Doing something
Posted On Thursday, 31 May 2007 at at 10:55:00 am by Lisa
Inspired by Jesus, Fiona and Huggies , and the sermon I gave on Sunday about 'coherence',
I am getting off my butt and doing something : (shock horror) while it is not much, it is more than what I was doing. To sign a petition about dafur go here:
http://ga6.org/campaign/savedarfurcoalition
I am getting off my butt and doing something : (shock horror) while it is not much, it is more than what I was doing. To sign a petition about dafur go here:
http://ga6.org/campaign/savedarfurcoalition
If you do you get a stunning little generic email back from the white house ... yes the White house (now there's something stunning :P )
SaveDarfur.org has a post called "Background" that's worth checking out...
DOWNLOAD: Policy Talking Points (Updated 3/30/07)Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years. At least 400,000 people…
Interestingly, at the Horn of Africa Awareness Rally in Civic Square last Saturday, the speaker talking about Darfur didn't think a military intervention (in terms of UN peacekeepers) was a good idea. And neither did the doctor from Medecins Sans Frontieres (who had just been in Darfur) that came and talked to my development class this term.
But I think people should still send that message to Bush & the UN. Any pressure helps. It's a pity there's no equivalent one-click message to send to the Sudanese government or the Chinese government.
To get an idea of how complicated and slow-moving the Sudan/Dafur situation is:
- Colin Powell was calling for action from the UN, on behalf of the US, way back in 2004. We're now in mid-2007 and Darfur still doesn't have UN troops.
- the prevailing view at the UN seems to be that intervention can only occur with approval from the Sudanese government, otherwise this would be a violation of Sudan's sovereignty.
- China has repeatedly blocked Security Council attempts to impose sanctions or send an intervention force. China is Sudan's biggest oil exporter and China is also Sudan's biggest arms supplier.
- Bashir's regime has provided the US with valuable intelligence relevant to al-Qaeda and the "War on Terror". While Bush vocally condemns what is happening in Darfur, the US State Department praised Sudan as a "strong partner in the War on Terror" as recently as 30 April 2007.