A documentary exploring the Sudanese civil war which erupted in 1983-- through the eyes of a hip-hop star who was forced to fight as a child. This 2008 film begins with some history: The Arab-dominated government of the north fought against the Christian and Animist rebels of the south. Two Million died; four Million were displaced. During the two decades of the war, over 10,000 child soldiers were used. Here is a site about Jal's movement for peace: iamboigenius we-want-peace
[ How to force children to kill:
A most horrifying depiction,
which deepened my understanding of the psychological aspects
of this unbearable crime --occurred
when i watched the Movie,
Blood Diamonds. I am still traumatized whenever i think of it. ]
War Child shows how "his powerful songs reveal his very complex feelings about one of the world's overlooked tragedies" -- The former first lady of southern Sudan, Garang, said of Emmanuel, "There are people fighting who are using the guns; there are people fighting who are using the songs...
K-State brought Simon Deng to campus, who told his story: HEREDeng became a slave at the age of nine when he was abducted by an Arab neighbor and taken to northern Sudan where he was given to an Arab family as "a gift." Deng's traumatic enslavement lasted three and a half years. Despite being a child, he was forced to work continually and was frequently required to do things no child should: He only could eat table scraps left after the family had eaten, was beaten regularly and was forced to sleep in a barn with the family's animals.
More:
HERE is a 52 minute docu on youtube.
HERE is a Wiki page on Emmanuel Jal.
And HERE IS a history of the Sudanese lost boys:
- "Experts say they are the most badly war-traumatized children ever examined..."
We Want Peace: http://www.we-want-peace.com/
As i watch this documentary, it is a constant back and forth of hope/forgivness and overwhelming psychological pain/bitterness.
Jal describes how things began-the arab government came and destroyed everything;
Burnt the fields.
killed the cattle, kill the families.
Mass murders.
His village saw food aid falling from the sky--
he remembers "we would run for it and find big bags which said, 'USA' and in my heart i said one day i would go to America..."
(Regarding America, he was so impressed with how we can criticize the President..."the way people make fun of george bush, he doesn't mind...if you do that in africa, you are asking to die...")
"My prayer is for the day when our leaders are more willing to serve their people, than to be served..."
He spoke of the great hunger they endured,
that even other people started to smell like food so he prayed to Jesus to bring food.
He does not pull punches as he describes the various battles, exterior and interior, which he and his young friends encountered and endured.
The power in a gun.
The rapes of little girls. Not one-time events. The desperation to eat.
They remain grateful to God "for being lifted up" out of misery.
"I have so many scars... the internal injuries..."--the source of his music today.
"I've been a refugee all my life..." haunted by a terrible memory re: father issues...
His prayer was: "God, if there is anything You can do,
do not let my grandmother die before i can become a Blessing to her..." His return to her in Sudan--hearing her speak, she seemed like every women, like my grandmother...
What do you remember from 1980-2000 regarding Sudan? What did you do, or your church, or your neighborhood, or your government? (What did the U.N. do?)
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"...Reinhardt speaks about Sudan by James Nachtwey throughout the writing. He seems to end at a negative place from my reading, (though I think I misunderstood since the photo made the cut in the show). In the photograph, a famine-emaciated man accepts hydration salts from a disembodied hand with reaches into the frame from a place close to the photographer. This works to equate the act of viewing the photograph with the act of offering assistance. Reinhardt suggests that this creates a “confused humanitarianism, in which the ‘intention is to acknowledge the outcast as a human being,’ while the ‘effect is to treat the human being as an outcast ‘”[32]. from this fascinating site |
More about Sudan:
In Fall 2009
excerpt ..." A former child slave and human rights activist from Sudan spoke to hundreds of students at the K-State Student Union Tuesday night. Simon Deng, who has spoken before the United Nations, was the first guest in this year's Lou Douglas Lecture Series. Deng's speech focused on his experience as a slave, the countless injustices and murders committed by the Sudanese government against its people and the need for people to act as the voice for victims of genocide and human rights violations who have no voice of their own.
"I was constantly kept under terror, being tortured even though I'd done nothing wrong," Deng said. "That is what it means when I talk about I'm being robbed of my dignity as a human being. I'm turned into a piece of property."
i think at the time, Sam Brownback and Al sharpton were the only 2 suits pushing for darfur in wsh dc.
i was looking for simon deng stuff and found this peice of a letter i'd written:
"... to use a Simon Deng analogy, where is the World's Lifeguard?
that is, the one who will spring to action
in emergencies, without all the committees' delays and debating sanctions etc while people die?--that was to be the united nations - now corrupt and dysfunctional. thousands of voices need to be lifted for change and action. Kansans have a politician, sam brownback, who has worked hard in this area. he should be deluged with requests to hammer on this. especially since
he is leaving the senate anyway
--push Sam push!!...
i obviously
never finished that draft... the
waxing and waning of energy, urgency, and sloth ...
that's why you need a really fine dayplanner.
Darfur: Twenty Years of War and Genocide in Sudan
The photo of a little Sudanese girl crawling toward a food camp.
More:
