❧❧❧ Whatever you can do or dream, you can BEGIN IT. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Goethe ❧❧❧
❧❧❧ You were born whole, not broken. Sandra Hammel ❧❧❧
I simply love youtube. Because it just makes the world so small.
I was thinking Oprah opened her season next week. .................................................
................................................. Uploaded by heppinyc
National TV Broadcast: Black Eyed Peas performed "I Gotta Feeling" and officially opened Oprah's 24th Season (2009-10) along with 21,000 fans dancing on Michigan Avenue (Chicago, Illinois) on Tuesday, Sept 8th (2 days before it aired nationwide).
The producer, Australian Michael Gracey, was also responsible for a famous flash mob dance at a Liverpool train station that was used for a phone commercial, but Tuesdays event was much larger in scale.
And in order to pull it off, late last month local casting agencies were enlisted to look for dancers.
This is being touted as the World's Largest 'Single-City' FLASH MOB event ever held, thanks in part to T-Mobile! Watch in HD Quality if available.
(Lyrics)
I gotta feeling that tonights gonna be a good night, That tonights gonna be a good night. Lets live it up. I got my money, Lets spend it up. Go out and smash it. Like Oh My God, Jump off that sofa. Lets get get OFF, I know that well have a ball, If we get down, And go out, And just loose it all. I feel stressed out, I wanna let it go, Lets go way out spaced out, And loosing all control. Fill up my cup, Mozoltov, Look at her dancing, Just take it off. Lets paint the town, Well shut it down. Lets burn the roof, And then well do it again.
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So, this is what I like to dance to..... and have twice at Waterplace Park in Providence, Rhode Island
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................................................. Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca- Mambo Yoyo Love this band. So much fun! Can't sit still when the conga rules. Uploaded by idamawatu
Click post title to go to Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca website.
Rafa practicing in Madrid Above two photos credit: Oscar Gallardo/Enfoque/Cameleon/AbacaPress.com
Photo credit: Marca
Rafa at press conference Photo credit: Corbis
Tennis - Clay Court Season Continues in Madrid, Spain This Week .......................................................
....................................................... Photo credits: AS, Belga, Daylife, el mundo, Getty, JAMD, Marca, Yahoo Round 2 Madrid Rafa Nadal vs. Jurgen Melzer
UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (Reuters) - Sudanese government forces on Wednesday carried out a bombing raid near a town in Sudan's western Darfur region that has been the scene of recent fighting, a U.N. spokeswoman said.
"UNAMID forces observed Sudanese government aircraft bombing targets north of Umm Baru, a North Darfur town that has been the scene of recent fighting," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters.
She was referring to the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, known as UNAMID.
Montas said UNAMID troops and police had heard several explosions early on Wednesday.
Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, was not immediately available for comment.
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels said on Saturday that they had fought off an ambush in Umm Baru by Sudanese armed forces and troops loyal to former rebel Minni Arcua Minnawi, the only Darfur rebel to sign a peace deal with the government in 2006. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Sandra Maler)
OFTEN accused of taking on too many issues, President Obama is catching flak from some of his most ardent liberal supporters, who say he's neglecting the paramount international human-rights crisis -- the Darfur genocide.
So they're fasting, writing letters and posting videos on YouTube pressing him to take a leadership role he promised he'd take on Darfur.
The Web site "Darfur Fast for Life" showcases the frustrations of Pam Omidyar, who, with her husband Pierre, the founder and chairman of e-Bay, was among Obama's top supporters. Joining Omidyar in her fast are such activists as Gabriel Stauring, founder of Stop Genocide Now, and Shannon Sedgwick Davis, a supporter who calls Obama's inaction "unbelievably disappointing." Actress Mia Farrow initiated the fast, but was advised by her doctor to stop after 12 days of consuming only water. British billionaire Richard Branson has taken over for her.
They've watched as Obama has tackled the economy, health care, global warming, the tax system, financial regulations, education reform, embryonic stem-cell research and more. Sadly, human rights don't seem to have made the cut. (Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shocked many when she asserted recently regarding China that human-rights issues couldn't interfere with such other issues as solving the economic crisis).
During his campaign, Obama raised expectations among human-rights activists that he'd place Darfur at the top of his agenda. He highlighted a "passion in bringing an end to this crisis." Calling genocide "a stain on all of us," he claimed that "the United States has a moral obligation any time you see humanitarian catastrophe."
On a 2007 visit to the region, Archbishop Desmond Tutu called Darfur "one of the most awful places in the world." In March of this year, it got even more awful. That's when the Sudanese government kicked out 13 international aid organizations that provided almost two thirds of the sustenance in the refugee camps, threatening the lives of an estimated 1 million people.
Says one activist, "These camps were already abysmal. Now just ratchet that down 60 percent."
The White House's response has been disheartening. By the time it got around to saying anything on the situation, the aid groups had been forced from the country. Some activists felt that had they spoken up earlier and more forcefully, it could have made a difference.
Speaking of Darfur during the campaign, Obama said: "As president of the United States, I don't intend to abandon people." Yet he is. About genocide, he said, "We can't say 'never again' and allow it to happen again." But it is happening again.
Worse, some worry that the mastermind of all this suffering, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, is manipulating Obama's special envoy to Darfur, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration. Bashir has charmed outsiders who believe (erroneously) that he sincerely desires to work to end the suffering. Activists were especially alarmed when Gration provided an overly sunny report of Darfur's ground situation and told some privately that it could be time to ease sanctions and remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Activist Shannon Sedgwick Davis dismisses the idea that Obama is too busy with the economy to address Darfur. "That's an easy out," Sedgwick Davis says. "He has an amazing team that surrounds him for issues just like this and he needs to empower them to do much, much more. That's what they are there for. Hillary Clinton isn't sitting in her office trying to balance the budget."
Gabriel Stauring of Stop Genocide Now has visited the Darfur refugee camps seven times and despairs over the rapidly worsening conditions. He says of those suffering there, "They put so much hope in America. They have this idea that America stands for the right thing and that help is going to come. When Obama took office their hope shot through the roof. They are waiting."
How much longer will they have to wait?
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You can write to President Obama
The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
The Homestake Gold Mine, in Lead, South Dakota, operated for 125 years and produced 41 million troy ounces of gold(over $24 billion at today's gold prices of over $600 per ounce). In the summer of 1874, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer was sent into the Black Hills by Gen. Philip Sheridan to search for gold. This was in direct violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868. Today, there is a large photograph at the mine of Custer and his entourage entering the Black Hills. The caption information tells us that after gold was discovered, many miners came into the Black Hills in defiance of the army and the Indians but fails to mention that Custer’s army was violating the 1868 Treaty. Neither does the caption information remind visitors to the mine that article 6 of the U.S. Constitution calls a treaty the supreme law of the land. Custer came into the Black Hills with 1,000 soldiers, over 100 covered wagons, 2 or 3 gatling guns, a cannon, a 16 piece brass band mounted on white horses, and two prospectors who were the experts on gold. On July 30th 1874 Custer sent a dispatch to Ft. Laramie which read: “Gold has been found in paying quantities. I have upon my table 40 or 50 small particles of pure gold. In size averaging that of a small pinhead. And most of it found today from one pan full of earth.” Today, the area where the placer gold (gold carried by mountain streams) was found , is the town of Custer, South Dakota. Probably the most significant bit of information absent from the Custer photograph at the mine is what the President of the United States said to Congress the following year: “…The Discovery of gold in the Black Hills, a portion of the Sioux Reservation, has had the effect to induce a large immigration of miners to that point. Thus far the effort to protect the treaty rights of the Indians to that section has been successful, but the next year will certainly witness a large increase of such immigration. The negotiations for the relinquishment of the gold fields having failed, it will be necessary for Congress to adopt some measures to relieve the embarrassment growing out of the causes named. The Secretary of the Interior suggests that the supplies now appropriated for the sustenance of that people, Being no longer obligatory under the treaty of 1868, but simply a gratuity, may be issued or withheld at his discretion.” President Ulysses S. Grant’s entire message can be found in Messages and Papers of the Presidents Vol. 9 Pg.4306.
AIGM President, Steve Melendez, and his children at the site of the Homestake Gold Mine. The mine is an open pit 1250 ft. deep and a half mile across. (Summer 2006)
The fact that President Grant would suggest that a starvation policy should be implemented may be difficult for most Americans to believe but the attitude of that day can be found in the words of another President whose image is carved 40 miles south of the Homestake Mine on Mt. Rushmore.
Mount Rushmore in South Dakota
"The Most ultimately righteous of all wars is a war with savages. The rude, fierce settler who drives the savage from the land lays all civilized mankind under a debt to him...it is of incalculable importance that America, Australia, and Siberia should pass out of the hands of their red, black, and yellow aboriginal owners, and become the heritage of the dominant world races."The Winning of the West Vol. 4 The Indian Wars Page 56 by President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt
Wounded Knee
If you ever have the opportunity to visit the mass grave site of the Wounded Knee Massacre, you must reflect on why such a thing happened. It was the 7th Cavalry that did it, so the average American is led to believe that it was revenge for Custer’s Last Stand at the Little Big Horn. But knowing President Grant’s words to Congress is to know that the gold was on the Sioux Reservation and that Custer was there in violation of the Treaty of Ft. Laramie of 1868. And to know President Grant’s words to Congress is to know that he called on America to starve the Indians off their land.
Wounded Knee, December 1890. Courtesy of the Denver Public Library
Wounded Knee Memorial Site, 2006.
When a president of a country openly calls for the deliberate and systematic destruction of a people, what other conclusion can be reached? If you ever visit the mass grave site at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, know that the men, women and children who were thrown into this trench, were the victims of genocide.
Singles - Quarter-finals / Simples - Quarts de Finale [1] R Nadal (ESP) d [WC] I Ljubicic (CRO) 63 63 [3] N Djokovic (SRB) d [7] F Verdasco (ESP) 62 46 63 [4] A Murray (GBR) d [8] N Davydenko (RUS) 76(1) 64 [13] S Wawrinka (SUI) d [Q] A Beck (GER) 62 64
Singles - Third Round / Simples - Troisi�me Tour [1] R Nadal (ESP) d [Q] N Lapentti (ECU) 63 60 [4] A Murray (GBR) d [Q] F Fognini (ITA) 76(11) 64 [8] N Davydenko (RUS) d [12] D Nalbandian (ARG) 64 57 63 [WC] I Ljubicic (CRO) d S Bolelli (ITA) 75 76(2)
Elie Wiesel "...to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all... Wiesel is the author of 36 works dealing with Judaism, the Holocaust, and the moral responsibility of all people to fight hatred, racism and genocide. Source: ELIE BIO
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Write to President Obama http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ You can also write to the President at: The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 President Obama can be called:
202-456-1111 or 1-800-GENOCIDE The White House comment line is available 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. weekdays ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Find USA elected politicians contact information at this link: www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AFTER MEETING WITH SUDAN SPECIAL ENVOY SCOTT GRATION,
SUDAN ADVOCATES, AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Roosevelt Room
5:24 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Obviously on a busy news day, I wanted us to make sure that we weren't losing sight of something that has been an ongoing international crisis, and that is the situation in Darfur.
As many of you know, there has been a longstanding humanitarian crisis there, prompted by displacement and genocide that has been taking place. There have been a series of negotiations around resolving this crisis in Sudan. It has not gotten resolved, and it is now worsening.
And so I wanted to publicly affirm the importance of General Scott Gration, who has been appointed as Special Envoy to Sudan, to work on a whole host of issues that I think are of importance to the international community and should touch the conscience of all of us.
General Gration is one of my top national security advisors. He's somebody who I've known for a long time. We've traveled together in Africa. He was a close associate during the campaign. And so I can't think of somebody who is better equipped to travel to Africa, the continent where he grew up, and communicate to Sudan a couple of important points: Number one, we have an immediate crisis prompted by the Khartoum government's expulsion of nongovernmental organizations that are providing aid to displaced persons inside of Sudan. And we have to figure out a mechanism to get those NGOs back in place, to reverse that decision, or to find some mechanism whereby we avert a enormous humanitarian crisis.
Even as we're dealing with that immediate issue, we can't take our eyes off the longstanding conflicts in Sudan that have resulted in all these persons being displaced. And that means that General Gration's task is going to be to see if we can reinvigorate the North-South agreement, make sure that it's implemented in an effective way, and that we are also exploring a mechanism whereby we can get talks between rebels and the Khartoum government that could help, once and for all, resolve the Darfur situation.
This is going to be a very difficult task. It will be a time-consuming task. We don't expect any solutions overnight to the longstanding problems there. Fortunately, what's happened in Darfur has touched so many people around the world, and we have seen such an extraordinary mobilization of advocates, many of who are sitting at this table -- we've got bipartisan interest on the part of members of Congress around this issue -- that I actually think that America can speak effectively with one voice and bring the moral and other elements of our stature to bear in trying to deal with this situation.
I can't think of a person who's better than Scott Gration to represent us in this critical task, and I am sending him off with my full confidence. He will be speaking for the administration, and he will be coming back to report to me very shortly about what he's found there and additional steps that we can take to deal with this situation.
So, thank you, Scott, for the great work.
GENERAL GRATION: Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: All right, everybody. Thank you. END 5:28 P.M. EDT
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From: Ashley Roberts Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 6:10 PM To: All Staff Subject: DARFUR ADVOCATES MEET WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, SPECIAL ENVOY GRATION IN ADVANCE OF SUDAN TRIP
DARFUR ADVOCATES MEET WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, SPECIAL ENVOY GRATION IN ADVANCE OF SUDAN TRIP
Save Darfur optimistic on administration’s Sudan commitment, calls on U.S. to lead multilateral effort to reopen humanitarian access
WASHINGTON – Following a meeting with President Obama and Special Envoy Gration at the White House, Darfur advocates expressed their optimism at the administration’s stated commitment to bring peace to Sudan and reiterated the need for urgent U.S. action to reopen humanitarian access to Darfur. Save Darfur Coalition president Jerry Fowler released the following statement:
“The coalition was reassured to hear the Obama administration’s commitment to bring peace to Sudan during a meeting at the White House today with Darfur advocates and congressional leaders. During his trip to Sudan this week, it is critical that Special Envoy Gration convey to the Sudanese government that they now face a fundamental choice as a direct result of President Bashir’s actions. They must choose between continuing policies which have thrown the lives of millions of Sudanese civilians on the fire and have placed Sudan on a path toward greater international isolation, or reversing those policies and reconciling with an international community whose support for Bashir, and thus for Sudan, will only grow weaker as time passes.
“The coalition is also hopeful that Gration will soon travel to key capitals to directly engage with leadership and garner support for multilateral efforts to convince – and if necessary compel – the Bashir regime to reopen humanitarian access and make real progress towards achieving a true peace in Darfur. Bashir’s recent decision to expel 13 international aid organizations has left millions of Darfuri civilians at immediate risk of starvation and disease. With this expulsion, approximately 1.1 million civilians will soon run out of food, nearly 1 million will soon run out of potable water, and 1.5 million will be denied medical attention.
“During his campaign, President Obama often touted the power and necessity of using transformational multilateral diplomacy to address international crises. Ending the current humanitarian crisis in Darfur and bringing peace to Sudan calls for exactly this type of complete and fully resourced diplomatic effort. Gration’s role will be vital and must continue to be supported by the president’s engagement.”
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About the coalition: The Save Darfur Coalition – an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations – raises public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and mobilizes a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of people throughout the Darfur region. The coalition’s member organizations represent 130 million people of all ages, races, religions and political affiliations united together to help the people of Darfur. For more information on the coalition, please visit www.SaveDarfur.org. To obtain footage from the Darfur border region, coalition events, various interviews, and more, please visit the Save Darfur Coalition media gallery at http://media.savedarfur.org. All footage may be previewed in non-broadcast quality and may be purchased in broadcast quality by filling out the purchase request form provided on the site.
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The head of Save Darfur, Jerry Fowler has the following response after being in the meeting with President Obama today:
Subject: Meeting with President and Special Envoy Gration
I came away from the meeting heartened by the President's direct engagement. It's obvious he has a lot of confidence in General Gration and that General Gration will have access to the President. All the participants underscored to both General Gration, and then to the President when he joined the meeting, the extreme urgency of the situation. In his public remarks, the President noted the extraordinary mobilization of advocates and the bipartisan interest in Congress (there were a half dozen Senators and members of Congress in the meeting as well). We need to maintain that mobilization and continue to insist on a sense of urgency. General Gration is off to Sudan tomorrow. I'll look forward to hearing his report when he gets back.
Gabriel, Katie-Jay and Yuen-Lin spent their day fasting and visited a school in Camp Djabal where the students share songs from their homeland. Uploaded by iACTivism
Day 7: March 30
Gabriel, Katie-Jay and Yuen-Lin spent their day fasting and visited a school in Camp Djabal where the students share songs from their homeland.
Action
Today we are asking you to spend a little more time on your daily action. Write a letter to your leader outlining what needs to happen before we will be quiet and step down from our urgent campaigns. Click here to find out how.
We must demand that our leaders pay more attention to Darfur. We need our MESSAGE to be loud and consistent. Today we are asking you to spend a little more time on your daily action. Write a letter to your leader outlining what needs to happen before we will be quiet and step down from our urgent campaigns. It’s simple - the Enough Project has outlined thepolicy asks (Download this sample by Sandra Hammel from earlier this month. Make it personal, print off a picture of a Darfuri or add information about the camps from our recent journals. Stamp it and send. You can also paste it into this web form for President Obama. It’s easy.
After spending some time with students and teachers at the one of the schools in Camp Djabal, we gave them a book of letters written by a school in Georgia as part of their Save Darfur Club. We also told them about the Darfur Dream Team Sister School Program. Here are the two letters we were given to bring home with us (with minor spelling and grammar errors corrected).
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March 28, 2009 Dear all members of Save Darfur Club,
We are the family of New Sudan School co-education for basic at camp of Djabal in Eastern Chad.
We hope that all the family of Save Darfur Club is very well and that your health is very good.
We send to your our greetings and regards. If you ask about us now, we are well, but have lost our homes. We were Sudanese citizens, but now we are refugees and this is a very bad thing.
Our friends in U.S.A in Save Darfur Club, I know you are doing very hard work so as to help us in the camp. This is a very good feeling.
Thank you very much for your letters. *******
28/3/2009 New Sudan School Co-education for Basic Letter to U.S.A from Sudanese refugee students
Our requests to students in U.S.A from students in Djabal camp of Sudanese refugees: 1. Clothes for the very weak students 2. Shoes 3. Culture and Sports tools 4. Piano and other musical instruments 5. Computers and cameras 6. Dictionaries 7. Forms 8. Libraries 9. Place to play sports 10. Also we need high secondary school 11. Scholarship for teachers and students
Thank you so much for your humanity. We have great confidence in you to help us.
My name is Sulieman Yahia Sulieman, English Teacher in School
******* There are two ways you can donate to education in Camp Djabal. If you are part of a school, please check out Darfur Dream Team Sister School Program and their registry for donations.
If you are not part of a school, but would like to send money, you can send a check for USA for UNHCR with SGN/Djabal in the memo line to: SGN 1732 Aviation Blvd #138 Redondo Beach, CA 90278
We will forward it to USA for UNHCR and make sure that 100% of your donation goes towards education.
We got to laugh quite a bit today. At New Sudan School, we spent time with students again. I asked if anyone knew a joke. A girl in blue stood up and started singing. The whole class erupted in laughter. I was laughing without knowing what the song was about. The song was in her tribes vernacular. She then translated it in to Arabic, and the laughter in the room got louder! Finally, they told me in English. The song talked about how she “would rather marry an old man, than that white teethed boy with the neck of a camel.”
Also on the video, a boy and girl perform a beautiful duet. It is a song about being respectful of your parents and following their directions. I really liked the voices of these two good looking kids.
If I remember correctly, the classroom that is singing together, are singing a song about going back to Darfur; but, I did hear a lot of songs yesterday, so I could be mistaken about the meaning of that one. I don’t have Bouba around right now to ask him.
It was fun, except for when I asked that same classroom that sang for anyone that had eaten anything that morning to raise their hand. Out of 52 students, only 8 raised their hands. Not funny at all.
Peace, Gabriel
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Write to President Obama http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ You can also write to the President at: The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 President Obama can be called:
202-456-1111 or 1-800-GENOCIDE The White House comment line is available 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. weekdays ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Find USA elected politicians contact information at this link: www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
M Lopez (ESP) and R Nadal (ESP) vs B Soares (BRA) and K Ullyett (ZIM)
DOUBLES
Rafa and his friend Marc Lopez had a difficult challenge lined up for today's second round of doubles against B. Soares and K. Ullyett.
The pair had more experience than the Spaniards and at the end they prevailed in two stes, 6-3, 6-4 after and hour and 18 minutes of play. From www.rafaelnadal.com
(Rafa and Marc won Round 1's doubles match, 6-2, 7-6(5), against Brunstrom and Rojer.)
STADIUM start 11:00 am [21] T Berdych (CZE) vs [3] N Djokovic (SRB) - ATP
Not Before 1:00 PM [8] S Kuznetsova (RUS) vs [13] C Wozniacki (DEN) - WTA [5] A Roddick (USA) vs [9] G Monfils (FRA) - ATP [Q] T Dent (USA) vs [2] R Federer (SUI) - ATP
Not Before 7:00 PM [11] V Azarenka (BLR) vs S Stosur (AUS) - WTA
Not Before 9:00 PM [1] R Nadal (ESP) vs S Wawrinka (SUI) - ATP
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am [7] G Simon (FRA) vs [10] J Tsonga (FRA) - ATP [4] A Murray (GBR) vs V Troicki (SRB) - ATP
Not Before 2:00 PM [12] F Gonzalez (CHI) or [18] R Stepanek (CZE) vs [32] F Lopez (ESP) or [8] F Verdasco (ESP) - ATP [11] D Ferrer (ESP) or [17] M Cilic (CRO) vs [6] J Del Potro (ARG) - ATP
I am having huge problems with my computer and can load no more pictures at this time.
My computer just crashed because of major problems that hopefully will be fixed tomorrow. I am going to post this as is. Thank goodness blogspot had automatically saved my work otherwise I would have nothing at all.
WOULD HE DO SOMETHING? To STOP this MASS MURDER IN PROCESS THE WONDERFUL people at http://www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact7/day6 are making it all real for us to understand on a human to human basis what it is like to try to stay alive during a genocide. And they are asking us to act each day to get a hold of our leaders and say YOU ARE FAILING. SINCE 2003, THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON. IT IS NOT ALL RIGHT AND WE WANT YOU TO START DOING WHAT IT TAKES TO BEGIN TO END THIS MASS MURDER IN PROCESS.
The following is taken from their website:
"Wake Up, Brush your Teeth, Call your Leaders"
Each day we will have a new action item for you to participate in during i-ACT. However, we are also offering a single action, for each of the 10 days, that you can take. As part of an Urgent Call-in Campaign to pressure the Obama Administration we want to keep the phone lines busy. At least once a day please call President Obama at 202.456.1111 (9am-5pm EST Monday-Friday), State Department at 202.647.6575 (call anytime to leave a message), or text Secretary Clinton at 90822 and tell them:
“I am from _____ and I want the Obama Administration to uphold his promises of action for Darfur with ‘unstinting resolve.’ Work to get aid back into Darfur. Support an effective Peacekeeping Force. Support the ICC. ”
Make the pledge by commenting below. Tell us how many times you will call and with whom during i-ACT. If you are a teacher call with your students. If you are a student, maybe use the loud speaker at school. Get creative in your pledges and actions. We need more people to call. Each and every one of us counts, and the people of Darfur are counting on us. If you are from another country and have a phone number for our leader, please share it here and we will post it on the full action item!
John Norris from ENOUGH has brought to our attention in a recent post, Bad Moon Rising, that the United Nations Secretary General BAN KI-MOON is thinking about meeting with Sudan’s indicted war criminal, President Bashir. We need to act fast to make sure that this does not happen at the Arab League Meeting in Doha. Inevitably, as Norris notes, pictures will be leaked and a media blitz from Bashir and his colleagues will follow. Contact Secretary General Ban ki-Moon and send him the message: Don’t meet with Bashir, an indicted war criminal, you will be legitimizing his regime and their actions.
Contact him the following ways:
Leave a message on the United Nations general comment line: 212-963-4475 and Press * to leave a message.
Contact Ban ki-Moon’s Special Assistant on the Prevention of Genocide, Francis Deng, and urge him to pressure the Secretary General not to meet with Bashir. Phone: 917-367-2078; Email: DengF@un.org.
For today—Sunday’s—action, we are reverting to what feels symbolic and trivial, compared to what is happening to the people of Darfur. The team here will be fasting, in solidarity with the children in this camp and the more than one million people that will go without food soon inside of Darfur. We will also make a small donation ($25 each) towards nutrition, through USA for UNHCR.
We are requesting that you join us in the fast and also send in the donation towards nutrition. Besides this, in order to work on the political will that is missing, we would like you to call your Senators’ office and tell them about your fast, and that you expect them to be your LOUD voice in Washington. Action is needed now. Click here to find the phone number for the Senator of your state.
Please donate to improve nutrition in the camps: Make checks out to: USA for UNHCR On memo line, write: SGN - Fast for Darfur
Send to: Stop Genocide Now 1732 Aviation Blvd. #138 Redondo Beach, CA 90278
100% of tax-deductible donation will go to UNHCR’s work to improve nutrition at Darfuri refugee camps.
It’s hard to see it when I am in front of them. When I return to our little compound at night and look through past slides, it becomes apparent. When I toggle between pictures from today and from last January of our friends here in camp Djabal, the difference is like night and day. The children are growing smaller, sicker, and more fragile as they age, not stronger as we hope for all children.
Oumar seemed skinner, as if he had been sick for a sometime, but we don’t know for sure. When I saw his mother again, Genie, she had Hydar with her. In a little over a year, he looks no bigger or stronger; his little shoulder poking through a tank.
Gabriel and Yuen-Lin saw again our friends Adef, Achta, and their children. Well, some of them. Marymouda died. She got sick. When they took her to the clinic there was nothing they could do for her. Guisma was not smiling and laughing as she was last year. Her giggle was contagious and she would get her twin brothers rolling. Achta, their mom, said she had been sick too, but healed. It seems her sole and laughter have not returned.
One of Guisma’s twin brothers looks so different.
The lucky ones who made it here are still struggling to survive on the little that we, as the international community, have been able to provide. Food distribution starts next week. That means that many of the people we have visited in the last few days have no food, as it usually runs out before the end of the month.
Please join Gabriel and Yuen-Lin as they fast in solidarity with the refugees. It can be whatever type of fast that works for you. I will not be joining them myself, as I have developed a small ear infection that kept me from the field this afternoon. I hope to return with full strength tomorrow. Nobody worry, I am fine! I just keep thinking, what if I were a refugee and felt like this?
This is the third day we visited refugee camp Djabal. We are doing work for the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program, which will connect students in the US with students in the refugee camps in Eastern Chad, starting with camp Djabal. It is fun collecting the profiles of Darfuri children and spending time with them at school and at their homes. They are so much like the children I’ve worked with in the US. They’re very much like my own kids.
There is one huge exception, though. All of the children we’ve been talking to have to grapple with some facts and memories that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. They’ve all seen their villages destroyed; they say nothing is left standing, where it was once their homes. They’ve all seen families and friends killed, leaving voids that we visitors just cannot see. They’ve had to walk weeks across the desert, with some not making it. They’ve had to settle in to a life of receiving and survival, when they really want to produce and thrive.
At times I feel powerless and ineffective. What can I do that goes beyond the symbolic and seemingly trivial? I really wish I knew what it took to bring about change for these children, even if it seemed almost impossible to reach. That way, we could go all out and exhaust ourselves, but going in the right direction. For now, I truly believe that our leaders and experts could bring about change, but the political will is missing. It is not easy to pin down how we can create that will.
For today—Sunday’s—action, we are reverting to what feels symbolic and trivial, compared to what is happening to the people of Darfur. The team here will be fasting, in solidarity with the children in this camp and the more than one million people that will go without food soon inside of Darfur. We will also make a small donation ($25 each) towards nutrition, through USA for UNHCR.We are requesting that you join us in the fast and also send in the donation towards nutrition. Besides this, in order to work on the political will that is missing, we would like you to call your Senators’ office and tell them about your fast, and that you expect them to be your LOUD voice in Washington. Action is needed now.Thank you for standing with these children.
Peace,Gabriel, for the i-ACT team
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This is my United States Postal Service version of my letter to President Barack Obama, which I mailed Saturday, March 28, 2009
GENOCIDE FLOURISHES WITH OUR COMPLICITY
The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
The last time (March 12, 2009) I wrote a letter to you about the emergency regarding the Darfuri people and the NGOs being expelled from Sudan since March 4, 2009, I received a response that you are working on the economy. I found this very disappointing that my letter received a response that had nothing to do with my letter's subject. I wrote using the http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact form. And I also sent a second copy through the United States Postal Service to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
Please, tell me if there is contact information for the Sudan Special Envoy Scott Gration.
President Obama, two United States citizens and a Malaysian citizen are together in Chad (starting March 23) through April 1st including a trip to a Darfuri refugee camp, camp Djabal. They post daily journal entries, photographs and videos from there. The videos are posted on their website, as well as on Youtube. They are Gabriel Stauring, Katie-Jay Scott and Yuen-Lin Tan. Here are links to Day 4, 5 and 6 of their time there: http://www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact7/day4 http://www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact7/day5 http://www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact7/day6
We are so very grateful that Gabriel, Katie-Jay (their seventh trip) and Yuen-Lin are doing this for the Darfuri people and for us to be better informed. I so wish you, President Obama, could be there with them. Or at least following them online on this trip. March 26th in your online “town meeting” while talking about health care, your mother and your appreciation for nurses, you mentioned your daughter Sasha having meningitis when she was younger. I know that meningitis is one of the diseases that is spreading through the IDP camps. This is a connection that you have personally with the Darfuri people. But may I respectfully point out that your family wasn’t living in a refugee camp with doctors ordered to leave?
I so appreciate reading the daily journal entries from Chad of these three dedicated citizens who care so genuinely for our Darfuri brothers and sisters. It helps me - brings me closer to understanding what it is really like there for the Darfuri people.
Genocide has never happened without the complicity of millions or billions of human beings going about their daily business.
Two days ago, a comment was left at my “Dear President Obama – A Letter sent March 12, 2009” on Youtube regarding Darfur http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XBDP3ZdmEE by a 24 year old which reads: “As important as this is President Obama needs to sort out our economy before we go trying to save other countries”. I respectfully disagree wholeheartedly. I believe President Obama, you are quite capable of doing both.
There is not enough money in the world that can give us back our dignity if we continue on the path of least resistance regarding this human disaster of the Darfuri people that now has heaped upon it another disaster with the expulsion of the humanitarian aid men and women.
I plead with you, please, do read this letter. Please do not send a response about all the other deeply pressing issues that we face in the United States of America. Genocide will stop when enough leaders use their will to make ways to end it. My hope is that you, President Obama, will reach into your heart and realize that although “’we’ are the ones we’ve been waiting for”, we need your leadership to help we citizens move forward on this true crisis of our existence as the human race. Genocide never happens when we have an opening in our schedule to add something to our “to do” list. We are counting on you, Mr. Obama, to do what you said:
"The United States has a moral obligation anytime you see humanitarian catastrophes…we have the most stake in creating an order in the world that is stable...in which people have hope and opportunity and when you see a genocide whether it's in Rwanda, or Bosnia or in Darfur - that's a stain on all of us, that's a stain on our souls...I was the first along with Senator Brownback to focus on ratcheting up sanctions and getting an envoy in there who was serious. We worked diligently to get the Darfur Peace and Accountability act passed…I think the level of commitment and the way that I’ve spoken out on this issue indicates not only knowledge, but also passion in bringing an end to this crisis. It’s very encouraging to see activism based not on self-interest, but on moral imperative and it’s especially heartening to see young people engaged in expressing their idealism through this movement …We can't say 'never again' and then allow it to happen again. And as President of the United States I don't intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEd583-fA8M November 2007
With much respect,
“The Most Important Office is That of Private Citizen” Louis D. Brandeis “Now, Let’s Go Change the World”. Barack Obama
P.S. I am not one of the “young people engaged in expressing my idealism through this movement”, as I will be 60 years old April 2nd.
Stopping Bashir: Obama's "Never Again" Moment of Truth
Authors:
Stewart M. Patrick, Senior Fellow and Director, Program on International Institutions and Global Governance
Kaysie Brown, Deputy Director, International Institutions and Global Governance
March 23, 2009
During the presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama called the crisis in Darfur a "stain on our souls," promising vigorous action to save its victims if elected. But since taking office he has been more cautious than President George W. Bush. Overwhelmed by the global economic downturn and internally divided over this issue, his administration has been slow to react to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's most recent provocation: expelling humanitarian aid groups in retaliation for the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against him for crimes against humanity.
Bashir's defiance is staggering--the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations can't even touch an eyelash of his, or so he says--and his intent is clear. By expelling aid workers in Darfur, he hopes to divide the international community and blackmail the UN Security Council into deferring the ICC's indictment. This gambit creates a moment of truth for the Obama administration.
Beyond resisting calls for a deferral, Washington must regain the initiative it has lost to Bashir. Although President Obama has appointed a special envoy for Darfur, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has publicly promised to hold Bashir accountable for every innocent death, the president has postponed more forceful action pending a comprehensive review of Sudan policy.
Unfortunately, the crisis is not standing still. The president must begin dictating rather than merely responding to events. The boldest way to do so is to declare Bashir beyond the pale, launch a full-bore campaign to isolate him diplomatically, and ultimately bring him to justice.
Some, positing a trade-off between peace and justice, recommend deferring the ICC indictment, as permitted under the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court. Proceeding with Bashir's prosecution, they warn, will jeopardize prospects for peace in Darfur and the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended the long-running civil war between northern and southern Sudan in 2005.
This argument represents a triumph of hope over experience. It flies in the face of what we know about and can expect from Bashir and exaggerates the prospects of peace in either place without regime change in Khartoum.
In fact, support for Bashir's arrest and prosecution reflects realism, not idealism. The United States has three national interests in Sudan: stopping mass atrocities in Darfur; ensuring stable peace between northern and southern Sudan; and preserving intelligence cooperation with Khartoum in the struggle against global terrorism. The best way to advance all three is to arrest Bashir and to transfer him to The Hague, not to bargain with a known killer who has no record of keeping his word.
Bashir is committed to total victory in Darfur, where five thousand people already die each month, according to ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. That number could now surge, as one million victims lose access to food aid and medicine. An indicator of Bashir's callousness toward Darfur is his 2006 appointment of the genocidal Ahmed Haroun, former minister of the interior, as minister for humanitarian affairs. This is akin to naming Joseph Goebbels as head of concentration camp welfare. Haroun was indicted by the ICC in 2007 for crimes against humanity and war crimes, after which Bashir appointed him to lead an investigation into human rights abuses in Darfur.
Nor can Bashir be counted on as a faithful custodian of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Since its signature in 2005, Khartoum has worked to undermine its terms, fomenting violence in the strategic oil-rich region of Abyei and sabotaging the planned referendum on southern independence, scheduled for 2011. This includes delaying steps necessary for a functioning national election this year. It is nave to imagine that Bashir, freed of indictment, would suddenly live up to his side of the bargain.
Finally, Washington cannot hope to maintain an effective intelligence-sharing arrangement with Khartoum if Bashir remains in power. Such a relationship is critical, given ongoing threats from al-Qaeda affiliated groups in North Africa and the Horn. Unfortunately, the steady deterioration in Sudan-U.S. relations jeopardizes such cooperation.
A hard line from Washington is essential to stiffen the resolve of wobbly members of the international community, and to embolden fence-sitters within Sudan's ruling National Congress Party who may be in a position to depose Bashir. But those individuals are unlikely to help remove him unless the world community stands firm on the ICC indictment, ratcheting up pressure on a regime whose days they make clear are numbered.
President Obama can take five concrete steps to regain the initiative in the face of Basir's intransigence. First, he should openly dismiss any possibility of Security Council deferment and insist that any country that is able to do so should remand Bashir to the court. This includes U.S. ally Qatar, host of the 2009Arab League summit, which Bashir plans to attend. Second, Obama should engage Beijing on tighter UN sanctions forBashir's criminal regime, which by its actions is now endangering long-term Chinese interests in Sudan. Third, he should welcome the African Union's creation of a new Darfur panel under former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has promised that "war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other abuses will be punished resolutely." Fourth, he should commit U.S. logistical support for the UN peacekeeping mission and jointly with Europeans, declare a no-fly zone in Darfur enforced by Western warplanes. Finally, he should shore up the ICC's global standing, by signaling willingness to consider eventual U.S. membership, pending a bipartisan review of its performance and adequate safeguards.
As Pulitzer Prize winner and current National Security Council official Samantha Power observes, mass atrocities present the United States with a "problem from hell." But it is not one we can wish away. Rather than negotiating with Bashir, Washington needs to lead an all-out push on the Security Council and among Arab and African countries to isolate the Sudanese leader and ultimately remove him from power.
Stewart Patrick and Kaysie Brown are director and deputy director, respectively, of the Program on International Institutions and Global Governance at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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ENDTHEGENOCIDE
"The United States has a moral obligation anytime you see humanitarian catastrophes.. we have the most stake in creating an order in the world that is stable...and when you see a genocide whether it's in Rwanda, or Bosnia or in Darfur - that's a stain on all of us, that's a stain on our souls... I was the first along with Senator Brownback to focus on ratcheting up sanctions and getting an envoy in there who was serious. We worked diligently to get the Darfur Peace and Accountability act passed…I think the level of commitment and the way that I’ve spoken out on this issue indicates not only knowledge but also passion in bringing an end to this crisis. It’s very encouraging to see activism based not on self-interest but on moral imperative…We can't say 'never again' and then allow it to happen again and as President of the United States I don't intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter.” November 2007 Hear Barack Obama say these words.
Write to President Obama http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ You can also write to the President at: The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 President Obama can be called:
202-456-1111 or 1-800-GENOCIDE The White House comment line is available 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. weekdays ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Find USA elected politicians contact information at this link: www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I love my life. I love where I live. And I am passionate about my passions. I love to dance. Necessary to live: music, piano, singing, writing, acting, painting.
I have been fighting for and supporting the arts all my adult life. Since 2004, I have been working with other activists to end the Darfur genocide.
I have traveled to Europe many times since my early twenties. Places I have been: many USA states including Hawaii, Montreal, Canada, Barbados, France, Spain, Luxembourg, England, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Germany - and have wonderful memories.
My last trip was in May - June 2013 to Spain.
I would like to travel to Europe and Kyoto, Japan.
I love the southwest where I have visited Hopi, Navajo, Zia and San Idlefonso potters.
Life is exciting and I intend to live it full-out to the end.
B.S. and M.M., both in music
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Khartoum, Sudan Stop Genocide Time
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RAFA NADAL -BRING BACK LONG PANTS - SLEEVELESS TOPS
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Darfur - The Abandoned Genocide - a video by Sandra Hammel
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Genocide is not only a word,
it is crying of the whole human race.
There is nothing redeeming about being silent
when speaking up is the humane thing to do.
The honor and integrity of the human race is at stake.
