The Ghosts of Alexander have a great post on the
The Politicization and Militarization of Aid to
Afghanistan. As the ghosts quite rightly point
out the process did not begin in 2001. It began much
earlier and NGOs are still feeling the impact today.
To quote the ghosts again, “All it takes is for
either the US, the Taliban, the locals or the central
government to see it as political and becomes so...”
Unfortunately that means your organization’s
carefully crafted, acceptance based, security
strategy disappears along with your perceived
neutrality.
Read the whole post to see how your NGO’s choice of
friends in the 80’s might be affecting your security
today.
Mother Jones has an interesting article that outlines
the tensions between
NGOs and military forces' involvement in
what the US military calls "stability
operations." While it should be nothing new to
the experienced NGO security practitioner it is
a good primer for those who may not understand
the debate.
This article about a UNDP worker being arrested while
carrying a pistol is interesting but its the comments
that stand out. Some are funny... some just sad. What
does it say about acceptance as a security strategy
in Sri Lanka? Have we been doing a good job
communicating what it is we do and who we are?
Viewed by some in the Islamic world as symbols of
western influence INGOs are vulnerable to the
sometimes violent backlash over perceived insults to
Islam. Attacks on INGO compounds after the release of
the now infamous Danish cartoons and the erroneous
TIME magazine article claiming that an American
military prison guard had flushed a copy of the Quran
down a toilet highlight just how vulnerable we are.
Most physical security measures cannot survive a
sustained assault by hundreds of angry protesters.
Host country security personnel are generally
reluctant to open fire on their fellow countrymen nor
would most INGOs want them to. Frequently underpaid
and undermanned security forces may lack the breadth
and depth required to protect all the potential
targets in their country. All of which begs the
question of how do organizations whose security
relies primarily upon acceptance maintain security
when they are no longer accepted?
Unfortunately I don't have any easy answers but I am
hoping the following clip by Radio Netherlands
Worldwide will help cooler heads prevail if the Geert
Wilders 'Fitna' film is released. The version below
is in English but there are Arabic and Indonesian
versions as well. Link to these, email copies to
friends, show them at your next staff meeting
and maybe, just maybe, we can counter some of
the hype and propaganda that Geert Wilder
thrives on.
Very rarely has a film sparked off as much
pre-release controversy as Dutch MP Geert Wilder’s
‘Fitna, the movie’. Even without knowing what’s in
it, 'Fitna’ has got the world asking questions.
Questions about the man who made it and his
motives, about the country he lives in where his
film is allowed. Questions about that country’s
government – which issues warnings about the film
but does nothing to stop it. And questions about
the position of Muslims in The Netherlands. The
central character in this film is also struggling
with these questions, and decides to travel to The
Netherlands in search of answers.
