When Good Guys Go Bad

Time magazine printed an article that presents more nuanced view of the conflict in Darfur. Anyone who has read any of Alex De Waal's books on Darfur knows that the conflict cannot be classified simply as the massacre of Africans by Arabs, but that is the general theme that we seen in public rallies. Maybe it is because it is easier to rally public sentiment around black and white issues rather through a more complete presentation of the facts. This photograph was taken by Yuri Kozyrev / Noor for TIME.


The Enough campaign is as compelling as it is accurate. There have been massacres here at the hands of Arab militia against non-Arab groups, and you will not find many Arab groups among the displaced. But it is important to underscore the fact that the non-Arab groups are also armed and have not simply stood aside and watched their people be marginalized politically and economically by the central state. They have taken up arms, mobilized small armies, and engage regularly in armed skirmishes with the national army and Arab militia groups.

This Time Magazine article is seeking to balance the perspectives on the war and not the change your mind about what is right or wrong about the conflict. Nor does it seek to justify the government's response to rebel attacks. It is not an apologist article. The Save Darfur campaign will tell you that there is no comparison between the government of Sudan forces and the so-called African rebel forces. But in my perspective, war is never clean. There are no good guys.

Please read the article. It reminds me somewhat of what happens to members of racial groups in the US that came together to defend their neighborhoods against racism and oppression. The Italians had their Mafia, Latino gangs keep their women safe from outsiders, African-American gangs started for much of the same reason. Protect the neighborhood from the real threat of outside oppression, violence, and theft. If police refuse to patrol your neighborhoods, you launch your own protection group. You collect funds from your community to keep THEM safe. Talk to the Hmong, Vietnamese, and Laotian groups in Los Angeles and they will tell the same story. They felt exposed as a community. No one seemed to understand their needs. Something had to be done.

Times change and needs change. Groups eventually morph into burdens for their communities rather than assets. Somewhere along the way, members lose their way, the cause is lost, and they start to prey on their own.

Keep this in mind when you read this article. It is not a phenomenon that affects people thousands of miles away from you. It is phenomenon happening right now in your own neighborhood. What are we doing to save our own towns; our own backyard Darfurs?