Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 06:17:33 -0700 From: "Peter Schurman, MoveOn.org" To: forwarded Subject: Help stop genocide in Sudan Dear MoveOn member, A major human tragedy is unfolding in Sudan, one that has reportedly claimed at least 30,000 lives, and could claim up to one million unless the world community works together, starting immediately, to end it. One thing we can do is give to Oxfam's Sudan Crisis Relief Fund, which is providing urgently needed help to people there. You can make a secure, tax-deductible gift at: https://secure.ga3.org/02/sudan04?source=mo A gift will make an immediate difference, but we must also take action to stop the bloodshed. Although Secretary of State Colin Powell has been in Sudan this week, he has yet to declare that the atrocities there constitute genocide [1]. Such recognition would make a huge difference, catalyzing the world community to help end the killing. Powell should also publicly condemn the genocide. But so far, he has stopped short of this. This week, on NPR, Powell said: "Why would we call it a genocide when the genocide definition has to meet certain legal tests, and based on what we have seen, there were some indicators but there was certainly no full accounting of all indicators that lead to a legal definition of genocide, and that's the advice of my lawyers..." [2] Please call Powell today at: Secretary of State Colin Powell 202-647-4000 or 202-647-6607 or 202-647-6575 Urge him to: - Immediately declare the atrocities in Sudan to be "Genocide"; and - Publicly condemn them. Please also call your Senators and Representative: Senator Charles E. Schumer Washington, DC: 202-224-6542 Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Washington, DC: 202-224-4451 Congresswoman Louise McIntosh Slaughter Washington, DC: 202-225-3615 Urge them to demand that the United States recognize the genocide and condemn it. Please let us know you're calling, at: http://www.moveon.org/callpowell.html?id=3039-3420768-Dw_7uWRn43zH5MxOXSD0xQ Sudan's government is orchestrating a genocide 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. Andrew Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development says, "if nothing changes we will have one million casualties. If things improve we can get it down to about 300,000 deaths." [3] 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 is failing so show leadership on Sudan. Is President Bush now so preoccupied with Iraq that his administration 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 Friday, July 2nd, 2004 P.S.: A photo gallery depicting the situation is at: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5305166/site/newsweek/ 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?" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/opinion/16KRIS.html (Archived and available for purchase) 2. "Sudan's Final Solution" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/opinion/19KRIS.html (Archived and available for purchase) 3. "Magboula's Brush With Genocide" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/23/opinion/23KRIS.html (Archived and available for purchase) 4. "Dithering as Others Die" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/opinion/26KRIS.html Newspapers everywhere are calling for action: The Washington Post: "As Genocide Unfolds" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54947-2004Jun19.html The New York Times: Time for Action on Sudan http://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: http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=97645 Footnotes: [1] Genocide is commonly defined as "the systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group." - Dictionary.com The formal definition of genocide, under the United Nations' 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, is: "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." Source: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm [2] http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3057010 [3] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5288549/
well sadly the people doing the killing in sudan are not white westerners, so it wont get much notice because of the latent racism of most people on the left in particular also anti capitalists and marxists who know they have little chance of ever getting elected, have made a alliance with fundermentalist islam. thats why you see the left support islamic causes like the destruction of isreal and secterian clothing . I used to wonder about this why something like sudan can be happening and you get little or zero coverage and a smaller number of people can be killed in Isreal or Iraq and you get massive coverage and this is the conclusion Ive come to I would guess that islamic groups who are pretty rich are also helping to pay for this support as well
No Johnny that's not right. What's really going on here is that Sudan like Rawonda is ignored by western white largely "Christian" nations because of latent racism vis-a-vis blacks. All the more so when the victims in question are Muslim. And what groups are calling attention to the Palestinian plight? It's not George Bush or the "Christian" right. It's primarily leftists because they are the leading edge when it comes to standing up for human rights. But let's not lose sight of what's really important. We all need to work together to halt the Sudanese genocide.
I think the war-mongoring America should NOT send its war machine into Sudan. If the world thinks that something should be done then they can spend their money and send their sons and daughters to fight for someone elses rights.
SDS, "What's really going on here is that Sudan like Rawonda is ignored by western white largely "Christian" nations because of latent racism vis-a-vis blacks. All the more so when the victims in question are Muslim." -What about Somalia and Kosovo?? Why did the U.S. get involved then? I agree with Osama Bin Phuckin when he/she said that the US should not get involved. There is genocide happening all over the world, why is Sudan special? There was far worse crimes being committed in Iraq than in Sudan, and if Iraq wasn't good enough of a reason (according to 99% of the people here), then Sudan definitely isn't either. Besides we need to worry about our suffering economy more than we need to worry about a couple of Africans being slaughtered. We have lost enough lives fighting other peoples fights, it's time to get our troops back home. Let nature take its coarse.
Of course, the oil is in the Middle East. Why should King George commit troops in African coutries such as Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen. Al Qaeda operates there but there is no profit in it. He only sends our troops where Halliburton Oil wants to go.
" Besides we need to worry about our suffering economy more than we need to worry about a couple of Africans being slaughtered." I think its more than a couple. If no one helps it could reach a million. A MILLION!!!!! Let nature take its coarse.[/QUOTE] You truly believe that allowing humans to practice genocide is letting nature take its course? Why then didnt we allow nature to "take its course" when the nazis were commiting genocide?
The bottom line here is karma. For those of us who live in America--time to wake your asses up. The next time this happens, it could very well be YOU. And if you don't care now, who will care for you then? If you think I'm kidding or mad-wack, just check out the latest supposed 'terrorism threat'. It's looking more and more like we're going to have two choices at election time. #1--we elect a new president, one who will make sure we 'win the war on terrorism'. #2--we do not get to elect anyone, due to the necessity of 'winning the war on terrorism' by preemptive actions to prevent probable Al-Qaeda hijinks when November rolls around. Either way, the 'war on terrorism' fucks us all, while most everyone thinks we're winning a war that is actually a farce, at best, and at worse, an auto-aggressive action, just like the 'war on drugs'. It's like making up a boogey man so you can save your little sister from it and be the hero. It's like a woman having sex with someone other than her husband, then crying 'rape' when she turns up pregnant.
I think that line is the only important one. If 30,000 Sudaneese(sp?) are killed, it's an atrocity that requires the U.S. to be involved, BUT, when over 1 million Iraqis are killed, Iraq remains a soverign nation that should be left to it's own business. Isn't Sudan also a soverign nation that should be left to it's own business? Or maybe the war in Iraq is only bad because Bush started it. I think this only shows how blatantly hypocritical associatiopns like MoveOn.org are.
That is my point exactly! Regardless of WMD, Al Qaeda links, and so on......Saddam Hussein should have been removed. I also happen to think that we should get involved in Sudan, but, not without help from the rest of the world. I think that we should expect help from some of the other larger military powers in the world as well. Including Germany and France. As being basically the worlds only superpower I sort of feel that we are obligated to step in to help people who cannot help themselves. The point of my previous posts was to bring out the hypocrisy of peoples viewpoints here. I understand that many people feel that they were "tricked" into going to war in Iraq, but the simple fact is that we ARE helping the people of Iraq and they ARE much better off now than they were before and they will be VERY much better off in the next couple years. This is a huge thing we are doing and it's sad that it is not getting the recognition it deserves. Back to Sudan. Most of the world enjoys freedoms and luxuries that these people could not even fathom, so we should feel guilty just sitting here and doing nothing. On the same note I don't feel that the U.S should be accused of not doing enough, because of the huge financial and military costs of Iraq. The rest of the world needs to step up and stand with the US to stop these assholes. ***Please do not spin what I said about Iraq into statistical pissing match on human casualties, insurgent attacks, Halliburton, blood for oil, GW Bush, or any other controversial issue.***** Though I pretty much expect it anyways.
Problem is, the rest of the world dosen't give a shit. The UN just sits there waving their dicks in the air while their precious Declaration of the Rights of Man is being shit on by countrieseverywhere. North Korea has nukes? So what. Ethnic warfare rampant in Africa and the Middle East? Big deal. Their only solution is sanctions which only hurt the people and do nothing to stop the opressive governments.
Sanctions are a cop-out. They make it look like you are doing something without actually extending any financial or military support.
