"Never Again?"

With the great news of the arrest warrant for Sudanese President Al-Bashir a few days ago, I thought I would post a couple comments about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

First, I think it is really amazing how time after time, we say "never again". After the Holocaust, we said "never again" but a few years later we saw ethnic and religious "cleansing" in what is now Pakistan, then more recently in Rwanda, Bosnia, and now in Sudan. This is of course a shortened list to which many incidents could be added. After each of these incidents (other than Darfur) we said "never again." Obviously the international community forgot about to "never say never" in claiming that change would follow such catastrophic events.

Second, I wish there was more journalism dedicated to informing the public on how serious this situation actually is. We believe that our news is not censored by our government, which is true, so who is censoring our country from learning the real truth behind the causes and complexities in Darfur? I would argue that we are censoring ourselves from knowing what is actually happening in Darfur and what is stopping our government from entering Darfur. In the end, our lack of serious pressure on the Sudanese government is a result of our complex relationship of economic codependency on China for cheap imports and financial exports. China wishes to capitalize on the Darfur conflict by purchasing cheap oil taken from the people of Sudan by the genocidal government. We do not want to make China unhappy because they could make all of our consumer "MADE IN CHINA" items more expensive.

Finally, I wanted to note that this genocide has serious implications for the future of Sudan. The children of Darfur are targeted as heavily as adults. In fact a CNN article discusses how perpetrators are taught to target children through sexual violence. These children are not only losing their friends, homes, and families, but they are also losing their right to life in that they are psychologically and emotionally damaged beyond belief.

Please check out World Vision's website for some ways YOU can help!

http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/pr.nsf/stable/eNews_sudan_082504?Open&lid=sudan_relief&lpos=today1_5

All of these reasons lead me to partner with our on campus group Action In Sudan by submitting some of my thoughts on why Darfur is important to me by relating my own identity to the conflict. These were some of my points:


"Darfur matters to me as a political science major because I believe as the Declaration of Independence says, 'all men are created equal' ."
-Antoinette Pick-Jones, Political Science and Economics '11

"Darfur matters to me as a Christian because my faith reminds me to treat others how I would want to be treated"
-Antoinette Pick-Jones, Campus Crusade Member

"Darfur matters to me as an economics major because I see that by buying Chinese products we are indirectly allowing the Sudanese government to continue the genocide."
-Antoinette Pick-Jones, Economics Major '11

"Darfur matters to me as a former camp counselor because childhood should mean carefree living, not living in constant fear."
-Antoinette Pick-Jones, Former camp counselor, Crescent Lake Bible Camp

"Darfur matters to me as a runner because I believe running should be for fitness not to save your life."
-Antoinette Pick-Jones, Running Coach for Elementary school girls

"Darfur matters to me as an African dancer because African culture is lost during genocide."
-Antoinette Pick-Jones, African Student Association