Sudan

Views of the Kony2012 campaign launched by Invisible Children (IC) have drastically fallen after its initial premiere on 5 March and the subsequent backlash. On 16 March, IC founder and star of the video Jason Russell was back in the news after having a breakdown in San Diego. The rhetorical space for advocacy around the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been eroded. The work of IC, in its own right, has largely been discredited and oversimplified.

While the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has been gaining traction, particularly with its recent implementation in Libya, the international community is still a far cry from actualizing the doctrine's true potential. Beyond the obvious difficulty of motivating states into a coordinated action, there are additional factors that continually block the implementation of R2P in particular and civilian protection in general.

It can often feel as though our nation is broken down into a multitude of distinct groups that will never come to see eye to eye on any topic. We sense it among our families and friends as we debate the efficacy of a movement such as Occupy Wall Street, in our offices as we heatedly discuss politics, and in our media as we see our nation's political system broken down into the wrong, the right and those that own them. The vitriol in our politics and our media has led to this climate of "us" versus "them" in nearly every aspect of American society.

If you have been following international news recently, you are no doubt aware that the world has been an eventful place to say the least. These past few weeks alone saw the emergence of the world’s 193^rd country, Human Rights Watch’s call for the prosecution of George W.

On March 24, 2005 the United Nations established the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in order to oversee the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The hope was for the CPA to bring an end to the civil war that had been raging for years. One of the stipulations of this agreement was the allowance of a secession vote for the south. This vote took place this past January and southern secession is set to be implemented on July 9, 2011. This mission remains in effect today.

Recently two of my colleagues at The Mantle asked why the international community was not intervening in ongoing humanitarian crises in different parts of the world.

The question of how and when the United States ought to be involved in international conflicts, particularly those in which we are not directly implicated, has long been a matter of fierce debate among Americans. The catalyst for its current place at the forefront of public discourse seems to have been our decision to involve ourselves in the Libyan conflict. This decision has been especially contentious as it played out in the midst of violent conflict in a multitude of neighboring countries, which we have otherwise steered clear of militarily.

On "Illegal Gatherings” and Organising

The capacity to create real and durable change in efforts at democratisation is often forged through struggle. Even in countries that would call themselves democratic and where freedom of expression and association are guaranteed constitutionally and by international commitments, demonstrations are regularly dispersed by police and security and their participants arrested, tortured, and charged under vague legislation that sometimes makes little distinction between peaceful demonstrations and riots.

The secession of Southern Sudan following the referendum on self-determination is imminent. Despite the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) prescribing an interim period with a programme of legal reform to address long-standing grievances, no real, conscientious efforts were made to make unity realistic for southerners.