When I talked about volunteering for a year in Haiti, a country worn out by civil war, my Godfather, who has fought in the Algerian war, asked me two questions:
1. Why would you teaching them English help make any difference?
2. Does one really need to experience war in order to fully understand it?
I had my very own answer to the first one – being that speaking the language of the empowered might in turn help empower them.
But the second question left me puzzled. I could see in his eyes that the atrocities he had witnessed, the dead bodies, the cruelty of so-called humans, were too much of a memory to bear. He could probably still hear the shrill sounds and smell the filthy perfume of death. I knew he wish he hadn’t.
I thought maybe it is necessary to go through such a horrifying experience in order to realize its full extent. In order to be so shocked that one would fight heart and soul to put an end, and even prevent, ANY sort of armed conflict.
I thought world leaders would behave very differently should they actually have to fear for their lives, seeing the woman they love being raped by 10 soldiers. Seeing their 6-year-old son tortured in front of their eyes, helpless and hopeless.
Maybe it would. But what good would it do? And what kind of human being would need to go through such length when the sight of a photograph of a decapitated child should be enough? When the macabre account of an eyewitness should revolt any decent human being?
I still don’t understand why there is war. Of course I know about politics, thirst for power and territorial expansion. I know some cultures or religions have been repressed for so long that they now seek what they believe to be well-deserved retaliation. And I know the power of brainwashing mixed with strong drugs and alcohol…
I am aware of a demon that quietly sleeps in each and every one of us. I believe we have both good and evil in our soul. Most of us choose to be good and peaceful because it is the right thing to do. We are moral human beings. And we believe nothing can morally justify the death of anyone – not one person, not one child, and certainly not millions of them.
When I watched “The Devil Came on Horseback”, I was obviously stunned.
Former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle has what most journalists lack in Darfur: visual account. Because indeed one horrible picture is not enough; people need thousands of them. And even then, they soon forget.
Some people know more about Britney Spears’ breakdown than about the conflict in Myanmar that’s being going on for over 30 years and has killed thousands and thousands of people. And why wouldn’t they? All the media attention if focused on celebrities; you don’t see any paparazzi in a country at war. It’s much easier to numb our brain with stories we have no control over. Stories that leave us guilt-free.
Steidle exposes the situation and atrocities of an Arab run government systematically executing a plan to rid the province of its black African citizens. He shows pictures as well as footage. It’s true. It’s fact. People are being killed. Tortured. Decapitated. Raped.
The interesting and rather disgusting thing in the movie is how governments, the international community and even regular citizens react to Steidle’s account of what he’s seen.
There’s a never-ending debate as to whether the situation in Darfur should qualify as genocide or not. I understand that under the Geneva Convention, the international community has to intervene in case of genocide. But… does that mean nothing can be done even if thousands of lives are lost for no significant reason?
Who cares how we call it?
I remember a part in the movie where Steidle is speaking in front of an audience, showing pictures and describing what he’s seen. Then comes the question-answer portion of the conference where diplomats and even Sudanese QUESTION whether or not what Steidle is saying is true. They question whether it is genocide or not.
I was disgusted.
The conflict in Darfur is still going on as I am writing this. And when (if?) it ends, it will take years to rebuild a country devastated by war. And how can one ever forgive? Because forgetting is out of question.
At this very instant, I can see the city through my window, vibrant with night life. A city that never sleeps. And I wonder what can be done. We are all robots going about our business, lost in our personal drama. Isn’t that enough, even sometimes too much?
On a smaller scale, if two of my friends have a conflict, is it my place to interfere in their business? Maybe. They might be so lost in the heat of the moment that they forget any sense of morality and try to harm each other. They might need me to meditate.
On a larger scale, this is what the international community should be doing. Intervening. But:
1. Is it their responsibility?
2. Isn’t that too much of a burden?
3. Shouldn’t they let those countries resolve their own problems?
The dilemma here is so complicated that there is no right answer. Most countries at war were left with social division by their colonizers. Some are funded by powerful government who profit from internal division, from selling arms and hoping to gain control over a territory rich in natural resources. Hello hypocrisy.
But armed conflicts have been going on as long as there have been humans on earth. We would like to think that the world has evolved to a point where we are civil enough to talk rather than resorting to violence. That’s what they teach us in school. That’s what most of us do.
But war is on a totally different level.
And “the Devil Came on Horseback” simply is a reminder of how many people profit from it. Steidle was even saying how he got phone call of US officials ordering him to stop showing those pictures.
A friend of mine once asked me why people spend so much energy trying to make things right everywhere when there is so much to do at home, with the homeless, juvenile delinquency, child abuse and even domestic violence. Maybe she was right.. I don’t know.
But one thing I know, one thing everyone knows deep deep down, is that war isn’t right. I dream of a world at peace, but I doubt it will even happen. Call me pessimistic, call me a realist, war is too profitable to ever be defeated.
I guess all we can do is triumph over our own demons and try to make our immediate environment a peaceful place to live. And who knows, maybe microcosms of immediate peaceful environments will one day spread throughout the world. I certainly hope so.
