IT’S TOO EASY TO IGNORE DARFUR

I often think of my life in comparison with those of Darfur and Chad. Those who live in continual fear of rape, torture and physical death after they have already been raped repeatedly, had their eyes gouged out, entire communities burned to the ground with the support of their own government, land stolen and all while we – the collective “we” – do nothing more than think momentarily about it at best.

When I have thoughts that my life isn't going well, I think of these human beings who live without a home, without bathrooms, water, food. They would be happy to live safely without electricity. When I lose electricity for a few hours, I feel so inconvenienced. When someone isn't nice to me, I let it color my whole day sometimes. And yet these people have experiences that my experiences couldn't even register on the same scale. It puts my life in perspective for me.

It is too easy to put the genocide out our minds. It is too easy to think that it is important to be overwhelmed with our "first world" problems. Computers not working, traffic, car problems, house problems. Online people complain about fiction TV show characters, actors' behaviors, sports' people.

The people of Darfur and neighboring Chad live in a different world.

We are spoiled. We would benefit from becoming aware of other people's lives and gaining perspective on priorities. The world doesn't owe us a life of self-indulgence.

Our self-indulgence can swallow us up. If we can't be self-absorbed and compassionate at the same time, then maybe we need a self-adjustment in our mindset. I had a wonderful time today with my son - a day-early Thanksgiving get-together. But at the same time, I think of the people of Darfur.

Thanksgiving: Give Thanks and Take Action

As you celebrate and give thanks this Thanksgiving, remember those in Darfur by downloading and collecting signatures for our new petition.

Divestment: Pass SADA in the Senate

The Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 (SADA) is stuck in the Senate! Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and possibly other senators, are holding up the bill. Learn More.

Divestment Survey

Your input means a lot to us. Take the divestment events survey.

Dream for Darfur Torch Relay

Join us in Washington, DC on Monday, December 10 for International Human Rights Day. We will bring the Dream for Darfur torch to the Chinese Embassy – its last stop in the U.S.

Click here to RSVP for the relay. Download our event flier for more information

If you would like to bring a group in from out of town and need help with logistics, please email dctorchrelay@savedarfur.org.

Don't forget to sign our new Dream for Darfur petition!

We have no excuses not to know about Darfur. Yes, our media is lame about reporting it. Yes, our President speaks about it when we have a rally that gets some media attention, but at the same time the President talks he doesn’t walk the walk. At the same time that Bush speaks like he is against Sudan’s government-supported genocide on the Darfuri unarmed citizens, Bush has a USA government agent sitting at the table in Khartoum, Sudan working together with the genocide-perpetrating Bashir administration. The reason? To get information from Sudan’s government about American interests regarding US fears of terrorism.

“Khartoum hosted Osama bin Laden in the late '90s, but the Sudanese government has played both sides by supplying America with some intelligence for the war on terror while continuing to raise the Al Qaeda specter as a warning to the West.”
http://www.nysun.com/article/28371?page_no

Bush wants what information Sudan will sanction out to him, so how hard do you think he is ever going to work on ending the genocide when Sudan knows it can hold US hostage? It is well-documented that the Sudanese government armed and unleashed the janjaweed on the Darfuri people and that the Sudanese government allows the genocide to go on unchecked, all while it denies that it is happening.

PBS’ Frontline “On Our Watch: After the genocide in Rwanda, the ethnic cleansing in Srebrenica, the world said 'Never Again!' Then came Darfur” can be seen at the link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darfur/?campaign=pbshomefeatures_1_frontlinebronourwatch_2007-11-21

The world vowed "never again" after the genocide in Rwanda and the atrocities in Srebrenica, Bosnia. Then came Darfur. Over the past four years, at least 200,000 people have been killed, 2.5 million driven from their homes, and mass rape has been used as a weapon in a brutal campaign supported by the Sudanese government.

Word of the burgeoning crisis in Darfur first came to the newly appointed U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, in 2003. "A young woman in her late 20s perhaps, who had trekked all the way from Darfur, sat in my office," Kapila tells FRONTLINE. "And she told me her personal story of how not only had she herself been multiply raped but also that her sisters and her family had also been maltreated in that way, and that this had actually been done by soldiers and people dressed in military and paramilitary uniforms."

But when Kapila confronted the government in Khartoum, he was met only with denials. "We said it during that time, that he's blowing this out of proportion," Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem, Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations tells FRONTLINE.

… Kapila was also having difficulty getting action from leaders at the United Nations. Sir Kieran Prendergast, the undersecretary-general for political affairs and second in command to Kofi Annan, was hesitant about raising the profile of Darfur for fear of upsetting the peace process between the Sudanese government and rebels in the south, who had fought a 21-year civil war.

"The argument was always that if you could conclude the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, then that would provide a model which would enable you to settle the political side of the Darfur problem," says Prendergast, "which of course was only part of the problem."

The peace negotiations would go on for another year. By then the worst of the killing would be over in Darfur. The timing was no accident, according to Kapila: "When I spoke to my friendly contacts in the Sudan government in Khartoum, they told me that yes, they were also delaying the North-South peace agreement because they wanted to -- and I quote -- 'have a lasting solution in Darfur' before they signed the North-South peace agreement and the international community forced them to stop."

When the issue came up at the U.N. Security Council, the Sudanese government was supported by its powerful ally, China. James Traub, author of The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the U.N. in the Era of American World Power, tells FRONTLINE: "What has enabled Sudan to be as truculent as it has been is knowing that they have either the support, or at least the willingness not to act against them, of neighboring African countries, of Islamic countries generally, and of Russia and China. And above all of China. That support is critical for them."

More than any other power, the United States pushed for meaningful action against Sudan, but its standing had been weakened in the eyes of many in the international community by the war in Iraq. Prendergast tells FRONTLINE: "You know that most of the Third World regard non-interference and internal affairs as holy writ. And partly that's because they think, 'Who next?' And partly it's because the actions of NATO in Kosovo and the coalition in Iraq have agitated them in that respect and made them feel that the question of who next is a live and vivid one where they either hang together or they'll be hanged separately."

…China's economic interests remained a major obstacle to intervention in Darfur. …activists… find a way to get China's attention -- by targeting the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Activist Eric Reeves launched a campaign to shame the Chinese government by labeling the games the "Genocide Olympics." "The message to China is clear," Reeves tells FRONTLINE. "We will ensure that your hosting of the Olympics will go down in history along with the 1936 Olympics in Berlin as an occasion of international infamy."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darfur/etc/synopsis.html

Al-Qaida said angry at Sudan for passing data to US
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=10254

Timeline: Al-Qaeda
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3618762.stm

Events listed regarding Darfur activism:
http://enoughproject.org/#fragment-11