Report on Genocide by Jane Springer

In Genocide, Jane Springer starts by examining the mass murder of Africans in Darfur by the janjaweed (the armed Arabic horsemen, hired mercenaries of the Sudanese government, paid to exterminate the African people). Springer describes in vivid detail the plight of the African people, their hopelessness, and how the outside world barely seems to notice what is going on—the media only intermittently covering the genocide in Darfur.[footnoteRef:2] From there Springer pulls back from the micro and examines the macro—the history of human rights in the West, and where our present regard for human rights comes from—i.e., the ideals of the French and American Revolutions—the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness; equality, fraternity, liberty.[footnoteRef:3] Springer takes note of several of the defining moments and works of the 18th and 19th centuries that advocated or pushed for equal rights, whether for all people or for women—including Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Women. [2: Jane Springer, Genoicide (Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books, 2009), 9.] [3: Ibid 16.]
Once having set this historical context for why we should be upset about genocide, she then goes on to describe the Jewish Holocaust of WWII and how the UN reacted to that with its new “crimes against humanity” charge.[footnoteRef:4] She describes the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights, essentially a two hundred year belated response to Rousseau’s charge that “Man is born free—and everywhere he is in chains.”[footnoteRef:5] The Genocide Convention was established thereafter, which Springer regards as a “high point in the history of human rights.”[footnoteRef:6] Springer then jumps back in time again, going Biblical to show how genocide has been depicted throughout history, before touching on other genocides throughout history—the Armenian genocide, the Carthaginians, and others. She discusses what it means to be a victim of genocide, how to prevent, and why nothing is being done about the genocide in Darfur: “to date, no government or group of governments has adequately confronted the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. There is no ‘political will’—no commitment by governments to devote the needed efforts and resources”[footnoteRef:7]—in other words, in spite of the UN declaration, nothing of any significance is being done to stop the atrocity in Africa. It is as though the world were silently backing the Sudanese government, and indeed with China supplying them with weapons it does appear to be the case.[footnoteRef:8] [4: Ibid 19.] [5: Jean Jacques Rousseau, Social Contract (1762), 1.] [6: Springer, Genocide, 26.] [7: Ibid 100.] [8: Hilary Andersson, “China is fueling war in Darfur,” BBC, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7503428.stm]
The main points Springer makes are that in spite of the West’s history of having personally experienced genocide, and its high-minded UN declaration, it still does little to get directly involved in issues like the Darfur region. Indeed, Springer notes that Genocide Watch identifies 20 different regions where genocide is occurring, from Chad to Chechnya, and nothing is getting done to address these instances. It is as though the UN were merely paying lip service to the idea of opposing genocide but no more. Springer shows that prevention is necessary to stop the roots of genocide from developing—and this means rooting out the racist and political ideologies that lead to genocide, as she sees it. It also means freeing up the necessary forces so that Western troops can be sent to areas to help stop genocide from occurring—and that means getting soldiers out of Iraq and the Middle East so they can go help in Sudan and other parts of the world where genocide is happening.[footnoteRef:9] Springer wants the reading public to know that although genocide has occurred in the 20th and 21st centuries, it does not have to keep continuing. Those nations that signed the UN Declaration have a duty and responsibility to stop genocide from reoccurring. She shows that the main problem is a lack of action on their part. She urges readers to get involved by supporting and petitioning their governments to act to stop genocide around the world. [9: Springer, Genocide, 102.]
One of the ways Springer recommends that nations and individuals fight against acts of genocide is to acknowledge them. Genocide Watch helps to get information out, but mainstream media does little to cover these issues. That means it is up to people at the grassroots level to spread the word and get others up to speed about what is going on. The more people become aware, the more they will put pressure on their governments and lobby for intervention.[footnoteRef:10] Springer argues that it is important to ensure that the events of genocide are discussed, so that the history is remembered and passed on to future generations: if people forget about the horrors of genocide and the mistakes of the past, they are doomed to repeat history all over again. The informed are more likely to be vigilant and to prevent hostile political and social ideologies from taking over and leading to violence against groups. That is why Springer recommends people actually talk about what is happening in places like Darfur: it may be uncomfortable and horrific, but the subject has to be addressed. In places like Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, the story is the same. The less people get engaged, the worse it gets and the longer genocide is permitted to go on. At the end of the day, the UN declaration is nice, but unless average ordinary people are involved, the problems will be ignored by leaders. That is why future generations have to be reminded of these problems—so that every generation is on top of it. [10: Ibid 31.]
What Springer means by “every genocide begins as a hate crime”[footnoteRef:11] is that the roots of genocide are in ideologies of hate. The Arabs hate the Africans because of their ethnic and religious differences—so they seek to kill them. Similar hate is found in the Israel-Palestine conflict.[footnoteRef:12] The Israeli apartheid state has been colonizing territory in Palestine since 1948, and their motive is similarly rooted in hate: they view themselves as God’s chosen people and non-Jews as animals. This hateful ideology is then expressed politically and militaristically as Israel drops white phosphorous on Palestinian school children, which leads to Palestinians firing rockets into Israel; the back and forth continues even today.[footnoteRef:13] This problem is based on hate and that is what really needs to be addressed, according to Springer. [11: Ibid 108.] [12: Springer 101.] [13: Rory McCarthy, “Israel accused of indiscriminate phosphorous use in Gaza,” The Guardian, 2009. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/25/israel-white-phosphorus-gaza]
In conclusion, it is important to remember that when hate turns into a dominant ideology, whole groups can suffer. Holocausts have happened all throughout history. The Holocausts in WWII (German, Russian and Asian), the Holocausts in the Middle East that have occurred as a result of the Western invasion there following 9/11, the Holocausts of the past—and so on: all of these have one thing in common—an attitude of hate from one group to another. That attitude has shaped political, social, domestic and foreign policy. Holocausts are part of the human history of the world. However, genocide is not something that should be accepted just because it is common in the story of humankind. Genocide and the hate that fuels it should be rejected by societies that have the power to stop their spread.
Having finished the book and given thought about how I might help to counteract acts of genocide in Darfur, the Congo, Syria and in many other parts of the world, I can say that the best course of action I can think of is to spread the word and raise awareness about what is really going on. The more people who know, the more that positive action is likely to take place. People also feed of off one another’s positive energy, so by raising awareness, it may happen that I might a kindred spirit who feels the same and together we get something going that we can use to make a difference. I would like to get in touch with Congress and organize people to lobby Congress to stop supporting a war in Syria especially, because we have got to get out of the Middle East. Once we are out of there we can begin to focus on ending genocide in other parts of the world by getting more people linked together using social media to disseminate information and get people involved. YouTube can be a great way to spread information far and wide and make new contacts. I would like to start a YouTube channel and maybe even a podcast that can focus specifically on sharing information about genocide in the world so that listeners can obtain the best information out there. By inviting excellent speakers to be guests on the podcast, we could really raise awareness.
The pages from the book that helped me answer the required questions were: 9, 16, 19, 26, 31, 100, 101, 102, and 108. Those pages contained the main points that I took from the book and gave me the most important information regarding the questions for this paper.
Bibliography
Andersson, Hilary. “China is fueling war in Darfur.” BBC, 2008.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7503428.stm
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract, 1762. Bartleby.com.
Springer, Jane. Genocide. Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books, 2009.