Americans are Unwilling to Sacrifice baby Carrots or Twigs for Sudan

I just read this op-ed co-authored by George Clooney and John Prendergast published in USA Today. The comments to the article alone are fascinating.

Failure in the form of renewed war and hundreds of thousands more deaths — conservatively — is not an option. We often find ourselves looking at humanitarian crises and wondering what we can do to help. This is a moment where we can contribute to stopping one before it happens. — John Prendergast, George Clooney

John Prendergast arrested for protesting outside Sudanese Embassy, along with 5 members of Congress

The article itself essentially suggests an ultimatum set up by the U.S. government — if the Sudan is willing to make efforts toward peace between the North and South, as well as ending its conflicts in Darfur, we will encourage the resolution of their issues with the International Criminal Court (ICC); Prendergast refers to these incentives as ‘carrots.’ However, if any body within the Sudan promotes or follows through with violent action, the U.S. will intervene by speaking to China and Egypt — important economic allies for the Sudan.  These negative consequences to conflict are the illusory ‘sticks’ of the carrots or sticks theory.

In addition, it asks the Obama administration to use our International ties to help introduce and begin peace talks.

I have long been a supporter of Prendergast and his work — he has risked so much of his time and his life for the social justice and global peace which he strives to achieve. I will not argue his case for him, he does an excellent job of this himself. Although, I will point out, that George Clooney likely did not write this article, though most people who read it will surely attribute the work to him. It is the Clooney name that draws the attention required to stir people’s interests, genocide alone does not turn heads — here, we value celebrities (or at least enjoy demonizing them).

The comments below the article are really the most interesting part. Most of the people who comment reiterate the same points over and over — 1. America should mind its own business, 2. We don’t have enough money, 3. We don’t want to lose more troops, 4. Clooney should go over and solve the issue himself. One person even tries to compare the issue to the Tobacco industry, which he/she finds more offensive.

Although not surprising, it is alarming how selfish Americans can be, and how blinded by their own privilege.  I am a lower-middle class American, working a job that pays $2.65 an hour plus tips, despite having a bachelors degree. I know that what we see as The American Dream has been harder to come by as of late. I also know that there are people in America who are starving and homeless. However, I do not believe they are the ones reading opinion articles in USA Today and taking the time to comment on them.  For the most part, these people have never faced a war, famine, wide-spread disease, genocide, or true poverty. And yet, they argue that the U.S. should mind its own business and ignore the deaths of others. Imagine a world in which each nation said, “we will not interfere in other’s affairs.” Should Hitler have been allowed to decimate the Jewish population across Europe? Should the Tutsi have been allowed to kill hundreds of thousands of Hutu’s in Rwanda, as they were in 2004? If we are taking on a ‘mind your own business’ mentality, than this is what we advocate — leaders who can destroy thousands of lives with no repercussions.

Perhaps we should sit back and watch, as millions of women, children, and men in African nations fight for the ability to survive on a continent that was ripped apart by European colonialism, ravaged by the slave trade, and then left to its own devices in forming Western-style governments out of European leftovers. Perhaps we should feel no responsibility in the conflicts of nations that try to make their way in an economy dominated by Western industry, despite their own inability to access the same technologies and education. They are too busy trying to form legitimate governments and feed their populations because the rest of the world is eating more than twice it needs to survive, and purchasing those goods at a price that does not factor in labor or equipment.

Perhaps we should look the other way, and feel no guilt at our own luxury, and then cry out in disgust and outrage when another human feels an inkling of responsibility for humanity as a whole. In our own desperation to cling to a lifestyle that entitles us to individual computers, $400 iPhones, and obesity that is off the charts — we forget that we got here on the backs of others. By stealing what wealth the continent of Africa had (Gold, Diamonds, Coffee, Men, etc.) for ourselves, we have left nothing behind but a legacy of war, which we now frown upon.

Whether we do end up handing Sudan carrots, or waving our sticks about, or taking no action at all — we should be ashamed of our own willingness to forget history, and that it was the West that won in Africa, the West that tried to spread its own system in a world that was living in relative peace before our presence, and it was the West that walked away and forgot the mess it had left in its wake.

Crimes have been committed in Sudan, crimes against humanity, crimes of corruption. Perhaps allowing government officials to continue to pillage wealth from the people, destroy their lives and remain blind to their suffering is easier than sacrificing something of our own lives. But, are we not just as guilty of these crimes against humanity and corruption if we too turn a blind eye to the dying because we are too greedy for our own wealth to make an effort?