Chasing The Flame

Facing the West from East Africa

2009-09-01T11:08:32-07:00

I'm writing this blog in ballpoint pen on a piece of paper (the back of my e-ticket) as I sit in Frankfurt Airport. This is the first of several attempts that I will make in the coming weeks to sort out my jet-happy summer in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Egypt. I'm a grad student at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and this summer, I did an internship at the U.S. Mission to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia before traveling to Kenya to visit a friend and then going to Cairo, Egypt, where my family has lived for just over a decade. Though I tried to write blogs during the trip, I found that I needed time to digest the experiences that I was having before I could write them down.

Topic #1
Views of Obama and the West in Ethiopia. I was surprised to discover a much more mixed reaction to Obama's presidential win in Addis Ababa than I had expected. I mean, sure, pass out picture-laden biography pamphlets about Obama's life at the African Union and be ready to run out of them before even half of all your other handouts are gone. Drive down the street in Addis in an official U.S. vehicle with its distinctive license plates and be ready at any time to hear someone shout "Obama!" in your direction. These were reactions that had I expected of the first black, half-East-African President of the United States.

However, I didn't expect some of the other comments that I heard from Ethiopian peers between ordering meals in traditional restaurants or sitting in cozy coffee joints while we waited for the violent weather to calm down during Ethiopia's rainiest season. One Sunday afternoon, in particular, I was out with a group of new friends, all between their mid twenties and very early thirties. Sitting inside Kaldi's, a coffee chain almost identical to Starbucks, the subject of our conversation turned rather abruptly to American politics.

"Barack Obama is a Democrat!" one of my new friends blurted, surprising me with his accusing tone.

"Yes," I said. No brainer. But the guy that I was talking to was clearly disgusted and had no time for jokes. Democrats, he said, support abortion and gay marriage. Republicans, on the other hand, he countered, have morals.

After the grueling election cycle that preceded the 2008 U.S. elections, I had, clearly, heard this argument a thousand times. But this time, #1001, the discussion led me into new territory: it was my introduction to the cognitive dissonance characterizing many of the ideas about President Obama and the West that I would encounter during my time in Ethiopia. A little while after that conversation--which I ended as quickly as possible once I saw the fervor in the eyes of my accuser--another Ethiopian friend willing to help me understand the situation a little better explained the bifurcated prisms through which he and his friends had come to view Obama. On the one hand, he was the triumphant East African, living proof of a common dream that even people from the often-out-of-luck Horn of Africa can succeed in, and even lead, the most powerful country in the world. However, this view has been largely overshadowed by what many of my peers would consider the high cost of Obama's success: succumbing to and supporting the heretical practices plaguing many countries in the West such as granting equal rights of marriage to homosexual couples or granting women the right to abortion. For many of the Ethiopian youth that I ran into this summer, standing in support of Obama, even though he was an East African brother, when he condoned what they considered to be pure and damning evils was just too much.

Taken in the context of Ethiopia's culture and religious demography, this information isn't so much of a surprise. Ethiopia is a very conservative, mainly Christian country (though Islam is quickly growing). According to the 2009 Ethiopian census, 43.5% of people in the country report themselves as Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, 33.9% are reported to be Muslim, and 18.6% are Protestant (the remaining 2.6% adheres to traditional beliefs). Many of the country's cultural norms are dictated by strict religious dogma. In the words of a devout Protestant friend, "in this country, if you are gay, you can die."

Still, I eventually came across some youth in Addis who had decided to take a leap of faith. The choice to move past this conflict of beliefs and support Obama was a difficult one, but some had decided that the stakes were too high not to. One friend, the leader of a youth organization in Addis, told me that, because he believed in the change that Obama would bring to the U.S., to Africa, and to the world, he had gone against hs peers and supported him anyway. He told me about the shock that he encountered, time and time again, from his friends when he told them that he had wanted Obama to win. And as he told me the story, I was surprised to hear how very radical of an action it had been for him to simply listen to what Obama was saying during the 2008 presidential race.

Now, before we proceed, let's get one thing straight -- I'm not writing this blog to be political. In any case, none of the people in this story had any real power over the American ballot box one way or another. I'm writing this blog to tell you what listening to these youth in Ethiopia taught me: sometimes the unlikeminded are those who appear to be most similar to us. Sometimes, it can be harder for us to digest when people who look like us, talk like us, come from where we come from, etc., espouse views that are radically different from our own than when those who are alien to us do so. "We don't do that!" we want to cry. "Other people do that, but not us!"

It takes a brave person to look beyond how they think a person is supposed to be and to listen, especially when that person threatens their own identity. They don't necessarily have to accept the person's views, but just being receptive to what that person has to say can at least lead to a decent conversation. And decent, productive conversations can be pretty hard to find these days.

The Dignity of Aid

2009-08-31T16:59:06-07:00

Samantha Power wrote in Chasing the Flame that Sergio believed “the best way for outsiders to make a dent in enhancing [individual dignity] would be to improve their linguistic and cultural knowledge base, to remind themselves of their own fallibility, to empower those who know their societies best, and to be resilient and adaptable in the face of inevitable setbacks.” It’s sometimes easier said than done, however. Living in the United States often makes it difficult to get truly nuanced perspectives of different cultural realities, and the kind of humility that Sergio sought can easily be forgotten.

For that very reason, anyone interested in foreign aid would do well to listen to Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet’s recent discussion with Binyavanga Wainaina, winner of the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing, African’s most prestigious literary award; founding editor and executive director of Africa’s most well-respected literary journal, Kwani?; contributor to South Africa’s largest newspaper and director of Bard College’s Chinua Achebe Center for African Languages and Literature. It’s a strong reminder of the often unforeseen counterproductive effects of charity and the need to question easy assumptions. How else can we try to do better?

Samantha Power and Her Opportunity to be Unreasonable

2009-08-27T09:07:12-07:00

Since the war in Iraq began, millions of Iraqis have fled their homes for safety and security. More than 1.5 million Iraqis are currently living in Syria, Jordan and other neighboring countries, and more than 2.5 million Iraqis are internally displaced. These people are some of the world's most vulnerable. For years, NGOs supporting Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people have called on the US government for a more comprehensive plan to assist these people and their host communities. Finally, the US government has responded, and the president has appointed Samantha Power to coordinate these efforts.

We will never know if Sergio Vieira de Mello fully appreciated the life lessons and experiences that Power captures so beautifully in Chasing the Flame. Nor do we know if he could have transformed them into policy. His final posting in Iraq represented that opportunity, but that opportunity was, as Power describes, constantly frustrated by the United States.

When Power climbed into Sergio's life and mined it for lessons as she walked with him through Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Iraq, she realized that Sergio's experiences could shed light on and clarify a new way of acting in the world. Indeed, the key lessons that she derives from Sergio's career are appropriate guidance for her as she assumes this new responsibility.

*Legitimacy matters, and it comes both from legal authority or consent and from competent performance.

*Spoilers, rogue states, and non-state militants must be engaged, if only so they can be sized up and neutralized.

*Fearful people must be made more secure.

*Dignity is the cornerstone of order.

*We outsiders must bring humility and patience to our dealings with foreign lands.

US failures in Iraq are well-documented. Chief among them has been the failure to coordinate the various agencies (and individuals) working in and on the country and the wider region. Power has the opportunity to correct this failure and her success is dependent upon it. This is where she will have the opportunity to draw upon her own life lessons and experiences. It's clear that Power has an ability to synthesize and then articulate complex ideas into policy (not ideology). She has the ability to engage and excite people, to bring them along with her--she's a natural bridge-builder, and she appreciates the deeply transnational dimensions of this work. She's courageous, pragmatic and passionately human. Power faces an enormous challenge, but she is also someone who unashamedly believes in making the world better, in our capacity to change it, in our responsibility to do that work.

In her Pulitzer Prize-winning first book, A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide, Power quotes George Bernard Shaw. That quote should act as inspiration for her - and for all of us - as she takes on one of the world's biggest challenges and as she begins to provide the much needed short and long term support that these vulnerable human beings in Iraq so sorely need.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress, depends on the unreasonable man.”

George Bernard Shaw

Following in Sergio's Footsteps?

2009-08-21T12:21:08-07:00

Those of you thinking of working for the United Nations - and those of you who already have - might be interested in Change.org's take on the best and worst aspects of the job.

Our Brother's (and Sister's) Keepers

2009-08-20T15:08:54-07:00

For Alphonse MUTAGOMA and John Prendergast

I was reading comments to John Prendergast's recent piece, "Secretary Clinton's Opportunity to End the World's Two Deadliest Wars," published on Huffington Post when I came to this one and stopped. It read:

"Let Africa take care of Africa. We have enough to deal with now in our own country. We are *not* our foreign brother's keeper."

It would be so easy to dismiss this sentiment and say, "Of course there are those people who believe that..." But, because I hear and read it so often, I don't think it should be ignored or neglected. The fact is that there are too many people in this country (and, of course, others) who believe this, and some of them could be potential allies for a more inclusive and compassionate foreign policy. I have learned a lot of things working in countries in transition such as Bosnia, Colombia, Northern Ireland, Rwanda and South Africa. One of them is the value of finding a way to "stay in the room together" as we learn to talk and listen to each other. The recent US town hall meetings on health care reform demonstrate the ongoing challenges of this kind of work. Democracies are, indeed, always in a state of becoming. We have to learn, develop and build upon these habits every day.

People often learn best by experiencing something themselves or by seeing something modeled by another person. This summer Facing History and Ourselves took a group of US students to Rwanda and, over and over again, they expressed surprise and delight at how much they had in common with their Rwandan peers. And, over and over again, they expressed shame, disappointment and anger at a US foreign policy that allowed the Rwandan genocide to happen....and to keep going once it was clear that it had begun. The students walked through memorial sites and listened to the stories of the people they met in sadness and confusion. The distance between them as Americans and the people they met as Rwandans had been closed. It became increasingly impossible for them to understand the legitimacy of an argument based on national boundaries. It sounded as foolish and thoughtless as one based on race or ethnicity.

But, everyone cannot travel the world and, of course, even some of those who do believe powerfully in the idea that what happens in your own backyard comes first. There are some people who will never shift this position. And, as Barney Frank said at a town hall meeting on health care reform recently, "Talking to you is like talking to a dining room table."

So, on to two people who model the principle of being and acting as our brothers' and sisters' keepers, Rwandan Alphonse MUTAGOMA and American John Prendergast.

MUTAGOMA means "one who shall not betray," and my bald-headed friend could not be better named. The son of a Hutu and a Tutsi and grandson of the same, Alphonse grew up in a village where people were dependent on each other, where good will was essential to survival. As the genocide swept through Rwanda, Alphonse hid with his family. As the husband of a Tutsi and the father of Tutsi children and as a southern Hutu, he, too, was at risk. The Tutsi side of his family--save his own wife and children--were slaughtered. So were many of the Hutu, by the RPF, as these family members waited to be rescued, hoping to join their forces and put the genocidaires down. Alphonse's most bitter memory is of a neighbor girl stumbling into public view. He debated whether to risk showing himself and revealing his family's hiding place to rescue her. He decided to stay hidden, shame burning inside him, as he watched and listened. In the end she was not harmed, but this Alphonse explains was an act of "providence," and he had "nothing to do with it." His eyes turn red when he tells this story; he grows quiet; he agonizes over every detail as if it were yesterday and not 15 years ago. And, of course, it was only yesterday.

Alphonse's belief that he is his brother's and sister's keeper is challenged daily in a country where people betrayed each other in ways that are truly unimaginable and where they continue to betray each other. Yet, he retains this belief and practices it and extends it beyond his own nation's boundaries. When the American students arrived in Rwanda, he told them "I am your father," and to the adults, "I am your brother." And, he acted like it. For three weeks, he took care of all of us in big ways and in small. He guided children who had never traveled out of their own state through difficult moments that, in many ways, probably remain incomprehensible to them. He showed them through his own character and decision-making the lie of "all Hutu are the same" and the hope of someone who is dedicated to building bridges and helping others cross them. He taught the children to dance and sing, to be quiet and to reflect, to respect people despite their many differences and to put kindness first. As the trip came to an end the students found ways to tell Alphonse what he meant to them, what they learned from him. They began to refer to him as "father," they hugged him, sought him out for walks and to sit together at meals, and they told him. "No one has ever been as kind to me as you." "You are the most respectful person I have ever met." "Adults have always disappointed me, and I don't trust them, but you are different. "I love you." When Alphonse heard these things, he bowed his head, took his handkerchief out of his pocket, unfolded it, removed his glasses, and wept.

John Prendergast is an American who has become well known for his informed activism and advocacy, particularly around genocide and massive human rights violations taking place in Africa. As the co-founder of the Enough Project, he is dedicated to developing a permanent constituency to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity. His work is premised upon the principle that we are each other's keepers. But, John is too well-schooled in the work of Washington to know that this argument won't make policy. So, he has invested in showing us, as Americans, our relationships to each other across national boundaries. Whether it's by engaging a well known person who has made this connection themselves (Don Cheadle to Darfur, Ryan Gosling to Uganda) and helping them to communicate that personal commitment and connection or by ceaselessly researching, writing and speaking himself, he has found ways to help Americans who will never travel to Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Northern Uganda, to see these places through his eyes. Fortunately for us, John does not romanticize or sentimentalize Africa or the fragile places in which he works in order to draw awareness and attention. He respects the women, men and children in these countries and it shows. It is this profound respect for them and their fundamental rights to living in safety and security and with dignity in their native homes and villages which animates, indeed permeates, his work.

The question of are we our sister's keeper is one that John has addressed nearly daily over the past few months. In his effort to draw awareness to the fact that the Eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo has become the most dangerous place in the world for women and girls, he is making visible the direct connection among us as Americans, our use of technology (ipods, computers, cell phones) and "conflict minerals" like tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold that help power our electronics industry.

And, in situations like Darfur where our connection to the conflict is not as direct as in our use of technology products, John reminds us of our national commitment to the Genocide Convention, what Article II says, why it matters and what it would mean for us to honor that commitment.

Historical sociologist Helen Fein has developed an idea that I've seen young people (and their teachers) all around the world embrace. "Universe of Obligation" describes those people to whom we feel responsible, to whom we owe amends. I have spent enough time in conflict countries and places emerging from mass violence to know that it is fool's gold to believe that injustice can be contained, that the myth "if it's happening to them, it won't happen to me," is powerful, but still mythic, and ultimately, not much to hold onto. Injustice anywhere truly is a threat to justice everywhere. If I waited for someone who looked like me, believed in what I believe in, and carried the same passport to protect me when I was being attacked or threatened, I would be in for a long wait. That's why I am particularly grateful for Alphonse MUTAGOMA, John Prendergast and people like them. Their compassion and sense of obligation are unbounded.

Remembering and Looking Forward

2009-08-19T11:43:20-07:00

Today marks the inauguration of World Humanitarian Day and the sixth anniversary of the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad which killed 22 people – including Sergio. Though that bombing marked the first time that the U.N. was the direct target of a violent attack, the loss of aid workers is sadly not a rare occurrence – according to Michael Bear at Change.org, 81 have been killed this year alone.

In the Huffington Post, Navi Pillay, head of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, used the anniversary to make a strong argument for supporting human rights in the midst of humanitarian crises, stating, “It is very often abuse of human rights that causes humanitarian crises in the first place…Similarly, if human rights are ignored during a humanitarian crisis, the crisis will often deepen.” And Mark Leon Goldberg of the UN Dispatch posted a moving PSA as well as a link to an op-ed by Samantha Power from a year ago today.

Tragically, today will also be marked by one of the worst days of violence in Baghdad since June, with multiple explosions across the city, and the U.N. is reporting that two civilian employees of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan were among those killed in the attack on Kabul yesterday. This occurs just a little over a week after the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to renew their mission in Iraq for another year. We previously reported that Staffan de Mistura was stepping down as chief of that mission, and we wish his successor, Ad Melkert of the Netherlands, previously an associate administrator of the U.N. Development Program, the very best in moving forward. As CARE asks in their World Humanitarian Day Post, we all must take a serious look at why aid workers are being targeted more frequently and what we can do to ensure their safety.

China and Diamonds

2009-08-12T17:41:25-07:00

Today Mark Leon Goldberg of the UN Dispatch pointed out two important anniversaries. China and diamonds are the traditional anniversary gifts respectfully for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified 20 years ago, and the Geneva Conventions, signed 60 year ago today. However, instead of running off to Bloomingdale's, the United States might want to consider a more thoughtful gift. While we have started to reconsider the consequences that our “War on Terror” has had on the humanitarian principals behind international conflicts, it might be time to take another look at the Convention on the Rights of the Child – one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation aimed at helping children – and almost universally ratified, except by the U.S.

Darfur: Are we willing to hold our elected officials responsible for inaction?

2009-08-01T12:10:50-07:00

This week’s congressional hearings on Darfur and the quest for peace in Sudan could provide the necessary momentum for a shift in the Obama administration’s policy on the region which is currently under review. Witnesses at the hearings included UN Ambassador Susan Rice, former U.S. Envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson, Roger Winter, former special representative for Sudan to the deputy secretary of State, and John Prendergast and John Norris of Enough.

Winter, Williamson and Prendergast, who have been working on or in Sudan for decades, urged Congress to take a leadership position, to stand up and stand for the principles that they and many in the Obama administration upheld as they campaigned for their current positions. They also argued that Congress had a critical role to play as the Obama administration struggled to translate the signals coming from Khartoum. Winter, Williamson and Prendergast urged the representatives to not be fooled by these signals and to better understand how Khartoum has effectively used the international community as it has continued to wreak havoc on the people of Darfuran d the wider region. They also urged Congress to take a leadership role in demanding a comprehensive plan for the region, to recognize that the stop, start, piecemeal work was not only not working but was playing into Khartoum’s hands.

It seems clear that the Obama administration is split on its interpretation of events in Sudan and on the best course of action to take in the region. U.S. Special Envoy Scott Gration continues to argue for incentives (carrots) and to question whether in fact genocide is taking place in Darfur. UN Ambassador Rice takes a much firmer stand on Sudan believing, like many of the other witnesses, that sticks should be used instead and that Sudan has not earned any incentives. She also did not publicly question the legitimacy of the genocide charge. As more of these internal debates come to light, so did the stumbling of the Obama administration’s spokespeople. If Samantha Power were to update "A Problem from Hell," there is little doubt that she would include the exchange between the press and Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs PJ Crowley. Watch it here, and, as you do, reflect on this exchange between the press and State Department Spokesperson Christine Shelley shown in the first few seconds of this clip. .

This infamous exchange has now appeared in books, articles, and documentaries. It was this response to Rwanda that set the world on fire years later---as they read Philip Gourevitch’s "We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families," Samantha Power’s "A Problem from Hell," and watched Frontline’s Triumph of Evil, Greg Barker’s "Ghosts of Rwanda," and Terry George’s feature film, "Hotel Rwanda." It was the shock, sadness, shame and desire to not stand by while innocent people were raped, murdered and forced from their homes that inspired thousands of people — and many men and women running for office — to dare to say, “never again, not on my watch.” Indeed, it was their belief that something could and should be done that inspired them, us, to say it. Power was correct in her analysis: there is no political cost for standing by, for doing little or nothing, but there should be. There should be more than a moral cost, there should be a political one. But, that is up to us, the voters, and this is where the need for leadership comes in again---it's not just that Congressional leaders need to emerge and speak out, that leaders within the National Security Council need to emerge and speak out, leaders within the Obama administration need to emerge and speak out, it’s that we do. The only cost that will matter is a political cost and that only matters if we are willing to demand payment.

Darfur: When did our expectations for human beings get so low?

2009-06-26T09:04:56-07:00

Yesterday the Enough Project hosted a conference call on the situation in Sudan. In many ways, it was a “wake up” call, an impassioned plea to get people to stop hitting their snooze button on Darfur, looking for any reason to go back to sleep. As Enough co-founder John Prendergast said, a new (American) administration needs some time to settle. And, they’ve had some time.

Prendergast and Enough Executive Director John Norris discussed the recent comments by the US Special Envoy on Sudan, Scott Gration, particularly his claim that:

"What we see is the remnants of genocide. What we see are the consequences of genocide, the results of genocide. We still have thousands of people living in camps as IDPs. We have women who are still afraid to go out and collect firewood. And we have children that are not having the benefits of growing up in their homeland -- that are growing up in these camps. (…)The violence still exists where bandits and Janjaweed and warlords and those kinds of folks do conduct terrorist activities on these folks and do increase terror. But it doesn’t appear that it is a coordinated effort that was similar to what we had in 2003 to 2006."

If you have time, listen to Prendergast and Norris here. If not, consider the following. Article 2 of the Genocide Convention is actually very clear. It reads:

Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Women are afraid to collect firewood because they are being raped. Children are growing up outside their homeland because they have been forcibly removed from it. People are starving and dying of sickness because access to aid has been turned off. This is genocide. Because villages are not burning and aerial attacks are not taking place does not mean the genocide has ended. It means that Khartoum responded to the attention of the world and the bright light that was shining on Darfur for a while.

When asked about improvements in Darfur, Prendergast rightly responded with exasperation. Improvements? How are things “better”? Really, when did our expectations for human beings get so low? Debating how much better things are or how much Khartoum has “improved” the situation is a recipe for spinning our wheels and for becoming tangled up in precisely the kind of endless debate that impedes action.

So, it’s time to shine that light on Darfur again and turn up the heat on ourselves.

Twitter and Iran...A Review

2009-06-24T17:55:34-07:00

As we mentioned last week, the Iranian protestors’ use of Twitter has everyone talking about the future of micro-blogging. So just how powerful is the twitter revolution we’ve been hearing so much about? According to Gordon Brown, it means that “foreign policy can never be the same again,” which has unearthed some commentary from those who are still doubtful that what we’re seeing is a true sea change.

Noam Cohen of the The New York Times does a very good job breaking down the pros and cons of the social network as news outlet: difficult to censor – check, good at capturing the zeitgeist – yep, often inaccurate – definitely, easily adopted by those trying to spread misinformation – sure seems that way. Peter Daou of the UN Dispatch makes a more philosophical criticism, lamenting the fact that twitter hasn’t taken up the equally important issues of hunger or violence against women. This seems slightly unfair since attention going to issues of spiking drama is hardly a problem unique to new technology.

Steve Bloomfield of Things Seen and Heard makes the more pressing point that all the excitement might end in the old realization that “there is no direct correlation between us knowing about a tragedy and us doing something about it.” (A point that Good decided to express in statistical terms.) And while it remains to be seen where all this is headed, Cohen’s final point suggests that while there is no proof yet that Twitter can oust a government (Twitter only represented a small percentage of the tools used to organize protests in Iran), its power over traditional media is growing. When CNN failed to pick up coverage of protests last weekend, a Twitter campaign forced the channel to explain its decision.

Photo: Mykl Roventine on flickr under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en