Communities from America’s 50 States came together in Washington DC this last weekend. After a year of activism centered around their Tents of Hope tent, the Washington Mall became an unlikely refugee camp, hosting hundreds of tents directly in front of the Capitol.It was surreal to stand surrounded by tents in DC. The camps we visit in Eastern Chad also feel surreal, but in a very different way. DC gave me hope, at seeing regular people standing up for the rights of others that are half-way around the world. In Chad, I go through a roller-coaster of emotions, feeling joy at being surrounded by beautiful children but also feeling deeply sadenned at knowing why they have experienced.The DC tents were adorned with colorful paint. Some looked like professional works of art, depicting images of the Darfuri’s journey from their destroyed homes to their life in tents. Some shared images of what their sister US home looks like, with mountains, oceans, and trees. Others were painted innocently by children of all ages. The site of all these tents at sunset in the middle of America’s capital city was just about overwhelming.Our leaders that have their offices a short distance from the mock DC refugee camp must participate in the vision that the Tents of Hope represent, a vision of peace, protection, and justice.
For most in the United States, November is a month to give thanks. On Thanksgiving Day, we gather at our homes and enjoy great food and the company of loved ones. Refugees in and from Darfur have been deprived of a home; many of their loved ones have been killed; and they lack enough of the basics, such as food and water. In solidarity with all of the displaced from Darfur, SGN teammates Jeremiah Forest and Eric Angel will participate on a month-long fast, matching their diets to the ones of refugees we have recently visited in the desert. They will write daily journals and regularly upload pictures and video, sharing their experience.
Earlier in 2006, we spoke to several Congressmen as part of our From America with Love project. Two of them happen to be candidates in the upcoming elections for the Presidency, Barack Obama and John McCain!
At SGN, taking action is core to our mission, and throughout each trip to Chad, we’ve accompanied each day with an action. After 6 trips, that means we’ve had a lot of actions, more than we can keep track of.
To that end, we’re highlighting what we feel is the most urgent action for everyone to focus on at a given moment. Systemic change can only be achieved if everyone joins the cause and ACTS to create that change. Be a part of the change by participating in our actions! To kick things off, we have a petition to President Bush, urging him to stop the UN Security Council from interfering with the ICC’s indictment of President Bashir.
Justice for the people of Darfur
“Why give al-Bashir 12 months, when for 5 years we have seen no peace?” the question posed by a young man in a Darfur refugee captures the theme heard over and over again in the camp during our late July visit. And the theme of international debate over what our next steps for Darfur should be.
For almost four months now representatives of the international community – countries, experts, judges - has been debating whether indicting Sudanese President al-Bashir would impede the peace process for Darfur. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has the opportunity to postpone the indictment for 12 months according to the Rome Statute Article 16 and plans on voting on this as soon as September. But it would be impossible for an arrest warrant for al-Bahsir to impede the peace process, because there is not peace in Darfur. Since Moreno-Ocampo statement on June 5th, peacekeepers have been attacked and murdered and bombs have fallen from Sudanese aircraft into IDP camps in Darfur.
We need to guarantee that President Bush and our UNSC representative support justice and peace in Darfur and show this by ensuring that the UNSC allows the ICC to continue with their efforts to charge al-Bashir with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Our leaders must veto attempts to block ICC progress by using Rome Statute Article 16.
As one woman described, “A delay will not be a chance for peace. It will be a chance for Bashir to kill more.”
The August 24th killings and burning of homes in Kalma Camp, Nyala, Darfur is the most recent example of this continued terror and attempted extermination of the people of Darfur. As the international community and experts take a vacation and debate themes of peace, Al-Bashir’s confidence in carrying out genocide grows and his latest attack, carried out not by Janjaweed but by Sudanese military, is only the most recent example of continued, not impeded, genocide.
For the protection of the people and for the peace process, we need to bring Justice to Darfur. From a refugee to the world, “Justice first, then peace will come.”
Read more:
- The Merits of Justice by ENOUGH Project
- Al-Bashir continues his reign of terror on the Darfur region
August 24th attacks on Kalma Camp - 2nd Day of attacks, services cut off by Sudanese Army
- Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, outlining its founding principles and operating procedures.
Almost a year ago, Beijing began to spread their 2008 Olympics motto: One World, One Dream. Shortly thereafter, a movement began to pressure Sudan’s largest foreign oil investor and UNSC ally, China. Now with the games less then two weeks away, our community needs to turn up the heat, and demand that the Chinese government, and all our global leaders, ensure that our world, and our dreams, represent and include those of Darfur.What are the dreams of the Darfuris whose lives have been filled with daily horrors, challenges and obstacles to their dreams? You have heard it before through past i-ACTs – they want peace and protection in order to ensure a safe passage home, and a chance to rebuild their lives. They want justice and a future.
As the i-ACT team prepares to bring our community the voices and stories of Darfur from refugee camps, where they have been trapped and forgotten by our leaders, athletes are moving into the Beijing Olympic Village. As NBC brings you thousands of hours of coverage of Olympic games, and athlete profiles about realizing dreams of the Gold, i-ACT will bring you the voices of those who have fled their homes under flames, violence, and hatred.
As the world celebrates humanity and the global community through competition and sportsmanship, people in Darfu r and refugee camps in Chad are starving and struggling to survive day-to-day.
Now more than ever, THEY NEED YOU to listen to their voices, look into their eyes and tell our leaders, China, NBC and your local community their stories. People are nervous that the recent ICC evidence brought forth by Moreno-Ocampo threatens the prospect for peace. But what peace has their been for Darfuri’s or for UNAMID troops? Now more than ever, with the world’s attention on humanity and global brotherhood, we need to share with others why Darfuri’s deserve to be part of One World, One Dream.
Starting August 1st, i-ACT will bring you exclusive footage from the other Olympics, the other Dreams. Each day we will highlight a Darfur athlete. I am asking you to share this athlete’s profile with others. During the opening ceremony of the Olympics on August 8th, Switch Over to Darfur will launch their own Olympics show through the 15th. Please tune in and spread out, the stories you hear for these two weeks – the power to unite the world lies in your ability to take action on behalf of the innocent civilians of Darfur.
I Challenge You to Participate in the i-ACT Challenge.
HUMANITY BEFORE POLITICS.
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On Monday July 14, 2008, the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor presented evidence to the court that Sudanese President al-Bashir has committed genocide in Darfur. This includes 10 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that al-Bashir has lead for the past five years, displacing hundreds of thousands and destroying the lives of millions.
Many fear that these charges put humanitarian aid workers and UN peacekeepers on the ground at more of risk than ever before. However, the international community needs to hold Sudan more accountable if this should occur; it is the Bashir administration and their militia that hold the power to ensure aid worker and peacekeeper safety. It is also the international community’s responsibility to support the ICC and Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s efforts by telling our leaders of their responsibility to protect the innocent civilians of Darfur and pursue peace in a region that has seen only death of their families, destruction of their lives, and deterioration of their culture for the past five years.
Please call the President at 202 456 1111 or 1 800 GENOCIDE and tell him to continue support of the ICC OTP decision and ensure that the UNSC continues to support ICC action.
It is our support of the ICC that will move our leader to support the work of the ICC – be active. Your voice is the voice of Adam, Fatna, and Mansur.
We are coming to the last days of the 100-Day Fast for Darfur. By participating in the fast and helping the World Food Program (WFP) in their efforts to feed the Darfuri people that have been brutally displaced, you are standing with the victims at a crucial time. There has been recent escalation of fighting and violence in Darfur, Khartoum, Abeyi (South Sudan), and in Chad. The victims, as usual, end up being regular, innocent civilians.
For the final days of the fast, we are requesting that you join for one or more days and get others in your community to join also. Your donation to the World Food Program will make double the difference. Humanity United, an organization committed to building a world where modern-day slavery and mass atrocities are no longer possible, will be matching dollar-for-dollar all 100-Day Fast for Darfur pledges to the World Food Program.
To join the fast, e-mail us at fast@stopgenocidenow.org with your name, city, and amount pledged to the WFP (instructions for sending in donation below).
Hello friend and family of Stop Genocide Now,
SGN is joining forty-six other organizations in demanding that our world leaders at this year’s G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan, focus and act on one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. The G8 Summit comes at a perilous time for Darfur, the whole of Sudan, and the entire region. Intensified violence in Darfur has resulted in more death and displacement, and recent fighting in the Abyei region of Sudan suggests the unraveling of the fragile North/South peace agreement. The instability we recently witnessed in Chad is another alarming red flag.
Stop Genocide Now will be one of many sponsoring a letter and petition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of Japan, President Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev of the Russian Federation, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and President George W. Bush of the United States of America. We would like to encourage our supporters to read the letter and sign the petition, letting our world leaders know that ignoring the genocide in Darfur is unacceptable.
To learn more and sign the petition, visit Human Rights First.
As always, thank you for your support and commitment.
Peace,
The Stop Genocide Now team
Edit: Originally sent to our mailing list on 16 June, 2008.
Hello Friends and Familia:
We are starting our second week in Chad, and for the first time in five trips we might not be able to visit a refugee camp. When we left camp Kounoungo this past January, our friend Yakoub told us that the people in his camp felt motivated by our trips and felt proud that we continued to come back. They feel connected to not just us, but to the communities that support them in the US and other countries.
Yakoub and other refugees are so grateful for the aid they receive to keep them alive, but they regain hope and energy when they hear the messages, see the faces, and learn the names of those that are doing selfless work every day to bring peace to Darfur. That “building of community” across continents is priceless. The i-ACT team remains committed to this.
We are in Abeche, in Eastern Chad, unable to move because of heavy fighting in the area. We will continue to report on the situation and how it affects aid work and the lives of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people. We will post video, when there is something visually worth posting. Otherwise, we will continue with journals, reports, and answering any comments and questions that you post on our blog. Click here to read our reports from Abeche.
Thank you for staying involved and for being one of those faces and names that Yakoub says he feels proud to know.
Paz,
Gabriel
for Katie-Jay, Colin, and Scott,
i-ACT Team in Abeche, Chad.
An alliance of Chadian rebel groups has launched a fresh offensive to overthrow the government of Chadian president Idriss Deby. The rebels requested mediation by France and the EU as a precursor to avert war, but their request was not accepted. Beginning from positions in Eastern Chad near the border with Sudan, they have advanced westwards towards the Chadian capital, N’djamena. On Saturday June 14, the rebels attacked and took control of the town of Goz-Beida. They withdrew later in the day, but promised further confrontation on Sunday. An EUFOR force deployed in Goz-Beida, comprising 500 Irish and 70 Dutch troops, has been protecting civilians and aid workers in the area. Camps surrounding Goz-Beida house 15,000 refugees and 36,000 internally displaced Chadians. The i-ACT team was about to travel to Goz-Beida from Abeche, when travel restrictions put in place meant the journey had to be cancelled. They are currently waiting at a safe location in Abeche as the situation unfolds.
To see the location of Goz-Beida, Abeche and N’djamena on a map, click here (scroll west to see N’djamena).
News reports about the situation:
Chad rebels say on offensive and seek French mediation (Thursday June 12)
EU troops increase patrols in Chad security alert (Friday June 13)
Chad rebels say they are advancing, threaten French forces (Friday June 13)
Chad rebels attack town, EU troops come under fire (Saturday June 14)
Your messages of love and activism that we share with refugees often bring tears and smiles to the faces of our friends who have suffered for five years. It is your words and images that provide them with the essential human connection that gets lost in the isolated desert. Without your messages, they would lose hope all together.Please leave a comment below for our friends in the camps, and we will pass them on each day. Our field team will check back daily for message to share with the refugees they meet.
I’ve told you “we’re going back” three times in the past, but this one is a little different. The last time we left Chad after our visits to the refugee camps in the east, we left on a French military plane, being evacuated in the middle of an all out coup attempt that left an already unstable country and region in even worse conditions.
Soon after, the Sudanese government attacked Darfuri villages, displacing tens of thousands of more civilians. This was in February 2008. Of the over 13,000 that reached the border between Chad and Darfur, 8,000 are still sitting in the desert, waiting to be transferred to camp Mile, according to UNHCR. The insecurity has stopped the transfers indefinitely.
Services have been reduced and interrupted at almost all of the camps in Chad. Chadian security officers working at the camps have been attacked and killed, and humanitarian aid workers have been targets. Our friends in the camps, mostly women and children, continue to live the life of a refugee—but the life of a refugee in grave danger.
We are returning after ourselves having been in some danger. That also makes it different. Our experience at the hotel in N’Djamena had an effect on Katie-Jay and I and on all the people around us. We are not taking this lightly. We will take all precautions possible and will make decision based on the best information from experts on the ground.
We want to continue putting a face on the numbers and allowing the voice of the victims to be heard. The innocent civilians of Darfur need immediate protection, and sovereignty cannot be an excuse for inaction from the entire world.
Join us for i-ACT, staring June 10th and for twelve consecutive days of webcasts, interactive blog, and opportunities for action. Scott Warren, the outgoing National Director of STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, and Colin O’Brien, who served as the National High School Outreach Coordinator for STAND, will be going with us on the journey. 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.
Paz,
Gabriel
Posted on behalf of Chann Noun, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide.
Hi everyone,
After having gone through an extremely terrible starvation during the Cambodian genocide era (especially in 1975) and a somewhat mild one in the refugee camps in the mid 80’s, I vowed never to experience any hungry feelings ever again after I had arrived in America. Anyhow, after several years of eating all the fatty American foods, I barely gained any weight. One doctor in Minnesota said the starvation that hit me was so severe that it completely destroyed all my fat cells and it would take a long while for them to rebuild. However, for this very important cause and my absolutely personal experiences, I will break my vow.
I choose May 25th and July 13th to fast. Let’s stand with the people of Darfur and fast in solidarity w ith me on this date.
If you can participate, please send your response to fast@stopgenocidenow.org and let them know that you’re doing it with me.
Peace,
Chann Noun
Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, provided three vans to travel from Vermont to San Francisco in preparation for the April 9th Olympic Torch Relay. The vans have billboards attached that encourage China to engage constructively in Sudan. Due to an accident in New Jersey with one of the vans (thankfully no one was hurt!), the other two vans were shipped to San Francisco and have now arrived. The vans will tour the San Francisco Bay Area to build momentum for the Torch’s arrival on April 9th. Stay tuned for updates!
On-the-ground sources tell us that thousands of newly displaced people have been fleeing the destruction of their villages in Darfur and are trying to make it in to the also unstable and dangerous Chad side of the border. Attacks come from air and ground, with bombs falling from the sky and dozens of trucks riding in to destroy the Darfuri villages. A more complete report will come soon.
The situation on the ground is getting worse. They are still in the capital, barred from leaving the hotel. The streets are empty, and the fighting is getting closer and closer. Read Google News for all the latest news stories from Chad. Katie-Jay was also interviewed by the BBC. Gabriel is still uploading reports from the ground, you can find them all here. Here’s the latest video from Gabriel:
Hello from N’Djamena:
We made it safely out of Eastern Chad, right before violence and instability broke out; we could have been stuck there, since the road we last traveled was closed down the very next day. Our friends in the camps are not as lucky, with aid staff being relocated and services being stopped; refugees themselves are now managing the basics, such as food and water. In Guereda, from where we went to camps Kounoungou and Mile, UNHCR staff has been evacuated. Five cars were stolen, and armed men went in to their compound. There is complete impunity and chaos in that area.
In N’Djamena, it is not any more stable. The rebels have surrounded the city, with some fighting going on just a few kilometers outside. Our flight out scheduled for tonight has been cancelled, and it is one day at a time from here out. The airport is closed to all but military flights.
There is an eerie feeling of calm in this city because of the lack of activity in the streets. There are EU soldiers walking through the hotel with their weapons. I am not very concerned for our own safety, but the uncertainty of not knowing when we’ll be able to leave is strange.We are now going to work on organizing our pictures and video material. As I look at some of the faces in our pictures, I feel bad that this instability and not knowing is something that they live with every single day, and they have been living it for five years.
Since we’re here, KTJ and I will continue posting journals and even sending up pictures from the camps we have not sent before. We’ll be in touch, and you let us know your thoughts and any news you hear about Chad and the current crisis.
Hoping for Paz!
g
Despite agreeing to a United Nations/African Union joint peacekeeping mission, Sudan has continued to put obstacles on the deployment of the force. We have started a petition urging President Bush to use the last year of his presidency to push for a stronger UNAMID protection force in Darfur. Lend us your voice by signing our petition!
Gabriel and Katie-Jay will be heading back to the camps, departing for Chad on January 12. They get to see some of our friends, like Leila and Fatma, and you get to follow along, interact with them, and be a part of the actions to bring peace to Darfur. Let’s start 2008 the right way!
Stay tuned for information on i-ACT Rhythm & Hope. Macy Gray will be traveling with the i-ACT Team to the camps, to sing with and for the children of Darfur. This will happen in just a few months. There has been interest from other artists and the potential to make Rhythm & Hope an even more powerful project, so it has been decided to work on making it big in March/April.
It was a busy day yesterday! Gabriel, Connie and Yuen-Lin arrived home safely in time to watch i-ACT featured on San Francisco’s local ABC news last night (video and news article), as well had their question to the candidates answered in the CNN/YouTube presidential debate!
Please read article, by John Morlino: President Bush: Imagine Yourself as a Man in Darfur
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