The Truth About Darfur

The Sudan Divestment Bill has been introduced to the Montgomery County Council. Now, we need to show them that we, as Montgomery County students, care about getting this Bill passed!Targeted divestment is an effective and safe venture to end the genocide in Darfur. On February 27, 2008, Montgomery County student activists will lobby their repsective members of the County Council to urge them to support divestment from Sudan. Students will pressure their elected officials to end the atrocities in Darfur through face to face meetings with Council members or their respective staffers.Below is a list of schools that have agreed to lobby, the Council member who they are targeting, and the time for the appointment.George Leventhal (At Large)- Northwest High School 2:00 pmRoger Berliner (District 1) - Bethesda Chevy Chase High School 2:00 pmNancy Floreen (At Large) - Montgomery Blair High School 1:30 pmPhil Andrews (District 3) - Quince Orchard High School; Gaithersburg High School 2:00 pmDuchy Trachtenberg (At Large) - Magruder High School 1:30 pm Council Members Marc Elrich (At Large) and Valerie Ervin (District 5) have already pledged their support for this bill, so there will be no need to lobby them.Council Member Michael Knapp (District 2) has not openly declared his support for the bill, however his staffer has said that she doesn’t think he has any objections to it. However, we could not secure a meeting with him, but schools that are in District 2 (Northwest), please feel free to write him letters.If you have questions about what District you are in, you can visit http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/PDF/CIP09%20App%20N.pdf.   

President Bush tells the newly elected president to pay serious attention to the signs of genocide. “One of the lessons of the genocide in Rwanda was to take some of the early warning signs seriously” Bush told a joint news confrence.  He added:”Secondly, I would tell my successor that the United States can play a very constructive role. I would urge the President not to feel like U.S. solutions should be imposed upon African leaders. I would urge the President to treat our– the leaders in Africa as partners”. President Bush also called the countries the came in to Africa “colonists” also saying, ” outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive”. President Bush also told the newly elected president to keep in mind that U.S. always takes the leader role because of the slowness of the UN. Bush said U.S. can provide money and help and training for military missions that can end conflicts.Then why isn’t this over? 

Classification- When people get classified into groups usually based on religion, race, ethnicity or nationality.Symbolization: When the classified groups get symbols or names. Such as Jewish people are called “Jews”Dehumanization: When one group denies the humanity of another group. The dehumanized group are often equated with animals, vermin, insects or diseases.Organization: Genocide is usually organized . Usually through state but sometimes informally Polarization: Hate propaganda is made and it pulls the groups apart.Identification: Victims are identified and seperated by race or religionExtermination: Quickly it becomes mass killing and it is legally a genocide.Denial: When the killing group hides all of the bodies and evidence that the killing ever happend  

Many Voices for Darfur is taking place on Darfur Day, March 6!

Many Voices for Darfur is when everyone who wants to make a difference in Darfur goes on http://manyvoicesdarfur.blogspot.com/ and makes a comment on what their thoughts are.

What we want to do is provide Darfur awareness. There are so many people, men, women, and children dying and we want to help. We want you to help us to. The killings, murders, the neglect and abuse the people suffer is terrible. Don’t forget that we have decided to raise awareness by selling wristbands that talk about helping the people of Darfur.  We believe that this is a very important issue because of the fact that this has been going on for several years and no major improvement has shown.

Today, the people of Darfur, and also Chad, have no form of working help.  The providing of aid stopped and many deaths are also caused by the starvation they go through. Yes, the other nations should care and make a responsibility to help. It is a global responsibility. If one person falls another should help pick them up. I mean if we were in trouble we would want help, so why aren’t doing what we can?

Help create awareness. Buy a wristband, go online and write a comment, read our blogs. It isn’t for us its for the people of Darfur.

On March 6th, 2008, Mr. Mayo’s class will be sponsoring a 24 hour International Blog for Darfur Day. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness about the situation in Darfur and to try and get world leaders and people in power around the globe to realize that the people of the world do care about Darfur and that we need to do something about it. The way to post is to go to the International Blog for Darfur Day website and leave a comment on the page. Our goal is at least 1,000 comments. For more information on how to post, what we’re doing and other general information you can visit the International Blog for Darfur Day wiki.

On March 6th don’t be left out.

Note: Please don’t leave comments yet. We would like to wait till March 6th so we can get a better idea of exactly how many comments we can get in 24 hours.

-They didn’t have enought food or water so people started dying.-Men and boys were killed and women and girls were rapped by the Janjaweed people.-Villages had building burned, water sources poisioned, irrigations system torned up, food and seed stocks destroy and fruit trees cut down.-During the past 29 months, 350,000-400,000 have been “perished”.-Food shortages remain the greatest threat to the humans in Darfur.-More than 200,000 people have died in Darfur from violency.-Many people in Darfur die from malnutrition and diseases.-There are no signs that Genocide will stop but definitley the dying will continue.-  The state department is trying to determine if Khartoum is guilty of genocide  in Darfur. Darfur needs help. They’re suffering and they’re not asking for alot. Our responsibility is to look after them and help them as much as we can. They’re dealing with lots of torture and everyday deaths . So lets help them for the best and give them  food, clothing, water, and money.