As ICHI still has a few members – undoubtedly due to our radical views and the given that alas many regard the concept of ‘humanitarian intervention’ as a tainted one since the (justified) controversies surrounding ‘Iraq’ and the ‘War on Terror’ – it has a limited capacity to undertake public actions.

This is why from early 2006 onwards we have sought contact with other interventionist action groups whose standpoints partially resemble ours, like the Save Darfur Coalition (www.SaveDarfur.org), Genocide Intervention Network (www.genocideintervention.net) and Enough! (http://enoughproject.org).

We have regularly supported and signed particularly the petitions of Save Darfur directed at American policymakers; often we could and were allowed to interpose our own more far-reaching standpoints and suggestions in the (standard) petition texts.

An example:

16 February 2007 (email message, English translation)

Dear members & sympathisers,

representing ICHI I have signed and sent the email-petition action shown below. In such actions of ‘Save Darfur’ one is allowed to modify the standard text. For the first time I have not done this because I regard this text as sufficiently strong. Especially the demands for a no-fly zone and a contingency-plan for quick intervention I do heartily support. They closely resemble the extra options I have added as ICHI chairperson in earlier Save-Darfur email/petition actions. Is this coincidence, or does ICHI get some hearing? Be as it may, it is heartening that the views of ICHI and other NGOs coalesce.

Thus if you could support this action by signing the petition that would be great!

Yours sincerely,

Caspar ten Dam, ICHI

—–Original Message—–
From: darfur@mail.democracyinaction.org
To: ichuminterv@netscape.net
Sent: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 7.40PM
Subject: Plan B

—

Dear Caspar ,

The Sudanese government has thumbed its nose at all opportunities to cooperate with international efforts to end the violence.

The Bush administration has already developed “Plan B,” a multi-tiered plan to push Sudan to end the genocide, but they keep delaying its launch. Adding to the frustration, despite the continuing mass-displacement and attacks, Special Envoy Andrew Natsios claimed last week that genocide is no longer occurring in Darfur.

We need your help to encourage President Bush and his advisors to launch “Plan B” before more lives are lost in Darfur.

Click here now to send a message asking President Bush to launch his plan to make Sudan cooperate with international efforts to end the violence.

The Sudanese government-sponsored genocide has already claimed at least 400,000 lives, displaced 2.5 million people and left more than 3.5 million men, women and children struggling to survive amid violence and starvation.

We simply can’t afford to wait any longer.

That is why the Save Darfur Coalition is urging President Bush to:

• Enact and enforce stronger sanctions;
• Prepare and oversee the deployment of international peacekeeping forces;
• Implement the U.N. authorized no-fly zone;
• Fully fund the United States’ share of peacekeeping and humanitarian aid; and
• Develop a military contingency plan to respond to the potential collapse of security and humanitarian aid networks in Darfur.

We need your help to make sure they get the message right away.

Will you please sign our petition to the President today? Click here now to add your name and send a strong message to the White House to implement “Plan B” now.

Once you’ve signed the petition, please forward this email message to your friends and family and ask them to join you.

Thank you again for your dedication.

Best regards,

David Rubenstein
Save Darfur Coalition

—————————————————————————————-
P.S. It is rewarding to see that the atrocities in Darfur are being recognized by other parts of society. To illustrate this trend, we are featuring a recent partnership between eBay and Designers for Darfur. Last Friday Designers for Darfur held a charity fashion show in New York featuring the work of top designers. Outfits and accessories from the show are currently being auctioned off on eBay. All proceeds will benefit the Save Darfur Coalition. Please click here to visit the Designers for Darfur eBay auction.

The Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of over 175 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations whose mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of more than two million people in theDarfur region. To learn more, please visit http://www.savedarfur.org/

NB: David Rubenstein had to lay down his function within the Save Darfur Coalition as multiple aid organisations active in Darfur objected to this petition and the expensive advertisement campaign that accompanied it as being too radical, dangerous and disruptive to their own projects. See eg. Stephanie Strom & Lydia Polgreen, ‘Darfur Advocacy Group Undergoes a Shake-Up’  New York Times, 2 June 2007.

At some point ICHI will analyse the differences in perception and interest between humanitarian aid and humanitarian intervention organisations. In a nutshell our view on this matter is the following: some forms of military intervention can indeed be ill-judged and cause more civilian casualties than prevent them; naturally we are against such forms of intervention. Yet humanitarian aid-workers tend to assume too easily that every form of drastic intervention is or will be by definition ill-judged and disproportionate. Moreover, from whatever angle you look at it, it remains absurd to feed and vaccinate people who can be massacred at any moment. With other words: aid without security offers just temporary and minimal solace – and saves no human lives on the longer term. Many may say: ‘better that than no aid at all’. Yet ICHI has not been established to serve such a minimalist end.