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

Behold Us Caesar...

...Those Who Are About To Die
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Herero Victims During German's Genocidal Campaign in Namibia 1904-1907)

Genocide is a heartless act that knows no bounds. When it begins it is often hard to define and often hidden from view. But once it is underway, once the dead start to pileup, genocide is almost impossible to mistake. We know it because we have all at one time participated in it in one role or the other. We have seen it. We have felt it. We are the reason it still exist. 

Without the cooperation of good and decent people genocide has no ability to rack-up the horrific numbers it achieved in the 20th century. Without complacency of the virtuous portion of the population it is powerless. And yet in the last century it has killed more people than the number of those who died in combat in both world wars. A feat that would be unimaginable had it not been for the lack of resistance to it from the civilized world. 

The deads' voices still linger to this day. Their faces peer back at us from faded images and grainy video reels. Like ghost, they wait to be acknowledged. They wait for justice to be served. And yet to this day we as a world community seem unwilling to give them the peace they so desperately desire. 

The pain of the holocaust still shows up from time to time. The Armenians' agony still rips its way through modern flesh as the heart of a people breaks every April. The sorrow of the Herero still lingers in modern Namibian society as the people of a forgotten genocide still try to cope with what was done to them. All of these murders were committed by men and women who are all gone or near dead today. And yet the wounds still remain open. 

(Jewish Boys In Ghetto During The Holocaust)

These wounds refuse to heal for a reason. They will never nor can never be closed till the world learns to deal with genocide when it is happening and as it is happening. It would be a crime against our tragic past to forget the sorrows our ancestors lived through only to have to witness those same events over and over again. 

Today there are more genocides occurring at one time than we have ever seen in modern history. From ethnic cleansing, deportations, to campaigns of total extermination... genocide is on the rise. And it will only continue to spread as long as the morality within our societies remains numb to its presence around us. 

In Syria we have watched for over two years as a minority sect of Islam has sought to subjugate the majority through political tyranny and genocidal military action. Even as the world community rallied around the consensus that Assad needed to step down from power we ignored the massacres he had committed in the name his faith and lust for power. It was a step too far for us to recognize the intentions of the beast. The UN and its supporters seemed to believe it was the right of a regime to kill its own people as long as the blood stayed within its borders. 

Sudan continues to grind down it's undesirables through a ruthless and never ending genocide. Starvation, massacres on grand scales, and aerial bombardment are all hallmarks of the Sudanese government in Darfur. And despite the dire situation in which Darfur civilians are forced to live the West remains silent. Taking only small steps to "persuade" the Sudan toward a "desirable" outcome, the UN refuses to bare its teeth with the homicidal leaders in Sudan's government.

Somalia, a regular offender of human rights and perpetual state sponsor of genocide, has continued to operate outside the realms of international law. Its government uses tribal hatred to help control a population it can not bring under its boot. Groups who find themselves on the wrong side of even a minor issue are up for grabs. And yet the living memory of "Black Hawk Down" keeps outsiders on the fence when it comes to dealing with ethnic cleansing and the genocidal tendencies of the Somalian warlords. 

Christian communities throughout the Arab world affected by the "Arab Spring" continue to feel the pain of being a religious minority in countries turning toward fundamentalist Islam. In Libya the world ignored the hints of ethnic cleansing of Coptic Christians and black Africans as Gaddafi fell from power. In the typical rush to be first to back a popular movement, the Western world failed to insure the safety of minority groups across Libya as Islamist leaning rebels took control. This was repeated in Egypt and Syria as the Arab Spring fever spread unchecked. And as one government collapsed the power vacuum it created proved detrimental to Coptic Christians and other minority religions. Yet the UN and West all together failed to recognize the potential for genocide and continued to blindly support a "democratic" movement that has failed to produce a representative government since it first began. 

Then there is Bahrain. While the Arab Spring seemed more profitable for the West in other countries it never panned out in Bahrain. Instead the continued oppression and bloodshed remains under a cloak of darkness as the world tries desperately to ignore the tragedy all together. And yet it was in Bahrain where we first heard the genocidal government refer to its people as "cockroaches". This phrase should have send chills up the backs of those who remember Rwanda. But nothing ever happened. Instead the West closed its eyes to the suffering of the oppressed and turned their attention to Egypt... the payday of the Arab Spring. In doing this they have let the politicide of the Bahrain go unchecked and unabated. 

(Roma Being Deported By Nazi SS, World War Two)

Burma. A country that just recently opened up to the outside world... or at least cracked the door a little. It was a fleeting moment in time when we all thought that Myanmar was actually moving toward democracy. That brief moment where Aung San Suu Kyi was first paraded as the symbol of hope and freedom for a religiously and militarily oppressed country. Where the hell did that go?

During the summer of 2012 the old junta reared its head in the Arakan as the Nasaka and military helped perpetrate genocide against the Rohingya people. In response to religious propaganda and political pressure from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party the pogroms began. Whipped into a frenzy with the excuse of a single crime, the Rakhine majority descended upon the Rohingya minority. And every since the story has remained the same. A radical group of monks or politicians spreads hate filled propaganda and soon after the Buddhist majority is up in arms and ready to kill. Yet the UN and Western world seems to be unable or unwilling to recognize the simple progression genocide takes (both in Burma and everywhere else it takes root). 

The pogroms of the Rohingya people illustrate the very reason the wounds of past genocides never seem ready to heal. The very reason for their existence in the first place is still with us. The very act that put these wounds in place has not yet been removed from us. So for what reason should they heal?

It is in the shared history of our cultures that we are able to relate to those still suffering this affliction. Once, no matter how long ago, we too where put through these same flames. The faces of our past now look back at us, if not from faded images, but rather from living flesh and blood. So how is it that we still find it possible to look away? 

If we do not deal with genocide here, today, we will deal with it again in the very near future. It does not go away simply because we detest it so. Instead it seems rather persistent in showing its ugly face throughout the pages of history. As if it too seeks some form of rationalization... an end.

When the victims of the circus in Rome were dragged out before Caesar their faces portrayed the imagined words of Shakespeare. In their eyes said what their lips could not, "Behold us Caesar, those who are about to die." 

Today the Western world is our Caesar. We hold the power to save lives or damn them. Our wealth, our power... all of this puts us in a place of responsibility. And yet as the innocent victims of genocide are paraded before us we seem unwilling to spare them this fate. Even in situations where their plight could be diminished or ended, we do nothing as they perish. 

Their voices are crying out. Their screams just need help to be heard. And in this world where genocide is treated like the ancients' circus, they look to us for help.