BRAVO, well done! Of the pitifully anemic 8.5 percent of undergraduates who voted in the student elections last week, 87 percent elected to condemn the horrific genocide occurring in western Sudan. Well, to be completely accurate, the voters elected to encourage the University to stop doing business with people who do business with the people who senselessly slaughter (as if it could ever be sensible) hundreds of thousands of human beings. Inspiringly worded, you must admit.
Thankfully, we've articulated our distaste for genocide by discouraging commerce with these barbarians. That should convince the murderous Janjaweed militias to lay down their arms in peace. Sarcasm aside, the referendum represents an incomplete yet vital step in our generation's duty to fulfill our moral purpose of humanitarianism. But our rejection of genocide must be met with more than a digital show of hands. It must be met with booming voices and, if necessary, overwhelming force. Rather than continue this frustrating exercise in futility, student leaders should assume their role as moral custodians and organize rallies, protests and petitions to support armed intervention in Sudan to stop the genocide.
The logistical and political questions of such a proposal are far too intricate to address intelligently in this column. That said, the eternal combat of ideologies follows the timeline of progress, but it only progresses when the morally righteous fight on behalf of virtue and liberty. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and, adhering to that sentiment, Americans have a duty to save Sudan from a similar fate as that of Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, East Timor, Cambodia, Chile and Iraq.
At a certain point, we cross an imaginary line after which toothless calls for "awareness" and "action" become tiring, even obnoxious. As any keen recovering alcoholic could tell you, awareness is the first step to recovery, but it should never be mistaken for attempting to stop the problem.
Students have the unique circumstance to be altruistic without the burden of political entanglements or business dealings. We are free to express our unadulterated ideals, if you will. Yet we temper our dissatisfaction with a bland request: Pretty please stop doing business with people who support war criminals. Clearly, the authors of this referendum, Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND), are absolutely virtuous and admirable in their convictions; this University has no place for amoral greed or ethical apathy. But they should express their discontent with more than a muzzled cry for awareness.
Bertrand Russell knew that the greatest problem posed to the world was that the ignorant are steadfast and confident while the intelligent seem full of doubt. STAND co-founder Brian Bolin commented, "Our main concern is that the conflict ends, but sending U.S. troops would enrage a lot of people." Bolin's hesitation embodies the latter part of Russell's warning.
If we indeed possess moral righteousness, which Bolin implies, why shy from imposing it forcefully? As has been taught by the haunting images of Rwanda and Bosnia, hesitation is often the watchword of needless death.
America receives prolific criticism for behaving as the world's policeman, the world's lecturer, the world's slave driver -- so we are burdened with these titles, why not embrace a few? Our role as the world's doctor, policeman and midwife for liberty should be embraced, not shamefully dismissed. A moral compass, like a navigational one, is only useful when wielded by someone who is able to use it. The tragedy that plagues this University, and youth in general, is not a lack of morals, rather a lack of willingness to use them.
Imagine if even 500 students gathered outside U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode's office demanding support for military intervention in Darfur. A group of passionate individuals willing to protest for their cause hold an unspeakable power that comes from freely exercising civil rights to protect the human rights of others.
There are few greater threats to the fragile moral fabric that binds our global society than the specter of genocide. And it is matched in evilness perhaps only by the apathy and complacency of good people.
Americans have the means to stop genocide, or at least, we have the moral obligation to try. The American government and their tacit supporters have failed humanity's ultimate cause, for the betterment of world society, by allowing genocide to haunt us for another generation. In the words of Nelson Mandela, it is a long road to freedom from tyranny, "but we dare not linger, for the long walk has not yet ended."
Dan Keyserling is Cavalier Daily Viewpoint writer.
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