#and agree that the irish also have to recognize their role in oppressing others often people of colour

[paris-geller-was-straightwashed]

A Ramble about St. Patrick's Day, Irish identity/diaspora & colonization

Dia duit! Cal is ainm dom. Labhraim Bearla ach táim ag foghlaim Gaeilge. Sláinte!

hope that was legible (and that I didn't just embarrass myself in front of fluent Irish speakers..). it being st. patrick's day, I was having some thoughts, and I've been trying to figure out what I want to say.

after once thinking st.pat's was nothing more then a throwaway holiday for drinking, now, after delving into my family genealogy and therefore into irish history/identity, I'm one of the people who I'm sure are pissed that a holiday meant to celebrate irish identity has been dwindled into nothing but stockphotos of leprechauns and drinking till you black out.

one could argue about how heavy drinking has been weaponized as an anti-irish sentiment for years, but I digress. instead, I would encourage anyone listening to learn a bit more about irish history beyond the stereotypes, and especially if you have irish roots yourself! irish immigrants carried this holiday and their irishness across waters, but overtime, for some that identity and cultural tie has been thinned.

identity is huge in a person's life, and for me, I've always been curious as to where I come from. I've been thinking a lot lately, about how there's this unspoken gap within the diaspora of north american white people (this really interesting post sparked it) when it comes to cultural identity. the majority of us would state first that we are canadian/american, but for some, unless you are indigenous, you have no other ties. I've always wanted to feel that - to know where my roots are, to know that my ancestors once had a language they taught their children, a shared dish, a way of dance. something that belongs to you. it's key to know where you come from, and some people on that that post were saying they come from nowhere - that is not true! my friend, you come from somewhere! your ancestors had traditions and dishes and loving terms of endearment in their own tongue, that they passed down for generations and maybe hoped, it would reach you. you have roots, friend; ancient ties came before you, and they're ready to be picked back up if you wish.

my irish roots come from my father's father's grandmother. she carried the name phelan - o’faolain, which loosely means wolf. the name carries all the way back to the ancient names of ireland, to the decies, before the normans arrived. before we even dated the year with four digits. once from the waterford area, later many moved up to kilkenny - the very place my irish ancestors lived before they immigrated in the 1800's. anyone who's looked into irish history, knows it's both beautiful and tortured. there's a lot of suffering from colonization and other tragedies that's still felt today, but there's more to learn then that. after always assuming I was bad at languages, I'm now four months into irish lessons and am learning lots! and as of last week, have ordered my own bodhram, or irish drum, with hope I can learn to play it (it's got this sick ass celtic dragon on it too). I can play it, knowing people with my cultural ties have long enjoyed tapping their toes to it's jigs, and I can (clunkily) speak the tongue, knowing it carried my ancestors for eons.

this is a great time, to reignite roots if you wish. and a great time, to know that the irish are more then the horror handed to them or the lucky charms mascot in a pot of gold.

HOWEVER,

I would feel it wrong without noting what learning about irish history has given me - and that's a deeper understanding of colonization. it would be a disservice, to celebrate my ancestors and the people who survived it, while an active genocide is going on in gaza right now.

while the minute details sometimes may be different, what I can see now, is that regardless, colonization is the same anywhere you look. the people in gaza are starving now just as the irish did over a hundred years ago - by their oppressors danging the aid they need out of reach. entire family lines have been wiped out in gaza, and right now, remnants of bones of whole irish families taken by starvation lay deep in the ground. reports of gazans left to eat nothing but animal feed, the same starvation that drove irish families to scavenge for seaweed by the shore. this isn't even to mention the troubles and irish fighters gunned down by (british) forces similar to palestinians being gunned for daring to fight for their independence; or northern ireland, irish land stolen by the british just as palestine was stolen by israel. while not wanting to center western views, there's a reason you see irish flags at palestinian protests. the leftovers of colonization don't magically disappear and a people simply don't forget.

and let me say right now - my ancestors and their people didn't survive those horrors just to allow it to happen to another. I and many others in the diaspora are here bc by chance, our ancestors survived; gazans should not be having to put their lives at the same gambling table. 31,000 deaths as last checked, and many families are already lost - this needs to stop now.

you can donate to the PCRF (aid for children) and UNRWA, who've been delivering aid on the ground. there's also e-sims you can buy to help gazans connect to their loved ones and get help. and if you're truly broke and/or simply cannot, there's daily clicks to generate aid.

Happy St. Paddy's and Phalaistín saor in aisce!

[districofcolumbiaprelawland-blog]

The ICC’s International Standing: What The Case Of Omar Al-Bashir Can Tell Us

By Alessandra Ruano, George Washington University Class of 2021

September 10, 2020

Since 2003, the city of Darfur, Sudan has been entrenched in a war that began when rebels began carrying out attacks, citing the oppression of non-Arab ethnic groups. As president when the fighting broke out, Omar al-Bashir responded with force against both rebels and civilians that left an estimated 300,000 dead and caused some countries, including the United States, to label it a genocide. Although his actions have not been recognized by the UN as such, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest in 2009 for several crimes, including genocide. After being deposed last April, Bashir was imprisoned in Khartoum, but the violence in the region has continued in his absence.Last week, however,Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdock announced his willingness to work with the ICC in order to bring Bashir to justice for his alleged crimes [1].

Under international law, genocide is considered a crime against humanity. Since the end of World War II, many genocides have been recognized and punished accordingly, although there is often a failure to act sufficiently to stop these atrocities from taking place. In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Genocide Convention in response to the Holocaust, which remains the deadliest genocide in history. The treaty defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group” [2]. In practice, this definition is not as straightforward as it appears. Several genocides remain unacknowledged by significant world powers, sometimes due to technicalities based on the definition’s wording, and sometimes due to political complications. The most notable example is the Armenian genocide, which has been recognized by historians but not by Turkey, the perpetrating country. The U.S. has also failed to acknowledge it as a result of pressure to maintain a strong relationship with Turkey. Given the obstacles in recognizing a genocide that occurred over a century ago, it should come as no surprise that the designation of Bashir’s actions as genocide stirred controversy. In order to understand why, it is important to first examine the structure of international law enforcement.

The international community has a number of ways in which to take action against genocide, but the most unified method is through the International Criminal Court, which can investigate genocide under its Rome Statute. The statute sets out a specific procedure for the prosecution of genocide and other crimes under the Court’s jurisdiction. After a crime has taken place, the Court holds an examination to decide whether the evidence warrants an investigation. Before a trial can occur, there must be a thorough investigation into the crime and the suspect must be found. They must then appear before the court to hear the charges against them. In some cases, such as with the genocides in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, the UN Security Council may opt to create specific tribunals for the prosecution of crimes, but these procedures follow a similar path as those going through the Court [3].

This approach, while legitimate in that it is internationally agreed upon, poses some challenges. First, as is the case with many other legal proceedings, a full prosecution can take years, and sometimes, decades. Since the birth of the ICC, Bashir is the only person who has been indicted on counts of genocide, although others have been tried and convicted at the tribunal level. Despite the Prime Minister’s new willingness to collaborate with ICC authorities, there is still no guarantee that Bashir will be transferred into custody. Before this can occur, Hamdock must negotiate with rebels. An agreement is expected to be reached in the coming days, but given the ongoing tensions in the region and complications due to COVID-19, things may not go as planned [4]. Bashir’s case thus demonstrates the difficulty with enforcing international law in a timely manner.

The second challenge is unique to cases taking place at the international level. Because each country defends its own interests, reaching an agreement on anything can easily become complex. As in the case of Armenia, the label of genocide for the situation in Darfur has proven problematic, although the reasoning differs significantly. In this case, it is the United States that has been vocal about calling Bashir’s action a genocide while the UN has not. More important than the U.S. perspective, though, is the position of the ICC prosecutor who oversaw Bashir’s arrest warrant, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The warrant originally charged Bashir on counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, but the genocide charges were dropped because the case was too weak. They were only reinstated after Ocampo appealed [5]. These results sparked outrage in many Arab countries, which asserted that there is not sufficient evidence of these charges and that their existence is another example of Western anti-Islam efforts [1]. Under Ocampo’s leadership, all ICC cases were focused on countries in Africa [6]. Thus, in addition to angering Arab countries, the decision to prosecute an African head of state, especially for a genocide whose existence has been widely debated in the international community, left the ICC with an even more fractured relationship with the African Union [7].

Despite regional disagreement with Bashir’s harshest charges, Sudanese officials plan to move forward with Bashir’s extradition. Turning in Bashir would move Sudan in the direction of being removed from the United States state sponsors of terrorism list, something the country has wanted for years. Inclusion on the list bars Sudan from receiving aid from key organizations such as the World Bank and the IMF [4]. Nevertheless, the ability of the ICC prosecutor to defend the charges against Bashir are not guaranteed. The ICC’s successes in its early years were accompanied by several high-profile failures in securing convictions [6]. As the ICC prepares to welcome a new chief prosecutor in 2021 who will likely be from Europe, tensions are high. Although the current chief prosecutor is from the Gambia, the Court has not experienced much success in repairing relations with Africa since Ocampo’s years in the role. Now, African countries fear that the new prosecutor will further damage the relationship. For a young institution like the ICC, it is unclear whether it will be able to survive a failure in prosecuting a high-profile case like Bashir’s or another nine years of a strained relationship with Africa [7]. As the first head of state to face charges before the Court, the future of Bashir’s case could be intertwined with the future of the ICC.

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1.     Copnall, James. “Darfur Conflict: Sudan’s Bloody Stalemate.” BBC News, April 29, 2013. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-22336600.

2.     “The Genocide Convention.” United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide-convention.shtml.

3.     “How the Court Works.” International Criminal Court. https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/how-the-court-works.

4.     “Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir a Step Closer to Facing War Crimes Charges.” Al Jazeera, August 22, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/sudan-cooperate-icc-war-crimes-charge-bashir-200823011112955.html.

5.     De Waal, Alex. “Omar al-Bashir: Will Genocide Charge Against Sudan’s Ex-President Stick?” BBC News, February 14, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/51489802.

6.     Bradfield, Paul. “International Criminal Court Must Prove Its Worth.” Irish Times, December 4, 2019. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/international-criminal-court-must-prove-its-worth-1.4103614.

Soumaré, Marième. “Will Bensouda’s Successor Bridge Gap Between Africa and the ICC?” The Africa Report, June 17, 2020.

https://www.theafricareport.com/30061/will-bensoudas-successor-bridge-gap-between-africa-and-the-icc/