Sudan is the second largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, with an area of 1,878,000 km2, compared to Israel at 20,770 km2, (roughly 1% of the area of Sudan.) Sudan’s population is 49.4 million. (Israel: 9.3 million, about 20% of Sudan). Sudan is in the midst of a civil war, in which at least 16,000 people have been killed in the past year (probably much higher), with some 8 million displaced, and 18 million facing acute levels of hunger. There is fear of a repeat of the genocide in Darfur of 20 years ago, in which between 80,000 and 400,000 people were slaughtered.
Where is the outrage? Where are the demonstrations on university campuses? Where are the cries of “Genocide!”, when the situation in Darfur really was genocide? How many Americans and Europeans could find Sudan on a map? How many care?
How is it that these same passionate students are so forceful in their demonstrations across the continents against Israel, while they ignore much worse atrocities and massacres in Sudan?
Let’s go back to Rwanda in 1994, when the Hutus massacred between 500,000 and 800,000 Tutsis. Where were the Western campus demonstrations? “Rwanda? Where’s that?” One of the perpetrators of the genocide was one Paul Kagame. 30 years later, with the blood of hundreds of thousands of people on his hands, he is still President of Rwanda. Who cares?
Let’s go back even further, to the late 1970s, when I was spending four years at the University of Lesotho (map?). I witnessed the students on our campus in gleeful support of Idi Amin, who was massacring maybe 300,000 Ugandans (map?). He was seen as a champion, because he told the colonialist English to go to hell. Was there any outrage or protest on Western university campuses? No, if anyone dared to criticize Idi Amin, they would be labeled as racist (horrors!).
At precisely the same time, South Africa was being boycotted for its Apartheid regime. There were international protests, and the UN and other bodies, while supporting Idi Amin, roundly condemned the Apartheid regime.
While I was living in Lesotho (surrounded by South Africa) I observed that there was no mass outpouring of refugees from South Africa. However, there were thousands of African refugees from other countries trying to escape famine and tribal massacres to get into South Africa. As humiliating and demeaning as Apartheid was, at least the refugees would not be massacred, and could find work in the mines.
So what’s going on here? If one considers Israelis as physically indistinguishable from white people, race seems to be the main reason for condemning a country like South Africa. Have there ever been demonstrations or boycotts against any primarily non-white nation?
I contend that there is a secret mentality among many Westerners that black Africans are just savages who will always be killing each other and cannot be expected to do otherwise. Yawn! Yet another little known country where one tribe is killing another. White people, on the other hand, are deemed to be civilized and should be expected to know better. They must be held to a higher standard.
When Hamas invaded Israel and committed all sorts of atrocities on Oct. 07, I read many articles praising Hamas, and justifying their atrocities. This was even before the Israeli retaliation. It appeared that the Hamas Arabs were not held to the same standards as the Israelis. Using hospitals as military bases? No problem, but shame on Israel for attacking them. Hostages? Imagine the outcry if Israel started taking Palestinian hostages. Now there’s an idea!
Back to Sudan. Is there any chance that President Biden or Secretary of State Blinken will even mention Sudan, let alone visit Sudan or bring the genocide to the attention of the United Nations? Sadly, the Sudanese and the residents of Darfur are Africans and simply don’t count.
good evening, professor. ask any american whether there are 200, 300, or 400 countries in africa, and you will learn all that is needed about american apathy, or geographical antipathy, if you prefer. there are only 3 functional characteristics recognizable by americans: skin color, wealth, and ‘power’. in our country, wealth equates with ‘wall st.’ / texas oil, while power is naturally the pentagon and the forces used to ‘defend’ us domestically. my apologies for elaborating the obvious.
color is of course the key variable and the predominant subtext throughout our history. jesus was white and the govt. in cairo will launch a ballistic strike on anyone who suggests otherwise. we are protectors of all things white, and that’s why we pay attention sometimes. but since the days of moishe tshombe and patrice lamumba, the continent of africa has been receding from american cognition. there are in fact hundreds of rural african music videos, that show more of local life than 100 textbooks, but most people believe they have better ways to spend their time. that’s equivocal.
lastly, the campus protests were directed against israel because of the indiscriminate bombing campaign that much resembles a genocidal effort made all the more troubling by biblical proscriptions ‘from god’ in support of it. college students and american jews feel they/we have been made complicit. that is the self-interest factor you are seeking that facilitates protests against one and ignorance towards the other.
also, israelis have taken plenty of palestinians hostage. you would be best served to redirect your hostility towards the idf as opposed to the media and protesters, with all due respect, sir.