rational geekery

We all know that the shit is truly raining down in Darfur (Sudan), and that the international community is doing diddlysquat, to stop the massacre of refugees by the government-backed jangaweed militia. Quite simply, because the Sudanese authorities are turning the media and aid workers away, the story is not on the radar. This brings me to a question: if the media does not report a humanitarian disaster, does it really happen?

Yes, yes it does. And we’re doing fuck-all about it. Families are fleeing, women are being systematically raped, and innocent people are being chopped up with machetes. And we’re doing nothing. When similar atrocities occurred in Rwanda, the international community looked solemnly at its feet, and for what it’s worth, said this must never happen again. But China, with it’s huge oil contracts with the Sudanese government, will not allow the Security Council to address the issue and put blue helmets on the ground. Yet again, oil is at the root of this human tragedy.

Actors George Clooney and Don Cheadle have been banging the drum for those who suffer, visiting the area, and then going onto to Beijing and Cairo to lobby politicians. So, having known about this mass-scale murder for many months, what was the international community’s the highest profile delegation to attempt to address it? Why it’s a couple of aging Hollywood players with a bit of time on their hands. Fabulous!

This is not to denigrate the efforts of Clooney et al, their work is unquestionably noble, but is this really the sum total of our collective diplomatic effort? Can Blair, Jinto, Chirac, Merkal, Putin, and Bush, really look themselves in the mirror and call themselves statesmen if they fail to act? I think not.

I’m sure many on the right will show their revulsion at a couple of Hollywood liberals screaming for action in the Third World (how I hate that term), but we should ignore them. As Mr. Zhisou always says, conservatives always play the man when they can’t play the ball.

We must act. In a couple of years Beijing will host the Olympic Games, and China will be on a diplomatic offensive to portray their country as open and responsible. Now is the time to put Darfur at the top of the agenda. We should expose those who seek to do nothing in the face of mass-murder, and, dare I say it? Potential genocide.

If China refuses to back a Security Council resolution to put UN troops between the militia and the civilians, the British should refuse to take part in the 2008 Olympics. Only then, with a significant international player taking a stand, would the world sit up and take notice. I have no doubt that Blair lacks the guts to make such a stand, but this will of course be a decision for Mr. Brown.

I wonder... has the Scot got the balls?