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Local Activists Urge Action to End Violence
in Darfur
Voters for Change joined activists in more than 300 cities in the United States and more than 330 cities around
the world Tuesday evening, April 24, 2007, in a Global Day for Darfur, calling
for immediate action from President Bush and Congress to help end the violence
in the western region of Sudan.
About 25 people viewed a film showing the violence suffered by the people of Darfur, where more than 400,000 people have been killed
and 2.5 million have become refugees.
As the conflict enters its fifth year, participants signed petitions to
President George Bush, Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer and
Representatives Kirsten Gillibrand and John
McHugh. The petition to the president urged action to put pressure on Sudan to allow
the deployment of an international peacekeeping force for the protection of
civilians. The Congressional representatives were urged to support bills
now in Congress to permit states to divest their pension funds of any
investments supporting Sudan.
Inspired by the example of Indianapolis
churches, as portrayed in the movie, the participants determined to explore the
possibility of enlisting local churches in the effort to make the genocide in
Darfur more widely known and to enlarge the circle of activists supporting the
people of Darfur.
As an introduction to the film, Alan Brown of Saranac
Lake related a history told to him by
an uncle who had served as a missionary in West Africa.
Over lunch in Oxford, England, his uncle asked the reason
for the green bracelet Alan was wearing. Alan showed him the inscription,
“Not on Our Watch, www.savedarfur.org.”
His uncle then explained that the ethnic rivalries now creating genocide of the
African people living in Sudan
derive from an ancient history of African Muslims settling in Sudan on their return from pilgrimages to Mecca. Their desire
to occupy the land conflicted with the desire of local nomadic Arabs to have
open land for grazing. In today’s world, with global warming
reducing the amount of usable land, the Arab government of the Sudan has promulgated violence to rid the Sudan of the
Africans.
“The people gathered here today are just the tip
of the global iceberg of activists calling for immediate action on Darfur,” said Philip Newton of Voters for Change.
“But success for this movement cannot be measured in numbers of people at
this meeting or the number of people at the more than 330 rallies that are going on around the world. Success can be measured only
in lives saved in Darfur.”
Previous Global Days for Darfur sponsored by
the Save Darfur Coalition attracted tens of thousands of supporters to events
held around the world. In September 2006, 57 events took place in 41 countries
on six continents. These events included a rally at the Intercontinental Hotel
in Kigali, Rwanda,
where activists marched to the site of the U.N. base during the Rwandan
genocide; a candlelight vigil in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and an interfaith prayer at the gates
of Downing Street in London.
The second Global Day in December, which featured protests outside Sudanese
embassies around the world, drew attention to systematic sexual violence
against the women of Darfur.
The
Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and
humanitarian organizations. For more information on
the Coalition, please visit www.SaveDarfur.org.
Our Mission
Mission: To be a progressive voice in the Adirondacks, promoting involvement at the local, state and
federal levels.
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concerned citizens organizing activities and fundraising to support our
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Updated: April 2007