.
We live in a world where there is constant change and rising conflict between and within countries. In the Middle East there has been a strong presence of political violence. These acts of violence have greatly impacted the society and physical community as a whole. The members of the communities in the Middle East that has been targeted by Al-Qaida have been living in fear of their lives. Unable to exercise their right of freedom many have been forced to practice their religion in secrecy for fear of losing their lives. Among such people are the Palestinian Christians who for years have been the main target of these attacks. Both the private and public sectors have suffered from the violent attacks. Many Palestinians and others, who have been killed in great numbers, were a part of the nations educated and highly skilled workers. As a result of lack of human resources the educational and medical facilities have not been able to serve the community effectively. The economy is swiftly falling and the cost of living is increasing. For example, the price of oil has been constantly rising. Unemployment has tripled and gross product has dropped about 17%.
Like birds in winter, many people are being driven from their homes. This exodus is as a result of economic uncertainty, deteriorating living conditions and most importantly the violation of human rights. The people are leaving the hostile areas and are gravitating towards areas where the living conditions are more pleasant. As a result "Christians now comprise 2-3% of the severity of occupation" {www.globalministries.org/mee/adv1-1.htm}. The social and economic developments in Israel have declined. Large sections of the population now rely on employment in the public sector and each employee sustains large numbers of relatives in the extended family. Therefore, the crisis facing local government has had an exaggerated effect within Israeli Palestinian society. The recent deep recession in the Israeli economy, coming on top of decades of under-funding to the Israeli Palestinian sector, "has tended through mass unemployment and discriminatory government budgets to tear apart the social fabric and therefore undermine the feudal extended family" {www.socialistworld.net/eng/2000/1031.html}. The community has long been suffering because of, the Ôlong-love-hate' affair between aspiring state makers and terrorist groups like Al-Qaida.
REFERENCES
Jackh, Ernest. Background of the Middle East. Cornell University 1952
Long, David E., Reich, Bernard. The Government and Politics of the Middle East and North America. Westview Press 1986
Egan, Daniel; Levon, Chorbajian A. Power: A Critical Reader. Pearson 2005
http://library.nps.navy.mil/home/tgp/qaida.html
http://www.questia.com
http://www.beyondintractability.org/m/violence.jsp
www.socialistworld.net/eng/2000/1031.html
www.globalministries.org/mee/adv1-1.htm
http://www.cns.miis.edu/research/wtc01/alqaida.htm
yale lipschik
The abortion debate has been around probably since the initiation of abortions. The modern abortion debate focuses on Christian groups who believe they are fighting for the rights of unborn children. The creation of anti-abortion extremist groups was started mainly, by the Supreme Court's ruling in the Roe vs. Wade case. In this case Jane Roe whose actual name was Norma McCorvey fought for abortion rights in Texas, a state that declared abortions unconstitutional, and would only perform them if the mother was in mortal danger. Roe's opposition was Henry Wade a Texas attorney, who defended the anti abortion laws. The debate was settled on January 22, 1973 by declaring abortions a woman's legal right. Before the Roe vs. Wade case, abortion debates were limited to 17 states with legalized abortions under some circumstances and 33 states that didn't allow abortions. Groups such as The National Right to Life, which was created in 1973, sprang up in response to the Supreme Court's ruling. Many of these organizations claim to have representatives from all 50 states, and condone any violence they perform as being God's will. These groups which feel the system has failed them seek alternate tactics to prevent what they consider murder. If asked these groups claim the Bible sanctifies the murders of abortion doctors they committed, because according to them murder is allowed when done by accident, during war, or as defense. They believe they are defending the unborn children who are aborted
Anti-abortion groups have been on the rise for a while now. However, some of these groups tend to take their focus of pro-life behind the limits. Violence would overwhelm the issue of abortion with the injury or deaths of doctors or people who support pro-choice. These events would make you think about the reasons for these actions, the reasons for why these groups are willing to go so far as to kill some one. It's really hard to find out what the goals of a certain group are. When looking for their goals or reasons for doing their violent acts, you don't see a certain "plan of action" that leads to violence. However, with violent acts like "a sniper killed Dr. Barnett Slepian in his home É [by a person who was] against abortion doctors" (http://www.fair.org/extra/9507/militias-anti-abortion.html) and with fearful quotes like "'Pray by day, bomb by night, that's the motto of the Right to life'"(http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_viol.htm) you can see the message loud and clear: Make an impact, say your message the most affective way possible, no matter who gets in the way.
Anti-abortion violence is currently a new form of terrorism. The people behind this violence are mainly religious fanatics who are sometimes mistaken to be part of the pro-life movement and believe that abortion is murder. In recent years there have been arson attacks against clinics and bombings that have caused close to thirteen million dollars in damage. These people believe that human life begins from the moment of conception. There has been a record of five shootings in Canada between the years of 1994 and 1998 where doctors were shot while they were still in the clinics. There has been murder, bombings and arson for over a decade in the state of Florida. Many protesters blocked the entrances of many clinics and on Christmas day of 1984 three clinics were bombed. There have been 40 officially documented bombings that have targeted women's clinics since the New York Time's has been reporting the "Other Bombings in America" column. An Army of God's manual has turned up in a man's house who was indicted for arson and acid attacks on 9 clinics. This manual had sixty-five ways to destroy abortion clinics
As the abortion debate heats up in response to legal and political manipulation, media coverage is again or should I say is still presenting stories in terms of "liberal" pro-choicers and "conservative" pro-lifers. In 1992, political violence had really gone overboard when the cold-blooded murder of Dr. David Gunn was committed by an anti-abortionist. The killing of Dr. Gunn must be seen for what it was, a naked act of terrorism, directed at all women and at all health care practitioners who would defend women's rights. The assassin was no extreme fanatic, but a conscious enthusiast of the strategy expressed by Randall Terry. There are many organizations, which try to show why abortion is wrong; one of them is called Libertarians for life, which was founded in 1976. They expressed politically the basic principle that under justice, each one of us has the obligation not to aggress against anyone for any reason however worthy. The National Abortion Federation (NAF) keeps a running tally of "anti-choice violence and disruption" on its Web site at http://www.prochoice.org/. Many news outlets rely on the NAF's numbers and accept them uncritically.
Anyone who takes the time to examine the NAF's statistics will find that they are grossly bloated and exaggerated. As of June 16, 2003, the NAF shows a very impressive 81,973 incidents of "violence and disruption" during the time period 1977-2003, and the media often parrot this number; giving the impression that thousands of pro-abortionists have been killed or injured in the noble performance of their duties.
In response to the Anti- Abortion violence that has taken place in the United States, Congress has issued a FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act. This Act imposes criminal penalties on a person who by force, threats, or by physical obstruction injures or intimidates a person who seeks help with reproductive services. It also imposes criminal penalties on a person who damages a property because it provides reproductive services. This Act is present in California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. These FACE laws have been successful in preventing extreme violence at clinics. With this in harassment is still an ongoing problem for the patients and employees of these clinics. Every year, a
majority of clinics experience picketing; picketing with physical contact or blocking patients and staff; vandalism; picketing of staff members' homes; and bomb threats. As a result some states have issued more protective legislation creating a safety zone around the immediate health care facilities where picketing is prohibited. Still the workers, and patients of Abortion facilities are often threatened and in a state of heightened fear. According to a 2002 Nation Clinic Violence report administered by the Feminist Majority
Foundation, 7% of Clinics reported that a physician or member of the staff had resigned because of the intimidation tactics of anti- abortion activist, which
is down from a reported 23% reported in 1993.
REFERENCES
http://www.feminist.org/research/cvsurveys/clinic_survey2002.pdf
http://www.crlp.org/st_clinicaccess.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_viol.htm
http://www.now.org/nnt/winter-99/aborvio.html
http://www.fair.org/extra/9507/militias-anti-abortion.html
nader el-salibi
ESSAY
Militant Islamic Groups is the most contemporaneous example of terrorism. The most common group is Al-Qaeda that was involved in the recent terrorist acts all over the Western world and the most famous was the attacks on the world trade center and Washington D.C. it is worthwhile to study that group, the reasons of its action, how it helps him achieve its goal and the effects its action has on the world community.
Militant Islam is a contentious term, often used by Western political commentators to describe the ideologies of groups viewed as participating in Islamic terrorism In fact, the application of the term Islamic militancy is so broad that it encompasses any kind of revolutionary movement in any Islamic country. Invariably, this means that it lumps together such a variety of nationalist, marxist and ethnic movements that it has no longer has any real ideological content. The only defining characteristic it has is that it is militarism in a Muslim context; the problem is that this explains very little. According to U.S. Department of Defense publication terrorism is defined as the unlawful use of -- or threatened use of -- force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives." Also political Islam, as opposed to fundamentalist or neo-fundamentalist Islam, posits a worldview that can deal with and selectively integrate modernity. In contrast, fundamentalist Islam calls for a return to an ontological form of Islam that rejects modernity; groups such as Al Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad are representative of fundamentalist Islam. Being able to see the difference between these two types of groups shows the ideological essence of these groups and upon what premises they are acting.
Al-Qaeda evolved from the Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK) Ð a Mujahideen resistance organization fighting against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1908s. Osama bin Laden was a founding member of the MAK, along with Palestinian militant Abdullah Tusuf Azzam. The role of the MAK was to channel funds from a variety of sources in to training mujahideen from arounf the world in guerrilla combat, and to transport the combatants to Afghanistan. Bin Laden and the MAK were aided by the governments of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Toward the end of the Soviet occupation, many mujahideen wanted to expand their operation to include Islamist struggles in other parts of the world. A number of overlapping and interrelated organizations were formed to further those aspirations. One formed by Osama Bin Laden in 1988. Bin Ladeen wished to extend the conflict to nonmilitary operations in other parts of the world; Azzam, in contrast, wanted to remain focused on military campaigns. After Azzam was assassinated in 1989, the MAK split, while a significant number joining Bin Laden's organization.
Since other parts of the world were often not in such open warfare as Afghanistan under the Soviet occupation, the move from MAK to al-Qaeda involved more training in terrorist tactics. Other organizations were formed, including others by Osama bin Laden, to carry out different types of terrorism in different countries.
It is important after we understood what Al-Qaeda is, to discus the reason of their action. AL-Qaeda is group that was created because of the U.S cold war policy adopted to fight the rampant Soviets. So the U.S wanted to intervene is Afghanistan as in intervened in Korea and Vietnam. Groups were created to fight the Soviets and all kind of assistance were given to them. But in the post-cold war era the world became more globalized and Militant Islamic Groups organized the small groups and became more linked together forming bigger groups such as AL Qaeda.
This is a common and frequent phenomena in the history of Islam. The tarika, in addition to spreading Islam to Africa and adapting it to local conditions (the al-urf or custom of each region), had a role to play in resisting colonialism - this is the origin of Islam as a militant and underdog faith to motivate resistance to some ruling authority which is not Muslim or adhering to Islam. The Ottoman Empire was marked by such conflicts, and the British Empire, as there were typically a number of Muslims in rebellion against either at any one time, using Islam to justify their actions. So ever since the widespread of islam, Islamic groups and organization were formed to fight any intervention in their ideology, faith, economy, society and customs.
Other than faith, the reason of their action are also socio-economic. In the post-world era the world was preaching for more globalism, the western world showed more power and intervention in third world countries, and gaps widened between countries splitting the world between a governing western world and a governed oppressed world. We can observe that all islamic and other terrorist organizations come from third world countries. These organization resist and fight back the western intervention in the weaker countries, because all that western countries want is raw materials, plant and cheap labor to maximize their profit. While the weaker countries suffer from social and economic instability, pollution and someimes famine poeple will definitely fight back to take what is supposed to be theirs. Also, in this era protests and revolutions are easily suppresed because of the high technology of arms (armns are getting deadlier and more efficient to exterminate). So under these kind of circumstances groups are formed to resist the mighty west in an attempt to take their right. Moreover, since it was impossible for them to change the situation in their countries they allied together. Terrorism was their mode of action because they wanted the whole world to see. They wanted to show everybody that they do not approve what is happening and by any means they are going to take back what they call their right.
Al-Qaeda has many negative affects on communities around the globe. They instill a sense of fear into the hearts of every American after the brutal attacks carried out on September 11, 2001. Al-Qaeda carries out their attacks for a purpose they believe is important, using methods of violence on innocent civilians. It can never be justified to use acts of violence on innocent people to accomplish a goal. Since 1992, al-Qaeda has carried out multitudes of attacks all over the world.
The consensus among security analysts is that the key to eliminating al-Qaeda as a threat is to transform the permissive political environment in which it operates in the Muslim world. Instead, the opposite has occurred. Muslim anger at the U.S. has reached an all-time high and continues to grow, driven by outrage at U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by Israel's actions against the Palestinians. The precipitous decline in support or sympathy for the U.S. in the Muslim world after 9/11 has meant fertile ground for al-Qaeda recruiters. Al-Qaeda continues to seek to mount mass-casualty terror attacks in the U.S. It has continued to strike in Europe and Asia, and of course Iraq. Although there have been no identified al-Qaeda attacks within the territory of the United States since the September 11, 2001 attacks, numerous al-Qaeda attacks in the Middle East, Far East, Africa and Europe have caused extensive casualties and turmoil.
REFERENCES
http://www.time.com/
-http://en.wikipedia.org
http://psychcentral.com/psypsych/Al-Qaeda#History_of_al-Qaeda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militant_Islam
Allen, Jagessar, Sampson
ESSAY
History of the Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan's long history of violence grew out of the resentment and hatred that many white Southerners felt in the aftermath of the Civil War. Blacks, having won the struggle for freedom from slavery, were now faced with a new struggle against widespread racism and terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan "http://www.iupui.edu/~aao/kkk.html - Article: A Hundred years of Terror".
The name Ku Klux Klan came about from the combined efforts of the forming members where the Greek word "Kuklos" from which the English words circle and cycle are derived, also the word clam was added. After toying around with the sound for a while they decided on "Ku Klux Klan".
Soon after the founders named the Klan, they did a bit of showing off and decided to disguise themselves in sheets and galloped their horses through the streets. Their ride created such a stir that the men decided to adopt the sheets as the official regalia of the Ku Klux Klan, and they added to the effect by making grotesque masks and tall pointed hats.
The leader of the Klan was called the Grand Cyclops. His assistant was the Grand Magi, the Grand Turk to greet all candidates for admission, Grand Scribe to act as secretary, Night Hawks for messengers and a Lictor to be the guard. The followers of the Klan were called Ghouls.
Little more than a year after it was founded, the secret society thundered across the war-torn South, sabotaged Reconstruction governments and imposed a reign of terror and violence that lasted three or four years.
And then as rapidly as it had spread, the Klan faded into the history books. After World War I a new version of the Klan sputtered to life and brought many parts of the nation under its paralyzing grip of racism and bloodshed. Then, having grown to be a major force for the second time, the Klan again receded into the background. This time it never quite disappeared, but it never again commanded such widespread support.
White supremacy served as the basis for the organization of the Ku Klux Klan, despite slaves and white abolitionists. The KKK blames the abundance of ethnic groups for their misfortunes. The Supreme Court ruled many times that no slave had any rights as a free man. Either their plantation owners or high-ranking officials determined the exploitation and way of life. Whenever a slave escaped it was the right of the owner to reclaim its property (Hamm 27).
The whites in the KKK then wanted to become the ultimate race and would do almost anything to do that, an example would be that their main incentive was to go out and recruit young, homeless, and mindless children from the streets to follow in their footsteps. The Klan was extremely hungry for prosperity. The best way to promote the growth of an organization like this is they would have to search for members (Wade 257).
The Klan does not just recruit kids but they also kidnap kids to make "Honorary Members" of the Klan.
Many of the Klan members we know today are men that have a low education if any. The reason is that the Klan obtained the children when they were little, and they did not go to school because they did not know better.
During the 1930's the nation wallowed in the Great Depression and the Klan continued to shrink. It became primarily a fraternal society, its leaders urging its members to stay out of trouble and the national headquarters hoarding its meager funds. After Franklin D. Roosevelt took office, the Klan began to complain that he was bringing too many Catholics and Jews into the government. Later they added the charge that the New Deal was tinged with communism. The red menace was used more and more by Evans and other Klansmen as their rallying cry, and communists eventually replaced Catholics as one of the Klan's foremost enemies.
This form of political violence that the KKK has is very crucial and always will remain to be a threat to communities. Creating fear in the community, stirring up hatred in the minds of people and changing the lives of victims who have lost family or friends due to the political violence.
Over the years the political violence in the Ku Klux Klan is growing and their regime is becoming stronger. In earlier years the Southerners suffered after the civil war where victim's homes and plantations were taken away. Then in the years of 1868 the political violence got worse by them stealing oppositions (race, people not believing in Klan or different religions) goods, beating and killing them. These murders are known as lynching. The horrific actions of lynching were so severe; they would drag the person from the center of the town to the front, hang them and exploit them for other people to see. Currently the Klan tortures and kills for little reason other then race and religion.
They have pushed propaganda into the homes across the country, spreading the political violence on the world wide web with majority of the sites appealing to the adolescents, teenagers, or younger children, with boasting slogans of "Cool Hate Music" (www.123helpme.com)Cartoons are also found with demonstrations of the "enemy" races in displeasing situations that promote the KKK beliefs.
Unfortunately KKK is a problem that will continue to developed, with new technologies they are able to create new ways of reaching out to the public, of their beliefs. As long as there are differences between people there will always be hate. The form of political violence will always be there to feed off of hate and teach hate to the adolescents around the world and the few that are growing up in within the KKK environment. People that have suffered need a release from the sorrow even though memories never die.
REFERENCES
http://www.iupui.edu/~aao/kkk.html
(www.123helpme.com)Cartoons
Back To Mississippi : A Personal Journey Through The Events That Changed America In 1964 / Mary Winstead. : Back to Mississippi: a personal journey through the events that changed America in 1964 / Mary Winstead.
Sunwoo, Mark, Das, Joseph
According to Ward ChurchillÕs article in Power: The Critical Reader, defines genocide as a crime that destroys religious, racial, and/or political groups in its entirety {Antonio Gramsci, The United States and The Genocide Convention, Power: A Critical Reader, 268}. Violence is the nature of species belonging to the animal kingdom; humans are not exempt from this conclusion. Wars and fighting have occurred throughout history due to political upheavals, racial discrimination, genocide, etc. During the era of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes declared war on the Romans to parry the Roman Empire expansion, the Crusades were developed to defend Christianity, and the United States enters World War II after being attacked on their own soil. The Darfur conflict in the Sudan region is just one of many conflicts in the history of the world. It is also an explosive situation that has been ongoing at multiple periods throughout the last century. The violence has ascended again in 2003, primarily due to religious genocide according to the U.S. Senate. Although the current situation is due to religious turmoil and the opposing sides in defense of the other, the current conflict has demoralized many citizens of the nation and much hostility has erupted between various groups in the Sudan/Darfur region.
The Darfur region of Western Sudan is populated by two collective groups. One being Janjaweed, a government supported militia formed from the local Arab tribes, the other being the non-Arab peoples, consisting of Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa people {en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur_conflict}. Although the origin of the conflict is due various reasons, particularly to the "widespread feeling of being socio-economically marginalized and a sense of neglect during previous historical peace negotiations" {Globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/Darfur.htm}, the sustaining motivation behind the conflict has been their religious differences. The Darfur conflict began in 2003, when the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), representing the Fur and Masalit, along with the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), representing the Zaghawa, attacked government forces and establishments. The government responded with a large scale aerial bombing campaign compiled with Janjaweed ground forces. The SLA and JEM began their war due to escalating economic differences. The non-Arabs are mainly settled farmers, while the Arabs are nomadic herdsmen. The two tend to cross paths when in search for fertile land and water resources. With the combination of their reluctance to work coinciding with the minimal natural resources and their difference in religious perspective is the direct cause of current hostile movement. Reports have indicated that the Janjaweed forces have torched dozens of mosques and torn up and defecated on copies of the QuÕran {The Economist, May 15, 2004}.
A direct result of the Darfur conflict lead to more than two million people leaving their homes and thousands killed as bystanders. Refugees from Darfur claim the aftermath of aerial assault, the Janjaweed slaughter men, rape women, and steal remaining valuables. Many women also report being abducted by the Janjaweed and held for sexual game before being released at weeks in captivity {web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR540342004}. Most citizens have fled their destroyed villages to seek refuge in camps but there they encounter food, water, and medicine shortages. In addition to the famine, the Janjaweed militia group patrols outside the camps and takes the lives men and women who venture too far in search of firewood and water. In the squalor conditions of these camps, thousands are at risk of starvation and disease, one million children threatened by malnutrition, and over the next 18 months, about 4 million people may be affected by the food shortage. Attempts by security forces to persuade the refugees to leave the camps and return home have led to violence and brought condemnation from the international community.
In an attempt to alleviate the over crowded camps, as many as 200,000 people have sought refuge at a neighboring country, Chad. Despite their hope for assistance from Chad, many remained camped along a 600km stretch of the border and remain vulnerable to attacks from Sudan. Chad is worried that the conflict could spill over the border and onto their soil, specifically in eastern areas of the country that have similar ethnic demographics as Darfur. Agencies are working in Darfur to aid those in needs; however some are unable to access vast areas of the region due to the Sudan government technicalities and bureaucratic obstacles, such as demanding proper visas.
The Darfur conflict has opposing views on the subject of genocide. "The U.S. Senate claims that conflict is an act of genocide, however The United Nations, African Union, and European Union have not declared the strife as an act of genocide. If it did constitute it as an act of genocide, international law would have allowed other countries to intervene {en.wikipedia.org/wiki/darfur_conflict}."Although it seems that ethnicity and religious background are playing strong roles in the conflicts in north-African region of Darfur, there are other factors that could be accountable for the conflict. Among those factors are socioeconomic problems, environment, drought, famine and starvation. When natural and economic resources are not abundant and the environment is not affable to an above par living condition, civil strife would be a direct result for the sheerness of frustration and willingness to survive.
REFERENCES
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/darfur_conflict
web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR540342004
The Economist, May 15, 2004
Globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/Darfur.htm
Antonio Gramsci, The United States and The Genocide Convention, Power: A Critical Reader, 268