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.