In coming weeks, Darfur advocacy groups are organizing rallies at the headquarters of Olympics corporate sponsors, asking them to use their relationships with China to bring attention to Darfur.  Let’s give the Olympics sponsors a reason to act for Darfur– join a rally near you.  If you’re not close to a rally location, you can still participate by sending letters, emails and phone calls to these sponsors.

See Rally Locations and Sign Up Here: http://www.standnow.org/campaigns/seal/takeAction/corporateRally 

Email corporate sponsors here: http://www.dreamfordarfur.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=85

http://www.star-telegram.com/arlington_news/v-print/story/550017.html
 

By EVA-MARIE AYALA
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

ARLINGTON — The freshmen at the University of Texas at Arlington are wrapping up monthlong efforts to bring attention to genocide in Darfur.Each year the Freshman Leaders on Campus group takes on a community service project.

This year, its members want to raise awareness about the brutal conflict in Darfur and raise some funds to help. Thousands are dying or fleeing to neighboring Chad.

Freshman Jennifer Fox of Waxahachie said she did not know about the issue before. An eye-opening experience for her was seeing artwork from Darfur children.

“Children here mostly paint flowers or butterflies,” she said. “These children were painting men on horses with guns.”

In western Sudan militiamen known as janjaweed have pillaged through villages shooting at random and setting huts on fire, according to reports. The government has also sent bombers and army troops that have terrorized the region, according to news reports. A State Department report this month estimates that 200,000 people have been killed.

“It’s just amazing work these kids have done to bring awareness to everyone here,” said Molly Alfers, sponsor of the Freshman Leaders on Campus.

Learning more

Each freshman English class is reading Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, based on his father’s experiences in the Holocaust.

FLOC members said Darfur is a modern-day example of the genocide detailed in Maus.

Students started the awareness project at the beginning of March with a showing of The Devil Came on Horseback, a documentary about a former U.S. Marine captain, Brian Steidle, witnessing the atrocities there.

They will raffle off donated artwork at an April 3 panel discussion to raise money for Steidle’s nonprofit group, Global Grassroots.

The discussion begins at 7 p.m. in Room 100 of Nedderman Hall and will include Rick Halperin, director of the Southern Methodist University’s Human Rights Education Program; Alusine Jalloh, director of UTA’s Africa Program; Victoria Smith, a human rights activist who has worked in Chadian refugee camps; and a Darfur refugee.

Students said they will not stop spreading the word about Darfur once the month is over

The Darfur crisis

What: The Sudan area of Darfur has suffered human rights abuses that include government and militiamen torturing, beatings, killings and raping black Africans, according to a State Department report released this month.

Impact: Reports are that more than 200,000 have been killed during the five-year conflict and more than 2.5 million people displaced.

Program: UT-Arlington will have a panel discussion at 7 p.m. April 3 in Nedderman Hall.

Tents of Hope

Student groups are painting a tent on campus that will be part of a national Darfur awareness event in Washington, D.C., in October. Supporters say communities in about 115 cities will send their painted tents to the event. The tents will be sent to Chad for refugees to use. For more information, visit www.tentsofhope.org.

How to help

UT-Arlington students are raising money for Global Grassroots, which provides aid to women in Darfur, Rwanda and South Africa. Raffle tickets, sold for $1, give a chance to win donated artwork. T-shirts promoting awareness are $10. For more information, call FLOC representatives at               817-272-2293       . For information about the nonprofit, visit www.globalgrassroots.org.

Want to share you reaction to Darfur or The Devil Came on Horseback? Submit your thoughts to vsmith@globalgrassroots.org.

Canadian  STAND students use film to bring awareness at their university campus.

(http://www.themuse.ca/view.php?aid=41027) 

Days brings grim reality

Student activists encourage genocide awareness

By Katie Hyslop

Darfur Days are coming to Memorial this month, asking students to pay attention to a grim situation – genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND) Memorial, a faction of STAND Canada, are holding three events this month in order to educate the public about the situation in Darfur, where since 2003 the Sudanese Armed Forces and Janjaweed militias have been carrying out a systematic genocide campaign against non-Arab tribes, which has resulted in the deaths of 200,000 to 400,000 people, and the displacement of over 2 million.

On Tuesday, March 18, STAND will show The Devil Came On Horseback, a documentary based on the memoirs of the same name by former US Marine Brian Steidle who spent time in Darfur in 2004.

The second event, on the following Tuesday, March 25, will be “Darfur and the Responsibility to Act” a panel discussion with Anne Wagner, directory of advocacy for STAND Canada, Natalie Oman, professor of philosophy at MUN, and keynote speaker Sergeant Debbie Bodkin. (more…)

Global Grassroots sponsored a Darfur and Divestment Information session on March 4 for the New Hampshire House of Representatives. The session featured The Devil Came on Horseback and a Q&A session led by Daniel Millenson, National Advocacy Director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force. The divestment bill passed through the House on March 5 and has moved on to the Senate. The article below discusses the divestment campaign in New Hampshire.

 (reprinted from http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080219/FRONTPAGE/802190311/1037/NEWS04) (more…)