Darfur Matters
Is this child...
I went to the Voices to Stop Genocide Rally on Sunday. It was awesome to see over 30,000 people (12 of them road up with me) gathered to raise their voices in support of the people of Darfur. It is so frustrating to me that with all of the power our country has, we haven't done anything to bring about an effective solution to the deaths that are happening daily.
of more worth than this child?
Mira Sorvino spoke almost as soon as we got there, and did an amazing job. She was so passionate and so emotional, and had so many good points. She told stories of children who had been mutilated and mothers who had babies cut from within them. She talked about orphans and parents who lost children. She told us that she read these accounts to the White House 2 years ago when she was pregnant with her daughter, and now her daughter is a toddler and the killing is still going on. Generations are growing up knowing only violence, hunger, and homelessness. Generations already have grown up this way in Sudan.
It brings me to tears, because I think about how precious children are. I think about how the highlight of my day is seeing my pastors' kids who are 2 and 4. Those kids are such blessings, and when one of them has a cold, the whole church cares. But there are hundreds of thousands of kids in Sudan who are of just as much sacred worth, and those kids are being left to die by the international community. How can we do that. HOW can we do that? Our government is afraid of putting too much pressure on the government of Sudan partly because they are helping us with the "War on Terror." To me, that sounds like sacrificing hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, on the off chance that the Sudanese government can help us a little.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go to www.savedarfur.org and take action. Education yourself, spread the word to others, and call/write the President and your elected representatives. Soon it will be too late and we will be saying "we could have stopped it."
Like the Holocaust
and Rwanda
and Bosnia
and Armenia
and South Sudan.
I went to the Voices to Stop Genocide Rally on Sunday. It was awesome to see over 30,000 people (12 of them road up with me) gathered to raise their voices in support of the people of Darfur. It is so frustrating to me that with all of the power our country has, we haven't done anything to bring about an effective solution to the deaths that are happening daily.of more worth than this child?
Mira Sorvino spoke almost as soon as we got there, and did an amazing job. She was so passionate and so emotional, and had so many good points. She told stories of children who had been mutilated and mothers who had babies cut from within them. She talked about orphans and parents who lost children. She told us that she read these accounts to the White House 2 years ago when she was pregnant with her daughter, and now her daughter is a toddler and the killing is still going on. Generations are growing up knowing only violence, hunger, and homelessness. Generations already have grown up this way in Sudan.
It brings me to tears, because I think about how precious children are. I think about how the highlight of my day is seeing my pastors' kids who are 2 and 4. Those kids are such blessings, and when one of them has a cold, the whole church cares. But there are hundreds of thousands of kids in Sudan who are of just as much sacred worth, and those kids are being left to die by the international community. How can we do that. HOW can we do that? Our government is afraid of putting too much pressure on the government of Sudan partly because they are helping us with the "War on Terror." To me, that sounds like sacrificing hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, on the off chance that the Sudanese government can help us a little.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go to www.savedarfur.org and take action. Education yourself, spread the word to others, and call/write the President and your elected representatives. Soon it will be too late and we will be saying "we could have stopped it."
Like the Holocaust
and Rwanda
and Bosnia
and Armenia
and South Sudan.
posted by Unknown at 8:54 PM
3 Comments:
"One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." -- Joseph Stalin
(Obviously I don't generally agree with Stalin, but he makes a grim point there.) You bring up a really good comparison that just highlights the disparity that continues to grow between the fortunate and the unfortunate. We're outraged as a nation when JonBenet Ramsey or Terri Schiavo dies, but show little response when children in Africa are murdered by the thousands.
Pointless suffering and genocide has always existed, but the fact that we now have the ability to stop it and basically choose not to, makes me think that eventually something has to give. Why were 11 million people allowed to die in the Shoah ("Holocaust"), 1 million each in the Armenian and Rwanda Genocides, thousands in the Bosnian Genocide, for the sake of political expediency? Why does God allow this to happen? I feel like all we can do on an individual and local level is really focus on how we live, where we give our money and who we vote into office. And stay aware that God expects us to work toward the world's redemption/healing.
"You are not obligated to finish the task; neither are you free to neglect it." --Talmud
Do unto others ALL that you would have them do unto you. Let's do it...
DARFUR, URGENT: WHAT WOULD RACHEL CORRIE START THIS WEEK?
Darfur Vigil DAY 118 (now in NYC); 56 Days Hunger Strike since July 4, 2006 www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
Young Rachel Corrie saw a bulldozer intentionally bearing down on the house of a family, a family she probably never knew. She got in front of that bulldozer, between the bulldozer and the house, between the threat, and the innocents. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore." DARFUR GENOCIDE. WE-CITIZENS SITTING IN COMFORT AND SAFETY IN THE FACE OF GENOCIDE, "THIS HAS TO STOP." (http://www.criticalconcern.com/rachelcorrie.html.)
We need to get between what is killing Darfur (Bashir's performance and the nonperformance by we-the-people, we world citizens) - and our children, sisters and brothers in Darfur. Now. And as of now we are not (http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/2006/09/sept-17th-activism-awesome-but-not.html) How do we do that? How do we make it happen? What would a sufficient "wake up" look like? IF SOMEONE HAS THIS ALREADY STARTED, LET ME KNOW. I'll join you, or even back out if that is best.
I am deciding what I will do next, what I expect to be my final attempt to spark the Rescue of Darfur by waking up sufficient numbers of we humans in time, converting us from spectators, critics and activists-of-convenience into antiviolent warriors (think Civil Rights struggle) of profound courage, wisdom, tenacity and effectiveness; utilizing to the max the few weeks, days and seconds that our Darfur family has left.
What would Rachel Corrie start THIS WEEK? This question strikes me as the way to approach the task of deciding. The way to focus the mind to come up with the appropriate, proportional response of greatest chance - THE BEST AIMED "HAIL MARY" PASS.
Rachel Corrie stood in front of a bulldozer about to destroy a house of people she did not know (http://www.criticalconcern.com/rachelcorrie.html). Would a different role model help you more? How about Steve Beko (South Africa, movie, Denzel), a young Gandhi, a young Nelson Mandella, an antivioloent Rambo, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, John Q (from the Denzel Washington movie)...? You get the idea. Think of your own role model APPROPRIATE to this situation.
LET’S JOIN TOGETHER IN THIS QUANDARY, before it is too late, please: Send me, or post, your ideas (http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/). Now. I expect to embark on whatever best plan by early next week at the latest, with anyone that wants to join together.
A CONSTRAINT: Suggestions must centrally embrace this notion of the problem from Samantha Power's inspired, Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Problem from Hell" (and I paraphrase AND take license): THE BATTLE TO STOP GENOCIDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LOST ON THE FIELD OF PUBLIC OPINION. THE PEOPLE [WE THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD]... HAVE NEVER STOOD UP SUFFICIENTLY TO STOP IT.
HUNCH: The plan should involve leveraging STAND's Oct 5th Fast to make it into the END OF THE GONOICIDE, the START of a WORLDWIDE FAST UNTIL DARFUR GENOCIDE IS ENDING. One-day only by all participants is too-little-too-late. A one day fast is NOT what the world's response to the Holocaust, the extermination of 6,000,000 Jews lacked. Not by many orders of magnitude. Death rates are climbing toward 25,000 per week in Darfur, NOW. We must be REALISTIC. Code Pink's "Troops Home Fast" could be a model (www.troopshomefast.org). Make STAND's October 5th the START? THAT COULD DO IT.
But, WE NEED EVEN BETTER, MUCH BETTER SUGGESTIONS and specific ideas for approach and execution than I am hinting at.
RESPOND. PLEASE. Now; because THERE IS NO MORE T-I-M-E. (For those of you that just want to watch, and have a good laugh at my frantic gyrations, enjoy.)
What would Rachel Corrie start THIS WEEK?
Jay McGinley (jymcginley@cs.com) 484-356-6243
One of the more interesting solutions that I have heard proposed is that people and organizations concerned about the genocide in Darfur should come together, pool their resources, and hire mercenaries to free Darfur from Sudan's rule.
Short of a major power invading Darfur, I can't think of another solution. And none of the major powers seem interested in doing so.
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