City Native To Speak At Conference
By STEVEN M. SWEENEY
CHAUTAUQUA — Among the last presenters at the international criminal law symposium is Clifford Bob.
A Jamestown native and graduate of Jamestown High School, Bob will join more world-renown lecturers today discussing alternatives to trials.
The son of Renate and the late Murray Bob has recently written a book entitled The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media and International Activism. In the book, he has focused on why small communities in third-world nations gain international attention for their woes.
The answer? They were good at marketing.
‘‘They pinpoint particular media outlets ... the more successful groups have been able to frame their concerns around critical issues,’’ he said. ‘‘The ones the media are interested in.’’
He used one African tribal minority as an example — about 500,000 of them were displeased with their governmental representation in a nation of many millions.
‘‘No one cared,’’ Bob said.
So, the faction played up an environmental controversy with a large oil company to snag a ride in the press.
‘‘It hadn’t really helped them. Their leader was executed in 1996 by the military government,’’ said the Duquesne University professor.
International attention turned too much heat on the government, which cracked down on the entire population. All told, no group he has seen had been really successful in finding solutions — just grabbing attention.
The problem seems intertwined with the way real crimes against humanity are portrayed. Massacres that may erupt into genocides can be unintentionally looked over as unimportant.
The flip side, which is part of Bob’s presentation for today, includes discussion of the automation of war crime or crime against humanity prosecution once the crime is uncovered. He told of a vicious Ugandan rebel group, which murdered by the thousands and forced children into sex slavery or conscription. The government referred the case on to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
‘‘And a victim’s group told them ’We want to follow our own local justice and procedure,’’ Bob said. ‘‘It optimizes the larger issue: will we take what victims want into account?’’