[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] Re: Fwd: Bush on Darfur ? All Talk, No Walk?

[Scott Edwards]

I mean those, and only those, who cannot see that, despite whatever foreign 
policy ideology happens to claim the White House at a given time, the 
actions of individuals can steer foreign policy towards just ends.

That is what is finally happening in Darfur.

And I mean those who, for whatever reason, understand the excercise of 
American power in any capacity to be unjust and imperialist. I mean those 
who condemn the actions of the US vis-a-vis Darfur as imperialist, because, 
well, it has to be, right? It couldn't be that our closely held beliefs 
about the absolute defunct nature of American democracy are lacking nuance.  
But I think they are.

I understand the reasoning. The neocons have an architecture in place. 
American foreign policy is dictated by national interest, which tends not to 
be the interests of the average person. But there is something much more 
powerful than all the think-tanks, shadowy quasi-academics, and corporate 
boards in the world: public opinion. And in the case of Darfur, a highly 
dedicated and broadly positioned coalition has steered American foreign 
policy in a direction the aforementioned architects do not want.

I am not condeming those who point at US inaction and identify it is a 
barrier for universal human rights. In fact I stand with them. Because the 
principle enemy of global justice isnt US actions, despite their sensational 
and easily identifiable nature. The principle enemy is inaction. In 
thousands of places and times, in thousands of ways.

Yes, the US has been an enemy of human rights and global justice. But as we 
can see, it can also be a proponent of them, though with much work by us. It 
only requires action by the people that the essay derides.

respectfully,
scott

*****************
Scott Edwards
Amnesty International, US
Country Specialist for Sudan
_________________________________
Gender Projects Manager
Coordinative Effort for the Reporting of Rights Violations (CERRV)




>From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
>To: Scott Edwards <scottisimo at hotmail.com>,  Peace Discuss 
><peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>Subject: Re: [Peace] Re: Fwd: Bush on Darfur ? All Talk, No Walk?
>Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 12:24:45 -0500
>
>Whom do you mean?  Can anyone read the history of recent decades without 
>noticing that the principal enemy of global justice and universal human 
>rights has the US government ("American Imperialism," without the irony)? 
>--CGE
>
>Scott Edwards wrote:
>
>>...to the dismay of those who assail the liberal principles of global 
>>justice and universal human rights as a tool of American Imperialism...