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By Eric Reeves
September 29, 2013 (SSNA) — Here is an extraordinary, horrifying collection of photographs taken during the current uprising in Sudan; the photographs here are from Khartoum, Omdurman, and other nearby areas (http://www.sndfca.org/crimes). They are powerful and relentlessly compelling—and they are simply painful to view (the accompanying text is in Arabic). But these images are the truth as seen by those who are on the ground; yes, their organization of the material is necessarily a form of "editorializing"; but editorials, simply because they express a strong point of view, are not merely opinions.
The uprising in Sudan will be recorded with far more photographic and videographic resources than were available during the events of the "Arab Spring" two years ago. Digital communication technologies will be deployed in ways much more persistent and resourceful. We may be sure that when events have culminated in Khartoum, there will be a rich and dismayingly precise record of what occurred in these present days.
The international community seems content to speak in non-committal platitudes about events in Sudan, while the dead, the dying, and those bravely resisting continue to rise in number. These muffled declarations are not a reflection of the world’s lack of knowledge about the character of the regime, which for the past week has been orchestrating an utterly ruthless and bloody crackdown on a popular uprising. It is the sound of the silence of those who once argued so passionately for the "Responsibility to Protect." It is the sound of a silent acquiescence in the face of clear moral responsibility. The unwillingness to act on what massive knowledge as we have—and continue to watch grow daily—reflects an international spinelessness that will cost dearly at this moment of potentially historic change in Sudan.
September 29, 2013 (9pm EDT)
Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College and has written extensively on Sudan.