NEITHER THROATS NOR DIAMONDS CUT (IT)
by Richard Oxman

-The earth is not dying, it is being killed. And those who are killing it have names and addresses.-

Are there sins of omission associated with The Constant Gardener? Yah, quite a few. Both in the Meirelles film and the le Carre novel. If we're talking about the ongoing rape of Africa.

Keith Harmon Snow (http://www.allthingspass.com/) and David Barouski have risked their lives over time to write a very important article on this count (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=9832). It uses a recent Lancet revelation about the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a point of departure, and the historical record provided by the British medical journal is obligatory reading-along with the Snow/Barouski piece. AND along with staying far away from the ignorance and appalling apologetics of everything from -Hotel Rwanda- to Samantha Powers' A Problem From Hell.

The scale of suffering delineated certainly rivals any abomination on earth-before or since 1996. And it's slated to continue-with our complicity. As the whole world dies with the demise of Black Africa.

As Snow and Barouski note: -The peace and justice community remains unaccountable for its failure to take any significant actions to mitigate war in Congo and expose the reasons behind it.- One of the many practical, requisite actions they recommend is that spaces should be opened up to -alternative voices currently excluded by major social justice media venues.- That'd be-.

All leftist media outlets should be carrying the Snow/Barouski work for many reasons. Not the least of which is the fact that other foci among -progressives- (and all alternativos) –for the most part– cannot be addressed adequately without referencing the content of their report. We will not put an end to Iraqs without doing so. No advance will be made against runaway consumerism without doing so. And so on. (1)

But alternative outlets will not spotlight the real deal going on in Africa. Ditto for left-of-center organizations. And neutral observers.

One of the charms they provide comes when they list those who should have their throats cut. The last seven words are my way of putting it, not theirs. And perhaps I should use different language, invoke other thoughts. Yet-the situation begs for some kind of radical approach that goes beyond pedestrian protest.

In fact, to review, the authors do serve up some very meaningful suggestions for doing something. Nonviolent, necessary, and-in enough cases-new.

I promise you that you will never look at Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, CARE, UNHCR, Doctors Without Borders, Boston Globe or National Geographic without a much more critical POV again, to say the least. And there are many other institutions/organizations that should be of intense interest on their -S list.- Ditto for some very important businesses and individuals too. The Too Too Prestigious and Precious.

It's fascinating to me that Michael Albert of ZNet can provide the public with the two-part article, and yet put it on a par with such sub-par pieces in his online presentation. The Snow/Barouski epiphany deserves to be spotlighted, made to stand out from the crowded collection of daily postings. If what I'm suggesting holds water, it seems to me that that would fall under the umbrella of editorial responsibility. Much needed advocacy journalism.

To wet the wheels. To whet the Alternative Appetite. To lubricate The Left. To get us going.

But the only constant one can count on in that realm is refusal to take the lead, and break new ground in this regard. Nothing new-like what I'm trying to share with you here.

To clarify, Amy Goodman conducted an interview with the marvelous Arundhati Roy recently (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/03/151200). Whilst running through some tidbits about Bush's visit to Asia, the Indian author and activist (and soulful diamond!) mentioned in passing that she was not –contrary to popular reports– going to be giving any speeches at the upcoming WSF in Pakistan. Essentially, Arundhati made it clear that she had grown beyond what she now considered an inefficacious use of energy.

The World Social Forum passé? As per Arundhati? THIS IS NEWS!!! Mucho fresh food for thought, at the very least.

But Our Leader Goodman could only find it in her (editorial) heart-to bury it all at the end of the taped interview-where even the vast majority of her choir are unlikely to catch the watershed comments. Where it is guaranteed to be lost.

And being lost-the WSF –highly touted by the influential Alberts of the world– is slated to continue on its downward spiral, accomplishing not nearly enough to justify the heartbeats involved.

The Lost losing a chance to help “the losers” in our very sick, cutthroat game.

But-don't lose heart. There is the freshness of deep down things like the Snow/Barouski diamond, bathed in a bloodlight that will derange you into your senses. If you have blood with which to feel gems.

Neither Black Africa nor we have to disappear.

Footnote:

(1) Please write if you'd like me to draw a direct line of relevance between what absorbs your alternative hours and what's on the table here.

Richard Oxman, info@parisgraves.com, trusts that everyone will get on the -no gold/no diamonds bandwagon- for starters. His recent, most updated, writing is at www.oxtogrind.org.