Wednesday 7 December 2011

The Sad Reality

Been working on some research project for a while now. Today I have stared at my computer screen and I could not type a word. My mind just went blank, Sleep Mode. I guess I am just engulfed in my own thoughts and worries. Damn world! Plus I haven’t written in a while.


My research is conflict in the Horn of Africa. I’m focusing on Somalia and all the interventions that have come along with the conflict that has gone on since time immemorial. I never knew how bad this was, until I started ardently reading and getting information on what to write for my research project, and ever since I started working at an NGO.  I guess I have been in my own world. I have always thought that after I get my degree in International Relations and Communication, I can just come in and attempt to change the world.  Oh how I have been disappointed by my findings.
The world seems to have many kind hearts, with genuine intentions of making the world a better place. We sing about it, we talk about, people discuss about it, but it is one of the hardest things to achieve. Our world is realist, I have come to realize. I am not being an academic in this post; I am just relaying my thoughts. In university, I learnt so many theories. But to me, the one that fits this world is Realism.  In a nutshell, Realism says the world is all about Power, Money and such. This is true. We all dream to have money, power, and influence.
So sad is reality. Reality which is no one does anything, unless they have something to gain. It’s all culminating to an inhumane world. Conflicts are not as simple as I made them out to be. I used to think UN, AU and IGAD can just come up and Woooop say for example Somalia is in crisis, there is conflict, Let us send a fact finding mission then a peacekeeping mission, call for disarmament; call for complete cease fire, call for humanitarian intervention and it all folds out that way. Again, how I have been disappointed. I am relentlessly asked to send out letters to the bodies that have a mandate to protect us and "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military and nonmilitary action to "restore international peace and security (UN charter, chapter VII). It all still comes down to, am I gaining something? What is in it for me? We keep organizing meetings with so many high profile bodies. But it all amounts to writing more letters, writing more appeals, sending out the humanitarian situation reports out to show the urgency and need.  I thought all we had to do was say, "Hey, stop killing people!". But it's much more complicated than I ever anticipated. Every actor that can do something will not do it if they have no gaining point. And NOTE: People are dying, raped, displaced and tormented.   Conflict is inevitable. There is never a time that there is no conflict. Why? Because from that conflict, someone else is gaining, selfishly, if I may add. It’s all about power, egoism, and personal interests. Let people die, as long as I am gaining from it. Our world is sadistic. I find that so sad, so mean, so inhumane. I don’t even know how to best put it.
This is not to say that all efforts have failed. The Rwanda case, as much as it came too late, had led to the arrest and trials of prominent figures involved in the 1994 Genocide. Too late because yes, justice is prevailing now, but had the international community intervened then, then not so many people would have died. In my opinion, If Rwanda had oil, maybe they would have intervened sooner. The damage would not have been as gruesome as it was. In Sudan, it has succeeded to some part. I say this because the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed. But still, the international Guarantors  are not holding on to their promises of making sure all is implemented. There is still a lot of conflict in Sudan border areas, that are spilling into South Sudan. Conflict, a huge one, is now looming there. Annnndddd...We are still waiting on the Regional and international bodies to send a fact finding mission, and agree to a ceasefire and push for unimpeded humanitarian access to the area and so on. Annnnnd, people are dying, hungry,they cannot cultivate meaning there will be , or there already is famine, women are being raped, kids are being bombed around. But what to do but wait for the resolutions to be passed as the powerful ones take their time in making decisions sipping on their cups of tea and coffee, expensive vodkas and smoking cigars in their peaceful homes. Maybe if they were in such a vulnerable position, they would understand.They would understand how it feels to watch your kid, wife, mother, relative die. Not die, but killed, murdered, bombed, shot at, raped, right infront of your eyes. And you cannot do anything about that fact. Maybe then, they would understand. But they are comfortable, they do not FULLY know what is happening, they may not even care, but they are the ones we are waiting on so that something can be done. Sigh.
Anyway, I shall not stop dreaming of a free peaceful world. I shall not stop dreaming that the world will be full of Anuradha Koiralas and Narayanan Krishnans. I will not stop dreaming of a world where children will sleep and play peacefully and grow up well, without fear. They do deserve that. I may just be dreaming, but as long as it makes me sleep better at night, and as long as I am trying to make it that way, then I shall not stop dreaming. Besides, I feel that we dream for something and go for it, not matter how difficult it may be. So I shall continue to dream.
I guess this is how the NGO world works, so this too shall be my motto and my mindset, because I am not giving up for the sake of Humanity!
I cannot allow these people to die, people who have come to me for help
with death staring them in the eyes. Whatever punishment may be
imposed on me, I know I should follow my conscience.
-- Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara 
                     There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice,
but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.