The general public response to conflict can be done by speaking about it with the people around them, petitioning their government, or taking to the streets to demand that attention be given to a conflict. They may also donate money to humanitarian aid appeals.
The Role of NGOs
Those who feel even more strongly may even organise themselves on a more permanent basis, forming NGOs (this will be dealt with below). For the general public, however, before speaking of their response to conflict, it is important to gauge their awareness of foreign conflict, i.e., do they even know that the conflict exists? Simply maintaining the existence of a conflict in one’s mind and recognising its relative importance is perhaps the first response that the general public can offer when responding to distant conflict.
Awareness of African conflicts among the general public in the West appears to be very low. On the whole, opinion polls conducted by Western companies rarely mention the continent at all, which is a statement in itself. Domestic issues dominate the public opinion polls conducted by the Pew Research Centre, and the majority of polls that do deal with foreign issues cover Iraq and terrorism, with some on crises in Iran, North Korea, Israel and Lebanon.
The general public views on conflict resolution
January 2002 was the last time a poll included African conflicts (Somalia and Sudan) in its title, and this was regarding the use of American force in the world. Pew polls such as ‘What the World Thinks in 2002’ and ‘Views of a Changing World’ ask Africans what they think about political changes in Eastern Europe, American policies and ideas, and suicide bombing (Pew).
Surveys by World Public Opinion ask Congolese and Zimbabweans whether they think US troops should be withdrawn from Iraq and whether removing Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do or not (World Public Opinion). But polls do not ask what those in the West think about conflict in the DRC, Angola or elsewhere in Africa, with the rare exception of possible intervention in Darfur.
A small survey conducted of 37 university students taking a course on war and peace in Australia found that the majority thought that the conflict in Israel-Palestine was most in need of resolution. Nine thought that that conflict was the deadliest in the world (the most common response). Only one could name the DRC as the deadliest conflict in the world, and 13 could not even name a single African conflict. Even in Africa, consciousness appears to be skewed’ When interviewed on BBC radio in 2004, an Angolan writer/poet, when asked what situation in the world concerned him most, responded that it was Palestine, because it had great problems that were ignored by the world.
Recent Western interventions in Kosovo and Iraq sparked anti-war protests and petitions. Large-scale protest and petitions for action in conflict situations that do not directly affect one’s own country are few and far between. Recent demonstrations in the West calling for action in Darfur are rare exceptions. There has not been significant public awareness on the Great Lakes region since the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in eastern Zaire in 1996.
The general public can also show its response to conflict through donations to aid organisations. The following table shows private donations made through OCHA to a number of recent emergencies. The greatest emergencies (in terms of humanitarian need) are in Africa, yet they are the least funded.
Private contributions to OCHA appeals: Jan 1999 – Jun 2003 (millions of US dollars)
| DRC | Great Lakes | S.E. Europe | East Timor | Afghanistan | Iraq |
| 1.4 | 0.5 | 77.2 | 2.7 | 65.4 | 10.3 |
Source: OCHA Financial TrackingService
