Mark Hanis Calls for a Paradigm Shift at NYU

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Morning after Mark Hanis came to speak at NYU he appeared on the MSNBC's Morning Joe Show. Speaking to NYU students as the Selma Rubin Distinguished Lecture Series KEYNOTE for a semester long social activism initiative I Co-chaired called "Critical Voices in Social Activism," he discussed the necessity in implementing a paradigm shift in how society and policy makers view genocide.

Mark described an "a-ha" moment people have when they suddenly realize that the Genocide occurring in Darfur, and in many regions such as Burma, the Congo, Sri Lanka amongst others isn't a result of a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina, where individuals become naturally displaced, rather they are victims of persecution, humanitarian atrocities such as rape and extreme violence perpetrated by other malicious human beings. Unless there occurs a Paradigm Shift that causes Darfur and other Genocides to be treated as a human security issue rather than a natural disaster issue, the failure to uphold the promise of "Never Again."

Interestingly enough it is true that often Genocide Activism from various non-profit calls for disaster relief when requesting donations, but people in Darfur don't just need money, and food and the furnaces being sent over, they need military intervention to bring an end to it, just as the Holocaust was finally ended when troops came into Auschwitz.