Occupied And Exploited

The Silent Genocide Of Ogaden
(Voiceless series)

Endless Suffering 

Time has shown that an occupying force has few options outside of military force and the endless committing of war crimes while attempting to subjugate native populations. No matter how beneficial the relationship may seem at first, the desire for self determination and self governance will rise to the surface when oppressive foreign rule is applied. Once these aspirations manifest the occupying force will rapidly find themselves unable to cling to power without compromising their ethics (if ever there could be while occupying another peoples' land). Mass arrests often slide into mass executions. What happens behind jail walls then often makes it's way out into the streets. And with one death comes an ocean of blood. One drop must be paid for with another.

When the Italians took possession of the Ogaden region of Ethiopia their military conquest was meant to, rather perversely, rebuild a Roma Empire of sorts. Just as with the first Romans in Africa, the Italians took what they wanted and killed those who dared to try and hold onto their resources. The native peoples of Ogaden were not regarded as equals to the invading Italians but rather treated as slaves in their own homeland. Anything that could be used to benefit Italy was taken at will.

This exploitation by Italy came to an end as Mussolini's fascist rule fell to the allied forces of World War Two. Yet the colonialist minds of Europe did not dare to leave Africa's resources to her own people. Instead the British stepped in and took control of Ogaden's resources and people. Just as with the Italians, the Brits plundered what they wanted and killed those they didn't. Resistance was met with the same oppressive methods used against any other native peoples that England had encountered all around the world.

European conquest of the world has been defined by the exploitation of native peoples and their natural resources. In Africa the idea that the Europeans were somehow bringing the native peoples out of the stone age and into the modern age was encouraged just as it had been in the Americas. The white European occupier was painted in Europe as bringing civilization to undeveloped people who just happened to be black. This allowed a disturbing, and racially based, rationale for the crimes against humanity committed by European colonial powers.

In Ogaden this conquest was further complicated by the lack of foresight shown by European colonial powers as they carved up the map of Africa. When Britain decided to consolidate power in the region they made plans to annex Ogaden into Ethiopia (a well controlled region of British influence). In 1954 the Brits forcibly annexed Ogaden into Ethiopia, thus keeping it out of reach of Somalia to the East. This permitted Britain the opportunity to dissolve a portion of it's empire and lessen the cost of controlling the region through military force.

Today Ogaden's largely ethnic Somali population (around 8 million) cling to existence rather than living. They have survived European conquest, a Soviet backed invasion, countless armed and unarmed uprisings, endless war, and Ethiopia's oppressive occupation. Their villages have been destroyed routinely. Their men and boys have been subjected to mass arrests and executions. Their women and children are vulnerable to rape, torture, and violent deaths of all sorts. Today Ogaden's native population faces what many might call ethnic cleansing... what Alder's Ledge would call genocide.

Why Genocide?

Genocide is defined as:

Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Every time the word genocide makes it's first appearance in a conversation there is a rapid reaction amongst many to cringe. Images of death camps in Poland or streets filled with dead bodies in Rwanda come to mind. So it is needless to say that the word itself as certain emotional responses. Yet it is the legal liability the word carries that makes governments across the world uneasy when using the word. For if and when it is applied to a humanitarian crisis there are supposed to be very clear and decisive actions taken to stop it. This is, after all, the UN's legal response to what was an emotional response to the Holocaust... our promise of "never again".

In a perfect world application of the word genocide to such events would trigger an immediate response. In a perfect world there wouldn't be a need for such a vile word in the first place. Yet it is precisely the lack of response to every genocide (both recognized and unrecognized) since the Holocaust that has led to a lack of concern by those who perpetrate it. Impunity for their actions has led to a certain level of comfort for those who would exercise such heinous crimes.

For the regime in Ethiopia the practice of committing endless crimes against the people of Ogaden has been reinforced by the responses given by the outside world. When Ethiopia uses the excuse of "fighting the war on terror" they are given a pass for destroying entire villages. When the government in Ethiopia refuses to allow journalists access by labeling them terrorists the outside world looks the other way. These two responses alone create a vacuum in which Ethiopia's military is allowed to operate without criticism or accountability.

With impunity for their actions the government of Ethiopia has allowed it's military (of which nearly half occupies Ogaden) to utilize Ogaden's people as slave labor, kill civilians at will, commit forced evictions, demolish homes and villages, rape and torture, and otherwise keep Ogaden under Ethiopian control. Each of these actions can easily be classified as "crimes against humanity" by even the most casual of observers. These crimes can then be further scrutinized, and with intent proven, only to be labeled for what they are: acts of genocide.

The forced removal of villagers from their homes falls under the legal perimeters of genocide itself. The intent is obvious once looked at and can only be justified through the targeting of the villagers due to their ethnicity and perceived nationality. Since Ethiopia's military does not treat the Ogaden people in the same way as they do other Ethiopians, nationality is part of this discriminatory and exploitative practice. Their Somali ethnicity is on the other hand the major reason as to why Ethiopia's leadership shows no remorse or intent upon reconciling their actions with the people of Ogaden.

The mass arrests, the use of torture, rape, and especially the executions of ethnic Somali civilians all also contribute to the classification of the greater crime here as genocide. Each of these crimes either directly or indirectly lend themselves to the completion of ethnic cleansing (a form of genocide) within the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. Through mass arrest, torture, and outright killings of ethnic Somalis the government weakens the targeted community and creates areas in Ogaden where life is made impossible.

Within areas of occupation by Ethiopian military forces the conditions to which the people of the Ogaden are subjected can only be described as; "inflicting on the group living conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction in part or in whole..." This is made evident through Ethiopia's policy of confiscating livestock and other necessities that the native population must have to survive in Ogaden's desert climate. Access to natural resources vital to survival, such as water and grazing lands, is also deliberately hindered by Ethiopia's military presence in Ogaden. Conditions are only made more dire by Ethiopia's denial of adequate access to healthcare and humanitarian aid across the region.

When the sum of Ethiopia's crimes against the people of Ogaden are all put together there is reason to believe that Ethiopia's regime intends to either push the Ogaden Somalis out or drastically decrease their population. But why?

As with most genocides throughout history, those perpetrating this one utilize ethnic hatred to gain access to profit. In this case it is the exploitation of Ogaden's oil reserves. The fact that the Ogaden Somali community happens to set atop that oil does not seem to deter the leaders of Ethiopia. By killing the ethnic Somali community they gain both profit and rid themselves of an ethnic group they perceive to be undesirable.

The Cost Of Ogaden's Oil

The native population of any colonized area always pay the price for the gains made by the colonial power. Their quality of life, their national or social aspirations, their very existence; all of these are placed into question as the exploitation of their community and property is carried out. The lives they could have had are all stolen from them by the greed and lust of the occupier. Those dreams that all mankind has are all placed out of reach by the exploitation they suffer. 

Oil could had been a blessing to the desperately impoverished region. It could had been used to lift the Ogaden Somali community out of life of just surviving from day to day. But alas it has been made a curse for those who rightfully have claim to it. 

With international oil companies pouring into the region the quality of life has been made worse for Ogaden's Somali community. Ethiopia defends the so called "right" of these oil giants to take what they want as long as Ethiopia's government profits from it. To maintain this source of income the government has utilized genocide and other crimes against humanity to assure their flow of cash survives. 

For the Somali community in Ogaden this means that life itself is not guaranteed from one day to the next. This has led to thousands of Ogaden's Somali community seeking refuge in Kenya, South Africa, and Yemen. Fleeing their homeland has become a better option for some than to stay and die at the hands of Ethiopian soldiers. 

This is the cost of oil in Ethiopia's Ogaden region. Each drop of petrol from the area is matched by the pools of blood spilled getting them. And yet, while Ogaden's Somali community pays in blood, the outside world has yet to ask if this price is worth "cheap gasoline". 

Source Documents
(not all listed)

MLA of South Africa
http://www.mlajhb.com/ogaden-docket

UNPO
http://www.unpo.org/article/16791

Somaliland Sun
http://somalilandsun.com/index.php/regional/4832-ethiopia-how-foreign-oil-companies-annihilated-the-lives-of-ordinary-african-population-in-ogaden-region-

UN.org
https://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/adviser/pdf/osapg_analysis_framework.pdf

Manifest Destiny or Lebensraum

Genocide in America

(Wounded Knee Massacre)

In America we tend to think of genocide as a war crime committed by people in Germany or maybe Rwanda. But few people today think of genocide as a part of what built this great nation. It is hard to stomach the thought that genocide played any role in American history let alone the fact that it helped define America's rise from an experiment to a modern nation. 

So for those of you who are still reading let me explain what I mean and how this horrific part of our past can help us stop this sin of our fathers from ever occurring again.

It is little secret that before the Europeans arrived their existed upon this soil cultures that were complex and rich in arts, language, and architecture. These societies rose and fell on their own accord before the first contact with Spanish, Dutch, French, or English. They waged war differently from the whites who came later. They communicated differences in a manner different from the Europeans. And it was this culture that evolved on its own that stood in such contrast to that of Europe that it was shocking to the invaders who first landed in Haiti and the Gulf region of America. 

Prior to the invasion of America the cultures that had developed practiced war in measured degrees. Some wars could last a matter of hours, others might turn bitter and deaths may occur in larger numbers. Yet in all the wars history has been able to record none would have prepared the Native people for the invasion that was about to come.

Upon arrival the first attack on the Natives may not have been intentional. Through initial contact the Native Americans were exposed to diseases that would ravage their populations in plague proportions. Small pox, yellow fever, and cholera were just a few that spread rapidly wherever the Europeans went. Christopher Columbus may have very well been the first European explorer to note this as he often exploited the issue to gain control over what is now Haiti.

The next issue that quickly became apparent to soldiers and settlers alike was that the Native people had not developed weapons on the same scale as their European counterparts. In contrast the Native Americans of North America were often seen at first as using tools of the hunt to fight rather than the weapons of war developed over ages in Europe. Not to say that Native peoples didn't quickly adjust and even become rather ingenuitive in their attempts to fight back. On the contrary the Native peoples willingness to adopt weapons of the Europeans occurred without must hesitance. It was always the lack of understanding on the Native Americans' part of European warfare that left them as the underdogs.

As genocidal efforts to remove the Native Americans began in the North America it is important to note that the Spanish genocide of Latin America had almost completely destroyed the cultures that existed prior to Spanish occupation. Inca, Mayans, Aztecs... anything that came before the Spanish was now obliterated as the Spanish set out to destroy the Native peoples' languages, way of life, and even their art and architecture. The Spanish took on a way of subjugation that would be repeated under the Young Turks as they forced "Turkification" upon the Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontiac Greeks.

In the British occupied areas, especially the area soon be called the Thirteen colonies, the occupation was hallmarked by the removal of Native peoples and the ethnic cleansing of the region. The only minorities allowed to stay were those cast under the yolk of slavery. And in what is now Florida and Georgia, this did include some Native Americans.

For a period of time the Appalachian Mountains seemed to him-in the European settlers. Though traders and soldiers could be found wandering the rest of North America, for this period of time the use of ethnic cleansing was employed.

Ethnic cleansing in America was not carried out in the same manner as it was in Bosnia, though at times it did mirror later versions of it. In the British controlled areas the use of treaties and the loosely worded promises amongst tribes and Europeans were used to dwindle the populations. Once the targeted community was small enough to annihilate without much loss of European lives they were often removed or killed off. At times other Native American tribes did engage and even help the Europeans in this conquest. Though it does appear that these tribes did so under the impression that this act of appeasement would save them from the same fate. In rarer cases there were tribes that took the opportunity to take revenge upon a competing tribe.

As the American settlers took control of their own destiny the Native Americans lost more control of their own. In the French and Indian War the Native Americans lost the least of to evils as the British and Americans claimed victory over the French. This meant the mild exploitation of the French was not to shift to the all out genocide the British and American forces favored. This turn for the worse would only be highlighted as the Americas broke with Britain. A point at which many of the Native Americans along the Canadian border fled north under the naive assumption that the Canadians would be more humane.

As the United States grew out of its adolescence the political nature of the genocide grew with it. In the years leading up to World War One in Germany a political and social philosophy developed out of the science of the day (eugenics). This idea stated that it was the natural right of a people to spread outward from their cultural nucleus and claim more land as their society grew with them. The need was perceived that a developing society and growing population was constantly in need of new sources of food and natural resources. Thus the more developed a society became the more space it required. Mixing this with Darwin's evolutionary theory many justified this claim by stating that only the most developed societies would survive while the backward societies were forced to assimilate or face extinction. More openly racist views stated that the more developed races would spread their society while the sub-races would be forced into subjugation or mass extinction... a view many Germans of the day were not directly opposed to despite the fact that slavery in Europe was illegal.

We call this theory today Lebensraum. It was the exact theory that drove Germany to commit the first genocide of the 20Th century in Namibia against the Herero and Namaqua. It would also be used to justify the Nazi ambitions of the Final Solution and the conquering of Europe. In America we called this theory Manifest Destiny.

This version of lebensraum was used to justify the Louisiana Purchase. It was then used by the Democrat party to justify expansion beyond the Louisiana territory and into areas that had been left for the Native American tribes whom had been pushed West. And in 1840 the Democrats used it again to go to war with Mexico so as to claim more territory in around the area of Texas (including California). The Democrats again pushed the idea as they forcibly pushed Texas into the Union so as to allow slavery to expand westward with them.

But for the Native Americans still left on the Great Plains this idea of manifest destiny was nothing more than the final nail in their coffin. The whites were already coming west. The land upon which the Native Americans sat was said to be "needed" by the United States to fulfill its destiny. And in the end the Indian Wars would amount to the creation of concentration camps and death squads roaming the west to root out the targeted victims of genocide.

Manifest destiny was never a valid claim to expansion. Even in modern times there are vast sections of America left open and free. The only difference is that the people who used to live on those lands have been assimilated or killed in the largest genocide of recorded history. Modern time has forgotten that this claim by the fledgling United States was nothing less vile than the claim of lebensraum by the founders of the Nazi party. Both were used to lend their moral superiority to the outright slaughter of people deemed unwanted, undeveloped, or less than human.

In America we have a long history with genocide. We committed it, we have covered it up, and at times we have romanticized it. Perhaps it is this love affair with out own genocide that keeps us from recognizing the genocides other cultures have suffered. It has been nearly a hundred years since the Armenians were forced to suffer the horrors of genocide. Yet here we are today unable as a country to admit to it. Both for the Armenians and the Native Americans alike.