True Majority – 2004-08-07 00:45:36
http://truemajority.kintera.org/darfurdonation
We’ve had some big successes in our campaign to save the genocide victims in Darfur. Most recently, both houses of Congress unanimously passed the resolutions we supported, calling the atrocities in Sudan “genocide” and pressing the Bush administration to take any action needed to stop it.
This has really isolated Bush’s position — that this isn’t really genocide requiring immediate action. Instead, he’s using a “go slow” approach with the hope that the Sudanese government will do an about-face and save the millions who are now being starved to death.
To focus the media’s attention on this, and really put the heat on the President, we tried to bring some witnesses from Darfur to the United States as “Refugee Ambassadors,” but the State Department wouldn’t issue them any visas. One employee actually defended the State Department’s position by saying that some of the refugees might be terrorists. If it wasn’t so tragic it would be funny.
Well, if the government won’t let us bring witnesses to the media, we’ll bring the media to the witnesses. Working with our friends at FaithfulAmerica.org, we have created a plan to send a camera crew, complete with a satellite uplink, directly into the refugee camps on the Chad/Sudan border.
From there we’d be able to get witnesses, aid workers, and human rights activists directly onto talk shows here in the States. We’d also be able to have local experts appear in the studios, to comment on how our government can stop this.
Now we just need to raise the money to pay for this project. We figure the cost, including crew, equipment, and satellite time, will be about $45,000. If we raise any additional money, we’ll use it to continue pressing the government to do the right thing in other ways, such as an ad campaign. But first we need to get the crew over there.
To help send a camera crew with a satellite uplink to the Darfur refugees, you can
click here.
We are all doing what we can to stop the genocide. TrueMajority founder, Ben Cohen, was even arrested at a protest in front of the Sudanese embassy. Now please do whatever you can.
Thanks for helping,
Andrew Greenblatt, Online Organizer
Background on Darfur
Over the last several months, a government-backed Arab militia in Sudan, called the Janjuweed, has been attacking black Africans. The Janjuweed tactics are crude, but effective. They enter a village and use terror to force everyone to leave their homes and crops. Entire populations have fled to distant camps in the middle of desolate areas.
These desert camps are now surrounded and controlled by the Janjuweed, and anyone who tries to leave is raped or killed. Unarmed international aid workers are turned away. A total of 370,000 human beings are already dead, or in the late stages of dying, from starvation in these extermination camps. The death toll could reach one million within the next few months.
Time is our greatest enemy. Every day one thousand people are dying in these camps. Currently, starvation is claiming the weakest—70 percent of the dead are children aged five and under.
As time goes on, the death toll will rise more quickly. The United States needs to ensure that food aid is brought to the people of Darfur, along with the protection of an international military force.
Both houses of Congress have already passed resolutions calling this “genocide”, and have called on the President to act to stop it.
The problem is that the Bush administration is unwilling to take the decisive action needed to make sure that the food aid is safely delivered to those who need it most. Instead, they are calling on the corrupt Sudanese government to disarm their allies, the Janjuweed, and allow food aid in.
To pressure the Sudanese government, the Bush administration is talking about using sanctions, a process that will take months — long enough to kill everyone currently starving in the camps. That is why it is crucial that President Bush act now.
You can learn more at
www.darfurgenocide.org.
