ilovemylife: November 2012

PRESIDENT OBAMA: “Silence, acquiescence, paralysis in the face of genocide is wrong.”

PRESIDENT OBAMA said: “Silence, acquiescence, paralysis in the face of genocide is wrong.”

Send your letter to President Obama.

Here is my letter that I sent ~

Dear President Obama:

I have been involved as a volunteer activist regarding Sudan since 2003. I heard you speak at the 2006 Rally for Darfur on the mall in Washington, D.C. What you said then, made me believe you cared. I believe you meant what you said then and also when you visited a Darfur refugee camp prior to becoming President. However, your appointed Special Envoys to Sudan have not only be ineffective, but detrimental to the human rights violations by the Sudanese government. How can you do this? It does not line up with what you said prior to becoming President in 2008. Or to the letter you sent to me and other activists the first year of your Presidency.

The people of Darfur have been experiencing genocide for almost ten years and continue to suffer. Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has been allowed to use the "lessons learned" from Darfur in the Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions, where innocent civilians are now also experiencing what many call genocide. Clearly, current U.S. policy and international engagement is not working.

At the 2006 D.C. Rally for Darfur, you said: “Silence, acquiescence, paralysis in the face of genocide is wrong.” As a Senator and a first-time candidate for President, you promised to act.

You also said: "Our action and leadership will show who we are as a nation and as a people."

And yet, your administration has not taken action, shown humanity leadership regarding Sudan or made it a priority as you said you would in the text of your letter response to me in your first year as President.

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"If we don’t fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don’t really stand for them.” Paul Wellstone, 1944-2002

You have the opportunity as President to make a marked difference in the lives of the Sudanese people trying to stay alive in caves, tents, after rape, after witnessing their family members being slaughtered, under the fire of Sudanese government bombings, during years of on-going blocking of food and health assistance and scorched earth manifestations of genocide by the Sudanese government. The Sudanese government that your administration has given the go-ahead to keep on committing the atrocious crimes of genocide has increasingly become emboldened because they KNOW that the USA and other potential coalition countries have done nothing, will do nothing to stop their genocides in various regions of their country. All on your watch.

When you are no longer President, I will not believe you when you say that you regret you did not effectively do enough to stop this from going further in Sudan. That is what Bill Clinton did about Rwanda. This is your Rwanda.

Sincerely,

Sandra Hammel

The following text is from ~

Hidden Hunger - Living in Caves in Nuba Mountains of Sudan

Read the full article ~Nuba Reports

Frequent bombing by the Sudan government continues to threaten civilians' safety. More than 100 bombs fell in South Kordofan in October, according to Nuba Reports journalists. Attacks on the ground are also a concern for citizens as the SAF burns villages as part of the violent campaign against areas under Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) control.

For many, the journey to Yida refugee camp in South Sudan is a daunting choice. With over 65,000 people inhabiting a camp intended for 15,000, living conditions are poor, food stocks are low and the long walk there is dangerous.

Life in the mountains is not a solution for displaced people, however. Cave life is unsustainable, especially without land to harvest or hope for food aid. Violence surrounds the mountains but their home villages are destroyed or in too dangerous a region to which to return.

Marriam Teia told Nuba Reports that not only does she have no way to get to Yida, but it is a place she's never been before--far from her home in Tess, a village recently burned by the SAF. "I don't know where to put my heart," she said. "I'm in the middle. I want to go home."

Read the full article ~Nuba Reports

Send your letter to President Obama.

Labels: al-Bashir, Blue Nile, Darfur, Genocide, ICC, Nuba Mountains, PRESIDENT OBAMA, Sandra Hammel ilovemylife Rhode Island, South Korodan, UN

JUSTICE IS RESPONSIBILITY OF EVERYONE

This article is from the UU (Unitarian Universalist) World magazine

Winter 2012, Vol XXVI

www.uuworld.org

Full credit to the magazine and the author of the article: Tim DeChristopher

from page 32 of the article:

Cowardice invites just as many imitators as courage. If we believe that taking a courageous stand for justice has a deep spiritual resonance throughout humanity, then we must accept that cowering in the face of injustice has an impact just as profound. Every time we choose convenience over principle, we strengthen the status quo and reinforce the existing power structure. Every time we choose comfort over justice, we help build those walls of oppression. This means that we hold some degree of responsibility for the injustice around us.

Morally there are no sidelines in a struggle between oppressors and the oppressed. All that oppressors ask from the rest of us is to mind our own business, so by attempting neutrality we implicitly side with the oppressors. If we are truly an interconnected web, then we cannot simply blame the actions of the powerful for the injustice in our society; injustice is also the result of countless inactions by those with a responsibility to our fellow human beings."

Click on image to enlarge

The text on the picture: "Those who write the rules are those who profit from the status quo. If we want to change that status quo, we might have to work outside of those rules because the legal pathways available to us have been structured precisely to make sure we don't make any substantial change."