Most Popular War and Peace Posts
Women, the Afghanistan War, and the Malalai Joya Problem
Published November 13, 2009 @ 08:43PM PT
On my co-blogger Daniel's first controversial post on Afghanistan, one commenter posted a link to a speech by Afghan peace activist and suspended member of parliament Malalai Joya, who argues all foreign forces should leave Afghanistan immediately. Another commenter quickly added, "I won't comment again, I will just put up Malalai Joya's words! Her knowledge is greater than anyone's." To which I say, wait a minute. Joya is a committed democrat in a tough situation, but that does not make her knowledge "greater than anyone's."
Since her suspension from the parliament two years ago, Joya has traveled the world and delivered her message to thousands of people, in intimate activist gatherings, packed lecture halls, and dozens of opinion pieces in national newspapers. No other Afghan woman has received as much international attention since the toppling of the Taliban eight years ago. In the Western press, Joya has become more than a cause célèbre --she's become a stand-in for Afghanistan's entire female population. Even the UK cover for her recently-released autobiography calls her "the Afghan woman who dared to speak out" as opposed to "an Afghan woman who dared to speak out." There is something deeply troubling about this framing.
Joya is far from the only outspoken Afghan woman in public life, and no one woman should be used as a representation of all women from her country or her culture. When she ran for parliament four years ago, Joya never asked her foreign supporters to appoint her Voice of All Afghan Women, a position made even more problematic by the stark fact that her view on the international military presence is actually in the minority in Afghan civil society.
Afghan Aidworkers More Vulnerable After UN Attack
Published November 13, 2009 @ 08:19AM PT
The 28 Oct. attack on a Kabul guesthouse that left five United Nations election workers dead had its perpetrators' intended effect. Reeling from the tragedy, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has temporarily relocated 200 of its international staff outside the country, and 400 to more secure locations in-country. With many NGOs also considering additional security measures, expats aren't the only ones concerned about the future, and Afghan aidworkers have even more to worry about.
“Scaling down the UN’s presence is very worrying for all Afghans and in particular NGOs, because they will become softer targets for the armed opposition,” Khial Shah, head of the Agency for Rehabilitation and Energy Conservation in Afghanistan told IRIN, the UN's humanitarian news service.
Without the privilege of being able to leave Afghanistan on the next flight out, Afghan aidworkers live with more risks and fewer guarantees than their foreign colleagues. Eighteen Afghan aidworkers have been killed so far this year, and many more have been harassed, threatened and injured.
What is Checkpoint Etiquette?
Published November 12, 2009 @ 08:00PM PT
Every checkpoint is different, from border crossings to police roadblocks to Holy crap heads down! Here are a few insider tips from locals, aid workers, contractors, and journalists to help newcomers to relate to people who live this every day. Do get professional training if you're planning to work out there. As you approach in your vehicle...
- You might want to turn the music down. The song, "Shaft," might feel appropriate but it's probably not a good idea... At least not unless you're chased out of there...
- Chill or be chilled. You've gotta be smooth as silk, soft as cashmere. Listen to the guards attentively and answer them with kindness and respect even if they're wearing a necklace of human ears and a tutu... Or even if they're just nine-years-old...
Send Your Government Officials to Auschwitz (To Learn How Best to Prevent War Crimes)
Published November 12, 2009 @ 06:25PM PT
My colleague Amelia Green-Dove and I had a chance to have coffee with Alex Zucker, the Media Relations guru for the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, at the Empire State Building in New York. We agreed that one of the best ways to help reduce the rate of war crimes around the world is to send government officials to Oswiecim, Poland, for one of two powerful public policy seminars offered by the Auschwitz Institute on the site of some of the world's most horrendous war crimes.
The Institute, constructed painstakingly by founder Fred Schwartz with his bare hands, just rounded up one of its Raoul Wallenberg Center seminars focused on advising education and culture ministry officials on how they might commemorate war crimes sites and include lessons in education. This November's group included Serbian, Bosnian Serb, and Croatian officials working together with Argentinian, Azerbaijani, and other officials. Wonder what dinner conversation was like?
In the spring, the Institute also offers its Raphael Lemkin Center workshops, named for the man who forged much of the world's first Genocide Convention, to advise policy-makers on conflict mitigation techniques. In April, the group will be having a reunion in Argentina to help alumnae of the seminars to network with each other. Sounds great, but what's the catch?
Rule of Law Still Out of Reach in Eastern Congo
Published November 12, 2009 @ 05:26PM PT
Congo (DR), also known as DRC, Congo-Kinshasa, and former Zaire, currently hosts one of the most complex wars in the world. Why does it keep boiling on? What can concerned citizens do to contribute to solutions?
Despite government reforms, peace initiatives, millions in aid, and one of the largest UN peacekeeping efforts with 17,000 troops, the violence remains out of control. Many believe the various rebel groups, as well as the government, are really battling for control of territory not only for sanctuary for their particular group but also to control natural resources beneath the soil including minerals, jewels, and metal ores Western companies seek.
In brief, the government is fighting a number of rebel groups in the east including such incorrigible all-stars as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) (yes, the former Rwandan rebels remain in Congo), the National Congress of the Defense of the People (North Kivu), the Union of Congolese Patriots, and various Mai Mai militias, just to name a few. And the UN is trying to step between them only to get embroiled in deep questions about their role and rules of engagement.
11/11 Impressions
Published November 11, 2009 @ 04:30PM PT
This being the War and Peace blog, I feel I should say something about Veterans Day (Remembrance Day, Armistice Day) before it's over. Truth is, I'm never sure what I should say, beyond thank you, veterans. Nevertheless, here are some of my scattered thoughts today, a few stories that 11 November brings to mind.
My grandmother is 91 years old. She was born four months before the end of the First World War. She lost her first husband, the great love of her life, in the South Pacific twenty-five years later. To this day, she can't talk about Bill without bursting into tears. The necklace he gave my then newlywed grandmother before he shipped out, young and doomed, became part of my her body over the decades that followed. It wore a groove in her skin, because she never took it off. My grandfather, her second husband, never objected. The necklace is a heavy silver cross with tiny diamonds in the pattern of the southern cross constellation and rests on my grandmother's triple bypass scar.
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Meet Dr. Rajiv Shah, Nominee for USAID Administrator
Published November 11, 2009 @ 12:42PM PT
Happy Veteran's Day, everyone. Last night we learned that after an unusually long gap, the Obama Administration is strongly hinting at the nomination of Rajiv Shah, a health administrator, former Gore adviser, and US Department of Agriculture official, for head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Since USAID is one of the largest donors to global development as well as humanitarian aid, conflict mitigation, and civil society around the world, global peace-seekers are wise to understand the role.
WHAT IS USAID? The agency's first forty years were spent funding overseas support to agriculture and hunger prevention, public health and disease control, education and leadership development, and democracy and civil society, as well as humanitarian aid. The last decade with Bush appointee Andrew Natsios witnessed new attention to aid as incentive for democratization, aid as part of global conflict mitigation, and - most controversially among progressives - aid as part of counter-terrorism and military strategy. In fiscal year 2008, USAID's net cost of operations was $8.9 billion with $1.4 billion toward governance and justice, $845 million toward peace and security (including civilian support to civil-military and counter-terror operations), and $582 million toward humanitarian assistance.
Acting head Henrietta Fore held the ship together until the Obama Administration came on board. Secretary Clinton and others first nominated Paul Farmer, a superhero among progressives who have followed his work fighting both disease and stigma for survivors of infection in the Caribbean, but the nomination dissolved. Now the Obama Administration has put its money on Rajiv Shah, a young health professional and former political adviser.
