EU intellectuals condemn Europe on Darfur dithering
March 24, 2007 (LONDON) — A group of prominent European intellectuals condemned European Union leaders on Saturday for dithering over the humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region.
In an open letter to several European newspapers, the 10 authors and playwrights accused the 27 EU leaders, meeting in Berlin to celebrate the bloc’s 50th birthday, of cowardice and called for tough sanctions against Khartoum.
“We call upon the 27 leaders to impose immediately the most stringent sanctions upon the leaders of the Sudanese regime,” they wrote.
“Forbid them our shores, our health service and our luxury goods. Freeze their assets in our banks and move immediately to involve other concerned countries,” they added.
The group consists of Tom Stoppard, Seamus Heaney, Harold Pinter, Dario Fo, Gunter Grass, Umberto Eco, Bernard Henri-Levy, Franca Rame, Vaclav Havel and Jurgen Habermas — all celebrated internationally for their intelligence, artistry and insight.
Khartoum has come under fresh pressure from Western powers to ease the suffering in Darfur, where experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes after rebels rose up against the government in 2003 accusing the central government of neglecting the vast, impoverished region.
The United States and the European Union are considering new sanctions against Darfur, but have not finalised any penalties.
The writers said the EU had been born in a bid to tie France and Germany together and prevent another world war, but had failed to adequately address conflicts on its own doorstep.
“How dare we European celebrate this weekend while on a continent some few miles to the south of us the most defenceless, dispossessed and weak are murdered in Sudan.
“Has the European Union — born of atrocity to unite against further atrocity — no word to utter, no principle to act on, no action to take, in order to prevent these massacres in Darfur?”, they wrote.
Washington calls the violence genocide and blames Khartoum for backing militias blamed for many of the worst atrocities.
Khartoum denies genocide and allegations of widespread violations, including killings, rapes and arbitrary arrests carried out by proxy militias, and blames the abuses on rebels.
The writers said the European Union had always been meant to be more than an economic and political club, but had allowed its moral backbone to wither while its financial one grew.
“Is the cowardliness over Srebrenica to be repeated?” they said, referring to the 1995 massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces in a United Nations-patrolled “safe area”.
“If so what do we celebrate? The thin skin of our political join? The futile posturings of our political class? The impotent nullities of our bureaucracies?”
(Reuters)
Darfur: a letter from Europe’s leading writers
Mar 24, 2007 — To the leaders of the 27 nations of the EU, How dare we Europeans celebrate this weekend while on a continent some few miles south of us the most defenceless, dispossessed and weak are murdered in Sudan?
Has the European Union – born of atrocity to unite against further atrocity – no word to utter, no principle to act on, no action to take, in order to prevent these massacres in Darfur? Is the cowardliness over Srebrenica to be repeated? If so, what do we celebrate?
The thin skin of our political join? The futile posturings of our political class? The impotent nullities of our bureaucracies?
The Europe which allowed Auschwitz and failed in Bosnia must not tolerate the murder in Darfur. Europe is more than a network of the political classes, more than a first world economic club and a bureaucratic excrescence. It is an inherited culture which sustains our shared belief in the value and dignity of the human being. In the name of that common culture and those shared values, we call upon the 27 leaders to impose immediately the most stringent sanctions upon the leaders of the Sudanese regime.
Forbid them our shores, our health service and our luxury goods. Freeze their assets in our banks and move immediately to involve other concerned countries.
We must not once again betray our European civilization by watching and waiting while another civilization in Africa is destroyed.
Let this action be our gift to ourselves and our proof of ourselves. And when it is done, then let us celebrate together with pride.
Umberto Eco
Dario Fo
Gunter Grass
Jurgen Habermas
Vaclav Havel
Seamus Heaney
Bernard Henri-Levy
Harold Pinter
Franca Rame
Tom Stoppard