Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Pornography of Violence
In The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency Professor Mahmood Mamdani of Columbia University addresses what he calls "the pornography of violence" as conducted by Western human rights organizations that require a simple moral world of evil perpetrators and innocent victims in order to justify so-called humanitarian military interventions by big powers and their proteges who can in turn pursue victory with impunity.
Using the demonizing of Darfur campaign as an example, Mamdani observes that solidarity with the indigenous parties pursuing a negotiated settlement for power-sharing is what human rights groups should be supporting, not military intervention that will drag the Sudanese civil war into the Global War on Terror.
Noting that proxy military intervention by the US in both Rwanda and the Congo had the effect of escalating conflict and bloodshed, not diminishing it, Mamdani asserts the civilising missions carried out with US arms are no substitute for political negotiations. Unfortunately, credulous peace poseurs are consistently misled by military promoters and propagandists.
Using the demonizing of Darfur campaign as an example, Mamdani observes that solidarity with the indigenous parties pursuing a negotiated settlement for power-sharing is what human rights groups should be supporting, not military intervention that will drag the Sudanese civil war into the Global War on Terror.
Noting that proxy military intervention by the US in both Rwanda and the Congo had the effect of escalating conflict and bloodshed, not diminishing it, Mamdani asserts the civilising missions carried out with US arms are no substitute for political negotiations. Unfortunately, credulous peace poseurs are consistently misled by military promoters and propagandists.
