#SouthAfrica leaves #ICC, Daily Bullshit: October 21-22, 2016

International Criminal Court

It’s easy for South Africa to argue that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is neocolonialist: With backing from Europe and even, although not a participant itself, the United States, and with an apparent focus on Africa, the Court very much seems to be a tool of imperialist hypocrisy. But then there are the counterarguments: Such as Sudan with regard to Darfur and Burundi and that what South Africa really seems to be balking at was a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.[1]

Mealy-mouthed nonsense about “promoting peace, stability and dialogue in those countries”[2] feels pretty thin when the genocide in Darfur has been going on for as long as it has.[3] Then there’s the situation in Burundi which looks a lot more like yet another leader violently refusing to relinquish power than any high-minded stance against colonialism.[4] This just ain’t the way to make the argument South Africa is making.

Integrated Regional Information Networks, “Burundi walks away from the ICC,” October 19, 2016, https://www.irinnews.org/news/2016/10/19/burundi-walks-away-icc

Al Jazeera, “South Africa to quit International Criminal Court,” October 21, 2016, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/south-africa-formally-applies-quit-icc-media-161021044116029.html

Joe Brock, “South Africa to quit troubled UN war crimes court,” Reuters, October 21, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-icc-idUSKCN12L025

Gabriele Steinhauser, “South Africa to Withdraw From International Criminal Court,” Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/south-africa-to-withdraw-from-international-criminal-court-1477038370


Economics and suicide

Jefferson Cowie, “The Great White Nope: Poor, Working Class, and Left Behind in America,” review of White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, by Nancy Isenberg, Foreign Affairs, November/December, 2016, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/2016-10-17/great-white-nope


  1. [1]Al Jazeera, “South Africa to quit International Criminal Court,” October 21, 2016, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/south-africa-formally-applies-quit-icc-media-161021044116029.html; Joe Brock, “South Africa to quit troubled UN war crimes court,” Reuters, October 21, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-icc-idUSKCN12L025; Gabriele Steinhauser, “South Africa to Withdraw From International Criminal Court,” Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/south-africa-to-withdraw-from-international-criminal-court-1477038370
  2. [2]Michael Masutha, quoted in Gabriele Steinhauser, “South Africa to Withdraw From International Criminal Court,” Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/south-africa-to-withdraw-from-international-criminal-court-1477038370
  3. [3]Don Cheadle and John Prendergast, Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond (New York: Hyperion, 2007).
  4. [4]Integrated Regional Information Networks, “Burundi walks away from the ICC,” October 19, 2016, https://www.irinnews.org/news/2016/10/19/burundi-walks-away-icc

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