Two time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof shared with students his experiences as a journalist in Darfur and discussed possible ways that the United States could help end the genocide yesterday.
Kristof’s lecture was a part of the Human Trafficking symposium sponsored by SMU’s Human Rights Education program.
Kristof has taken numerous trips to Darfur and written extensively on the genocide occuring there, and he has become a leading expert on the genocide in Darfur. He has been at the forefront of the movement to bring Darfur into the media with his op-ed columns in The New York Times, guest appearances on network television and videos.
“The brutality, ferocity and scale of Darfur hit me after talking to the victims. It’s hard to move on and write about other things,” he said.
Kristof blamed the media for “dropping the ball” on drawing attention to Darfur. He said that in 2004, CBS covered Darfur for three minutes while the Michael Jackson trial received 28 minutes of coverage. He noted that in the 2004 presidential race, the candidates addressed the issue delicately but the tsunami in Asia “knocked Darfur out of the picture.”
“We can’t solve the problem completely,” Kristof said. “But every time there is less coverage on Darfur, we cause the Sudanese government to ratchet the violence up. With more coverage, the violence lessens.”
Kristof showed images of refugees on the border of Chad and Sudan. There were many pictures of women with deep scars inflicted by the Janjaweed as a stigmatizing sign of rape. The Janjaweed policy of killing men and boys of villages has left hundreds of thousands of widows in Darfur. Many women stood alone as they lost their children when the Sudanese government blocked off access to hospitals.
Kristof described the genocide in Darfur as a result of tensions between the lighter-skinned Arab nomadic herdsmen and non-Arab farmers. Since almost everyone in the area is Muslim, the tensions remain over race and “agricultural distinction.”
In 2003, the Africans rebelled against the Sudanese government for providing arms to Arab tribes in the Darfur region. According to Kristof, the government faltered and ultimately decided to wipe out African tribes to end the unrest.
“They thought they could get away with it,” Kristof said. “Darfur is an area west of Sudan, perennially neglected and out it the middle of nowhere. Tourists never go there, there are no phone lines, hotels and no real religious differences.”
The Sudanese government sent the Janjaweed militia to fight the Sudanese Libearation Army and destroy African villages. Though the Sudanese government distances itself from the Janjaweed, Kristof said the Sudanese government provides the Janjaweed with salaries, uniforms and even satellite phones to keep in contact with the government.
“After talking to the victims, I thought of the Janjaweed as total evil,” said Kristof. “Then I saw that they were just teenagers. They had been paid. They were only 16 years old.”
As a journalist, Kristof has witnessed firsthand the tacit collusion between the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government. After he had visited a village where 50 villagers had been killed, Kristof saw Janjaweed convoys roll past a military checkpoint without being stopped by Sudanese soldiers. However, the Sudanese soldiers stopped Kristof, a photographer and Kristof’s interpreter, a young African college student. The soldiers grabbed the young interpreter and told Kristof to leave. Kristof and his photographer tried to bribe the soldiers until the soldiers imprisoned all three of them.
“It was clear that they were going to shoot him 10 minutes after I left,” Kristof said. “But just seeing the soldiers wave the Janjaweed on and the convoy just roll on by the checkpoints was such a clear moment of what was really going on.”
Kristof brought up the issue of ethics that many journalists face when witnessing conflicts such as Darfur. Journalists often struggle with the pangs of morality and the need to preserve their own safety and the safety of their crew.
“Being in Darfur as a journalist, there is a question of ethics,” Kristof said. “What do you do in this situation? Do you intrude to save a life or make a difference? You come across an injured person and you want to help. Do you take the person to the hospital? If you do that, you look like you are taking sides.”
Kristof has often risked his safety to help victims. He has transported victims to hospitals and asked villages not to kill men.
Kristof discussed the cultural intricacies of the atrocities committed by the Janjaweed. Kristof emphasized the Janjaweed’s policy of rape of African women “rips the fabric of villages apart” given its cultural stigma and Sudanese laws against adultery. When a woman is raped, as hundreds of thousands have been, her family casts her off and she usually ends up living on the fringe of society. Women have difficulty seeking medical help because the Sudanese government arrests women for adultery if they do not have significant number of Arab witnesses to testify that they were raped. The Sudanese government has contributed to the spread of AIDS by banning the importation of post-exposure prophylaxis kits.
Though Kristof told mostly tragic stories of victims, he also spoke of “examples of people showing unbelievable courage.” He was moved by an elderly couple who managed to keep each other alive after the Janjaweed burned down their village. The man refused to leave his lame wife behind as the Janjaweed burned down the village. When the Janjaweed lit the man on fire, his wife did her best to fight the Janjaweed off and they made it to a hospital. In another case, Kristof spoke of a girl who allowed herself to be raped by eight Janjaweed soldiers so that her younger sister could escape back to their village.
Although the Bush administration has given some monetary aid, Kristof said that the U.S. needed to become more involved with the situation.
“In the first year that we were giving aid to Darfur, I saw medics prying bullets out of little kids. We all said ‘Wow, that’s great.’ In the fourth year of the conflict, I still see medics digging bullets out of little kids, and maybe it’s time to do more than just prying bullets,” he said.
“After hearing of a father being beheaded by the Janjaweed in front of his daughters for trying to defend them against rape, handing out food and sheeting for tents seems so hollow.”
Kristof does not think the U.S. should go directly into Sudan. Since Sudan is a former British colony, Kristof said that Tony Blair should be more involved in trying to stop the genocide.
“Given the situation with the war in Iraq, if the U.S. went into another Muslim country, then that would just give the Sudanese president more legitimacy and support from the Muslim world,” said Kristof.
In the past, the U.S. has been successful in pressuring Sudan to provide post-Sept. 11 intelligence reports, cease hiding Osama bin Laden, and end civil war. Kristof suggested that the U.S. put pressure on Sudan to end the genocide by imposing a no-fly zone in Darfur and targeting banking sanctions. The U.S. could also induce China to put pressure on Sudan.
Given China’s close relationship with Sudan, Kristof said the hundreds of thousands of Chinese bloggers have the power to make people aware of the situation in Darfur. However, Darfur is not a sensitive issue in China and the Chinese distrust the U.S.
“Really, students have been the moral leaders on Darfur,” said Kristof. “Presidents have turned their backs on these issues. With President Wilson, it was Armenia. With FDR, it was the Holocaust to a certain degree. With Clinton, it was Rwanda.”
Student-supported Web sites like www.darfurscores.org hold congressmen accountable for their voting records on Darfur. The Web site publicly displays congressmen’s voting records on Darfur and grades them based on how well they have tried to improve the situation in Darfur.
The site has prompted members of Congress to call the Genocide Intervention Network and ask how they can improve their scores. By holding congressmen accountable for their apathy, students can embarrass members of Congress into voting for measures that support aid to Darfur.
“The good news is that there is something you can do,” Kristof said. “It’s very easy to call the White House or talk to your representatives.”