Students draw attention to Darfur crisis
By Adrienne Lynett
April 7, 2005 9:00 p.m.
To mark the 11th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, some
students are drawing attention to another African crisis ““
the systematic killing of Sudanese people in the country’s
Darfur region.
With the horrors of Rwanda in mind, members of UCLA’s
Darfur Action Committee participated on Thursday in STANDFast, an
event sponsored by mtvU and the nationwide student organization
STAND ““ Students Take Action Now in Darfur.
STANDFast participants pledged to give up one luxury item
““ ranging from coffee to complaining ““ and to donate
money to the cause of ending the violence in Sudan.
The committee plans to give all funds raised to the Genocide
Intervention Fund, which directs donations to the African Union
peacekeeping effort.
The day of remembrance included a discussion in Ackerman
Viewpoint Lounge with Ruth Messinger, president of the American
Jewish World Service, who recently returned from a mission to
Sudan.
The discussion was at once a call to action, an information
session and a forum for concerned students to voice their opinions
about the crisis.
In an even tone, and with an occasional apology for the
disturbing nature of her stories, Messinger related her experience
assisting refugees in the Darfur region, providing photographs of
malnourished children as a visual aid.
She described the plight of one such child, a one-month-old girl
whose mother Messinger helped carry across the border to
safety.
She watched as another child clung desperately to an aid worker
after his parents had been shot and killed in front of him.
The victims of violence who were not too traumatized or fearful
for their lives to speak to Messinger described how their attackers
rode into the villages shouting ethnic slurs, and raped and
murdered the people and destroyed their homes.
These and countless other stories are the result of ongoing
violence that has been escalating since early 2003, when the
Sudanese government mobilized its militias against rebel groups.
Since then, millions have fled their homes and more than 180,000
people have died in what the United Nations has called the
world’s worst humanitarian crisis today.
Messinger reminded her listeners that even those who reach the
refugee camps are still vulnerable ““ if not to violence, then
often to disease, malnutrition and inadequate shelter, in addition
to untold psychological trauma.
“What is going on in Sudan is a genocide,” Messinger
said. Though President Bush has called the crisis a genocide, the
United Nations has not. But this difference of opinion is merely a
matter of semantics, Messinger said.
“It doesn’t really matter what you call it; it
matters that you understand what’s happening,” she
said.
Messinger compared the crisis in Sudan to the Rwandan genocide
of 11 years ago, but said that unlike in Rwanda, the Darfurian
conflict has unfolded slowly enough that the international
community has no excuse for its lack of action.
“The world is not doing enough,” she said.
Robert Nueagaye, a doctoral student in psychology from South
Africa who attended the discussion, voiced his frustration.
“When will the world say “˜never again’ and
mean it?” he asked.
The theme of “never again” was a recurring one among
attendees of the discussion, as many compared the crisis in Sudan
to the Jewish Holocaust, against which the international community
did take action.
Because the international community appears to have turned a
blind eye to the crisis, Messinger said, it’s up to committed
activists, such as the students who participated in STANDFast, to
make a difference.
Andy Green, president of the UCLA Jewish Students Association
and a member of the Darfur Action Committee, was one such student
eager to take on the obligation.
“We have the power and responsibility to address
this,” Green said.
STANDFast participants gathered on Thursday evening at the
Cooperage for a “Break the Fast” celebration that
featured performances by the band Grizzly Peak and the a capella
group Random Voices, after which they were once again able to
indulge in whatever item they had given up for the day.
