Genocide in the First Person: An Interview with Simon Deng
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- Created on Tuesday, 08 April 2008 23:43
- Written by Jwothab Wanh Othow
Please allow me to share with you an interview below with Bro Simon Deng by Jonathan Gelbart. Thanks
Genocide in the First Person: An Interview with Simon Deng
The Review recently had the opportunity to interview Simon Deng, a Sudanese Christian abducted and forced into slavery at the age of nine by a northern Sudanese Arab.
Q: We know the general story of your experiences in Sudan. But how did you escape? How did you get to the United States?
A: I did not get out of slavery on my own. I was
helped by other individuals who took me out of slavery and back to
southern Sudan where I was reunited with my loved ones. From there, I
decided not to talk about these things, put it behind me, and go on
with my life like any other human being. I immigrated later to the
capital of Sudan, Khartoum,
where I became a swimmer, a Sudanese champion in long-distance, and I
worked on trying to correct what was being done before me by the
government, the wrong things being inflicted on the Africans in Sudan.
And I found it very difficult to do that work at first. I was told by
people in the government not to interfere with that. Because of my
status as a swimming champion, I was being accepted and my people were
not. I could help people and release people, but those who were left
behind would look at me with eyes that say, “what about us?” And I felt
that I could not go on. So I bought a one-way ticket to the United
States. I came here, knowing that here, in this country, people are
always concerned about human life. But most importantly, here in this
country, people are concerned about the life of animals. And I felt
that, if that is the case, why is nobody concerned about what is
happening in Sudan?
Q: Why do you think the world ignored the
conflict in Sudan for so long? Do you think it was perhaps out of fear
of offending Muslims?
A: The world ignored the problems in Sudan
for so long, in my opinion, for a couple of reasons, not one reason.
One, the government of Sudan was waging war on the Africans who
happened to be Christians. At that time, they were calling it “jihad”
against the infidels. The world, in my opinion, didn’t want to get
involved because they didn’t want to be accused of being anti-Islam and
anti-Arab. That is one thing.
Two, since the crime was committed by somebody who happened to be
Muslim, and the victims happened to be Christians and, especially,
black people in that part of the world, who cares? But today, the
atrocity is still going on. According to the Sudanese government, the
African culture is a savage culture that needs to be changed and
transformed into the Arab culture. Three point five million were killed
in southern Sudan in the name of Islam between 1955 and 2005, seven
million southern Sudanese Christians became refugees, and a quarter
million Nubians were slaughtered. And the UN did nothing. And the UN
said nothing.
They didn’t stop there. You’re seeing it: they went to Darfur,
and they turned their guns on their fellow Muslims. They’re killing
these people because they made a big mistake: they took Islamization,
but they didn’t take Arabization. They didn’t take the whole package,
and they are paying a price today. I don’t see any reason why they have
to to kill their own fellow Muslims. These are people who practice the
religion of Islam better than anyone who calls him- or herself an Arab
in that country. And then you have to ask yourself a question, and
everyone has to ask themselves a question: then why? The answer is very
simple. These people happen to be blacks, Africans. They still maintain
their language as Africans, and they still maintain their culture as
Africans, and today they’re paying the price.
Q: Do you think these Arab jihadists are the same target of America’s War on Terror?
A: You know, people are always using the wrong
words: jihadists, terrorists, and so on. The right word to me is not
terrorist. The right word to me is not War on Terror, it’s War on
Ideology. These are people who believe in an ideology which teaches
that Islam is going to conquer the world. Whether you agree now or you
don’t, you have to go and talk to them. They will tell you that Islam
is going to rule the whole world. And you’re seeing it even in Europe, even in London
today, they’re calling for shari’ah to be the law of the land. So that,
believe me, yes, you are probably right. What is happening is a war on
ideology, on those who believe and have the conviction that it’s their
way or the highway.
Q: What do you think should be done? Whose responsibility is it to take action? The United Nations? The United States? The Arab countries?
A: The UN cannot do anything. The UN is a failed
organization. They failed miserably. And anybody who tells me that the
UN is the right place to go, he has to tell me which UN they are
talking about. Is it the UN that I know? The UN that walked away from Rwanda,
after telling the Rwandans, “we will protect you, we will give you
safety”? And anyone who, in their right mind, thinks that UN is the
right place to go, let’s go to Rwanda
and ask all those skeleton bones, “do you believe in the UN?” If there
is no answer from them, what should make you and me believe in the UN
today? The UN failed because they don’t follow their principles.
Article 1 of the UN, what is it talking about? Article 4, when it talks
about enslavement...Here you had the UN telling us that you can buy a
human being for $10, and they did nothing. The UN is the not the right
place to go. But it is not up to me to say who is supposed to take
action. It is up to the world, and it is up to you, and it is up to
those who are free. If we believe that freedom is important to us
because freedom is a God-given right to every human being, then you
have to ask yourself the question: to protect that freedom, what will
you do?
Q: So what do you think we should we do? What can we do?
A: As I said before, I will not be the one
telling anyone to do A, B, or C. It is up to the others. And the reason
I say that is, we talked about what the government of Sudan was doing
even before World Trade Center number one. We told everyone in the
United States, look: the war is being waged on us because we are
infidels. We asked them the question: if I’m an infidel because I’m a
Christian, what does that make you? And they didn’t listen to us. And
then came World Trade Center number one, which didn’t succeed. The US
government arrested those who were involved and everyone said, “yeah,
we got them.” But we said to them, “you’re wrong. You’re being so
naïve. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.” And it’s true. They
don’t know what they’re dealing with. If the world didn’t get the
picture, not because of what happened here in the US, but worldwide: London, Russia,
even all the way to India and the Philippines, then...When are you
going to wake up so that you don’t need to be told by a former slave?
It is up to the world.
Q: What is your main goal when you give speeches about your experiences?
A: My main goal is to let everybody know that
people have already learned from history that when you decide to do
nothing, at the end of the day you will be terrified. When you see evil
being done on innocent people and you turn a blind eye, walk away, and
do nothing, in the end you will say to yourself, “I wish I would have
done something.” When you, as a free person, see somebody crying for
freedom and you don’t go and support that person, knowing that freedom
is a God-given right to every human being, again, you will be
terrified. It was said perfectly by Martin Luther King, Jr.,
when he talked about love, freedom, and injustice, when he said,
“injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” If you think
that, in your house, nothing will come to you, think again. Think
again. Where are the twin towers?
Q: How do you think the situation should be resolved? Should Sudan be divided into two countries?
A: Of course when it comes to questions about Sudan,
it is up to the Sudanese to decide. But you as an outsider, you have to
be a judge. You are going to be needed to judge what is wrong or right.
The southern Sudanese have never seen that something called freedom. If
you have a husband and wife, and they’re killing each other, you as an
outsider, when you step in, what will you do? You will separate them.
By doing so, you are trying to create peace. And after three million
dead, the world has to ask the question: how many millions do we need
from the southern Sudanese for us to act? Eventually, Sudan
is going to be two entities. Why are we victimizing the southern
Sudanese? Why are we victimizing those who have already suffered
enough? Enough is enough.
Q: There is a current, nationwide movement claiming that Israel is an apartheid state. Having been to Israel and having lived through what you have, how do you feel about the use of the term “apartheid” in this context?
A: It is nonsense. Israel is not an apartheid state. And I say that because I was in Israel myself. I say that because we have Sudanese today in Israel who have run away from slaughter by the Sudanese government. They ran to Egypt
to seek shelter and safety there, and the Egyptians turned on them and
killed them, before the eyes of the world, in front of the United Nations offices in Cairo.
The Sudanese, in the end, couldn’t find safety in Cairo, and they
walked across the desert. Some of them were killed by Egyptian security
forces on the way. When they came to Israel, the first thing that came to their mouths was “thank God, we made it.” So, for anybody who says that Israel is an apartheid state, let’s go to Sudan. If Israel is an apartheid state, what about Sudan then? For God’s sake...For the sake of argument, if Israel is an apartheid state, what does that make Iran? When women and gays and lesbians are sentenced to death, tell me where this kind of brutality happens in Israel? If Israel is an apartheid state, what about Saudi Arabia, where women don’t have freedom? In Israel, everyone has freedom, including those who call Israel an enemy state. If Israel is an apartheid state, what about Egypt, when it comes to the Egyptian Copts? To have a church in Cairo, you need a guard if you want your church to survive. Compared to these places, Israel
is not an apartheid state. We should not always listen to groups like
the UN, because the UN knows how to do one thing, and that is to
condemn Israel when Israel defends herself when she is under attack. There are people in Israel who blow themselves up, and when Israel
takes action to protect her kids, the UN condemns them. And we follow
the UN. Let’s wake up and smell the coffee and find who is an apartheid
state in the world. And Sudan is the first.
Newer news items:
Older news items:
- Sudanese child soldier raps against gang violence in Britain - 08/04/2008
- Former Child Soldier Appointed UN Habitat Ambassador - 08/04/2008
- Attempts to Legalized Election Rigging in Upper Nile State - 05/04/2008
- The World Bank and NGOs in Southern Sudan: Keeping Poverty For Expatriate Benefit - 04/04/2008
- Northern troops enter disputed Sudan oil town - 04/04/2008
Comments (4)
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10-04-2008 22:56:44 |Unregistered| Dak Alang
Mr. Okuk,
Your comment to Mr. Deng's lifestory is just pointless. I believe and know that you have never heard or seen what is called Arab/shari-ah law or jihadism. If I told you that I was abducted once and served for your fellow bloody Arab, would you believe it. Anyway I can row with you since I have read all your articles; you seem to have no side to support... Though you response to this piece of comment, I shall not response back. Please read the article again or ask someone who may have lived once in podhi collo, and have seen, touched, and smelled what Arab-back up militias and Northern Sudan militaries and its brotherly-hood have done to Sudan (e.g. picture Darfur genocide, Rwanda, etc). Please Change. Yours is not politic, though you arr major in it. Change Mr. James Okuk!
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11-04-2008 00:21:29 |Unregistered| jwothab Othow
Sometime Mr. James Okuk, do not opposed what you cannot change or present. You might not be aware of every abductions case in Sudan. I think the bottom line is that it is true there is slave practices in Sudan and no body can deny that.
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11-04-2008 13:05:18 |Unregistered| James Okuk
Please Dak and Jwothab get my comment well and the questions I posed before you rush to condemn it. I did not deny that cases of slavery exist in the Sudan. What I doubt is the truth of the story of uncle Simon Deng's claim of being enslaved by the Arabs (not clear which Arab). This does not mean I doubt other stories about slavery that might be true. It is normal to create a fiction as a campaign against an enemy and this is ok when we are promoting our cause to gain an international support. But it might not be ok in front of God if we tend to make fictions as true stories. This is only my doubt here and it is not a denial of the fact of Slavery as Jwothab fairly put it. What I am inquiring is some more clarifications to clear my doubts. It is not opposition to what is presented (as brother Jwothab understood it). I respect others' opinions.
Dak Aleng is funny in his comment. He says he is not responding to me yet he does it. He thinks that I do not know Podhi Collo and advise me to consult with those who claim to know Podhi Collo like him. Let me inform Dak that James Okuk is not a stranger to Podhi Collo because he was born, lived there during the terrible time of war atrocities, he constantly goes back there during his holidays. He knows Dhok Collo and he knows history of Collo because he likes to discuss with Collo sages. So I do not know where Dak Aleng got the information that I do not know Podhi Collo. Unless Dak went me to change to please him, I reject his call for such a change.
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I doubt the sincerity of the slavery story by uncle Simon Deng. It looks more like a fiction because some fact are unclear: which Arab group abducted him, where in the Sudan and in which year? Who specifically liberated him from the Abductors and who were the witnesses?