We Need More Global Days for Darfur
Story and photos By Seth Hemmelgarn
 

On my way to the Global Day for Darfur rally in San Francisco‚s Civic Center April 29, I thought I'd see at least 1,000 people there. The ongoing genocide has so far killed almost half a million people in just four years. Darfur is a region of the African nation of Sudan. Sunday's rally was just one of many being held worldwide to mark the anniversary of the massacre's beginning.
 
I'd sent e-mails to lawmakers, signed and distributed petitions and donated money to groups working to end the genocide, but it didn't feel like enough. Attending a rally didn't seem radical, but I thought at least I could show my face, and write about the experience to remind others about what's happening.
 
As I approached the plaza outside San Francisco's City Hall, I was surprised. The rally was due to start in about 10 minutes but, aside from the portable toilets along the street and the sound of live Sudanese music blaring, nothing much was happening. It looked like there were only about 100 people there.

"Maybe we're just giving up"
After I listened to a few opening remarks, I started talking to other people there. I found others who had come for reasons similar to mine. They'd taken a little action at home, and they felt like it was time to go public. And they were surprised there weren't more people there, too.
 
One woman I met was Alice Sutter. She'd survived the Holocaust, and thought maybe people's inaction on Darfur is a result of the world not learning its lessons. "Maybe we're just giving up," she said. "I hope not."
 
A few feet from Sutter, a number of canvas tents had been set up to represent refugee camps. Signs outside the tents displayed the names of countries where previous genocides had occurred, such as the one in Rwanda in 1994. That's when almost 1 million people were slaughtered in just three months, as the rest of the world doing nothing. Inside each tent, words and graphic photos told about the brutality of what had happened in that country. People wrote messages to the people of Darfur on the canvas.
 
Gabriel Stauring's group, Stop Genocide Now, had set up the tents, known as "Camp Darfur." He said the camp was intended to put Darfur in the context of previous genocides. "There's no difference," he said, "except we can still save millions of lives. This is the first time there's been a movement while a genocide's taking place.'

Spirits
Stauring has visited refugees from Darfur several times in Chad, a country east of Sudan to where many people have fled. He takes videotapes of the rallies and messages from people in the United States to the refugees, who often think nobody in the world is aware of what's happening to them. He said the messages give them hope, but he also said on his last trip, "Spirits were down a lot more." Many refugees -- and many people at the rally ˆ--thought there would be a solution by now.
 
The theme of the rally, "Time is Running Out," referred to the urgency involved. The Sudanese government has armed militia known as the Janjaweed, who have murdered and raped thousands of people and destroyed hundreds of villages. At least 2 million people are homeless and in danger of starvation and further violence, according to human rights groups. The Sudanese government has helped block aid to the refugees, and they've refused to allow the United Nations to help protect people. International pressure has been building, but there's still more to do.

Strangers and Congressmen
As the rally continued, attendance still looked low, but more people came. Many speakers at the rally, including presidential candidate Bill Richardson and Sudan-born Valentino Deng, said each of us can help make a difference.  
 
One thing we can all do is to encourage companies to stop doing business with the government of Sudan. Jason Miller, of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, said that's something the Sudanese government is starting to notice. He said people in this country often aren't sure how they can help, but, "instead of taking some action, they take no action." Deng said, "Whether you speak to a  Congressman or a stranger on the bus, you are a voice for voiceless persons." Martina Knee is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, which sponsored the event. She told me that for many people, Sunday was the first time they had attended a rally for Darfur. "We reached people we never reached before," she said.
 
She also said that the turnout may have looked thin, but an estimated 1,500 people had passed through the rally at least long enough to sign petitions calling on policymakers worldwide to urge the Sudanese government to stop the genocide.
 
Schooling
The number of teenagers at the rally impressed me. Knee said school students are responsible for a lot of the action that's been taken on Darfur lately. One of them was Erika Nelson, a 13-year-old from Concord who was at the rally with her mom and her 11-year-old brother. She told me she was there because,  "action must be taken -- for too long, people have just been talking. I want the people of Darfur to know we are thinking about them." Her mom, Lisa Nelson, told me, "She's the one who got us to come!" After I left the rally, I talked to a couple on the street for their views. One man told me he knew about the rally, but hadn't gone because "it won't make a difference." He's probably not the only person who feels that way. But maybe if more of us get involved, things will change. The rally was a strong reminder that I need to keep working. Here are just some of the groups you can check out to learn more about Darfur and what you can do to help:

 

 
Genocide Intervention Network - www.genocideintervention.net
San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition - www.darfursf.org
Save Darfur Coalition - savedarfur.org  
Stop Genocide Now - stopgenocidenow.org
Sudan Divestment Task Force - www.sudandivestment.org