Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.
Writing for Al Jazeera, Peter Greste describes the diverging stories surrounding a recent bout of fighting along the Kenya-Ethiopia border to make the point that in many cases “the solution to the fighting between the two ethnic groups is not to change genetics; it is to improve the way they are governed.” The piece also highlights the hazards of describing a conflict as “tribal”—for one, it absolves individual actors of responsibility by suggesting that the roots are age-old and immutable.
Ignoring the pithy title, CNN ran a great profile of 100cameras, a non-profit organization that teaches photography to children and empowers them to document their lives. 100cameras works with local organizations in Sudan, Cuba, New York, and India and raises money to benefit the children the groups serve by selling the photographs.
Ugandan playwright Judith Adong’s brave drama, “Silent Voices,” currently on stage in Kampala, questions the common rhetoric about the current reconciliation process in northern Uganda in the wake of LRA violence. Based on interviews Adong conducted while using drama as therapy for child soldiers, the play examines the experience of civilians post conflict: “[I]t is vital to remember that the victims feel betrayed that their leaders proclaimed forgiveness on their behalf without consulting them,” writes Foreign Policy contributor Jackee Budesta Batanda of an interview with Adong.
Reuters spotlighted a thousands-strong protest in the Democratic Republic of Congo over Rwanda’s role in the ongoing insurrection in the eastern part of the country. As the article points out, the fact that the government didn’t clamp down on demonstrators is news in itself: “Our country is being threatened by Rwanda and for the first time our government has understood this, that's why they've allowed us to march," a protester said.
Congo academic Maria Eriksson Baaz, who has conducted extensive interviews with Congolese soldiers and rebels, is a guest blogger on Jason Stearns’ Congo Siasa. Eriksson Baaz provides analysis about how (superficial) integration of rebels has undermined reforms of the Congolese military and offers suggestions about pitfalls that a potential peace agreement with the rebelling M23 fighters should avoid.