[Peace-discuss] Re: News notes, for the AWARE meeting 2007-06-03

Wed Jun 6 09:22:07 CDT 2007

Jewish organizations offer the service to American elites of distracting attention from their motives and crimes, and profiting from the credibility of the association of the "genocide" in Darfur with the Holocaust. It's really nothing more than an extension of what Finkelstein calls the "Holocaust Industry," and ultimately it is about supporting the U.S.-Israel agenda. Other organizations are given the choice of either joining or being perceived as insensitive to the legacy of the Holocaust, which is "never again" selectively applied. They either willingly join, cave, or silently abstain without questioning the obviously cynical motives involved, which are still perceived as impolite. The Jewish leaders who started "Save Darfur" care no more about dead Africans now than they did when they supported South African-Israeli supplied rampagers in Mozambique and Angola in the 1980s, who killed millions. Their campaign is in no way intended to be effective. Locally, the decision
 by the U of I Board of Trustees to divest from corporations doing business with Sudan is almost more laughable than hypocritical vis a vis Iraq, Israel, Caterpillar, etc. Does anyone think that they would pass such a grandstanding measure if real money for Illinois-based corporations were involved? Sudan is very minimally dependent on foreign investment, and China stands by to compensate, willingly. And ultimately, Chinese influence is arguably the major factor in play here, and will only be countered by military intervention, to the detriment of those in Darfur.

  DG

"C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
  What the Jerusalem Post article pointed out is that the "Coalition" was 
organized by elements of the pro-Israel lobby in the US. "Coalition" is 
a term currently favored by groups that want to pretend that they're not 
directing something alone (cf. "Coalition Provisional Authority").

The article appeared a year ago last April, at the time of the 
Washington rally, when the NAACP was apparently not yet represented on 
Save Darfur's Board of Directors. They told the Jerusalem Post that 
"they were publicizing the rally but had not become part of the 
coalition or signed the Unity Statement declaring Save Darfur's objectives."

I'm sure many of the supporters of Save Darfur do so "for the purest of 
intentions," and the original organizers have worked hard to convince 
many groups of their interpretation of the situation. What that 
interpretation is was set out by Mahmood Mamdani on Democracy Now the 
other day, as follows:

"Darfur is a place without history, Darfur is a place without politics. 
Darfur is simply a dot on the map. It is simply a place, a site, where 
perpetrator confronts victim. And the perpetrator’s name is Arab, and 
the victim’s name is African. And it is easy to demonize."

And the misrepresentation is not innocent. Rather it serves the 
interests of US/Israeli policy to demonize and put pressure on 
recalcitrant "Arab" governments, particularly those with oil.

The direction of Save Darfur seems nevertheless to be where it was a 
year ago. On Saturday, the NYT (mentioning again the parallel with 
Kosovo, object of Clinton's propaganda) reported that

"...aid groups working on the ground in Darfur ... opposed some of the 
tone and content of Save Darfur’s high-decibel advocacy campaign. 
Coalition board members sought to minimize the dispute, saying that 
tensions had existed between advocates and aid workers in previous 
crises, like Kosovo, and that the organization’s rapid growth and 
changing membership had motivated the board’s decision to remove the 
director, David Rubenstein. 'We are grateful for the extraordinary job 
he has done and wish him the best in his search for new opportunities 
for public service,' said Ruth W. Messinger, president of the American 
Jewish World Service and a Save Darfur board member, who declined to 
discuss the reasons for Mr. Rubenstein’s dismissal."

A year ago the same two people were at the center of Save Darfur, 
according to the Jerusalem Post:

"The coalition's roots go back to the spring of 2004 following a 
genocide alert, the first ever of its kind, issued by the United States 
Holocaust Museum. An emergency meeting was coordinated by the American 
Jewish World Service, an organization that serves as a kind of Jewish 
Peace Corps as well as an advocacy group for a variety of humanitarian 
and human rights issues. At the meeting, which was attended by numerous 
American Jewish organizations and a few other religious groups, it was 
decided that a coalition would be formed based on a statement of shared 
principles...

"David Rubenstein, the director or 'coordinator,' as he prefers it, of 
the coalition ... says that the Jewish community has been 
'extraordinarily responsive and are really providing the building for 
this thing,' and yet he insists that the coalition has worked "very, 
very hard to be inclusive, to make sure there are people beyond the 
usual suspects.'

"This is a sentiment echoed by Ruth Messinger, president of American 
Jewish World Service and one-time Manhattan borough president and 
Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City. The world service and 
Messinger personally have been at the forefront of planning for the 
rally. Much of the Jewish turnout has been a result of her lobbying 
efforts."

I don't buy the Mearsheimer-Walt thesis that the pro-Israel lobby (by no 
means composed exclusively of Jews) has turned US policy away from its 
real interests. It works strenuously wihin the US to support the role 
Israel plays as a US client. And to see Save Darfur as an effort by 
that lobby is far from "a major major distortion."

Regards, CGE

Scott Edwards wrote:
> Carl:
> 
> I don't deny that there are a number of Jewish organizations, and other 
> religious groups, invloved in the SDC. But to go from there to identify 
> it as an Israeli lobby is a major major distortion, and sort of 
> insulting to the people who came together for the purest of intentions, 
> and who continue to fight for justice with the purest of intentions.
> 
> Also, and not likely the first time, but the Jersulem Post article is 
> just wrong. For instance, not only is it wrong that the NAACP isn't 
> involved--but ***they are on the board of directors***.
> 
> (see: http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/board_of_directors)
> 
> And, of course, in responding to these characterizations in the past 
> I've identified about 20 Muslim/Arab groups also a part of the SDC
> 
> (see: http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/organizational_members).
> 
> And of course, not only are many of the victims of the atrocities in 
> Darfur Muslim--but they also identify as Arabs. This isn't an ethnic or 
> religious conflict. Rather, as other perpertrators in the world have 
> done and continue to do, the government inflames tension, violence, 
> mistrust, group boundaries, and facilitates and perpertrates violence 
> for its own political gain.
> 
> There is plenty of room to talk about policy options, Carl. I have 
> resisted more than a couple policy choices by the SDC. But to attack the 
> motivations of people because they are Jewish or whatever is the same 
> sort of stoking of passions that I just identified. I know these people, 
> work with them on occasion, and break bread with them. They are not 
> lobbyists for anything that I am not, and I am not a lobbyist for 
> anything but a world where all states respect inalienable human rights. 
> That includes the USG, the GoS, or any state for that matter.
> 
> best,
> scott
> 
> 
> *****************
> Scott Edwards
> Country Specialist for Sudan
> Amnesty International, US
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> From: "C. G. Estabrook" 
>> To: Scott Edwards 
>> CC: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Re: News notes, for the AWARE meeting 
>> 2007-06-03
>> Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:05:12 -0500
>>
>> Scott Edwards wrote:
>>>
>>> "the Save Darfur Coalition, an Israeli lobby front group active in 
>>> the US."
>>>
>>> Are you kidding? I'm sure you're just joking, but I wanted to be 
>>> sure. This is the type of baseless rhetoric I'd expect from the 
>>> administration, so I figure you're being tongue-in-cheek. If so, 
>>> hilarious! If not, you are chasing ghosts in the dark, my friend.
>>
>> The source of the Coalition is hardly in doubt. The following is from 
>> the Apr. 27, 2006, internet edition of The Jerusalem Post, the 
>> conservative Israeli paper:
>>
>> "...the coalition, which has presented itself as 'an alliance of over 
>> 130 diverse faith-based, humanitarian, and human rights organization' 
>> was actually begun exclusively as an initiative of the American Jewish 
>> community. And even now, days before the rally, that coalition is 
>> heavily weighted with a politically and religiously diverse collection 
>> of local and national Jewish groups ... the Jewish Community Relations 
>> Council, a national organization with local branches that coordinate 
>> communal activity all over America, has put on a massive effort to bus 
>> people to Washington ... Besides the Jewish origins and character of 
>> the rally - a fact the organizers consistently played down in 
>> conversations with The Jerusalem Post - the other striking aspect of 
>> the coalition is the noted absence of major African-American groups 
>> like the NAACP or the larger Africa lobby groups like Africa Action 
>> ... The coalition's roots go back to the spring of 2004 following a 
>> genocide alert, the first ever of its kind, issued by the United 
>> States Holocaust Museum. An emergency meeting was coordinated by the 
>> American Jewish World Service, an organization that serves as a kind 
>> of Jewish Peace Corps as well as an advocacy group for a variety of 
>> humanitarian and human rights issues...
>>
>> "The fact that the aggressors in Darfur are Arab Muslims - though it 
>> should be said that the victims are also mostly Muslim - and are 
>> supported by a regime in Khartoum that is backed by the Arab League 
>> has made some people question the true motives of some of the Jewish 
>> organizations involved in the rally."
>>
>> --CGE
> 
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