Darfur 911
Helene, Cyndy, Jeff, and Jill at "A Million Voices for Darfur" rally: Washington D.C., April 29, 2006
"Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter. "
Since 2003, Darfur in Western Sudan has been embroiled in a deadly conflict. At least four hundred thousand people have been killed; more than two million people have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than 3.5 million people are completely reliant on international aid for survival.
The people of Darfur experience horrendous crimes, including the mass rape of women and girls, burning of homes and religious buildings, killing of babies, and other atrocities. The main perpetrators of these atrocities have been the Sudanese-government-sponsored Janjaweed militias, who have often operated with direct help from the Sudanese military. In-fighting among the various rebel groups and factions has also taken a damaging toll. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter. In fact, the only thing keeping the death rates in Darfur from skyrocketing is the presence of one of the most elaborate humanitarian aid systems the world as ever seen.
Unfortunately, that aid network is now coming under attack as well. In July of 2006 alone, more aid workers were killed than in the previous three years combined. Aid workers have also frequently been arrested by the Sudanese government. If the aid network collapses due to violence, the monthly death rate in Darfur could top 100,000 according to Jan Egeland, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs. -- [Source: SaveDarfur.org "Faith Action Packet". Photo courtesy of Jerry Fowler, United States Holocaust Museum]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Darfur crisis is a faith crisis:
"There is an enormously wide consensus in the faith community that the mandate of Leviticus 19 -- "You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor" -- requires that the faith community act. Add to that the sense of failure, from the Holocaust through Rwanda, of having really never made "never again" a reality in this world. When this came about, the faith community just said, "This time we have to speak out. We can't stand idly by while hundreds of people are dying or being killed. We can't stand by while thousands of women are being raped as a tool of war. We can't stand by while people in the camps are going to be dying of disease and hunger. We can't stand by while ethnic cleansing and genocidal activities [are] going on. We have to act." -- Rabbi David Saperstein, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly Interview, 4/26/2006)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Getting Involved: How to Help
Stay informed-- and tell others. The crisis in Darfur has gotten so little coverage in our media (unlike Paris Hilton's many crises) that many people -- even those who said and sincerely meant "never again" -- are unaware of the humanitarian disaster taking place.
For example, when Britain's new Prime Minister visited the U.S., National Public Radio reported that one of his highest priorities was making progress on ameliorating the Darfur situation --- yet no New York newspaper mentioned this. New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, who regularly and passionately advocates for Darfur in his New York Times Op Ed column, has been one of the few exceptions to the virtual media blackout. (Click here to read his January 24, 2008 column on China's "Genocide Olympics.")
A great web site for getting an overview of current events in Darfur is SaveDarfur.org; see also any of the other web sites in our “Getting Involved” section below. Many, like the excellent Sudan Divestment Task Force Current News section, offer up-to-date summaries and links to videos.
Let your voice be heard: participate in rallies and/or letter, phone, and email campaigns. Periodically, TUJ has had (and will continue to have) letter-writing campaigns to politicians on behalf of Darfur. Many of the web sites listed below in our “Getting Involved” section also offer opportunities to sign up for email “action alerts” and provide scripts for calling politicians.
We will also use this Social Action web site to bring you news of current opportunities for activism in the New York area.
Investigate your investments. There is a growing campaign for targeted divestment from mutual funds with holdings in foreign companies doing business with the Sudanese government, thereby helping to support their murderous activities in Darfur. Draw the line at your family's savings and your pension funds being used to help fund genocide
Investors Against Genocide, Sudan Divestment Task Force and the Fidelity Out of Sudan Campaign are helping to pressure state and city pension funds to divest, and also provide information to individuals whose mutual fund holdings may mask investments in offending companies such as the huge Chinese petroleum companies PetroChina and Sinopec. (Investors Against Genocide's web site makes it especially convenient for shareholders to take action).
On January 22, 2008, a victory was scored when the SEC ruled against Fidelity’s request to exclude a shareholder proposal on genocide-free investing from their proxy statements. It sets the stage for proxy votes at shareholder meetings for hundreds of mutual funds to become genocide-free.
Contribute to humanitarian relief and publicity efforts. The American Jewish World Service Darfur Relief and Advocacy Campaign and the Doctors Without Borders Sudan Relief Fund are two opportunities to help with on-the-ground relief. For only $30, you can buy 2 solar cookers for Darfur refugees through the Jewish World Watch Solar Cooker Project; JWW is also sponsoring a new campaign to send school supplies to Darfuri refugee children in Chad.
SaveDarfur.org, an alliance of 130 faith-based and humanitarian groups, runs massive public information campaigns on behalf of Darfur and has been instrumental in raising awareness about Darfur among American politicians and the public; they also fund relief efforts.
------------------------------------------------
Getting Involved: A Summary of Web Resources
SaveDarfur.Org
Frontline Report (with video): "On Our Watch:" Why have the international community and the United Nations once again failed to stop the slaughter? (originally aired November, 2007)
CBC News “The Crisis in Darfur: A Timeline”
American Jewish World Service Darfur Action Campaign
Jewish World Watch
Doctors Without Borders Sudan Relief
Investors Against Genocide
Sudan Divestment Task Force
Fidelity Out of Sudan Campaign
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“NBC, We Want More” -- "Today Show" Protest
Over 100 people gathered early Wednesday morning on July 23 by NBC’s Rockefeller Center studio to call for more network coverage of the situation in Darfur – including China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide by providing deadly weapons to the Sudanese government and underwriting the government through oil purchases.
Why NBC? According to the American Jewish World Service, which spearheaded the event, “For two weeks in August, NBC will dedicate approximately 1400 hours to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on its affiliated television networks. By contrast, during the more than five year period between January 23 and June 2008, NBC devoted only 6 hours and 45 minutes to covering the crisis in Darfur….The China-Sudan connection is a story that deserves to be told and NBC has a unique opportunity to do so.”
Early arrivals could be seen on-camera in the “Today Show” outside audience, pressed against the studio’s windows wearing t-shirts with the Olympic symbol and the words “Darfur – NBC Not Being Covered.” As tourists outside the building and passing commuters stared, the sounds of two alternating chants – “NBC, We Want More, Tell the World About Darfur” and “Don’t Let China Off the Hook – Give Darfur Another Look!” – resounded from the backup crowd of demonstrators dressed in matching t-shirts and waving colorful placards. (see the AJWS video).
One activist I spoke with – and perhaps many others in the crowd -- had the ghost of another Olympics in mind, the 1936 Berlin Games whose coverage gave Hitler a showcase and ignored the rising Nazi threat. While no one for a moment suggests that China is equivalent to Nazi Germany, those Olympics are still a potent reminder that the Olympic spotlight brings responsibility, with the games embedded in a political world that we ignore at the peril of others.
Click to read more about AJWS’s analysis of media coverage of Darfur.
Click here for a video of the demonstration.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maloney Gets It
(photo: www.maloney.house.gov)
"I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind as I continue to fight on the behalf of the millions of innocent civilians still oppressed in the region."
Many organizations like AJWS and SaveDarfur frequently issue email alerts asking us to send a message (canned or personalized) to a politician, a diplomat, or a corporation. They’ve made it so convenient that it only takes a second to send them: click, click, back to work, feeling like maybe something is better than nothing. But why bother? Is anyone listening?
After several years of regularly responding to Darfur email alerts on Darfur issued by AJWS and SaveDarfur.Org, my philosophy is that clicking is like voting – no, no one reads those canned messages but someone pays attention to the sheer number of people who bothered to send them. I’ve been encouraged by the number of times I’ve heard interviewees on “Bill Moyers Journal” and similar shows incidentally comment on the difference made by the large volume of mail or email that they received on an issue --- and the origin, particularly from faith-based communities.
While I never expect an answer to my clicks, I’d like to recognize the one legislator who has consistently responded very thoughtfully, U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney from the East Side. Below is her latest letter, sent in July:
Thank you for contacting me about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. I appreciate
hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.
Like you, I am outraged by the continuing genocide in Darfur, as innocent people continue to suffer. To date, over 2.5 million civilians have been forced to flee their homes, and an estimated 450,000 people have been killed. Throughout my time in Congress, I have taken a firm stance against
this inhumane travesty and will continue in this fight until justice is served.This year, I have cosponsored H.Con.Res. 7, which calls on the League of Arab Nations
and its member States to recognize the genocide occurring in Darfur. More importantly, this legislation urges the Arab community, along with the African Union and President Bush, to help bring peace and stability to the region. Additionally, I am a cosponsor of H.R. 180, the Darfur
Accountability and Divestment Act. This bill supports state, city, and university efforts to divest funds from, or restrict investments in, companies that conduct business operations in Sudan.Although recent legislation is a step in the right direction, the Administration and
Congress cannot stop there. I have joined with many of my colleagues in Congress in vigorously urging President Bush to seek a strong commitment from the Chinese government to actively participate and support international efforts to end the genocide in Darfur. China has consistently provided diplomatic cover for and continually invested in the Sudanese government. On June 7th, the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs of the House Government Reform Committee, of which I am a member, held a hearing entitled "Darfur and the Olympics: A Call for International
Action." I, along with members of the Subcommittee, discussed human rights
issues in the region and how the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing,
China , may be an opportunity to spur international action.Thank you again for sharing your views with me on this pressing issue. I will be sure
to keep your thoughts in mind as I continue to fight on the behalf of the millions of innocent civilians still oppressed in the region. Please contact me again if I can be of further assistance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clemente Course in the Humanities Comes to Darfur
"The prevailing feeling of despair at the beginning of the class has been replaced by hope."
Against the background of so much dire news from Darfur, it was inspiring – and awe-inspiring – to hear a delegation of Darfuris who gathered at NYU in June to describe an experiment in using the Socratic method to teach college-level humanities to thirty-one refugees from displaced person camps near Khartoum.
They are involved in a program called the Clemente Course in Humanities, which brings an intensive year-long humanities curriculum, adapted to local cultures, to poor and non-traditional students worldwide (since 1995, over 10,000 have participated). The first Darfur class, whose students include 4 traditional chiefs and 9 women with ages ranging from 20's to 50's, began meeting last February.
As Abdelbagi Jibril, Executive Director of the Darfur Relief and Documentation Center, explained, the course is part of a campaign for using the humanities as a tool for social change through the “rigor and pleasures of dialog, reflection, and tolerance.” From the outset the Darfur participants had to commit to social change and tolerance simply because women and men do not normally study together in Darfur society.
Educator Huwaida Medani also described the course as a tool for healing and for “overcoming disappointment and fear of the future.” The students have all seen their family members killed and have been driven from their land. The first class has already been so successful that plans are to expand the course to teach victims of gender-based violence in Darfur.
Even beyond individuals, an entire culture is at stake. Since the genocide is also an attempt to destroy the Darfuri culture, the hope is that the course will help to keep alive the cultural heritage of the Fur sultanate, “an area that was once considered the most stable in Africa.”
Besides describing the course, the speakers brought firsthand observations from Khartoum. They noted that thousands of Darfuris were arrested after the government unleashed new violence against the people of Darfur in the wake of a May 10 rebel attack on Khartoum, and mosques and media are being used to foment ongoing violence. “Crimes beyond your imagination are being committed every day,” Medani said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manhattan Premiere of "The Devil Came on Horseback"
Young former Marine Captain Brian Steidle wasn’t ready to settle down and was looking for a way to use his service experience when he answered an ad to accompany the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. As the months went by, he and his companions were drawn into the horror of systematic murder taking place before their eyes. But the African Union had no mandate to intervene with armed force, and the unarmed Steidle’s job was only to monitor and report on their efforts.
In anguish as he observed the bombing and extermination of entire villages of Africans by helicopter gunships and armed Arab horsemen (“janjaweed”), as he smelled charred flesh, viewed mutilated bodies, and spoke with traumatized survivors, he obsessively photographed and documented the carnage that he was powerless to prevent.
Steidle returned to the States determined to show people what was happening in Darfur. “I thought that once people saw the evidence, they would be so outraged that we would immediately interfere,” he said. His story – of the terrible slowness of the U.S. and the rest of the world to help, of the sickening and chilling evidence that he has amassed, and his dedication to educating people about Darfur and rousing them to action, is the subject of “They Came on Horseback.”
At the public Manhattan premiere on July 26, fellow TUJ'er Eve and I were unable to watch this powerful movie without averting our eyes. I doubt that many people could. The filmmakers do not stint from showing us exactly what Steidle saw, and there are many scenes of the aftermath of armed raids on villages -- galleries of unspeakable deaths that outdo any horror film imaginable. You will become a firsthand observer of genocide, as Steidle was. And you will probably be unable to leave the movie without being enraged and prepared to act.
However, one of the additional strengths of the movie is its scenes of a living Darfur – not just dead bodies, but huge thriving farming villages with their complex patterning of compounds of domed houses that existed until all too recently. And there are moments of tremendous sweetness and humanity and sorrow as survivors speak. “Would you believe that I was a teacher? Now look at me...." a stick-thin woman wrapped in a dusty caftan says in perfect English. A dignified older man who escaped his burning village with his young grandsons comments, also in English, “No Muslims from the Arab world have come to help us, even though we are all Muslims. Only non-Muslims have helped.” Although he is perfectly composed during his interview, the camera follows him as he walks away staggering in pain and wiping his eyes on his sleeve.
At the July 26 Manhattan premiere at the IFC theatre in Greenwich Village, Brian Steidle and both filmmakers (Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern) were present. Steidle answered audience questions after the film and then patiently stood outside the theatre (see photo above) answering still more questions after we were forced to clear the theatre for the next showing. He explained his understanding of the hatred and racism underlying the Sudanese government campaign, having heard firsthand the stories and comments of Sudanese government officials and of the Arab janjaweed who do their killing for them.
When someone asked why people didn’t flee their villages when they heard that the janjaweed were coming, he asked “Would you leave your house if someone told you that New York City was going to be attacked? Where would you go?”
The filmmakers revealed that they had also made a 10-minute version of the film that they are using to educate athletes in training about Darfur issues prior to the upcoming Olympics in China. But if you’re not an Olympian – and you couldn’t make it to a theatre showing this film --- the "They Came on Horseback" DVD will be available on October 30, 2007 and is already listed on Netflix. A book by the same name has also been published.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUJ "Write a Letter for Darfur" Campaign
9/22/2007: The first letters ready to go
Thanks to the twenty-three people who stopped at our TUJ Social Action letter-writing table on Yom Kippur to hand-write letters to American Olympic corporate sponsors like Coca-Cola, Eastman Kodak, Johnson & Johnson, and McDonald’s. Their letters asked the companies to use their influence with the Chinese government and the Olympic National Committee to aid Darfur.
Our action was inspired by Dream for Darfur, an organization highlighting the gap between China’s current role in the Sudan – where it still helps to underwrite the Darfur genocide through its intimate economic and political relationship with the central government – and its role as the host of the event that most symbolizes international peace and cooperation.
We hope to hold other letter-writing events, focused on timely issues related to Darfur, on a monthly basis at future TUJ services.
Our sample letter, which participants copied or adapted as they wished:
I am writing to urge you, as a corporate sponsor
of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to use your influence
to pressure the Chinese
government and the International Olympic Committee to live up
to Olympic ideals by taking action to bring
peace to Darfur.
I further ask that you pledge to donate a portion of
Olympic-related proceeds to humanitarian relief for the people of Darfur.
While I realize that you have a choice of whether
or not to contribute to ending the Darfur genocide, I am sure that _________ (fill in name of company) also realizes
that we as consumers make many choices
too.
-------------------------------------------------
Global Day for Darfur: September 14, 2007
“My response is that I must do my utmost to stop this... I’m still in the process of discovering what my utmost is.” – Mia Farrow, 24 Hours for Darfur video snapshot
On a sparkling fall day, TUJ members Cyndy, Jeff, Eve, and I joined 3-400 others for a “Global Day for Darfur” rally sponsored by 24 Hours for Darfur, an organization that uses personal videos to involve people around the world in appealing for a solution to the Darfur crisis. Against the backdrop of the U.N. offices and the trees of Dag Hammarskold park, a supersized screen displayed some results of the project so far. In a series of vivid cameos, individuals from many different countries – some as well known as Mia Farrow and Nicholas Kristof, but most just ordinary citizens --- urged diplomats, politicians, and citizens alike to take responsibility for stopping the genocide.
The compelling video snapshots were interspersed with speeches by activists including Peter Takirambudde of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch; Betsy Appel of Human Rights First; Eugenie Mukashawanda, a Rwandan survivor, Simon Deng, a former Sudanese child slave who 2 years ago walked from the U.N. to Washington D.C. to focus attention on Darfur; Steve Gutow from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and Jill Savit of Olympic Dream for Darfur.
Speakers described current hopeful signs, yet emphasized the importance of maintaining pressure on the U.N., the Sudanese government, the U.S, Europe, and China to build a comprehensive peace. The U.N. has committed to putting a peacekeeping force on the ground by the beginning of 2008… “but we have all seen the U.N. enter a fray and then retreat.” The Sudanese government has given lip service to supporting the U.N. presence..but Kartoum has a history of making hollow promises. China is donating 300 troops to train peacekeepers, and did not block the latest U.N. resolution…but without exerting its influence more the billion dollars a year that it pays for Sudanese oil will still fund atrocities.
Other Voices from the Rally:
“A new year is begun…in our liturgy a great prophet of Western civilization is going to demand to know what you and I have done to make the world a just place. We are going to respond that we are going to march, we are going to shout, we are going to look Darfuris in the face…that their villages will come back to life, that young men and women will go back to school, that Darfuris will again have hope.” – Steve Gutow, Jewish Council for Public Affairs
“I’m 53 years old and one person has been killed in Darfur for every hour I’ve been alive.” – anonymous video
“With the privilege of hosting the Olympics comes responsibility – you cannot host the Olympics while you are underwriting genocide. These are our Olympics too!” -- Jill Savit, Olympic Dream for Darfur
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dream for Darfur Olympic Torch Relay: September 9, 2007
"Remember that when we’re talking about numbers we’re talking of people – please remember there are mothers in Darfur, there are sisters in Darfur, there are girls with dreams and boys with dreams and they all deserve life." – Rwandan genocide survivor, 9/7/2007
On the third anniversary of the U.S. declaring that genocide was taking place in Darfur, hundreds of people gathered near the Sudanese mission on Manhattan’s East Side to commemorate the event by lighting an Olympic torch.
The torch symbolized the need for China to bring the Olympic spirit to the people of Darfur. Speakers noted that the Beijing Olympics supposedly represents “One World, One Dream” but so far Darfur has not been part of the dream. Instead, China has continued to support and protect the Sudanese government.
Besides representatives of organizations fighting to bring an end to the Darfurian genocide, the speakers included survivors of the genocides of Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur. Each described the loss of parents, partners, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, children, friends, and teachers. The oldest survivor was a 98-year old woman who had been 6 when her parents were killed in the Armenian massacre; the youngest was a teenager born during the Rwandan genocide of 1994 who stood by as her mother spoke.
Carrying the torch, these survivors led a silent parade of demonstrators to the Chinese Mission to the U.N. on East 35th street. Once again, their gates were locked. The torch was first lit in Chad in August, 2007, and will travel to 20 other cities in the U.S. following today’s rally.
Other Voices from the Rally:
"This is not a rally. This is a somber event to send a message to the world." -- Joe Madison, Sudan Campaign Coalition
"As bad as things are, they would be much worse if not for all the citizens who have stood up. Governments will not accept responsibility until the citizens demand it." – Jerry Fowler, U.S. Holocaust Museum
“It is largely due to the faith community that the Darfur genocide is even on the radar screen of people in Washington.” -- Tony Kiriopolis, National Council of Churches
---------------------------------------------------------------
Gates Locked Against 42,000 Signatures: Chinese Mission Vigil, New York City, July 26, 2007
“We are writing to urge you in the strongest possible manner to hold the Sudanese government to the commitments it has made to the world -- and to China -- under your leadership of the UN Security Council…”
About 85 New Yorkers stood vigil at noontime on July 26 as a representative tried to deliver a petition with 42,000 signatures to the Chinese Mission to the U.N. on East 35th. The action was coordinated with similar demonstrations in Washington D.C. and other cities.
Even though the Mission was reportedly open only minutes before the silent demonstration started, the door was covered by locked steel gates when I arrived around noon. The entire building looked empty.
After half an hour, the vigil concluded with short, moving speeches by several activists, including a Darfurian refugee and New York City Council Member Eric Gioia (sponsor of Resolution 695 urging New York City and State pension funds to divest from companies doing business in Sudan).
As the vigil broke up and we headed back to work, we saw the first signs of life in the Mission, a dimly visible head watching from an upper floor.
Read the petition
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUJ Members have also participated in these actions for Darfur:
"Break the Chain": Manhattan, March 19, 2007. Holding hands, a human chain of several hundred student activists and other New Yorkers snaked from the Sudanese Mission near East 47th to the Chinese Mission to the UN on East 35th. The goal was to focus attention on the deadly link between China and the Sudanese government, and to spotlight actions like targeted divestment. (Cindy, above, and Jill)
Targeted Divestment for Darfur Rally: City Hall, February 4, 2007. Support for the introduction of Resolution 695 in in the New York City Council, to divest the city's pension funds of 524.5 million dollars worth of investments in foreign companies doing business with Sudan. (Click here to check on the progress of this resolution). (Cindy, Jeff, Jill)
"Save Darfur Now: Voices to Stop Genocide": Central Park, September 17, 2006. Rally and concert for Darfur to urge the use of a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur. (Helene, David, Jeff, Cindy, Jill)
Washington D.C., April, 2006: Thousands of demonstrators, some from as far away as Illinois and Georgia. gathered on the Mall to urge the Bush administration to become more involved in ending the Darfur conflict. Speakers included Barack Obama, George Clooney, Mia Farrow, Elie Wiesel, Al Sharpton, and David Saperstein. (Helene, Cindy, Jeff, Jill: see photo at top of page)
