Justice for all

Hope you have all had a great week(end)! The past few days have been absolutely perfect one for me - delicious cupcakes from Molly’s, a friend’s birthday celebrations, Dillo Day (annual day of fun, sun, and concerts from Regina Spektor, Guster, and Nelly at Northwestern), a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo (although I am still not a fan, morally, of zoos…this did confirm this viewpoint), and the excitement of another close friend visiting NU from out of town.

After I handed in my thesis on April 30th, I’ve just been trying my best to enjoy the time I have left in Chicago. Now that I’ve finally found the time to relax and explore, it’s just begun to sink in how very much I am going to miss this place and the people I love. I am, of course, excited to graduate and move on to a new chapter in my life. I haven’t really mentioned this on my blog, but I’ll be doing an internship with the ACLU’s National Prison Project in D.C. and then I’ll be working full time for a civil rights law firm - also in D.C. And while I am eagerly anticipating exploring my chosen field of public interest law in the nation’s capital - the perfect environment for public interest work - I am incredibly sad to leave behind the life I’ve built here in my three years at NU. But what would life be without change and growth, right?

Since this weekend has been busy, I thought I’d start the week off with some of the articles I’ve been seeing around this week. Lots of news here, so enjoy!

• Hunting for Liberia’s Missing Millions - How much money did Charles G. Taylor, the deposed president of Liberia, siphon out of his destitute, war-shattered country, and where is it?
• The Scarlet Letters: HIV and Adolescent Life in Africa - A great example of how to write about Africa, by the Atlantic. h/t Texas in Africa.
• Amnesty International - Report 2010, State of the World’s Human Rights. Make sure to check out Amnesty’s annual report; I find the topic of the “global justice gap” particularly fascinating.
• LGBT Legal Status Around the World - Great website & resource I ran across via Twitter. Reflects the growing gay rights movement not just in the U.S. but worldwide (or rather, this type of information helps to bolster the activist movement).
• Behind the logo: different takes on the BP logo in light of the recent oil spill. Pretty fascinating! I think I like this one best..
• Zimbabwe says, we can imprison gay people too! A frustrating trend… except it’s not really a trend. Many governments have had harsh laws, even the death penalty, for being gay for years. Only NOW is the world noticing!
• International justice drama to open in Kampala - the ICC review conference!
• Another article about the ICC which is particularly interesting, talking about the crime of aggression. What do you think? Should this be included in the ICC statute?

That’s it for now. More blog posts coming soon. Happy Monday & Memorial Day to all!

If you have been keeping up with the news lately, I am sure you have heard of Roxana Saberi, an American journalist who has been imprisoned in Iran with a sentence of 8 years for spying for the US government. However, these allegations are said to be unfounded.

Saberi is a freelance journalist who has been living in Iran for six years. She’s worked for top news organizations like NPR and the BBC, and grew up in Fargo, North Dakota. She has a diverse family background: her father is Iranian and her mother is Japanese. She was chosen as Miss North Dakota in 1997, and went on to get Master’s degrees from Northwestern and Cambridge.

Since I’m a current Northwestern student, I have to say I deeply empathize with her situation, and hope she is freed soon. I am sure the immense pressure on the Iranian government will help Roxana’s cause. After all, the campaign to “Free Roxana” has gained a lot of traction via Twitter, freeroxana.net, and the international news media. Most impressive, Iranian President Ahmadinejad made a statement that Saberi should be allowed to offer a full defense at her appeal. President Obama has publicly called for her release, expressing concern for her safety.

But why does Saberi get all the attention of heads of state and news media around the world? I say: because she is American. People rally behind her cause mostly because she’s American.

But what about Iranian people suffering under their government? Rarely is their plight so publicized, and rarely do Americans fight for the rights of an Iranian. Why is no one fighting for Mohammad Khamami, who has been sentenced to death by stoning by Iranian authorities? Oh, and how about two brothers - Arash Alaei and Kamiar Alaei - doctors specialized in treating HIV/AIDS, who were tried and sentenced in January for plotting to overthrow the Iranian government - but were not given a fair trial by international standards? Hmm…maybe it’s because their names are hard to spell, and of course, because they don’t have any connection to America. And US media would never talk about the fact that Iran has arrested and tortured many Iranians who attempted to visit the Ashraf Camp in Iraq in order to visit their relatives; women as old as 85 have been punished.

One positive development: Recently there has been a lot of support for 20 year old Iranian Delara Darabi, who has been sentenced to public hanging for a murder that occurred when she was 17 years old. At that time, her 19 year old boyfriend had forced Delara to falsely confess to the murder of a relative - to protect him from execution. Despite the evidence to the contrary, she’s on death row. The good thing is, her execution was postponed 2 months in part because of international pressure. Still, she has only 403 followers on Twitter, compared to Roxana Saberi’s 3602 followers. That’s a big difference. And the US news media definitely hasn’t written about her as much. Mostly because she’s not American.

Sure, it’s natural for people to support those they feel an affinity with — and Americans emphatize more strongly with Roxana Saberi. But this narrow-minded Western focus becomes a problem when it completely ignores the plight of local Iranians - and nationals of other countries as well. Saberi is lucky; she has the political connection to America and thus is having her voice heard. But most local Iranians are not so lucky to have such a network or such connections, and their problems get completely ignored.  Americans have a powerful voice and with that voice, can cause international outcry that can save lives. But inevitably, the US media selectively ignores many of those situations that don’t endanger Americans, leaving more marginalized populations to struggle alone just because they don’t have that connection to the US. Americans, along with the Western world as a whole need to look past their biases and understand that there is more going on than simply the abuse of one American journalist. With great power comes great responsibility, and this responsibility needs to be fulfilled.

As I’m currently on Easter Break, I’ve been constantly traveling. Right now, I’m at Northwestern University, visiting friends, studying for final exams, as well as catching up on meetings and activities. It’s been an exciting time, but since I’ve been so busy I haven’t had much time to update and write here. Forgive me for being M.I.A. — but in the meantime, check out some of these links for the latest and greatest in human rights news and blogs:

1. To Africa, From New York: “No, I said I’d only waterboard if I HAD to, and then only for 20 minutes….”
   The Obama Administration released some previously top secret documents about tactics used by the CIA today, at the same time that he promised those who implemented these tactics immunity from prosecution
2. Change.org Humanitarian Relief blog: When Aid Becomes Morally Indefensible
   So do you ask for the food, know that most of it will be used to further the insidious aims of the regime that has driven the country into the ground, but hoping that at least a few hungry people will benefit - or do you ask for the aid to be withheld, hoping to cutoff one of the regime’s own lifelines, even if more people will go hungry?
3. Internet and Democracy blog: Connecting India: Why Elections Need The Web
   Despite India’s bewildering diversity of languages, customs and religions, technology is building a bridge to more robust civil society. I am heartened by the cacophanous and lively blogospheric debates about the elections, which now compete with the Indian MSM and party propaganda machines for attention…
4. UN Dispatch: Death and Destruction in Sri Lanka While Few Pay Attention
   For the past three months the Sri Lankan government has engaged in a military campaign against the Tamil separatists, believing that this offensive can deliver the once and final blow to the Tamil Tigers 25 year violent insurgency…According to a document leaked to the AP, the United Nations puts the civilian death toll at around 4,500 with 12,000 civilians wounded.  Five children a day are dying from starvation and diarrhea.
5. Change.org Humanitarian Relief Blog: Challenging the Western approach to advocacy
   If we genuinely want to get governments to respect the rights of citizens, then we need to inspire them to do so, rather than shaming them when they don’t.
6. On the Ground by Nicholas Kristof: Free Roxana
   Today Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American from North Dakota working as a journalist in Iran, was sentenced to eight years in prison by the Iranian government. My heart aches for her and her family.
7. DPH: Vijay Mahajan speaks about new economics and micro-finance
   For the longest time there was only one bottom line and it was money. Then there was talk of a double bottom line, which meant monetary and social accountability. But now most leading corporations are trying to perform on a triple bottom line, namely profits, people and planet.
8. Mashable: How to use social media to champion international causes
   Essentially, your social networking profile makes you a public figure, and like Brangelina, you too can champion an international cause…If you’re a social media guru with an interest in international projects, below are a few ways you can contribute to humanitarian organizations.
9. Change.org Social Entrepreneurship blog: Plato and Brancusi on Branding and Responsible Media
   I wonder how much irresponsible media is actually symptomatic of an irresponsible worldview and irresponsible action which starts from the division of the world into the philanthropists and those to be helped? I wonder if the photos of fly-bitten, distended-bellied children are effect, not cause?
10. WSJ: Obama Can Make a Difference in Darfur
    The U.S. needs to lead the international community in presenting Sudanese regime officials with a choice. If they allow access to aid organizations, sideline their indicted president, and secure peace for Darfur and the South, then they will be offered a clear path toward normal relations with the U.S. and other coalition partners.

Nicholas Kristof is holding a competition called Win-a-trip, where an American college student will be selected to accompany Kristof on a reporting trip to Africa. This will give the student an invaluable opportunity to learn about issues and controversies in the developing world, travel with Kristof and learn from his vast experience, blog about the trip and have their voice heard on the NYT, and see with their own eyes – perhaps for the first time – malnutrition, lack of clean water, disease, poverty, conflict, violence, pain.

But one response from a student last year caught my eye. She argued that she refused to apply for Kristof’s contest because she thought there was too much negative coverage of Africa already; the world knows about Africa’s problems, its poverty, its hunger.

Americans don’t need any more stories of a dying Africa. Instead, we should learn of a living one. Kristof and his winners should investigate how it is that Botswana had the highest per-capita growth of any country in the world for the last 30 years of the twenty-first century. Report on the recent completion of the West Africa Gas Pipeline that delivers cheaper, cleaner energy to parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Tell us about investment opportunities in Nigeria’s burgeoning capital markets.

I agree and disagree. I disagree that we should no longer cover the “negative” aspects of what’s going on in Africa, because reporters aren’t responsible for spinning the stories. They are responsible for telling the truth of things as they are - and this means the good, the bad, and the ugly. Journalism is a mirror of reality, and the reality today is that there are vast problems on the continent. No wonder we hear negative stories every day - it’s not the media, it’s the truth. Instead of blaming the media, we have to take it into our own hands to change the underlying reality, which is the actual problem.

But I agree in another respect. There is enough negative coverage, but there isn’t enough constructive, inspiring negative coverage. There is a lot about war, famine, death, destruction. And there is a lot written objectively, which is, after all, the reporter’s job - to be a watchful, neutral eye, and to tell both sides of the story. This coverage is of course necessary. But it makes readers think, “There is so much pain in Africa, and I really don’t want to see any more of this because there is nothing much I can do. It is too painful to think about so let me just tune it out.” The current, objective news coverage isn’t enough. It encourages fatalism and disheartens the public without offering hope.

In addition to the negative and positive coverage out there, we need a more human face to reporting. We need news coverage that is hopeful and inspiring, that gives readers a reason to care, to give, to get involved, to learn - to fight for something bigger than themselves. We need more columns like Kristof’s. The reason I love Kristof is that he argues for something and gets people engaged; he challenges readers to not just read about atrocity, but to get fired up about it. True, there is already so much written about Africa. But Kristof’s column, I think, brings a fresh perspective to it. Other columnists focus on policies, politics, governments. But Kristof, plain and simple, writes about the people. He brings the news down to earth. He tells stories about peoples lives, about individuals’ pains, heartaches, struggles, and dreams. He gives the reader a personal connection with a human trafficking victim in Cambodia, a child soldier in Uganda, or a microfinance borrower in India. By weaving the magic of personal stories, struggles, and triumphs, he gives readers a glimpse of actual life in the developing world - and by doing this, he is going far beyond the typical “negative” coverage we see.

After all, why is it that countless news stories about war and destruction don’t affect us - but one movie, Slumdog Millionaire, shocked and horrified so many? We’re desensitized to the typical news media, because it reduces people to nothing more than numbers. Pages and pages of death. But inherently, it’s when we hear the personal stories of men, women and children across the globe that we realize: we are all the same, and a teenager just like me shouldn’t be suffering just because she was born somewhere else. And somehow, this personal connection is all the more powerful than a bunch of statistics - it makes us tap into something deeper, and allows us to realize that we are all connected far more profoundly than we can ever imagine.

And that’s what we need to see more of.