Disturbance in Sudan

[Lynnet]

I recently received this message from the great folks at MoveOn.org. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am personally disturbed by these events and the lack of opposition they are getting.
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Dear MoveOn member,

A major human tragedy is unfolding in Sudan, one that has reportedly claimed at least 30,000 lives, and could claim hundreds of thousands more unless the world community works together, starting immediately, to end it.

But despite the growing catastrophe, the U.S. State Department has yet to publicly condemn these actions, or even to formally recognize that the atrocities in Sudan constitute genocide. Such recognition would make a huge difference, catalyzing the world community to help stop the bloodshed.

Please make a call to Secretary of State Colin Powell today at:

Secretary of State Colin Powell
202-647-4000 or 202-647-6607

Urge him to:
- Immediately declare the atrocities in Sudan to be "Genocide"; and
- Publicly condemn them.

Please also call your Senators and Representative:

Senator Arlen Specter
Washington, DC: 202-224-4254

Senator Richard J. Santorum
Washington, DC: 202-224-6324

Congressman Joseph R. Pitts
Washington, DC: 202-225-2411

Urge them to demand that the United States recognize the genocide and condemn it.

Please let us know you're calling, at:

www.moveon.org/callpowell.html?id=3008-3655020-sdBIMADvgQpRQF9301CWxw

Sudan's government is orchestrating a genocide [1] against people living in the country's Darfur region, who have challenged the government's authoritarian rule. In addition to tens of thousands of killings, there is widespread rape, and poisoning of water systems.
Up to one million people have reportedly been displaced from their homes.

More than 130 countries are obligated by the 1948 Genocide Convention to prevent and punish such crimes against humanity. So even if the United States sends no troops to Sudan, formally recognizing the genocide would enable the U.N. security council to authorize other countries, like Germany, France, and Spain, which don't have troops to Iraq, to help stop the killing in Sudan.

We could also take another simple step, and publicly condemn the genocide. This would send a powerful signal that the world is watching, not looking the other way. "Genocide is still calibrated to the international reaction," writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times.

Whenever genocide has occurred before, the world community has vowed, "never again." Yet today, it is happening again.

The Bush administration has failed so show leadership on Sudan. For example, President Bush passed up a prime opportunity to highlight the issue at a recent G-8 summit, although it was reportedly discussed in private there.

Is President Bush now so preoccupied with Iraq that he is incapable of action on emergent issues of the day? Sadly, the answer appears so far to be yes.

Please help stop this genocide, by making your calls today.

Sincerely,

- Carrie, Joan, Lee, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org team
Monday, June 28th, 2004

P.S.:

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has written a moving series of columns from Sudan, many of them focusing on the personal experiences of a young woman there named Magboula. You can read them at:

1. "Dare We Call It Genocide?"
www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/opinion/16KRIS.html
(Archived and available for purchase)

2. "Sudan's Final Solution"
www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/opinion/19KRIS.html
(Archived and available for purchase)

3. "Magboula's Brush With Genocide"
www.nytimes.com/2004/06/23/opinion/23KRIS.html

4. "Dithering as Others Die"
www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/opinion/26KRIS.html

Newspapers everywhere are calling for action:

The Washington Post: "As Genocide Unfolds"
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54947-2004Jun19.html

The New York Times: Time for Action on Sudan
www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/opinion/18FRI1.html?th
(Archived and available for purchase)

Calls for action from newspapers throughout the country have been compiled by the Center for American Progress, at: www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=97645

Footnote:

[1] Genocide is defined as "the systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group."
- Dictionary.com
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[JohnnyJihadFace]

Whether or not we do anything will be based upon if there are U.S. Interests involved or not.

I can't stand the way our country's government works. This makes me sick to my stomach. I wonder if bush could find me a bible verse stating one should turn the other cheek when a genocide is occuring within a location that the states cannot suck anything from.

[Areopagite]

Actually, this is nothing new. The amazing people at MoveOn.org (who ironically have quite the chip on their shoulder) haven't found anything new either. Genocide has been going on in Sudan for at least over a decade (possibly longer). The people living in the Darfur region are mostly "Christian" and are being mass murdered for not following Islam and its practices. Also, to the people who think Bush should do something...get this... he's actually doing more about the situation than anyone else before him. A treaty is actually being set up behind the scenes right now to end the civil war in Sudan by... you guessed it... George Bush. I'll look for the Wall Street Journal article on this from like three weeks ago and try to post some of it later if i can. Do us a favor by not taking "WeCantMoveOn.org" strictly at their word.

[Lynnet]

Curiously, I started hearing about this soon after getting the email, since Colin Powell had just returned from his visit to Sudan. Apparently the situation "doesn't meet all the qualifications for genocide" so they can't call it that. Right.

The biggest problem is that in the year-and-a-half in which this has been going on, the Sudanese government has done nothing to stop the rebel group, known as the Janjaweed, from killing people and destroying homes and crops. They've even prevented humanitarian aid at times, and were previously denying that there was any sort of crisis going on in Darfur until recently.

They're Christian? The article I just read in the Sunday Paper said that both groups are Muslim, but those persecuted are African while the rebels are nomadic Arabs.

Good article which concurs with much of what I've read/heard elsewhere:
story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1856&ncid=723&e=7&u=/cpress/20040705/ca_pr_on_wo/sudan_disarming_janjaweed

[JohnnyJihadFace]

its cool to refer to the group getting mass murdered as christian so that it looks like your religion gets persecuted against.

[Areopagite]

John,
If you don't think that Christians are being persecuted against then you really need to open your eyes. Christianity is the most persecuted religion there is, in fact. More than 200 million people in over 60 nations are being denied basic human rights because of the sole reason that they are "Christians". A few weeks ago, in fact, the Human Rights committee for the United Nations recieved testimonies from several "house church" leaders in China about the persecution of Christians there. Christian churches have been bombed and torched and Christians are being mass murdered in several nations. Don't think Christianity is an "American" thing, since its far more global than you may think.