- We use technology to reject the standard excuse of inaction – ignorance
- We debunk the myth that ordinary people cannot stop genocide
- We replace statistics with names, faces and stories
The age of bystanders should long have passed – we have entered an age of knowledge which empowers us to protect. Join us as an upstander. Become an i-ACTivist.
13 replies on “i-ACT is Interactive Activism:”
We have signed petitions, sent emails, informed our friends. More needs to be done, alot more. There have been rallies through out the country. What we need is something similar to the “million man march”. We as a people across every country need to come together at the same time on the same day to show we have had enough, the people of Darfur have had enough! It’s time to stop this and give the people back their dignity, their homes, their life! We need to be their voice. Together we are strong, together we can make a difference! How can one get something like this started???
Hi MaryAnn,
I’ve never set up a march before, but I’ve worked with event planning. I have a few ideas that I hope are helpful.
I would say first start off I’d contact all the Darfur orgnizations possible. Those you know of ask them what other organizations they know of. Maybe there is already a nice list of these somewhere. Then, I’d get a friend to help you contact those and maybe see 1) if people are interested, 2) when everyone could meet in a conference call of some sort. Then during the conference call, people could start deciding on logistical issues. When, Where, How, Who.
Maybe talking with some organizations involved in some of the other large marches might be useful. I’m sure there are tons of logistical, administrative issues that would need to be taken care of. Getting the permits, getting the word out, getting security, etc. I think the hardest thing would be ensuring enough publicity gets out. Alot of people are still asking, what is Darfur? Maybe some of the organizations could put a poll up on their sites asking people if they’d be interested and if they’d come. That way, hopefully your efforts would bear some good fruits.
Well, these are just some thoughts. I think first getting groups involved is key. Hopefully, their membership alone would be enough for an impact. In case it’s not, I think publicity would be a big issue.
Well, I hope that’s a little helpful. If I can be of any help, please let me know. My email is MattSch@berkeley.edu
I don’t know much about all this stuff, but I’d be happy to help you in anyway I can.
Best of luck,
Matt
Hi, Gabe, Connie and Yuen-Lin
I admire you all, because you can feel assured that you are presently doing the right thing, focusing on something that must be the most important international crisis at this time. I just wish I had been able to join earlier. Well, I’ll spread the word!!!!!!!
Thank You for what you are doing.
Tony
Hi Gabriel,
I just wanted to commend you and your family on your tireless advocacy for the Darfur cause. Thank you for keeping it in my mind and conscience. Camp Darfur in front of the Capitol building was wonderful, and I still have the pictures you gave us of the Darfuri women. Please send my love and hope to those you meet through your actions on your trip.
In solidarity,
Kristen Thompson
(former UCLA Darfur Action Committee member)
Dear Gabriel, Connie and Yuen-Lin,
As you know in 1970/80 when this genocide began in Southern Sudan we did not have the internet, cell phones, satellite imaging (at least for non-military) and certainly not the great technology you are using to bring the other side of the world into our homes. Nor do journalists, then or now, have much access. But that also means we don’t have the excuse of ignorance. You are giving us the information, no denial is possible, thank you for all of the resources and risk it is taking you to accomplish that. You are the leaders in the age of knowledge that allows us to protect. Now it is upon us all to take action.
In peace and love, Judy A. Bernstein
Hi! I wanted to attend the september 12 camp darfur at oxydental. How does it work? Do i just show up and participate? Also i wanted to start a fundrasier at my school for Darfur. Do you have any tips for starting it? Any ideas or helpful hints? I’m lost with how to make this fundraiser come to life.
Hey Nish:
Yes, it would be great for you to stop by Oxydental’s Camp Darfur on September 12. I’ll be there. I don’t know the exact times yet, but I’ll ask and let you know. We can also help with ideas for the fundrasier. I’ll be in touch, and we can talk about it.
Gabriel
Thank you so much! im really excited for the fundraiser and the camp. i really appreciate your team helping me.
I think that the international comminity has a right to take care of what’s happening really in Darfur. And i giving all my support to Gabriel about what he is doing on the DARFUR I really encourage him. and i think hat one hand can not make clap for sure it needs at least two people, so i ask to the president of the USA to help these people suffering and many children under 5 years are dying everyday because of hunger. One more time ask to the people who donate, Gabriel is working on this genocide i remenber since 2005 so please help him to make end this crisis which is happening in DARFUR.
Ali
Hey,
My name is Natasha Beitman. Im sixteen years old, and trying to do as much as I can to fight against the atrocities that grip our world. The Darfur genocide has always been a huge issue for me since I found out about it, and I have participated in rallies and tried to talk to my classmates and friends about the issue. I found the site as Im currently working on the latest project, dealing with both the Darfur genocide and the genocide in Uganda. I want to be an international human rights lawyer when Im older, and I would like to thank you for being more proof that someone can make a difference. Its people like you who give me the proof I need to convince people that no one should participate in apathy. Ignorance and the failure to at least try is the whole worlds crime. This year, for my final project, I wrote a project to present to 300 of my peers on whether a person can change the world. Its because of people like you that I have proof enough to stand by that ideal. I thank you for everything yoouve done. I also am the chair of the South African Partnership Committee, who is looking to expand its borders onto topics such as genocides and other humanitarian issues. If you ever happen to pass through Toronto, it would be amazing if you could come talk at our school, and tell people about what youre doing, and what the situation is. If not, Id love any information on how to get more involved, and how to organize a trip into the refugee camps.
Thank you so much, I hope to hear from you soon,
Natasha .
Dear Natasha, I play to read the article about you in the Journal of Morelos in Circle M 13-06-08, and I am glad your ideas and you are also very simpatica, then I came up buscarte in inteernet and found this page you and mentions comes your opinion on human rights, and here I am enviandote this message that we share ideas on human rights, and just take this space to felictarte and welcome. Have a good day in your activities. Greetings affectionate.
Cornelius.
alcosara@hotmail.com
Apathy
From the depths of the soul, and out through the eyes.
A tangible pain
A longing for someone to hear desperate cries.
No one came
Condemned to death by the sins of another.
The death warrant passed on by father or mother.
These children die.
There are those who hunger, with no shoes on the feet.
An ironic cry
That they’re bellies are swollen from nothing to eat.
Know not why
In spite of enough produced, to more than meet the need.
In agony they will starve to death, because of others greed.
These children die
Some have an awful pain, that eats them up inside.
No one knows
The hidden woeful tears, which they alone have cried.
No one shows
Children in suburban towns, whose boundaries have been crossed.
How do they go on with life, when trust and innocence is lost?
These children die
Many when they here such things, they themselves do cry.
They will shake they’re heads, and sit and wonder why.
Yet all the tears that these ones shed, the suffering will never see.
Millions will continue to be put to death, killed by apathy.
Russell Allen
Copyright ©2008 Russell M Allen
Thank you Russell for your poem. I am going to try to share it with our community out here in Chad during this i-ACT trip – our fifth to the camps.
In Peace, KTJ