Darfur

[Mae]

To oversimplified the situation in Darfur, would be very easy, I'm going to give a short overview of what's been going on, but for more detaileed information here are some web sites you can check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur_conflict
http://www.standnow.org/
http://www.eyesondarfur.org/index.html
http://www.enoughproject.org/
http://www.thehpalliance.org/category/darfur/
http://investorsagainstgenocide.net/
http://investorsagainstgenocide.net/howtodivestfromsudan
http://investorsagainstgenocide.net/problemcompanies
That's probably enough for now, I don't want to overwhelm you.

So, a brief overview.

Basically there are two groups of people; the people who farm for a living, and the people who have cattle and horses, they wander the land grazing their cattle. There's a shortage of water and food and land, and then there's the government, they control most of the power and wealth. There was a small uprising of armed civilians, demanding that the government evenly distribute the land food and water between those who farm and those who graze their cattle. Rather than dealing with the uprising calmly and logically, they decided to just kill all the farmers. Now of course, this is oversimplifying to a level that is ridiculous! It so much more involved, their are years and years of
racial tension behind this decision. Like any governmental decision, it's very well thought out.
And that is when the genocide began in earnest. The Janjaweed (the government's military group, it's an Arabic colloquialism for "man on a horse with gun"), com into the villages and simply kill all the man, and rape all the women and children. This has been going on for over six years, and the world has been turning a blind eye, in America we don't like to look at things that aren't pretty. Some organizations have been advocating for peace, and raising awareness!
It's really terrible over there, and so many people don't know about it! Many women have had children in their refugee camps. They have little Medical Care, and few doctors. One woman had a son, he's now about six years old. She was quoted as saying "it is not my son's fault he is alive, he did not ask anyone to rape me, he did not ask to be born here." The things these people have indoored is terrible! We need to act now!

If you have more questions please let me know!

[Emma Nordmeyer]

how should we act to this? even though we are not in danger, this is a major violation of human rights!!! should we use the troops we withdrawl from the Middle east to help the people over there?

[Mae]

Umm.......well that's a good question! This is pretty much just a matter of opinion. So, in my opinion it would be catastrophic to send military troops over there. Now, you have to understand, I don't really approve of sending military troops ANYWHERE!!
Recently the president appointed a special envoy to Sudan (which is where Darfur is located). The envoy's job is to make plans for sustainable peace in all of Sudan, but Darfur being particularly "troubled" will get this mans special attention. His names General Scott Graytion (I don't know if I spelled that right, I use voice recognition software). In my opinion, we should work with the government of Sudan, striking agreements and such. If we were to send troops over there we would have to kill all the Arabs all the Janjaweed, and wouldn't that be just as wrong? You can't go over there and say "excuse me, but I am here to kill you because you killed people and I don't think that's right!" In my opinion war is never the answer. The U.S. government has taken some small torrid stopping the genocide. Not only appointing Sudan its own special envoy, but it was America that originally declared this to be a genocide. The word genocide means basically that people are being killed because of racial or religious differences, somebody has to say "hey everybody, look at this, yup, it's a genocide!" And Americans government was the one to do that, it's good, but it's not good enough!

[Easily Crazy Hat]

You know, learning more about Darfur is what inspired me to create this group in the first place. The only thing is, I don't know what to do. I feel like pounding facts into people isn't helpful because they become desensitized to the crisis and asking for charity won't work either because we need people to actually do something if we want things to get better. I'm interested in knowing your ideas on this problem.

[Mae]

I agree with you, throwing money at them, although helpful, is not really the answer. No more is boring and insensitizeing people with numbers. Personally I can tell you almost anything you want to know about Darfur, but I can't tell you how many thousands of people have been displaced and killed, this might sound terrible, but numbers aren't important to me. It's about the people, the stories.
The problem is (well, the problem is a lot of things, but) a lot of people haven't even heard of Darfur, raising of awareness is a good way to start I think. What really needs to happen is comprehensive and sustainable peace agreements with the Sudanese government, but obviously we as individuals don't have a lot to do with that. So, in my opinion raising awareness will do a lot of good. Also, there are open letters to political leaders you can sign. Petitions, and such. There is this incredible website:http://www.genocideintervention.net/advocate/1-800-genocide
It provides you with all the information you need to call the White House, your representative, or your senators! It's really amazing, and I have called all of them multiple times! Also, not that I am pointing fingers, but frankly, some fingers need to be pointed here, the Chinese government has a LOT to do with the situation in Darfur. I could explain more about that if you want, but, god I just cant seem to keep it short, sorry. :-)
There is so much to say on the subject, and I have so much more to to tell you guys! There's a lot of waste to help, and if you're not bored to death, I can tell you about some of those as well!

[Easily Crazy Hat]

Don't feel bad about your long posts, they are very interesting.

I see what you mean about raising awareness. If you've never heard of Invisible Children, the way they go about trying to change things is quite logical. Several of there attempts have almost brought peace to the Sudan, but, unfortunately, other factors intervened and ruined their attempts.

Also, I'd love to hear more about other ways to help ^.^

[Mae]

I just heard about invisible children, I mean just just just, like not even a month ago! I've been getting very involved in the crisis in Uganda lately, but I don't really know very much about it yet.
About Darfur, just today the save Darfur coalition emailed everyone, asking them to sign this letter, and send it to president Obama: http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/obamarollout
It may not seem like that kind of thing helps, but when thousands of people do it, it really makes a difference!
Financially, this genocide is able to happen because of two reasons. One, China. two, you and me! Because of investing, I don't know how old you all are, I mean, if you're old enough to have investments, but if you don't, your parents do.
http://investorsagainstgenocide.net/
http://investorsagainstgenocide.net/howtodivestfromsudan
http://investorsagainstgenocide.net/problemcompanies
Those are some important web sites, because with out the funds, this genocide, in theory, would cease to happen. As far as the investing, basically what goes on is people invest their money with different companies, some of these companies in turn invest that same money in Chinese oil companies, these companies are some of the most wealthy in the world. Quite aside from the environmental catastrophe of investing in oil, they take that same money, your money, and use it to buy expensive weaponry for the Sudanese government militia. Although that is not the only involvement that China has in this genocide.
OK, that's probably weigh more than enough four now, and I'd love to hear any more feedback you guys have! There's even more ways to help, but I don't want to make my posts to long all at once. Thank you so much for showing interest!!