Interview with Megan Burke
Our next interview will be with Megan Burke, on Thursday, April 7th:
Megan Burke is the Director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a global network in more than 100 countries that works for a world free of landmines, and where landmine survivors can lead fulfilling lives. Some 60 countries around the world are still contaminated by landmines and thousands of people continue living with this daily threat. In addition, landmines deprive families and communities of land that could be put to productive use such as agriculture. They maintain a sense of insecurity long after conflicts end, delay peace processes, and impede countries’ development for years. Burke is also the Director of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), an international coalition working to eradicate cluster munitions and prevent further casualties from these weapons. Cluster munitions (also knows as cluster bombs) are dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground or sea, opening up in mid-air to release tens or hundreds of submunitions, which can saturate an area up to the size of several football fields. Anybody within the strike area of the cluster munition, be they military or civilian, is very likely to be killed or seriously injured. Cluster bombs have killed and injured thousands of civilians during their history of use and continue to do so today. They cause widespread harm on impact and remain dangerous, killing and injuring civilians long after conflict has ended. One-third of all recorded cluster munition casualties are children. 60% of cluster bomb casualties are injured while undertaking normal activities. Previously, Ms. Burke coordinated the landmine Survivor Networks Project of the ICBL-CMC, a project that strengthens national survivor networks worldwide through financial support and capacity-building assistance. Megan has published several articles and chapters on the rights of landmine and cluster munition survivors and their participation in making policy. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Yale University. |
Megan Burke, CMC Director and Álvaro Jiménez, CCBL Director briefing media on ratification news following their meeting with the President of Colombia. ©CCBL, 10 August 2015, Bogota, Colombia.
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Our Questions for Megan Burke:
Sierra Pool
What motivated you to become involved with these organizations? Is there a personal connection?
How did you first become involved?
How do you feel about the current political/ religious struggles going on in the middle east?
Teresa Onstott
Who are most impacted by mines? Children or adults?
What precautions or actions are taken when disarming mines? Is there a special gear or way to safely disarm it?
How many countries/which countries are most impacted by the mines and cluster munitions? Who is responsible for these attacks?
Elise Troemel
How closely do you work with genocide and war victims? Do you ever hear their stories firsthand?
What kind of obstacles do you encounter in your work? Do governments of landmine-affected countries try to deter you?
Is this the kind of work you wanted to do or imagined yourself doing when you were completing your degrees?
Sierra Pool
What motivated you to become involved with these organizations? Is there a personal connection?
How did you first become involved?
How do you feel about the current political/ religious struggles going on in the middle east?
Teresa Onstott
Who are most impacted by mines? Children or adults?
What precautions or actions are taken when disarming mines? Is there a special gear or way to safely disarm it?
How many countries/which countries are most impacted by the mines and cluster munitions? Who is responsible for these attacks?
Elise Troemel
How closely do you work with genocide and war victims? Do you ever hear their stories firsthand?
What kind of obstacles do you encounter in your work? Do governments of landmine-affected countries try to deter you?
Is this the kind of work you wanted to do or imagined yourself doing when you were completing your degrees?
Interview with John OkwirOn April 5, I contacted a friend of mine who grew up in Sudan. I know him from high school, but since then he has moved back to Khartoum to study at a university there. We spoke about his perspective of the conflict in Darfur and how that has continued to affect the country both politically and culturally even today:
John was quick to point out that he is not from the Darfur region and has never been to that part of the country, so he has not seen much of the violence first hand. He was really willing to answer questions though as this is something that continues in influence life in Sudan. He acknowledged that the government in Khartoum was and still is involved in the genocide in Darfur and that they are also currently involved in other wars, as well. “The government leadership is still the same and has not changed. The killing did dwindle a little but there are still problems amid the peace agreement, which was signed in 2004.” As part of that peace agreement, the Sudanese government’s top officials are on a travel ban to certain countries. This peace agreement is monitored by the UN, and International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for the arrest of Omar Bashir, the president, along with other government leaders, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. “Any country can arrest him. He was in South Africa recently, and they were going to/could have arrested him, but for some reason they decided to let him go, probably because of his friendship with the South African government. Interpol can also carry out an arrest.” As a result of the peace agreement, it is less common now for televised propaganda about the genocide, but John said it will still pop up from time to time. He said earlier that earlier on that kind of thing was “very common and well advertised.” The genocide has not greatly affected life in Khartoum but there are definitely signs of conflict between ethnic groups, both culturally and politically. John says the majority group in Sudan is actually black Arabians. The most contentious issue is always religion, but most of the oppression is simply ethnically and racially charged: “the Khartoum government has oppressed the people in Darfur because they are non Arabs in culture and beliefs. Darfurians were seen as subordinate second-class citizens in the eyes of the government. They were treated as slaves and served as slaves. They were never given any high positions and this led to chaos.” Today, it is hard to find Darfurian slaves in Khartoum, but in the Darfur region it is still common to witness slavery. A lot of Arabs live in Darfur, most of whom did not participate in the genocide itself. Both black Arabs and black Africans were killed in great numbers in the genocide. John also spoke about the recruitment of people to fight in the jihad. While it was indeed common to recruit among universities, the government recruited soldiers from wealthy and poor backgrounds equally as much. They also recruited a lot of child soldiers. As far as foreign aid, John told me that the United States has been the most helpful in this conflict. America sends a lot of rice, beans, and other nutritional foods to victims and displaced people, along with other vital humanitarian aid, “since [the Darfurians] own government, also their enemy, won’t help them.” As we have seen in the documentary, the US has to work with and through the African Union. There has been very little aid from anyone to actually combat the Janjaweed or stop the attacks themselves. “The Christian South Sudanese government did send arms to the black African Muslims. Meanwhile, China and Russia also sold arms in that region….the African Union did not do much back when the war was hot but they had some clashes with Janjaweed. But their job was to keep the two sides from progressive conflict. They were supposed to watch and report back to the United Nations, who would figure out how they were going to resolve the situation. The UN provided security and humanitarian aid in Darfur but their job was not to engage in any conflict. They were like a buffer zone between the two.” Today, the conflict still continues, but it has died down a lot. John says that even with all the displaced people, the economy of the country was not greatly affected because “they were in war and weren’t producing anything. But the economy in the region was very bad because their water was poisoned. Their food was burned, shops were put to flames and destroyed, villages were torn.” When I asked if there were many refugees in cities like Khartoum, John said that there “may be a few, but it was risky for them and people would know who they are based off their looks. The majority went to neighboring Chad and Libya because it was much safer for them.” I also asked about the practice of facial scarring because we had asked about that in class. It is still very common, even in urban areas, but that is not a practice followed in north Sudan, so it is rare to see in Khartoum. |
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Interview with Kenan Trebincevic
On February 25th, we Skyped with Kenan Trebincevic, author of The Bosnia List.
Questions: Emily Longman Have your experiences in America changed your perceptions of Bosnian culture at all? Do you think you would be in the same line of work now if you had stayed in Bosnia? Having seen guns misused, what are your feeling about gun control and ownership? Shannon Manzella's Questions 1. In regards to the healing process, you wrote this book to help cope with the experience. In the book, you write that your trip to bosnia helped you ove on and let go of these long-held grudges. What helped you cope? What would you tell another genocdide survior if they asked? 2. Do you think family played an important role in keeping you grounded during the war? 3. Have you completed anything on your new list? 4. Did you find trusting others in America was hard for you? Was it easier? 5. Have you had to deal with descrimination here in the United States? Thoughts on Donald Trump? Cynthia Saavedra What was your process in writing down your story? What ideas advice and choices led to the shaping of your story to be presented in this particular way? What would you change about the presentation of your story now? Why? How would your life had been different if you had left Bosnia earlier or not have had this experience? What would your outlook on life be? Sierra Pool What was your family's reaction to the book? Did you get any negative feedback? After the publishing of your book, did any survivors reach out to you? What were some of the reactions you received? What are your views on the current state of Bosnia's social and economic progress? Teresa Onstott How have you completed the new Bosnia List? Why did your book change tone so quickly? Were you writing this book for a specific audience? An audience who does know about the Bosnian genocide or for an audience who knew nothing about the Bosnian genocide? Why did you choose to approach the Bosnian genocide this way? Would you feel better if NATO intervened earlier? What is the difference, in your opinion, between revenge and the healing process? Are they complete opposites or do they go hand-in-hand? What worked best in helping you cope and deal with the genocide? Did the book actively help other people heal? How did your family and friends react to you publishing this book? Have they read it? How well did this book do in the market? Danielle Howard In what ways does the Bosnian genocide continue to affect you today? What aspect of genocide resounds with you the most as a survivor? Elise Troemel Are you nervous about the anti-Muslim rhetoric in the country now? Have people treated you differently when they've found out you're Muslim? What do you think of Trump? In what ways do you think Muslims will be more vulnerable if, heaven forbid, he gets elected? Or do you think that other people in this country will stand against him if he tries to take any actions in that regard? What do you think of the US/UN involvement in other countries, especially in the Middle East and since the Bosnian genocide? Do you think we should be involved and how? Do you know if any of your family members were ever in rape camps? Do you think they would tell you if they were? Have you managed to make any friends with Serbs since the book? Have any other survivors, Serb or otherwise, reached out to you and said anything about your book? |
Post-Interview Responses: Emily Longman "Through writing you can turn the worst experience of your life into a beautiful work of art - it just has to be genuine and sincere." -Kenan Trebincevic It was such a neat opportunity to be able to ask Kenan the questions we have been grappling with during the whole unit and to hear his perspective on the events and politics that are going on in the world today. I was particularly intrigued by the way his experiences have colored his opinions on America's gun control and foreign policy. He delivers such a balanced and well thought out analysis of the implications of certain laws. Kenyan Trebincevic has so much to offer and it is heartwarming to watch the impact his book has had on raising awareness of a genocide that should not be forgotten and by bringing together other Bosnians who suffered similar experiences of loss and hardship in the wake of the Bosnian genocide. Teresa Onstott After interviewing Kenan Trebincevic, I'm having a fangirl moment. It feels like when you meet a celebrity for the first time and think they are going to be stuck up and really the complete opposite of their character on a show or whatever they are in and when you finally get to them in line, they are really nice and you're glad you met them. I am really glad to have spoken with Trebincevic. He was very calm and relaxed and had very good answers for all of our class' questions. The biggest thing I am going to take away from his interview is that you can always find the strength to move on from whatever hardships you are going through. His writing is cathartic and is helping him go through his experiences and learn about himself and his family. I admire his strength and how open he is in discussing his personal life. I wish him all the luck in getting the chair. Elise Troemel I was excited to meet Kenan via Skype when we were first talking about it in class, and I was not disappointed when the day finally came. I could probably go on and on about this interview, and although I don't envy the events and circumstances that led him to become famous enough to talk to random classes like ours, I'm glad that he is so willing to still share his story and other insights he's had since the book was written. One of my favorite parts of the interview was when he was telling us a story of how he was skyping to a group from Bosnia about his book and how he called out a politician for his role in the genocide, which as you can imagine flustered the politician to no end. I also thought it was admirable when he was telling us that he could make life miserable for certain people in that part of the world since he has so much access to information about them and people who know them, but chooses to use his power and advantages of living in America for good and not for revenge. It's also comforting to know that he's managed to come to terms with what happened as best as he can and to know that he is setting an example for other people who have suffered through similar situations. I wish him all the best in his endeavors. Evelyn Yee As I expressed in class after the interview was over, I thought it was very interesting that he wanted to know our opinions of the book, as we were a different kind of demographic from perhaps what he considered to be the immediate audience of his book; we're college students, living in the United States studying a topic that most of us didn't know anything about, or had never heard of before. Thus, it was going to give him a different perspective as well to hear what we had to say about his book and how we chose to receive it and read it. I found it very insightful to see what he had to say about what he had written first hand, and really be able to ask our burning questions and have some more sufficient answers. Allie Back I was very excited to talk with Kenan and think that it made the story of genocide very real. The memoirs we have read can be written in such a way that one forgets it happened. Talking with Kenan reminded me that this genocide did happen to real people. I also appreciated Kenan's honesty; he did not hide the facts and told us his thoughts. I think it showed how much Kenan has learned from this experience. I am very grateful for the opportunity to talk with Kenan and ask some questions that I had been struggling with throughout the memoir. Danielle Howard I found our interview with Kenan fascinating! It brought a human face and raw emotions to what he wrote in his memoir. It seems easy to "brush off" experiences in memoirs as fictional in some sense, but hearing his story made it 100% real for me. Hearing and seeing his humor gave me hope for other genocide survivors to heal from their experiences as well. Justin Rink Before this interview I thought that Kenan had not fully gotten over this traumatic experience in his life. It seemed to me that the was living in the past but after talking with him it hit me that he does lives in the past but not only to help himself cope with these events but also to bring clarity about the outside world to the younger generations like us. I am so thankful we had this opportunity to talk with a man that cares so deeply about ideas greater than himself. Jeremy Hartman I was disappointed to learn that Miloš and Zorica had cut ties after reading the book. I had hoped that these two had been more aware of the Bosniaks' suffering and would be more accepting of other people's views. However, I was impressed that Kenan continues to pursue writing and is becoming an activist not only for fellow Bosnians, but others in similar positions, such as Syrians. |
Jen Pintoy
First, I would like to say that I was in total shock that Kenan agreed to an interview with us. We are such a small school that it amazes me he would take the time out of his very busy schedule to talk to us. I was a little upset with how our conversation steered however. As the feminist that I am, I really wanted to ask Kenan why he didn't include more of the female perspective in his memoir. But due to the nature of the other questions, this one seemed out of place. Overall, I was happy to hear his responses- especially the ones about today's politics. I was enjoyed the fact that he mentioned his father came into his house mid-interview. It just shows how calm and laid back he is as a person even after experiences such traumatizing things. |