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September 9, 2009
Novelist Dave Eggers’ last book, What Is the What, is one of the few that truly deserves to be called “essential reading.” The book is the novelized memoir of Valentino Achak Deng, who as a boy was caught up in Sudan’s endless civil war. It puts a name and a face to all the nameless misery in the world, and builds a bridge between the refugees who managed to escape to America and the homelands they left behind.
Eggers is not Jewish, but his contribution in telling Deng’s story recalls the words of Isaiah: “Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.” It also lends Eggers a measure of moral authority on the tragedy in Darfur, the Sudanese region besieged by the ruthless government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
Writing on the topic last week in USA Today, Eggers and John Prendergast, cofounder of the Enough Project, call for the United States to impose a carrot-and-stick policy on both sides of the bitter civil war. They urge an international coalition to “lay out a clear choice for the ruling party” and its militia allies, as well as their adversaries, the rebels in Darfur.
The carrot would be “enhanced relations, trade, and aid” — for those who “support peace, protect civilian populations, participate in elections, and allow humanitarian aid.”
For those who resist these measures, the “stick” would include a freeze on personal assets, international travel bans, diplomatic isolation, a rigorously enforced arms embargo, and referral to the International Criminal Court.
These tough diplomatic choices are an echo of the strategy many are hoping the Obama administration will adopt in facing down Iran. In both cases, the United States needs to step up and lead the international community in a deadly serious process of pressure and reward, in order to save millions of lives, now and in the future.
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