Responsibility to Protect. R2P. Responsibility to Protect a doctrine that was endorsed by all UN member states at the 2005 World Summit. After the genocide in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, there was a developing global commitment to require nations to protect their own from genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes. Failure to exercise this responsibility provided justification for the world community to intervene through diplomatic measures, economic sanctions or – as a last resort – military intervention. Without citing the scriptural reference, the global community was invoking an ancient directive: “do not stand idly by” (Leviticus 19:16).
The words of the R2P document are important, but time and again the resolve to live up to the responsibility has fallen short. The experience of the violent discrimination and killing (some would say genocide) of the Rohingya community in Myanmar, Uighurs in China, various tribes in Sudan, and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, which is just a partial list, has demonstrated that R2P can end up being a hollow commitment. More times than not the world community has stood idly by as atrocities occur.
In the circular circus of explaining his reasons for bombing Iran, President Trump initially suggested that one of the rationales to go to war was to protect Iranians who have been visibly protesting a theocractic regime that has committed countless illegal incarceration and killings over the past 47 years against its own people. Thousands of Iranian lives have been lost who have done nothing more than engaging in a nonviolent public witness against tyranny. It may be a stretch to call Trump’s defense of Iranians a humanitarian gesture, but in the days since his initial announcement, his focus has been on his perceived danger of an Iranian attack on America (a threat that was not shared by military strategists).There has been much more talk about regime change that protecting the lives of Iranian citizens.
What has emerged in the bombing of Iran is yet another example of Trump’s unyielding responsibility to protect – himself. This is congruent with all the other actions, statements, and orders coming from the President over the past fourteen months. Protect himself from disloyalty, criticism, accusations of incompetence, information that may expose the depth of his corruption. Protect himself from emotional weakness by being fatally aggressive.
At the same time, President Trump has also repeatedly demonstrated an immoral responsibility to protect his various revenue streams, which continue to flow steadily into his many accounts and family businesses.Still other revenue streams flow in from a wide array of billionaires who both promote and protect him – so their assets can also be protected as well. A financial quid pro quo, which as more information dribbles out from the Epstein files, we are learning that this was a regular – and disreputable, way of doing business among many who were in the Epstein class.
If there is consolation in the wake of an expanding war, the loss of life, the precarious economy, the vicious polarization that is impossible to escape, and a President who seems to revel in fomenting division, it is that there are more and more people who are embracing a responsibility to protect. Protect us from the malevolence of the President and his Administration by calling out the corruption, exposing the lies, challenging the incompetence, and witnessing to the belief that love, mercy and justice can prevail over fear and venality.
My friend and colleague, the Rt. Rev. Rob Hirschfeld, who is the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, at a vigil in Concord gathered to honor Renee Good and the other victims of ICE, challenged those gathered that it was time to stand up, “because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.” He exhorted his clergy to prepare for a “new era of martyrdom. The Greek root of the word martyr is witness. His comments went viral. They touched a life-defending nerve: responsibility to protect. We are witnessing people claiming that responsibility. We saw R2P grow in numbers and impact in Minneapolis during the ICE siege. It is said that some 60,000 people have now been trained to move beyond standing idly byto stand up for their neighbors. That standing up is emerging in neighborhoods and communities across the country. It is growing. It is making a difference. It is the fuel for hope.
Responsibility to protect is a key ingredient in the Bantu (South African) term ubuntu. Bishop Desmond Tutu would often say that ubuntu means “I am because you are”. Another definition is demonstrating “humanity to others”. Nelson Mandela embraced ubuntu in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
Responsibility to protect. Do not stand idly by. Love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34-35). Ubuntu. These are powerful terms and phrases because they are more than statements; they are calls to action.
