Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.
Writing for Foreign Policy, Sudanese blogger Amir Ahmad Nasr emphasizes the Sudanese people’s chance to topple Bashir and the National Congress Party. He criticizes narratives by some commentators portraying the conflict as “Arabs versus Africans” or “Muslims versus Christians,” and explains it as a struggle between Sudan's diverse population and Omar al-Bashir's heinous dictatorship.
In response to former President Jimmy Carter’s searing critique of American human rights violations published last week in The New York Times, The Atlantic Staff Writer Conor Friedersdorf questions why more Americans are not paying attention. Friedersdorf writes:
If there is a more extreme example of a prominent politician breaking with his fellow elites I don't know what it is. But he is saying things most people don't want to hear, so a past president accusing other presidents of violating the law and trampling on human rights is all but ignored.
Africa correspondent for The Globe and Mail, Geoffrey York, examines the historical and political dynamics in Sudan and explains why protests in Sudan are nothing like the Arab Spring. Despite the growing number of anti-regime demonstrations throughout the country, York points out that Sudan protests have lacked the unity and size of those in Egypt and Tunisia, and it remains unclear whether they will gain enough strength to challenge President al-Bashir.
In his Congo Siasa blog this week, Jason Stearns assessed the premise of Séverine Autesserre’s op-ed “The Only Way to Help Congo.” Stearns stressed that since 2003 the main protagonists of violence in eastern Congo have not been fragmented local militia, but armed groups tightly linked to regional political and business elites.
Sudanese activist group Girifna reported that the Internet-hacking activist group Anonymous has joined the non-violent struggle to overthrow the military dictatorship in Sudan. Anonymous aims to fight back against the Sudanese electronic jihad unit that attempts to hack activists’ email and social media accounts, and the major opposition websites.