US Jury: BNP Paribas Enabled Atrocities. Next, Congress?
Mainstream outlets like The New Arab highlight a US jury's finding that BNP Paribas enabled Sudanese atrocities, awarding victims millions. It's a rare moment of accountability for financial institutions involved in human rights abuses, spotlighting crimes by Omar al-Bashir’s regime. While juries are busy holding banks accountable for supporting governments committing atrocities, our own Congress
routinely greenlights billions in military 'aid' to governments with a well-documented history of human rights violations (see: the 14 billion dollars for specific governments in recent aid packages, often after significant lobbying from groups like AIPAC, who spent 6.5 million in 2023 alone lobbying lawmakers to continue such aid, according to OpenSecrets). The question isn't just about what
banks facilitate, but what our elected officials facilitate, often with perfectly legal campaign 'contributions'. Where's the jury for that?