Conflict [October 23]
I was considering not writing a newsletter this month. Like many people, my attention has been fixed on the year’s major conflicts in Sudan, Palestine, Israel, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Myanmar, and the Sahel. At times it’s been difficult to think about anything else. Instead of curating a list of recommendations, this month I am just going to include some conflict-related resources that I’ve found helpful. In November, I’ll return to the normal format.
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International humanitarian law has four core tenets: the principle of distinction, the principle of proportionality, the principle of necessity, and the prohibition on unnecessary suffering. The International Committee of the Red Cross describes these rules in its Customary International Humanitarian Law Publication. I wrote my Master’s dissertation on the principle of distinction, and found this document really clarifying.
Joshua Oppenheimer made two documentaries on the Indonesian genocide of 1965 and 1966. Both films were shot between 2005 and 2011, 40 years after the conflict. Prior to the release of the films, there had been no widespread public acknowledgment of the violence by the Indonesian press, and many of the perpetrators continued to hold positions of power. The Act of Killing (2013) focuses on these perpetrators, explores how people can bring themselves to commit horrible crimes, and documents the lingering psychological toll that results from these actions. In The Look of Silence (2015), an Indonesian optometrist meets some of the old men who were responsible for killing his brother 40 years before. These films are difficult to watch, but the alternative — that genocide is left as an abstract and distant thing — seems worse.
Werner Herzog made a 45 minute long documentary on child soldiers in Nicaragua, called The Ballad of the Little Soldier. All wars are fought by young people. In the opening shot, a little boy in a military uniform sings a song about how he can’t concentrate in class, because his school sweetheart moved away. To access the film, I downloaded the attached youtube video and found subtitles online. I also recommend Herzog’s Lessons from Darkness, made in the wake of the First Gulf War.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half of a Yellow Sun illustrates the build up to the 1967-1970 Biafra war, its brutal climax, and its aftermath. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart gives more context on the role of British colonialism in Igboland.
