Hi Tipsters,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I am going to abuse this bandwidth this morning to ask you all to please
> think very carefully about the apparent hypocrisy of the US's failure to act
> to protect the innocent people of East Timor who are now again being
> slaughtered because they dared to express their desire for independence from
> Indonesia.
Just a few quick thoughts concerning the above statement regarding U.S. "failure
to act" and U.S. intervention in the Balkans (discussed below). For links
concerning East Timor, go to http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/holocaust.html.
1. First, the U.S. has a long history of non-involvement in response to
outbreaks of mass violence or genocide. Even for those situations in which U.S.
involvement occurred, the response was not immediate - certainly not within the
first seven days.
2. In relation to the Balkans, U.S. involvement only occurred in Bosnia after
the news media began showing images of mass graves and concentration camps.
Prior to that time, the U.S. remained relatively uninvolved as genocide
progressed unchecked. Frustration was felt by those correspondents involved as
their respective news sources did not want to initially extensively report on
the crisis. Once the news story became a topic of focus, public outrage played
a major contributing role in the U.S. decision to intervene. One could, of
course, question why the media remains so quiet in regards to event in East
Timor, the Horn of Africa, the ethnic cleansing of minority ethnic groups in
Myanmar (Burma) such as the Karen and Shan, etc.
3. In relation to Kosovo, it is important to remember that the intervention was
a NATO intervention. For NATO to take action, all NATO countries must agree to
the action. Only a single negative vote is required to nullify any NATO
proposed course of action. Thus, while strength of support may have varied, all
NATO countries agreed to the action. It was not simply U.S. intervention.
4. Also in relation to Kosovo, it is important to remember that before
intervention actually occurred, months passed with threats of action if
repressive policies were not halted. This, of course, is not to say that the
methods of intervention used in response to the crisis in Kosovo were the best
or most appropriate responses (different issue and debate).
5. In Kosovo, the individuals responsible for coordinating the growing mass
violence were members of the recognized government of Serbia. In East Timor,
the violence appears to be the work of pro-Indonesian militia in East Timor
Their level of connection to the Indonesian government is unclear. The
governmental force which would have the greatest impact at halting the
killing/destruction would be Indonesian.
6. Related to the above - One of the other difficulties inherent in this
situation is the lack of clarity as to the role played by the Indonesian
government in the violence. While those in Jakarta may not be directly
supporting the outbreak of violence, there are few motives except outside
pressure for intervention. East Timor is not alone in its desire for
independence and other Indonesian territories are watching closely the outcome
of these events.
7. The U.S. is currently using its usual methods of response to such a crisis.
Statements have been issued, economic sanctions are being considered, and
pressure is being placed both on those in Jakarta but also Portugal (East Timor
was previously a Portuguese colony).
8. The organizational structure which could intervene (much like NATO) would be
ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations. They would have the greatest
economic, political, and military ability to pressure Jakarta to act to
intervene in the violence.
9. The U.N. nation that would be best placed to intervene in the violence is not
the U.S. Rather, Australia has already placed their peacekeeping troops on 24
hour notice.
10. All of this raises on on-going issue concern - the lack of any
international mechanism towards halting a sudden or growing outbreak of
genocide. At this point, almost all recourse has been after-the-fact
involvement through international tribunals to publicly try individuals guilty
of the crime of genocide or crimes against humanity. At this point in time,
few genocides have even resulted in these tribunals or presentation before the
International Criminal Court.
> I for one find it hard to swallow after the months of "concern" over the
> plight of the Kosovar Albanians.
I take this beyond the U.S. government's concern over the Kosovar refugees to
that of the U.N., the media and the U.S. public. In June of this year, I
recounted some statistics (see Tips archive - June 20, "Kosovo, Africa, and
other parts of the globe") from the L.A. Times outlining differences in
responses to refugees in Kosovo and Africa. The differential response of the
U.N. (partly the result of differential resources being contributed for
distribution to the U.N. as well as to various N.G.O.s), the differential
reporting by the news media, and the differential response to reporting of
atrocity and the plight of refugees/displaced persons by the public.
> Even more hard to swallow because we sold
> and gave arms to the Indonesian government 25 years ago and essentially
> facilitated their outright genocide against the people of East Timor. We
> have a responsibility in this situation (in my opinion greater than the one
> we had in the Balkans), but apparently for all our lip service to protecting
> freedom and democracy whatever that responsibility is takes a back seat to
> our economic and political interests in that region.
It is difficult to argue large economic and political concerns in relation to
Kosovo whereas U.S. trade ties to Indonesia are not insignificant (thus, the
threat of economic sanctions is not a minor threat and not without ramifications
for the U.S.). Additionally, the arms given to Indonesia in the 70s were not
sold specifically to facilitate genocide. Rather, it is another in a long line
of instances involving U.S.-made arms being used for atrocity (or even being
used against the U.S). The lack of care demonstrated by the U.S. involving arms
sales continues to be a major problem However, as noted by Nancy, in regards
to the genocide of the East Timorese in the mid-seventies, many parties
including the U.S. and Australia share a measure of responsibility. This
certainly would argue that the U.S. and Australia have a basis for and
responsibility towards involvement today. Of course, the form of that
involvement is still open to question.
> I think you might find some relevance here as our racism (the Timorese are
> not white-skinned Europeans) plays a role. We certainly are selective about
> which genocides we wring our hands over!
Unfortunately, in regards to genocide, folks in the U.S. rarely wring their
hands over genocide. General apathy has been more prevalent historically as
genocides remain in the back pages in short snippets of text of the newspaper
(for those who even read them). The only genocide which really sparked concern
was Bosnia. Kosovo could most likely be described as a pre-genocidal conflict.
Racism most likely has played a role in differential responses to
refugees/displaced persons if we compare Kosovo to Africa/Asia But even then,
other factors are also in play. For example, large outpourings of resources
have gone to parts of Africa at different times. And on occasion as the result
of corruption within a government, the aid never reached those most in need.
This certainly provides an rationale for non-action (I'm not arguing that this
is a good rationale). Additionally, months later, how many folks are still
contributing to or thinking of the Kosovar refugees. It is less likely that
individuals remain concerned over the course of years. Finally, as one
ambassador apparently stated in regards to Somalia (as reported in the
July/August issue of New Africa), "Well, there's really fatigue about Somalia".
> I hope that you will alert your students to this matter. I hope you will
> think about this, not put it out of your minds so quickly, and perhaps spread
> the word among your colleagues too.
Certainly, it is good to remain informed and active. This includes letting your
government officials know your thoughts on these issues. Folks can go to my
main web site for e-mail links to U.S. government officials including the
President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Senators and Representatives.
The link to listings for both Senators and Representatives includes snail mail
addresses and phone numbers.
In relation to alerting students, clearly this can fit within the context of
some courses within psychology. Additionally, I reflect back to my time as an
undergraduate - a time period which included the auto-genocide in Cambodia as
well as the genocide in East Timor. I am struck by the fact that this was
uniformly not mentioned in my psychology classes. Rather, my interest in and
knowledge of human rights was fostered outside of psychology. It was as if
concerns regarding human rights, war, genocide, social responsibility had no
connection to the study of human behavior. Granted this is just my musing on
personal experience - others may have had very different experiences at that
time.
L'Shalom,
linda
It is important to note that ethnic conflicts are rooted in ethnic fear and that
ethnopolitical wars include atrocities such as mass rape and ethnic cleansing.
We know that 80 percent of casualties are noncombatants, mostly women and
children, and that these conflicts cause post-traumatic stress on a vast scale
and destroy community structures that support mental health. . . . . . . With
the end of the Cold War, the warfare that we will face in the next century will
be ethnic in nature and it is critical to make this a pivotal issue within the
psychological community. - Martin Seligman, Immediate Past President APA
--
linda m. woolf, ph.d.
associate professor - psychology
webster university
main webpage: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/
Holocaust and genocide studies pages:
http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/holocaust.html (Includes East Timor Links)
womens' pages: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/women.html
gerontology pages: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/gero.html
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
