Save Darfur Coalition

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The Save Darfur Coalition is a non-profit organization and advocacy group dedicated to ending the genocide in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. It is a coalition of over 160 faith-based, humanitarian, and human rights organizations designed to raise public awareness and to mobilize an effective united response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of some two million people in Darfur.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Founding

The Save Darfur Coalition began on July 14, 2004 when the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and American Jewish World Service organized a Darfur Emergency Summit at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan featuring Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel. Mr. Wiesel inspired the group with his impassioned remarks about the suffering being inflicted on Darfurians: "How can I hope to move people from indifference if I remain indifferent to the plight of others? I cannot stand idly by or all my endeavors will be unworthy."

All members of the Coalition are signatories to the following unity statement:

“ The emergency in Sudan’s western region of Darfur presents the starkest challenge to the world since the Rwanda genocide in 1994. A government-backed Arab militia known as Janjaweed has been engaging in campaigns to displace and wipe out communities of African tribal farmers.

Villages have been razed, women and girls are systematically raped and branded, men and boys murdered, and food and water supplies targeted and destroyed. Government aerial bombardments support the Janjaweed by hurling explosives as well as barrels of nails, car chassis and old appliances from planes to crush people and property. Tens of thousands have died. Well over a million people have been driven from their homes, and only in the past few weeks have humanitarian agencies gained limited access to some of the affected region.

Mukesh Kapila, the former United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said on March 19, 2004 that the violence in Darfur is “more than a conflict, it's an organized attempt to do away with one set of people.” The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has issued its first ever genocide emergency. John Prendergast of International Crisis Group warns, “We have not yet hit the apex of the crisis.”

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) estimates that 350,000 people or more could die in the coming months. Ongoing assessments by independent organizations such as Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) suggest that USAID’s estimate may be conservative. If aid is denied or unavailable, as many as a million people could perish.

Lives are hanging in the balance on a massive scale.[1]

 ”

[edit] Initiatives

On January 12, 2006, the Coalition launched the "Million Voices for Darfur" campaign with the goal of collecting one million postcards from individuals across the country to send to President Bush urging the United States government to support a larger, stronger multinational force to protect the civilians of Darfur. The campaign concluded on June 29, 2006 with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) signing the 1,000,000th and 1,000,001st postcards.[2]

Save Darfur coordinated a widely-successful "Save Darfur: Rally to Stop Genocide" on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 30, 2006. The crowd of an estimated 100,000 supporters joined to call for the withdrawal of any objection to a UN peacekeeping force, better humanitarian access to refugees, adhesion to existing treaties and ceasefire agreements, and a commitment to a lasting peace agreement in the Abuja peace talks. Among the speakers were actor George Clooney, Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Senator Barack Obama, Rwandan genocide survivor Paul Rusesabagina, Olympic Gold medalist Joey Cheek, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, and Reverend Al Sharpton. The headlining entertainment was provided by country duo Big & Rich.

The rally concluded a 21,000-mile, 22-city photo exhibit and speaking "Tour for Darfur: Eyewitness to Genocide" hosted by Capt. Steidle.

The Coalition conducted a second rally in New York City's Central Park on September 17, 2006. "Save Darfur Now: Voices to End Genocide" urged the United States and the United Nations towards the timely deployment of a robust international peacekeeping force in Darfur.

[edit] Coalition Members

[edit] Executive Committee

[edit] Criticism

In non-Western media the "Save Darfur" movement has received some criticism. In Iranian media the campaign is criticized for presenting a one-sided picture of a ceaseless campaign of ethnic cleansing by the janjaweed against defenseless villagers, without presenting details on the region's rebels, who have committed some abuses of their own. In Iranian media the campaign has been compared by some outlets to the British "liberal imperialism" of the late 18th and 19th centuries. [1]

Some groups on the radical left have accused the movement anti-Arab bias. From the perspective of various left-wing groups, the movement is a U.S.-government supported propaganda campaign targeting the Sudanese government for its opposition to the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq, support for the Palestinian cause, and strengthened economic ties to China. [2]

Yoshie Furuhashi, a Monthly Review editor, has criticized the "Save Darfur" campaign for U.S. intervention as 'imperialism' in humanitarian guise, combined with a strong tinge of anti-Arab prejudice.

There have also been accusations of strong Jewish and Christian fundamentalist agendas behind the campaign. [3]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ "Unity Statement" by Save Darfur Coalition, retrieved December 10, 2006.
  2. ^ "Save Darfur Press Release", June 29, 2006
  3. ^ "The U.S. role in Darfur, Sudan". "Sara Flounders".

[edit] External links

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