Help stop genocide in Sudan (MoveOn.org)

A major human tragedy is unfolding in Sudan, one that has reportedly claimed at least 30,000 lives, and could claim up to one million unless the world community works together, starting immediately,to end it.
Sudan's government is orchestrating a genocide against people living in the country's Darfur region, who have challenged the government's authoritarian rule. In addition to tens of thousands of killings, there is widespread rape, and poisoning of water systems. Up to one million people have reportedly been displaced from their homes. Andrew Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development says, "if nothing changes we will have one million casualties. If things improve we can get it down to about 300,000 deaths." [3]
We could also take another simple step, and publicly condemn the genocide. This would send a powerful signal that the world is watching, not looking the other way. "Genocide is still calibrated to the international reaction," writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times.
Whenever genocide has occurred before, the world community has vowed,"never again." Yet today, it is happening again.

This appeal from MoveOn.org is directed primarily to US citizens. But as I said in my previous message, it is important to recognize that the US, acting alone, can't possibly solve this crisis. (Nor will it try to.) Urgent joint action by some significant portion of the "international community" is required. Unfortunately, at this point the US government appears to be the ONLY government taking ANY serious initiative to stop this atrocity. (It could and should do more, but it's doing something.) Those of you who are citizens of other countries, particularly European countries, should try to find ways to urge your governments to do something serious about this catastrophe.

Yours in struggle,
Jeff Weintraub

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Help stop genocide in Sudan
Date:	Fri, 02 Jul 2004 05:38:38 -0700
From:	"Peter Schurman, MoveOn.org"

Dear MoveOn member,

A major human tragedy is unfolding in Sudan, one that has reportedly claimed at least 30,000 lives, and could claim up to one million unless the world community works together, starting immediately, to end it.

One thing we can do is give to Oxfam's Sudan Crisis Relief Fund, which is providing urgently needed help to people there. You can make a secure, tax-deductible gift at:

https://secure.ga3.org/02/sudan04?source=mo

A gift will make an immediate difference, but we must also take action to stop the bloodshed.

Although Secretary of State Colin Powell has been in Sudan this week, he has yet to declare that the atrocities there constitute genocide [1]. Such recognition would make a huge difference, catalyzing the world community to help end the killing. Powell should also publicly condemn the genocide. But so far, he has stopped short of this.

This week, on NPR, Powell said: "Why would we call it a genocide when the genocide definition has to meet certain legal tests, and based on what we have seen, there were some indicators but there was certainly no full accounting of all indicators that lead to a legal definition of genocide, and that's the advice of my lawyers..." [2]

Please call Powell today at:

Secretary of State Colin Powell
202-647-4000 or 202-647-6607 or 202-647-6575

Urge him to:
- Immediately declare the atrocities in Sudan to be "Genocide"; and
- Publicly condemn them.

Please also call your Senators and Representative:

Senator Arlen Specter
Washington, DC: 202-224-4254

Senator Richard J. Santorum
Washington, DC: 202-224-6324

Congressman Jim Gerlach
Washington, DC: 202-225-4315

Urge them to demand that the United States recognize the genocide and condemn it.

Please let us know you're calling, at:

http://www.moveon.org/callpowell.html?id=3039-386441-4n.h4GsicmN_k7OJE0uq9A

Sudan's government is orchestrating a genocide against people living in the country's Darfur region, who have challenged the government's authoritarian rule. In addition to tens of thousands of killings, there is widespread rape, and poisoning of water systems. Up to one million people have reportedly been displaced from their homes. Andrew Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development says, "if nothing changes we will have one million casualties. If things improve we can get it down to about 300,000 deaths." [3]

More than 130 countries are obligated by the 1948 Genocide Convention to prevent and punish such crimes against humanity. So even if the United States sends no troops to Sudan, formally recognizing the genocide would enable the U.N. security council to authorize other countries, like Germany, France, and Spain, which don't have troops to Iraq, to help stop the killing in Sudan.

We could also take another simple step, and publicly condemn the genocide. This would send a powerful signal that the world is watching, not looking the other way. "Genocide is still calibrated to the international reaction," writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times.

Whenever genocide has occurred before, the world community has vowed, "never again." Yet today, it is happening again.

The Bush administration is failing so show leadership on Sudan. Is President Bush now so preoccupied with Iraq that his administration is incapable of action on emergent issues of the day? Sadly, the answer appears so far to be yes.

Please help stop this genocide, by making your calls today.

Sincerely,

- Carrie, Joan, Lee, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org team
Friday, July 2nd, 2004

P.S.:

A photo gallery depicting the situation is at:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5305166/site/newsweek/

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has written a moving series of columns from Sudan, many of them focusing on the personal experiences of a young woman there named Magboula. You can read them at:

1. "Dare We Call It Genocide?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/opinion/16KRIS.html
(Archived and available for purchase)

2. "Sudan's Final Solution"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/opinion/19KRIS.html
(Archived and available for purchase)

3. "Magboula's Brush With Genocide"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/23/opinion/23KRIS.html
(Archived and available for purchase)

4. "Dithering as Others Die"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/opinion/26KRIS.html

Newspapers everywhere are calling for action:

The Washington Post: "As Genocide Unfolds"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54947-2004Jun19.html

The New York Times: Time for Action on Sudan
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/opinion/18FRI1.html?th
(Archived and available for purchase)

Calls for action from newspapers throughout the country have been
compiled by the Center for American Progress, at:
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=97645

Footnotes:

[1] Genocide is commonly defined as "the systematic and planned
extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic
group." - Dictionary.com

The formal definition of genocide, under the United Nations'
1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, is:

"any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,
as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in
part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Source: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm

[2] http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3057010

[3] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5288549/
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