By Britt Perkins
The Devil Came on Horseback
Synopsis:
“In this unflinching documentary on the genocide in Darfur, former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle is forever transformed by the atrocities he witnesses as a military observer for the African Union. Armed only with his camera, Steidle records the killings of black Africans at the hands of Janjaweed militias funded by Sudan’s Arab government. With his bleak photos, Steidle focuses attention on the horrors ignored by the rest of the world.”
After reading this summary, I avoided watching the documentary for a few days, because I wanted a bit of time to prepare myself for its content.
Finally, I did. It was gory, but I somehow still felt detached from the issue.
Maybe the flood of violence we are exposed to inoculates us against a strong response to one more picture of a dead baby, one more pile of rotting bodies. After the Holocaust and Rwanda, I feel like I’ve been brought up with outrage that is often suffocated by apathy.
I was struck most significantly by the frustration that Capt. Steidle felt about his inability to help. His Marine training prepares him to deal violently with attacks on civilians. But instead of shooting the Janjaweed with his rifle, all he had was his camera.
My commiserating frustration was exacerbated by U.S. declaration of genocide by Colin Powell years after the conflict had begun and his request: not for immediate peacekeeping intervention, but for “further investigation.” Wasn’t the situation already investigated in order to deem it genocide? What more needed to be proven?
Though clearly representing only the views of the black Sudanese, their story is poignantly told in this film. I remember one man the most. At the end of his story, he made it a point to thank the Americans. Thank them for the food and water and medicine. Because from the Islamic nations, he said, they received nothing. They are Muslim, yet because they are black, they receive nothing.
This is not to generalize the Islamic world as being uncharitable. It’s also worth pointing out the Sudanese government and members the Arab world had little representation in this film. But the most important aspect of this man’s comment is to point out the complexity of race and religion in this situation.
And this struggle has been going on for years. One scene featured Obama as senator speaking at the Save Darfur rally in 2006. This film was published in 2007. Now 2009, a revised Sudanese strategy was just released Oct. 19 from Secretary Clinton and the Department of State. Mainly political in content, the document calls for increased incentives and penalties in dealing with the Sudanese government.
This is still frustratingly ridiculous as Capt. Steidle commented that he could help protect a village with just ten men. Though I don’t think that launching a counter-attack against the Jajaweed and Sudanese military would be at all productive, but it would be impossible for these people to be harmed so easily if there were more protective security compounds and alert systems built.
One interesting aspect discusses coming to peace agreements between all portions of Sudan or creating two separate states, which I had never heard prior to this release.
Darfur is still happening, but so is diplomacy. Hopefully the latter will begin to work faster.
Tags: Darfur • documentary