With the crazy semester the UMass Save Darfur Campaign has had, the blog has fallen to the wayside a little, but hopefully that will be remedied with this post.
What We've Been Up To...
Congo Week - Beginning on March 8 the Save Darfur Campaign held a Congo Awareness Week, partially in response to International Women's Day and partially in response to the spotlight piece in the Vagina Monologues, which were performed at UMass March 6th and 7th. The spotlight piece describes the story of an 8 year old girl who was raped repeatedly, and highlights the fact that the Congo is the worst place in the world to be a woman today.
Congo Week consisted of three main events and a few information tables.
Memorial Service for Alison Des Forges - We held a memorial service for activist Alison Des Forges, who died tragically in the Buffalo plane crash earlier this semester. Des Forges was an expert on Rwanda who was in the country throughout the 100 days of the genocide. In recent years, she had expanded her work to discuss the current conflict in the Congo. Three area professors who knew and worked with Des Forges spoke in a beautiful service that memorialized Des Forges as a person and highlighted the importance of her work.
Congo Forum - We held a forum in response to the spotlight piece in the Vagina Monologues, which featured an eight year old girl's story of being raped repeatedly by soldiers. Our forum discussed the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Congo and in other conflicts, and opened the floor for a vibrant and interesting discussion with the audience.
We also held a self-defense fundraiser and a number of informational tables during the week.
What's Up Next...
April as Genocide Awareness Month - Many organizations working on human rights issues recognize the month of April as Genocide Awareness Month. For the UMass Save Darfur Campaign, Genocide Awareness Month began April 2 continues until May 5, with a number of events along the way. We began on April 2 with a screening of a half hour premier of "The Last Survivor" - a film that comes out later this year about genocide survivors who have become activists (and we highly recommend checking out the film if you get a chance!). Since then we've had a number of fundraiser events and informational tables.
Our big event in April is Drop Beats Not Bombs, our semi-annual benefit concert, featuring twenty performers, delicious baked goods and an exciting raffle with prizes from Bueno y Sano, the Loose Goose, the University Store, Barnes and Noble, Sweets n More and more! Doors open at 6 pm, and the party goes until 10 pm, so come by the Campus Center room 168 on April 16th (tomorrow).
We're also going to be holding an informational session on the International Criminal Court's decision to charge Sudanese president Omar al Bashir with crimes against humanity - what's the precedence, why not genocide, what does it mean, all these questions and more will be answered. That's coming up on April 28, more details as they unfold.
On May 2 we're having a rally calling for Sudan to reinstate the international humanitarian aid groups that have been kicked out of Sudan in the wake of the ICC decision. The rally will be on the Amherst Town Common from 12 to 4, and you should definitely come by!
On May 5 we're holding a film screening to raise awareness about the conflict in Burma. More info as it comes out!
Coming Up On the Blog...
A piece on the Congo and Cell phone use...
Background information on Burma...
More about the International Criminal Court...
Actions you can take!
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