Stop Genocide Now activists return to Africa, while calling for action on the home front
REDONDO BEACH, CA, June 10, 2008—After having left Africa in February 2008 in the care of the French Marines, following a coup attempt on the capital of Chad, N’Djamena, Stop Genocide Now activists, Gabriel Stauring (Redondo Beach, CA) and Katie-Jay Scott (Portland, OR), will return to Chad on June 10, 2008. Stauring and Scott will again visit refugee camps, on the Chad/Sudan border, in an effort to bring attention to the genocide in Darfur. Members of the student organization STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition will accompany Stop Genocide Now on their journey back to Africa.
Stauring and Scott’s voyage back to Africa will ignite the interactive-activism program known as i-Act 5. For 12 consecutive days, i-ACT’s fifth installment will connect individuals throughout the world with the faces, names, and lives of Darfur refugees who escaped the genocide in their homeland, through the Stop Genocide Now website. Daily video and journal posts from Stauring and Scott will be posted to the website directly from refugee camps in Chad, enabling i-ACT participants to connect with those in Africa and Stop Genocide Now activists.
“We want to continue putting a face to the numbers and allowing the voices of the victims to be heard,” said Stop Genocide Now founder Gabriel Stauring. “Students have been the leaders of the Darfur movement, and we are looking for students and their communities to increase the heat and raise the noise this summer to bring peace to Darfur through i-ACT 5.”
In addition, i-ACT participants will be encouraged to take part in daily actions, such as writing letters to local newspapers and congressmen, hosting i-ACT viewing parties, participating in the Stop Genocide Now 100 Day Fast, and working with other advocacy organizations in an effort to continue to bring attention to the genocide in Darfur.
“By participating in i-ACT, those who are passionate about advocating for and ending the genocide in Darfur are able to hold hands together from opposite sides of the world in solidarity,” said i-ACT participant Gayle Rogers a resident of Melbourne, Australia. “After participating in the Stop Genocide Now fast, it’s only natural for me to continue participating in i-ACT5, a true link for those a part of the anti-genocide community.”
About Stop Genocide Now:
Stop Genocide Now (SGN) is a grassroots community dedicated to working to protect populations in grave danger of violence, death and displacement resulting from genocide. Through active education, advocacy and policy change SGN resolves to change the way the world responds to genocide. SGN is currently focused on creating awareness and action to stop the genocide in Darfur and deal appropriately with its aftermath. All of our projects focus on and utilize the strength and power in grassroots connectivity.
###
Editors Note: i-ACT officially begins on June 10th and anyone can follow the action at www.stopgenocidenow.org. Team members will be available for interviews from Africa during the trip and footage will be made available to media outlets. Video footage and photographs are also available for use.
FACT SHEET:
Name of Project:
i-ACT (interactive activism)
Project Goals:
Use technology to reject the standard excuse of inaction – ignorance
Debunk the myth that ordinary people cannot stop genocide
Replace statistics with names, faces and stories
Name of Organization:
Stop Genocide Now
Key Objectives:
Active Education: To educate the public about genocide through innovative, interactive events and media designed to bring them closer to crimes being committed as well as help them realize their own power to stop those crimes.
Advocacy: To support and guide citizens toward small, practical action that results in large, seemingly impracticable change.
Policy Change: Through the activities above we intended to create the public pressure necessary to generate policy change (locally, nationally, and internationally) that will lead to the protection of civilians in danger and the promotion of peace.
Team Members Going into Camps:
Gabriel Stauring (Redondo Beach, CA) and Katie-Jay Scott (Portland, OR) along with STAND student activists Scott Warren and Colin O’Brien
Time in Camps:
11 Days (June 10th – June 21st)
Website:
www.stopgenocidenow.org
Contacts:
Cory Preston:
cory@stopgenocidenow.org
(208) 285-2016
