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

[n.dahlheim at mchsi.com]

David,
     You nailed it right on the head.  I concur wholeheartedly.


----------------------  Original Message:  ---------------------
From:    David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
To:      Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Re: News notes, for the AWARE meeting 2007-06-03
Date:    Wed, 6 Jun 2007 14:22:26 +0000

> 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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