Darfur, Genocide & Judaism.

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Valke2

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What follows is a letter my 11 year old girl wrote after attending the Save Darfur Rally in Washington DC on April 30, 2006:

Stand up or stay slient. During the Holocaust, while the Jews were being lined up to be deported and being tortured simply because of their religion, the world was standing in the sidelines and watching. While millions of us were killed in gas chambers and sent out to camps the world didn’t make an effort to stop the genocide. Now, the citizens of Darfur are having their houses burned down and being forced to live in houses made out of whatever scraps or garbage they can find. All the world has done is sit there and watch history repeat itself. So if it is possible for anyone to feel the pain that the citizens of Darfur are feeling, it would be us. The Jews.

Darfur is the first example of genocide in the 21st century and with your help we can make it the last. This is not about skin color or religion, this is about genocide. Make a contribution. Visit savedarfur.org/. Don’t keep quiet about genocide, reach out to the government. This time, an ‘A’ for effort is not enough. 'Instead of mourning a genocide, stop one.'Dear President Bush, During your first year in the White House, you wrote in the margins of a report on the Rwanda genocide, “Not on my watch.” I urge you to live up to those words by using the power of your office to support a stronger multi-national force to protect the civilians of Darfur.~
 
More sense there than it what lots of adults write.

Out of curiousity, did your little girl get any response to this?
 
pro_universal said:
More sense there than it what lots of adults write.

Out of curiousity, did your little girl get any response to this?
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It was read in our shul and is part of our continuing Tikkun program of raising awareness about Darfur. She’s now starting some sort of “Save Darfur Chapter” in her school.
 
I can appreciate the passion and commitment that your daughter has. It is very inspiring.

My question would be -“What can be done?”
 
ndtiger said:
I can appreciate the passion and commitment that your daughter has. It is very inspiring.

My question would be -“What can be done?”
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The link in the post should take you to a petition to Pres. Bush. Writing editorials, or organzing your religious or other communities to let your representatives know it is an important issue. The website also has information for anyone who wants to donate money to humanitarian aid.
 
Valke2 said:
It was read in our shul and is part of our continuing Tikkun program of raising awareness about Darfur. She’s now starting some sort of “Save Darfur Chapter” in her school.
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Good luck to her with this project, and thanks for the link.
 
Valke2 said:
The link in the post should take you to a petition to Pres. Bush. Writing editorials, or organzing your religious or other communities to let your representatives know it is an important issue. The website also has information for anyone who wants to donate money to humanitarian aid.
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What would you like Bush to do?
 
StMarkEofE said:
Im not clear on what is going on over there. Is this a religious or tribal war? Are Muslims involved somehow?
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There’s components of all of the above. But essentially, the bulk of rebel forces come from the Darfur region. So the Gov’t has engaged in a campaign of genocide in that region in order to crush the rebellion. It can be viewed as Muslims killing Christians, rancher’s killing farmers. People who want water killing people who have it. Take your pick.

As an enviornmental aside, Lake Chad, formerly the 2nd or 3rd largest lake in the world, is now 1/20th of its size, as a result of overuse and changing weather patterns. This has had a detrimental effect on the abuses that are going on in Darfur. And if scientests are right, such changing weather patterns are at least partly due to our own actions.
 
Valke2 said:
There’s components of all of the above. But essentially, the bulk of rebel forces come from the Darfur region. So the Gov’t has engaged in a campaign of genocide in that region in order to crush the rebellion. It can be viewed as Muslims killing Christians, rancher’s killing farmers. People who want water killing people who have it. Take your pick.

As an enviornmental aside, Lake Chad, formerly the 2nd or 3rd largest lake in the world, is now 1/20th of its size, as a result of overuse and changing weather patterns. This has had a detrimental effect on the abuses that are going on in Darfur. And if scientests are right, such changing weather patterns are at least partly due to our own actions.
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Barring discussions on weather patterns one way of the other it seems to me that there are no clear lines drawn here for any outside interested country to try and fix.

Why not ask the United Nations for help. They are an international community of peace keepers. They should be addressed before the U.S. steps in.
 
StMarkEofE said:
Barring discussions on weather patterns one way of the other it seems to me that there are no clear lines drawn here for any outside interested country to try and fix.

Why not ask the United Nations for help. They are an international community of peace keepers. They should be addressed before the U.S. steps in.
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Absolutley the United Nations should step in. BUt as always, some nation needs to lead the initiative. Here are the things that the petition asks for:
  1. Push for the immediate deployment of the already-authorized UN peacekeeping force.
  2. Strengthen the understaffed African Union force already in Darfur until the UN force can be deployed.
  3. Implement a fair and lasting Peace Agreement.
  4. Increase humanitarian aid and ensure access for delivery.
 
I doubt the US will step in. President Bush the elder was burned when he sent troops to try to bring some semblance of peace to Somalia, which probably cost him reelection. I doubt George W. Bush will attempt to do anything in Darfur. Ultimately God will judge everyone involved on their abilities to act, on what they have done and they have failed to do.
 
StMarkEofE said:
Im not clear on what is going on over there. Is this a religious or tribal war? Are Muslims involved somehow?
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I feel bad for saying this, but I think the honest truth is that what is going on is what has always been going on in Darfur.

As far as I know they have always been killing and warring with each other, for rather unclear reasons. In fact, I don’t believe that there has really been any time in human history when Darfur hasn’t been governed by bloodshed.

I don’t believe that there is much the US can do about it, and I laugh at the idea of the UN trying to do something. What will they do? Write a petition?

I hope that they see the light of reason, and I pray for the murder to end, but I don’t think it will.

Please correct if I am wrong.
 
Valke2 said:
There’s components of all of the above. But essentially, the bulk of rebel forces come from the Darfur region. So the Gov’t has engaged in a campaign of genocide in that region in order to crush the rebellion. It can be viewed as Muslims killing Christians, rancher’s killing farmers. People who want water killing people who have it. Take your pick.

As an enviornmental aside, Lake Chad, formerly the 2nd or 3rd largest lake in the world, is now 1/20th of its size, as a result of overuse and changing weather patterns. This has had a detrimental effect on the abuses that are going on in Darfur. And if scientests are right, such changing weather patterns are at least partly due to our own actions.
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“It can be viewed as Muslims killing Christians”…you are not serious…? I hope not other wise i consider this as unintentional mistake.
 
I should have said Arabs vs. black Africans. The Civil War in Sudan pitted Muslims agains Christians and Animists. The Darfur region is made up of mulsims on the rebel side, but not Arab mulsims. they claim to suffer discrimination as non-Arabs. So in Darfur, unlike the larger earlier civil war, it is Arab Muslims (pro gov’t) killing black african muslims.
 
No one seems to have mentioned China’s role in all of this.
China is Sudan’s largest trading partner and the main foreign investor in Sudan’s oil industry. China National Petroleum Corp. has a 40 percent share in the international consortium extracting oil in Sudan, and it is building refineries and pipelines, enabling Sudan to benefit from oil export revenue since 1999. Although most Western oil companies have withdrawn from Sudan under pressure from human rights organizations, Chinese companies have turned a blind eye to the brutal way in which Sudan forced 200,000 to 300,000 of its citizens from oil-rich lands without compensation. Nor have these companies shown concern that Sudan uses oil revenue to purchase arms for its wars against its black African population.

So, anyone willing to take China on??
 
Yeah. China is probably the biggest reason we are not taking a more active role in the Darfur crisis.
 
Valke2 said:
I should have said Arabs vs. black Africans. The Civil War in Sudan pitted Muslims agains Christians and Animists. The Darfur region is made up of mulsims on the rebel side, but not Arab mulsims. they claim to suffer discrimination as non-Arabs. So in Darfur, unlike the larger earlier civil war, it is Arab Muslims (pro gov’t) killing black african muslims.
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**Please, without doubting your sincerity, I would strongly suggest that you read more and from different sources, what is happening in darfur is bad enough and without making any light of it, it’s more of land disbutes over generations, corrupt and shameless government in Khartoum,a brother against brother and nomads against farmers and apparently no one east or in the west is doing much about it accept few poorly equipped OAU soldiers who can even defend themselves.

Just a clarification, 99% of folks from that part of Sudan are Muslims and 99% Sudanese are Black Africans including those who are in power, sure one of many languages spoken in The Sudan is arabic and so some claim to be of arab decents, while the south of sudan is predominantly Qutbik “Coptic” Christians and also there large numbers of people who are Animists (Those who have indigenous african traditional beliefs).

but the idea of arabs killing black africans is unfounded since they all blacks and muslims.

Thanks for sharing your views.**
 
Very cool daughter you have there.

I highly recommend the documentary film “God Grew Tired of Us”. It is about the “Lost Boys” of Sudan. The film website has a trailer, information about the Lost Boys and ways to take action.

www.godgrewtiredofus.com

I bet your daughter would enjoy it. 🙂
 
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