Belated Weekly Wednesday Update...

Sorry all, but this Weekly Wednesday Update is only late because we've got so much going on this week that I spent a large portion of Wednesday working on other stuff for the campaign.

On to the update.

News Update:

The BBC is reporting that a fresh outbreak of violence in Darfur has left thousands (one estimate says 12 thousand) more people displaced - this is going to overwhelm the already overwhelmed refugee camps in Sudan and Chad, which are not only currently housing refugees of the Darfur crisis, but many camps have also taken in refugees of the crisis in the Congo.

Last week President al Bashir launched a new peace initiative, which doesn't involve any rebel groups or opposition parties, and therefor does not promise to be all that successful.

The judges of the International Criminal Court have asked for more evidence before they will decide whether or not to charge al Bashir with genocide and other war crimes for his actions in Darfur. 

Also, South Sudanese rebel groups kidnapped 9 Chinese oil workers in the third abduction of Chinese workers in the Sudan this year. This is yet another sign of China's involvement, and of increasing tension between Khartoum and South Sudan. If the civil war were to break out once more, al Bashir's government now has a shiny new toolkit of genocidal tactics to wage on the people of South Sudan, all of which have been rehearsed on the people of Darfur.

Not good.

And Campaign Updates:

We will be tabling at the Amherst Regional High School's bike-a-thon for Darfur on the Amherst Town Common on Sunday (that's tomorrow) from 11 to 2. You should definitely come by if you're in the area either to bike yourself, to donate, or just to get more information.

"Pain By Numbers" is the official title for our body bags on the library lawn event; that's THIS WEEK. The display will go up on Wednesday and Thursday, with Thursday being the Day of Silence/Remembrance. If you can get to UMass that day, definitely come by Pain By Numbers; buy some challah, sign up to be silent or just to mourn, and find out more information about the conflict and the timeline of destruction in Darfur.

We're also having an Open Mic Night on November 20th, so if you know any type of performing artist, PLEASE CONTACT US. We're looking for any performers we can find. We'll be serving coffee and baked goods too, and it's a fun chance to donate to a really great cause.

And finally, and this note will be repeated next week, if you do nothing else, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE VOTE. We will have to deal with whoever gets elected for four, maybe even for eight, years. That's a long time, and your vote is your chance to affect the outcome. So please vote on November 4th, or mail in your absentee ballots.

And for your action - 

Come to the Amherst Town Common on Sunday, or stop by Pain By Numbers Wednesday or Thursday to sign our petition to the presidential candidates. They need to know from Day One that the American public wants a change in Darfur.

Weekly Wednesday Update...

News : It's been uncovered that one of the ships being held off by Somalian pirates last weekend contained weapons headed from Kenya to South Sudan. This isn't directly related to Darfur, but it means that its very likely there's an increasing arms race between Khartoum and South Sudan, which could mean a new outbreak of the Civil War in Sudan, which would not be good (obviously).

Updates:

Library Lawn Event - While we're still nameless, the event is chugging along smoothly; we've got half the body bags constructed for our display, and the other half will get done this weekend. We're also working on setting up the day of silence/remembrance; we've decided to hand out pins explaining why people are being silent or if they aren't being silent, explaining why they are in mourning.

Open Mic Night - We don't have a room confirmation yet, but we decided on November 20th for the Open Mic Night, so if you're a performing artist of any kind - dance, music, spoken word poetry, improv, drama, etc - in the Amherst area, and you're available that night, get in touch with us please! Comment here, or e-mail us at umassdarfurgroup@gmail.com.

And finally, for your weekly action - this weekend we'll have a table up at the Humans Versus Zombies Charity Day, so if you're playing the game stop by the Commonwealth Room between 9 and 5 on Sunday and sign our petitions and buy some cookies and brownies. Enjoy!

Weekly Wednesday Update

First of all, I apologize for the lack of updates last week.

Now on to the update:

First, news on Darfur - Any one who's been watching the presidential and vice presidential debates knows Darfur is well on its way to becoming a national issue (and it's about time). Record numbers of people tuned in for the VP debate, where Biden spoke about the genocide, and millions were also watching the latest presidential debate, last night, when Obama spoke about Darfur and there was even a question related to the conflict.

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court is still undecided about pressing charges on Omar al Bashir - and al Bashir is still not happy with the ICC. Bashir recently said that any warrant for his arrest would hinder the peace process.

And in the Congo, violence is getting worse also, leaving thousands of Congolese refugees migrating into Sudan's refugee camps. Understandably, this is exascerbating an already difficult refugee situation in the Sudan. The conflict in the Congo has also been labeled a genocide, and many of the tools of war are similar to the tools al Bashir uses in Darfur and in South Sudan; most notably, rape has become the most common weapon of war in the Congo, prompting some activists to call that conflict a conflict against women.

And the final news update (this one is kind of vague and a little unrelated) - The Kenyan ships that are currently being blocked from transporting their goods by Somali pirates, are reportedly holding weapons headed for South Sudan. South Sudan currently operates seperately from al Bashir's government in Khartoum, but importing weapons suggests that there is an arms race between Khartoum and South Sudan - which may mean another outbreak of the Sudanese Civil War is on its way.

On to news about our group -

It's official; the Save Darfur Campaign of MassPIRG is hosting an event on the Library Lawn. We'll be putting up a display of body bags (artificial ones, made by the group), showing the progression towards genocide in the Sudan. At the event, we'll be having people sign up for a Day of Silence/Remembrance (the current plan, I believe, is to have two seperate lists - one for people who plan to be silent, and one for people who plan to wear a pin but can't be silent), which is the following day (we'll also have the lawn on that day). We're in the process of booking the lawn for the 29th and 30th of October, so look for us.

We're also planning yet another event; we haven't booked anything yet, but we're looking to have an Open Mic Night / Coffee House in November. If you know a band that would be interested in playing, or an accapella group, or a comedian, or any other type of performing artist, leave a comment or send an e-mail to umassdarfurgroup@gmail.com, and we'll be in touch. For anyone interested in attending, keep your eyes peeled for more info.

We also have confirmed that the ENOUGH Congo Speaker Tour will be coming to UMass. UMass is one of only three schools to have booked the speakers, who will most likely be a mix of refugees and academics. That tour will come through on December 3. We'll have more information on that as details get confirmed, also.

And your weekly action (there'll be two this week, to make up for last week):

Now that the presidential candidates and vice presidential candidates have spoken up about Darfur, send a postcard to the next president, asking them to deal with Darfur on Day One - http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/addyourvoice?rk=912vegpqzXvkE. If you're really passionate about getting the presidential candidates to ask, stop by the MassPIRG Office (415 Student Union, UMass Amherst) and sign our petition, asking the candidates to make their plans for Darfur public.

And your second action is to just learn more about Darfur; you can always head to the BBC for news updates, or check Nicholas Kristoff's NYTimes Column (it's not always about Darfur, but he very often has news). However, if you're more interested in television style learning experiences, there are a number of great videos about Darfur floating around out there. Here are a few links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXdWDM4fmRY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMBZpGRF4tg&feature=related

And finally, pretty much any of the videos on this page : http://www.genocideintervention.net/educate/crisis/darfur

That's it for this week. Check in again next Wednesday, and as always, any thoughts, interest, comments, questions e-mail us at umassdarfurgroup@gmail.com, or leave a comment.