Defining genocide
In: Index on censorship, Band 34, Heft 1, S. 6-13
ISSN: 0306-4220
A critique of the proclamation by the US government that recent events in Darfur qualify as "genocide." It is acknowledged that, following the letter of the 1948 Genocide Convention, these events do, indeed, seem to represent genocide. However, in practice, the term has generally been used in more extreme cases than the majority of cases that could be justified by the Convention alone. Determining that a genocide has occurred in Darfur responded to a range of pressure groups who, it is claimed, subscribe to an "interventionist narrative" that falsely imagines the US is normally responsible for putting an end to genocide and that it can and should continue to do so. This determination also serves an ulterior motive of attacking Muslim Arabs who are seen as terrorists, while imposing an Arab-African dichotomy that is particularly inaccurate in Darfur. Because of the external imposition of this dichotomy, conflict between people labeled according to it may worsen.