Most Popular War and Peace Posts
In Darfur, It's All About Access
Published October 19, 2008 @ 10:55AM PT
Peace isn't coming to Darfur. At least not anytime soon.
As my co-blogger Michelle described, the Sudanese Government's current peace initiative has a number of flaws, including the fact that it doesn't seem to include the rebel groups themselves.
This can hardly come as a surprise, given the fact that the last few years are littered with failed peace negotiations, including the Darfur Peace Agreement in 2006 and the Sirte talks in 2007.
Albert Einstein once defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Which about sums up the process of making peace in Darfur, as long as a) the rebel groups remain divided, and b) the Sudanese Government doesn't feel threatened enough to compromise.
Having worked on (and occasionally in) Darfur from 2005 to 2007, it's hard to look at the current peace negotiations without a fair amount of cynicism. That said, there is one aspect of Bashir's recent initiative that deserves special attention - his pledge to work with UNAMID to improve humanitarian access.
Guest Blog - A Crisis of Conscience
Published October 17, 2008 @ 11:31AM PT
Wanted to follow the recent pieces on world hunger and declining humanitarian funding with a post by Alison Woodhead of Oxfam, about Stand Up and Take Action, which starts today. (To take action through change.org, click here.)
Sometimes, it seems like writing about humanitarian relief is simply describing a parade of horribles - which makes Alison's post, about what we can do to help change the situation, all that much more important.
A Crisis of Conscience
The numbers are mind boggling; the sense of panic is contagious. The global financial crisis has galvanised world leaders into finding unimaginable sums of money almost overnight to prevent banks collapsing, shore up failing systems and reassure nervous punters.
The arguments for urgent action to avoid systemic collapse are of course genuine and persuasive. But they reveal something extremely dark about the world’s priorities: we can find the money to bail out banks, but not to prevent the deaths of 30,000 children a day from poverty.
The Use and Misuse of Language
Published October 17, 2008 @ 07:14AM PT
Most of us use language as a natural tool: it's useful for communication purposes. Person A wants person B to understand something. In theory, that understanding will lead to some kind of change desired by person A. Professionals see that paradigm and go - aha! Language is a device for persuasion, manipulation, and mobilization. What's important is not the objective truth, but the impact it has on the listener.
Al-Jazeera on Acre Riots
Published October 17, 2008 @ 06:58AM PT
This is a decent newscast covering the Acre events.
World Food Day - Hunger in the Horn of Africa
Published October 16, 2008 @ 05:10PM PT
October 16th is World Food Day, and so seems appropriate to take a moment to look at recent statistics about world hunger. Over the past few years, an 83% increase in food prices worldwide has sparked a global food crisis, by some accounts the worst since the 1970s.
Overall, the World Bank estimates that there are currently 967 million malnourished people in the world.
One of the hardest-hit regions has been the Horn of Africa, which is also suffering a devastating drought. Yesterday, CARE released a statement that 17 million people face starvation in the region.
Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Humanitarian Funding
Published October 15, 2008 @ 12:04PM PT
With far over a trillion dollars worldwide going to various bailout packages, the money will have to come from somewhere. (Theoretically, at least.) Though it would be nice if humanitarian and development spending were immune from such cut-backs, history shows quite the opposite.
The Center for Global Development offers by far the best analysis of how the financial crisis will affect humanitarian (and development) funding. It's not a pretty picture.
According to their most recent article, History Says Financial Crisis Will Suppress Aid: "After each previous financial crisis in a donor country since 1970, the country's aid has declined."
(Even better for the financially illiterate such as myself, the article includes easy-to-follow charts and tables.)
Blog Action Day: Impact of Financial Crisis on Peace in the Middle East
Published October 15, 2008 @ 07:03AM PT
In honor of Blog Action Day, here's a collection of thoughts about the impact of the financial crisis.
Wealthy countries and the Arab world will likely reduce foreign aid to the Palestinians, resulting in a further drop in living standards, an increase in unemployment, and deeper food insecurity. The desperation will likely fuel an increase in violence, as the armed groups generally have funds, and even small militant groups acting without instructions can spark an upsurge in violence.
