On April 30, there is going to be a rally in Washington DC and other cities to bring attention to the genocide occuring in Darfur, Sudan.  I encourage anybody that lives in DC (or any other large city) to help bring attention to this plight.

http://www.savedarfur.org/rally/

There is also an on-line petition, to try and bring this to the attention of President Bush.

http://www.savedarfur.org/

February was the turn of the US to be in charge of the UN Security Council.  They pledged to send in peacekeeping forces, but that will not happen for at least a year.  If you want to know more about this conflict, here is a wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur_conflict

Of course, I fuilly expect this to dissapear into the back of everybodies minds, as we worry about much more important topics, like free health care to illegal aliens in the US.  After all, that is so much more important then genocide.

On April 30, there is going to be a rally in Washington DC and other cities to bring attention to the genocide occuring in Darfur, Sudan.  I encourage anybody that lives in DC (or any other large city) to help bring attention to this plight.

http://www.savedarfur.org/rally/

There is also an on-line petition, to try and bring this to the attention of President Bush.

http://www.savedarfur.org/

February was the turn of the US to be in charge of the UN Security Council.  They pledged to send in peacekeeping forces, but that will not happen for at least a year.  If you want to know more about this conflict, here is a wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur_conflict

Of course, I fuilly expect this to dissapear into the back of everybodies minds, as we worry about much more important topics, like free health care to illegal aliens in the US.  After all, that is so much more important then genocide.


The thing is, if they will kill people, no strike will stop them.

The thing is, if they will kill people, no strike will stop them.


The hope is that we can help raise public awareness, and get the UN Security COuncil to do something about this.

Genocide is the dirty little elephant that hides in the closet, and nobody wants to admit it exists.  Nobody wants to admit that in the 21st Century, we still have people who kill others based purely on race or religion.  And this has to stop now!

I urge all of you, follow the ling and send the petition to President Bush.  Call your local Congressmen and Senators.  Urge them to increase spending to help the AU in putting an end to this atrocity.

Wrtie letters to your local newspaper, telling them to report on this event.  Try to get local support to hold a rally in support.  If we can get as many as we did talking about something as trivial as illegal immigration rights, then we should get 10 times as many people to rally to stop this.

I am already in preliminary talks with a local AME Minister in having a local rally on this on April 30 (the day of the National rally in Washington DC).

There is a traveling Photo Tour that is trying to raise awareness of this problem.  Here is the remaining stops it will be making:

April 21: Austin, TX

April 22: San Antonio, TX

April 23: Austin, TX

April 25: Fort Worth, TX

April 26: Dallas, TX

April 30: Washington, DC
Rally!

The hope is that we can help raise public awareness, and get the UN Security COuncil to do something about this.

Genocide is the dirty little elephant that hides in the closet, and nobody wants to admit it exists.  Nobody wants to admit that in the 21st Century, we still have people who kill others based purely on race or religion.  And this has to stop now!

I urge all of you, follow the ling and send the petition to President Bush.  Call your local Congressmen and Senators.  Urge them to increase spending to help the AU in putting an end to this atrocity.

Wrtie letters to your local newspaper, telling them to report on this event.  Try to get local support to hold a rally in support.  If we can get as many as we did talking about something as trivial as illegal immigration rights, then we should get 10 times as many people to rally to stop this.

I am already in preliminary talks with a local AME Minister in having a local rally on this on April 30 (the day of the National rally in Washington DC).

There is a traveling Photo Tour that is trying to raise awareness of this problem.  Here is the remaining stops it will be making:

April 21: Austin, TX

April 22: San Antonio, TX

April 23: Austin, TX

April 25: Fort Worth, TX

April 26: Dallas, TX

April 30: Washington, DC
Rally!



Okay, I see.  So they're asking the UN to help?  I totally agree with that.

I hear ya, Mushroom, loud and clear. Neither America nor the U.N. did anything to stop the slaughter in Rwanda twelve years ago, and we've done nothing to stop the genicide in the Sudan. It is the shame of racism that still lurks among us. If such butchery were happening in France, Tibet, or Japan you can bet your sweet azz we would be doing something about it. The attitude about sub-Saharan Africa is somehow those people are less-than. Somehow Africa is the world's basketcase and it barely phases us when millions die in famine and genicide. Remember, this is the legacy of 500 years of European colonialism on that continent.
>:(

I will take the action I am able to.

Okay, I see.  So they're asking the UN to help?  I totally agree with that.


And why should it stop with the UN?  This is an atrocity that every nation should be involved with.  If it had a prayer of happening, I would even support sending in US troops to get involved.  Just as I supported their involvement in Somalia and former Yugoslavia.

Everybody has some button that will make them get involved in things.  With me, it is Genocide.  To me, this is the most horiffic crime possible.  And I will go to almost any length to see it stopped.  We are talking about a national government that is endorsing the rape and murder of hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people, simply because they are of a different race or religion then the majority of the nation.

How can anybody not do anything about it, and still consider themselves human?

And why should it stop with the UN?  This is an atrocity that every nation should be involved with.  If it had a prayer of happening, I would even support sending in US troops to get involved.  Just as I supported their involvement in Somalia and former Yugoslavia.

Everybody has some button that will make them get involved in things.  With me, it is Genocide.  To me, this is the most horiffic crime possible.  And I will go to almost any length to see it stopped.  We are talking about a national government that is endorsing the rape and murder of hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people, simply because they are of a different race or religion then the majority of the nation.

How can anybody not do anything about it, and still consider themselves human?


I agree.  This is the 21st Century, it's amazing people still kill other people.

What has been going on in the Sudan is past hearbreaking.  It is one of those things that churns my
gut up because people tend to ignore it, our government spends billions on Iraq and babies are dying
in the Sudan.  There are many of the Lost Boys in this area, my heart breaks for them, and all those
they have left behind.  This is madness that has to stop.

I hear ya, Mushroom, loud and clear. Neither America nor the U.N. did anything to stop the slaughter in Rwanda twelve years ago, and we've done nothing to stop the genicide in the Sudan. It is the shame of racism that still lurks among us. If such butchery were happening in France, Tibet, or Japan you can bet your sweet azz we would be doing something about it. The attitude about sub-Saharan Africa is somehow those people are less-than. Somehow Africa is the world's basketcase and it barely phases us when millions die in famine and genicide. Remember, this is the legacy of 500 years of European colonialism on that continent.
>:(

I will take the action I am able to.


Thanks Max.  I am sure that there are people here wondering if the world is ending, because we happen to agree so much on something.   8)

You have to realize, that a lot of my desire around conflicts like Iraq have nothing to do with WMD, or politics, or anything else but about this one topic.  I have stated in here many times that I really don't (and still don't) care about those things.  But that Saddam had to fall, and his Government brought to trial for what they did to the Kurds, Druze, Shi'ia, and other ethnic and religious minorities in his own country.  To me, trying to argue if we should be there should have ended when the first of the mass graves were discovered.  To me, it is like trying to excuse what Hitler did after finding Auschwitz.

I may not have agreed with a lot that President Clinton did, but I supported him 110% in what he tried to do in Somalia and Yugoslavia.  And I say it again, I think we should never have left Somalia.  I wish that people would do something about the continuing slaughter happening in that country as well.

I agree.  This is the 21st Century, it's amazing people still kill other people.


People will always kill each other.  However, this kind of mass murder is inexcuseable.  It is one thing for soldiers to fight soldiers.  It is one thing for insurgents to fight what they see as an invading army.  I may not agree with these situations, but I can see the other side and understand what causes it to happen.

What I can't understand is the desire of people to go in and slaughter women and children.  To attack refugee camps, and stop food and water from reaching people who need it.  And I can't understand why more nations do not do something to stop this from happening.

Myself, I would have no problem with dumping 5,000 lb bombs on the heads of the people that cause this to happen.  This is not war, this is wholesale slaughter of people who are of the wrong race or religion.  And I do not care where it is, or who is being targeted.  It needs to stop.

What I can't understand is the desire of people to go in and slaughter women and children. 


Read Jared Diamond's _Collapse_.

I'd point you to one chapter in particular, but his case isn't as strong unless you've read the entire book.  Long and short of it:  this is something that humans (and certain closely-related primate species) have always done when resources are tight.

Anyone using words like "right" or "wrong" in the context of any genocide is pitting 60,000 years of culture against somewhere between 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 years of genetic programming.  Yes, humans *can* overcome this ingrained tendency.  Nope, it's not the way to bet.

Thought for the day:  The jury's still out as to whether or not intelligence is a long-term survival trait.  (Corollary: the cockroaches shall inherit the earth.)

.  (Corollary: the cockroaches shall inherit the earth.)


I think they already have....

Genocide is absolutely disgusting as well as absolutely sickening. I hate the fact that when it's a Third World country, our President and Congress turn their backs and act like it's not happening. Here's another anti-genocide website I found.
http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/

Obviously some people never learned from the "Final Solution" aka the Holocaust..Stalin's purges and pogroms...and quite a few other disgusting mass murders.

Genocide is absolutely disgusting as well as absolutely sickening. I hate the fact that when it's a Third World country, our President and Congress turn their backs and act like it's not happening. Here's another anti-genocide website I found.
http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/

Obviously some people never learned from the "Final Solution" aka the Holocaust..Stalin's purges and pogroms...and quite a few other disgusting mass murders.


There is not a lot the President can do about this.  And Congress is trying to do something about it.  Just 2 days ago, Congress voted 422-0 (with 12 abstentions) to pass a resolution calling Darfur "Genocide", and to try and get the UN to do the same.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3918765.stm

And in order to give "Equal Time", here is the response from Sudan:

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=14921

Currently, the UN does not consider it Genocide.  And a lot of this is political.  Under the UN Charter, the UN is obligated to intervene if this was officially a Genocide.  But as long as that does not happen, it is simply another regional conflict.  And the UN has been remarkably reluctant to label anything as "Genocide".

In 2004, the UN placed sanctions against Sudan.  They restricted their selling of oil.  Big freaking whoop-di-doo.  Is it any wonder why I consider the UN an impotant organization?  If anybody is interested, here is the entire text of the resolution that the UN sent to the Sudan government in 2004:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3940527.stm

In short, I expect nothing more to happen.  The UN does not want to call on an African nation and accuse it of Genocide.  And a large percentage of the oil exports of Sudan go to Russia.  So do not expect any support there.  The same as I did not expect any support with North Korea, Iraq, or Iran from Russia.  They have a firm record of supporting those who they do business with.

The US Government recognizes it as Genocide.  In February when the US chaired the UN Security Council they tried to bring up such a resolution, and it was voted down by the other members.  And there is a history of the African Union soldiers there ignoring the atrocities, and at times even participating in them.

The Sudan/Darfur genocide is a travesty and should be a concern to everyone, but alas, the Sudan hasn't any OIL, and besides, its just poor black folks getting killed by other poor black folks...  Pardon my cynisism

Protesting accomplishes nothing.

[quote author=

Then what do we do, simply sit back and do nothing?

Sudan is quickly becomming one of the major trouble spots of Northern Africa.  It seems that when Lybia kicked most of the extreemists out a few years ago, most of them moved to the Sudan.  In the news this week Chad has been making complaints about the Sudanese sponsoring a coup attempt and incursions across their border.


I didn't say anything about what the government should do.

The Sudan/Darfur genocide is a travesty and should be a concern to everyone, but alas, the Sudan hasn't any OIL, and besides, its just poor black folks getting killed by other poor black folks...  Pardon my cynisism


Cynicism is, more often than not, grounded in reality

I thought genocide was spelled genicide, consistent with homicide and suicide...but it's not. I thought Genocide was the killing a pizza deliveryman! Uhhh...

I thought genocide was spelled genicide, consistent with homicide and suicide...but it's not. I thought Genocide was the killing a pizza deliveryman! Uhhh...


:P  that is so bogus    ;D