Sunday, March 08, 2009

Recommended reading on "Waltz with Bashir" and the other (Sudanese) Bashir

From Middle East Report Online, Ursala Lindsey's review of Waltz with Bashir ("Shooting Film and Crying").

There is a final irony. Waltz with Bashir holds a redemptive message, celebrating the necessity and the ability to confront one’s past. Yet the film and its reception exemplify the strictly enforced boundaries of any debate on Israel’s past and present transgressions.

Also from Middle East Report Online, Khalid Mustafa Medani's analysis of the ICC's indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

By Bashir’s calculation, the ICC decision is not the end of the road. His primary objective is to consolidate the junta’s power by expanding oil production in Darfur and elsewhere. Only a genuinely democratic transition stands in the way of this objective. The ICC’s warrant for Bashir’s arrest will have little effect in resolving the larger problem in Sudan: the lack of participatory politics. Only if this warrant is followed by a concerted effort to support free and fair elections will it fulfill its promise.

No comments: