Imagine that today the entire freshman class disappeared.
Then imagine that tomorrow it was the entire sophomore class.
And on Friday, the junior class.
And on Saturday, the senior class.
And on Sunday, the faculty and staff.
By the end of the weekend, there would be no one left on the Tufts campus.
While this may seem like a daunting and improbable figure, it is equivalent to the rate that Darfurians have been displaced over the past months. According to the latest United Nations (UN) report, at the last count more than 230,000 civilians have been forced to flee violence since January 2008, which divides out to more than 1,000 people displaced a day.
If this doesn't make you outraged, I think it should. If such a catastrophic upheaval were to occur on our comfortable New England campus, it would draw an immediate world response. But because it is occurring halfway around the world, people have been content to sit back.
Right now I want to encourage members of the Tufts community to stand up. We cannot and we must not remain comfortable watching this genocide continue. As far as we presently know, the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan will soon be entering its sixth year. After all this time, it is easy to succumb to issue fatigue — to hear about Darfur and think, "Oh, is that still going on?" But at this crucial time, we cannot forget.
With the advent of the Obama administration upon us and new developments in Sudan, the time for action is now. While some of these developments give us signs of hope, we cannot let down our guard.
President-elect Barack Obama has long expressed his commitment to Darfur. As a senator, Obama received an A+ from Genocide Intervention Network as his "Darfur Score." In the past, he has called for intervention in Darfur, publically labeling the conflict genocide.
Just this week he chose his foreign policy adviser, Susan E. Rice, as ambassador to the UN. She is an advocate of "dramatic action" against genocide. Her new position will make her one of the most visible members of the Obama administration to the world community, sending a powerful message. While this appointment shows much potential for action in Darfur, Obama is still going face a myriad of highly important and time-sensitive issues in his first term. We can only hope that his commitment to Darfur does not get lost in the shuffle.
On Nov. 12, the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir declared a ceasefire in Darfur. And as promising as a ceasefire sounded, it didn't really mean anything. It was only words; the rebel groups were not involved in this decision. This ceasefire was violated after a mere 72 hours, broken just as all the previous ceasefires have been. All that this most recent declaration of ceasefire shows is that international pressure is finally having an effect in Sudan. Four months ago, the International Criminal Court demanded an arrest warrant for Bashir on 10 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He is the only sitting leader ever to be indicted for genocide. He needs to be removed from power.
With such leadership in Khartoum, you may be wondering what you, a college student halfway around the globe, could possibly do to affect this situation. The answer seems to lie in civilian protection. This is a piece of the puzzle that we actually can fill in. Consider this — $3 can allow a woman in a refugee camp to safely collect firewood for one week. The risks of firewood collection are great. For women and girls in Darfur, the act of firewood collection constitutes a major source of violence, especially rape. Your $3 can help prevent that from happening. I understand that as college students we loathe spending money, no matter how worthy the cause, but think about what a tangible difference it could make. Wouldn't you be willing to forget about that extra load of laundry or skip that fancy cup of coffee, if you knew what an impact it could have for a woman in Darfur?
Today, the Tufts chapter of STAND, a student anti-genocide coalition, will be participating in STANDFast, a national drive to raise money for civilian protection in both Darfur and Burma. We will be tabling inside every dorm, in the dining halls and in the campus center, and we want you to stop by. Ask your questions. Show your support. We will arm you with the information you need to make a difference. When you are asked to give, don't think about it as this huge, intangible thing. What if it was your life that needed to be protected? Your roommate's? The lives of your friends and your dormmates? The lives of everyone here in the Tufts community?
So this winter, let's "STANDFast" for Darfur and do our part to help prevent continued conflict.
