The Teddy Bear's Courage

Hi guys, I'm back.

I've kind of been lagging on making posts lately, but now is definitely the time for me to get back to it. Yesterday, Friday 30 November, 2007, the Muslim sabbath, thousands of Sudanese persons in the capital Khartoum rallied to demand the execution of a British teacher whose students named a class mascot Muhammad.

Keep in mind that Muhammad and all its various derivatives and spellings is the most popular name in the Muslim world. It is on the top 50 list of most popular names in ENGLAND AND WALES. The basic truth is that if a black or Muslim teacher had allowed their class to name a teddy bear Muhammad, it would not have been remarked upon. Don't give me some shit that a Muslim teacher wouldn't name a Teddy bear Muhammad, that's bullshit.

The Sudanese government, known war criminals, although no evidence solid enough to indict has yet been documented, is scapegoating this woman in the hopes that enough popular resistance to so-called "western interference" and "insensitivity" can marshal enough UN doubt and/or sympathy to rationalize their refusal to approve UN peacekeeping engineers from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, units critical to the safety of the mission and therefore possible deal-breakers for the entire viability of the mission.

I remind you that the Sudanese government is not only a state sponsor of terrorism, it also condones, supports, and most likely engages in slaving, slavery, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and
intimidation. These are crimes they repeat on a daily basis in Darfur, evidence of which could not possibly be concealed if the UN mission is ever allowed to deploy. The motivation for the government of Sudan to whip its subjects into a frenzy against non-Muslims is clear. What is NOT clear is why the British government, and the American government as well, has still not responded, and why the populations of said countries are not demanding intervention.

No matter how staunch a neo-conservative you are, no matter how Machiavellian a politician, you cannot possibly justify the strategic interest in non-intervention. The marginally useful anti-terrorism intelligence they provide, the (admittedly) substantial oil resources, which are mainly in the South of the country anyways, cannot possibly be of substantial value to excuse inaction. The south of the country would welcome a US sponsored, railroaded UN declaration of independence for the region anyways, given that the majority population is non-Arab, and even for the most part non-Muslim. The Arab-Muslim government which rules from the north, has oppressed the south for decades, fighting a rebellion that only grew over time until forced to grant the region semi-autonomy. Before Darfur, the mujahedeen militias the government arms were raiding south instead of west, and because southerners are "infidels", they enslaved the civilians of the villages they raided in massive numbers most westerners never imagined. The only reason the south was included in the borders of Sudan in the first place was because the modus operandi of evacuating colonizers was to leave a minority ethnic group in control of an impoverished majority, on the assumption that this would keep the governments dependent on western support for the future. With the coalescence of pan-Arab identity, and the rise of an autonomous China, this strategy is no longer operative in Sudan anyway, so there is NO REASON to sustain the regime in Khartoum for another second.

I understand that western governments are fearful of a repeat of the Moghadishu incident more commonly known as "Black Hawk Down." But that's a completely unjustified fear. Mogadishu was planned as a surgical surprise assault, where tactical superiority required only enough firepower to secure a palace compound for an hour-long mission. It is only because the element of surprise was compromised that a chopper was brought down and the mission became a pitched battle in the streets with militiamen and armed civilians mobilizing and operating.

In this case there was no need for surgical force, even if surprise were used. Overwhelming firepower was called for in assaulting the prison and securing a perimeter in Khartoum (too late now that she's been moved to a secret location though) for as long as the extraction might have taken.

At any rate, it's not really the lack of military or substantial governmental response that bothers me, its the lack of self respect shown by westerners in not objecting on this woman's behalf. We have forgotten WHY we believe in democracy. Most of us think that we believe in it only because we were born into it, but that is not the case. Democracy is the result of trial and error over the course of 5000 years, and more, of cultural and social development. It is the greatest, fairest and most just system of government the world has ever known, and if that is sad to some of you, its because you've never lived under any other system and never had the decency to look into where we came from or how others must live even to this day. I'm not saying its spectacular, anywhere close to perfect nor absolving it of its responsibility for the evils it commits. I'm simply telling you, and I'm right, that it commits fewer than any other system ever. EVER. Fewer than nomadic, than tribal, than Iroquois, than Tibetan, fewer than Athenian or Republican Roman, than Solomon's Israel, and a damn sight fewer than Mohammed's Arabia. So get off your damn high horse with your "we're a better culture than to respond to such insults."

Look another group of humans in the eye, have the confidence to recognize the inferiority of their system, the decency to credit their innate ability to learn and the compassion to demonstrate our better way. Most of all, have the courage to believe that there is a truth and there is a falsehood in this world, in this life, and that defending it is not justified, but mandated.