Misstropolis

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Save Darfur: With Knowledge Comes Responsibility

by Richard Berkowitz and Hadley Sharples

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John Makur went to bed a child, a 7 year-old boy whose world revolved around his family and his home in a small village in Southern Sudan. He awoke to screaming, the smell of burning houses, and the sounds of troops from the north murdering villagers. He fled terrified through the bush. No longer a child, no longer in the world he once knew, it was the last time he would see his family.

The incomprehensibly long (thousands of miles), dangerous (crocodile-infested waters, hostile troops, starvation, dehydration) and lonely journey ultimately brought John to America as a Sudanese “Lost Boy.” But horrors like those John experienced in Darfur continue, and time to stop them is running out.

What does genocide look like in Darfur? Attacks on civilians by the merciless government-backed janjaweed militia include mass murder, rape, torture, and organized starvation. Entire villages and families are brutalized and then killed, often leaving children like John Makur to fend for themselves. Since the conflict erupted again in 2003, between 250,000 and 400,000 Sudanese have been murdered. More than 2 million people have been displaced and forced to move into overcrowded, makeshift camps. Most are reliant on dwindling humanitarian aid, all their sources of livelihood wiped out with their homes and relatives.

“Martin Luther King once said that if enough ordinary people demand action, extraordinary things can happen,” says Mark Roberts, an environmental attorney who is the driving force behind We Care: Boston Night to Save Darfur, an event aimed at raising awareness, involvement, and much needed funds.

“There have been years of compassionate statements about the crisis, and no action,” Roberts says. “Now is the time for action.” Roberts’ comments mirror the frustration that Mia Farrow expressed during her recent testimony before the Massachusetts Senate, urging divestment of the state’s pension funds from companies that conduct business in the region. “I have taught my children that with knowledge comes responsibility.”

Mia Farrow will be back for the event on Sunday, April 22nd at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, and will be joined by other political and social leaders like U.S. Representatives Barney Frank and Mike Capuano, and the host of the event, broadcaster Jane Pauley. Tickets may still be purchased by clicking here.

Proceeds go to two organizations providing humanitarian assistance to the people affected by the crisis. CARE currently provides direct humanitarian aid to more than 450,000 war-affected people. Doctors Without Borders has over 2,000 staff working in Darfur supplying emergency medical and trauma care to people who have been displaced by the conflict and affected by violence. The group also provides food aid, water and sanitation, and rapid response to outbreaks of disease. 

A silent and online auction of paintings, sculpture, and other items of interest will be used to raise additional funds. Students from the Berklee College of Music and traditional African musicians will perform at the event.

To learn more about the crisis in Darfur, check out:

A comprehensive overview by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in the New York Review of Books Feb 9, 2006.

The writings and Congressional testimony of Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor who spent the past 8 years working as a Sudan researcher and analyst. His most recent book “A Long Day’s Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide,” is being released this spring. The site also includes moving photographs by Reeves and Mia Farrow.
The Darfur interactive section in The Washington Post with video testimonials, panoramic photographs, and a catalog of recent articles:

“It is not enough to be compassionate; you must act.” Dali Llama.

All photos courtesy of Boston Night for Darfur
Except photo of pots, taken by Mia Farrow and on http://www.sudanreeves.org