Monday, September 10, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
BASHIR REJECTS UN. Vigil Day #151 Sudan Embassy July 29.
Filed by Start Loving.
The Darfur Vigil returned to Round the Clock this past Monday maintained by Start Loving who returns to a base of operations for light calories, MP3 Player Electrons, and Internet mid afternoon for three hours each day. Saturday and Sunday are also spent at the base.
Sudan officially rejects revised UN text on Darfur force, Sudan Tribune
What does a world citizen, a Servant of The Almight / Good / World Family / Brotherliness do when:
The Darfur Vigil returned to Round the Clock this past Monday maintained by Start Loving who returns to a base of operations for light calories, MP3 Player Electrons, and Internet mid afternoon for three hours each day. Saturday and Sunday are also spent at the base.
Sudan officially rejects revised UN text on Darfur force, Sudan Tribune
What does a world citizen, a Servant of The Almight / Good / World Family / Brotherliness do when:
- 450,000 have been exterminated under Bashir's watch? Our watch? China's Watch? NGO's Watch? "Activists" watch?
- 3 million displaced under Bashir's watch? Our watch? China's Watch? NGO's Watch? "Activists" watch?
- Brother Bashir heaps desecration on desecration, inhumanity on inhumanity, lie on lie, deception on deception?
- We-the-worlds-citizens heap hypocrisy on hypocrisy, lip service on lip service, excuse on excuse, inaction on inaction....
How does Start Loving serve the above? What does or do The Almighty / Goodness / Humanity / "Activist" brothers / brother Bashir / brother Moon / Save Darfur / Africa Action / STANDnow demand of me?
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Vigil for Darfur Day #141 Sudan Embassy DC
The best of times; the worst of times?
Have we ever been closer to the Rescue and Restore of Darfur? I don't think so:
Have we ever been closer to the Rescue and Restore of Darfur? I don't think so:
- Effective pressure on China bearing fruit
- Powerful, humane leadership from France
- al-Bashir acquiescing to France / US / UK / China pressure
- "Lake Eire" being found under Darfur
- The Elders being formed of Mandella, Tutu, Carter... and Darfur spoken of as a focus
LAST MONTH WAS THE WORST MONTH EVER FOR ATTACKS ON AID WORKERS.
Let's not take our eyes off the ball. In fact, let's step up efforts dramatically.
IF YOUR DEAREST WERE IN A DARFUR DEATH CAMP in this 5th year of genocide, when our token wrist bands, one day fasts, sporadic lobbying, etc. have been correctly read by Washington as lip service, WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO RESCUE AND RESTORE DARFUR - TO SAVE YOUR DEAREST? DO IT. DO IT NOW.
Personally, I don't know what is going on with my body. Literally I feel like I've forgotten how to walk. I'd have thought what with 9-12 hours per day marching for months now in front of the Sudan Embassy all the pain would be gone. Quite the opposite. I need to keep going with the Sudan Embassy Vigil for many, many more months. Mustn't quit until the Rescue and Restore is underway with certainty. I don't know how I can bear the pain in my feet, legs and hips much longer. How bad is the pain? Well, I was hit by a car this week, my head crushed the windshield, my body caved the hood, I was thrown back on the pavement with the tire stopping inches from my head, and that pain was nothing compared with the pain of each step I take most hours per day. Very frustrating.
Oh well. It is amazing what you can do out of Love. It isn't the pain I mind so much, as the worry that it will sideline me at this crucial juncture. Mustn't let that happen.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Darfur's a fruad: "In Darfur" in Central Park
Genocide or AWESOME CAREER OPPORTUNITY?!?!??!
OK. These are the world leaders of the scam "Save Darfur" movement. Look at them. Is there a Genocide in Darfur or is this the most awesome career opportunity imiginable for these nice folks?
The Panel: (Back Row) John Prendergast (ICG), Samantha Power (Harvard), Nicholas Kristof (NY Times) and Daoud Ibrahim Hari; (Front) Omer Ismail, Mia Farrow (MIA IS THE EXCEPTION. SHE ACTUALLY BEHAVES AS THOUGH THERE IS A GENOCIDE - DAY IN AND DAY OUT), Winter Miller and Mark Hanis
More at: Photo Coverage: Public Theater's In Darfur Reading
Tuesday, July 10, 2007; Posted: 11:30 AM - by Ben Strothmann
The Public Theater offered New Yorkers a free staged reading of Winter Miller's In Darfur in Central Park for one night only, on Monday, July 9th. This reading continued the momentum generated by The Public's developmental production of In Darfur, which was highly successful in bringing audiences and artists together to raise awareness of the Darfur Crisis and encourage activism. The reading featured the original cast of The Public's production and was directed by Joanna Settle.
"Working as research assistant to Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the New York Times, playwright Winter Miller is immersed in the issues surrounding the ongoing genocide in Darfur. In Darfur is the provocative account of three intertwined lives at a camp for internally displaced persons in Darfur. The story follows an aid worker's mission to save and protect lives, a journalist's pursuit to deliver a "Page One" story and a Darfuri woman's quest for safety. It is a searing story of urgency and international significance," state press materials....
OK. These are the world leaders of the scam "Save Darfur" movement. Look at them. Is there a Genocide in Darfur or is this the most awesome career opportunity imiginable for these nice folks?
The Panel: (Back Row) John Prendergast (ICG), Samantha Power (Harvard), Nicholas Kristof (NY Times) and Daoud Ibrahim Hari; (Front) Omer Ismail, Mia Farrow (MIA IS THE EXCEPTION. SHE ACTUALLY BEHAVES AS THOUGH THERE IS A GENOCIDE - DAY IN AND DAY OUT), Winter Miller and Mark Hanis
More at: Photo Coverage: Public Theater's In Darfur Reading
Tuesday, July 10, 2007; Posted: 11:30 AM - by Ben Strothmann
The Public Theater offered New Yorkers a free staged reading of Winter Miller's In Darfur in Central Park for one night only, on Monday, July 9th. This reading continued the momentum generated by The Public's developmental production of In Darfur, which was highly successful in bringing audiences and artists together to raise awareness of the Darfur Crisis and encourage activism. The reading featured the original cast of The Public's production and was directed by Joanna Settle.
"Working as research assistant to Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the New York Times, playwright Winter Miller is immersed in the issues surrounding the ongoing genocide in Darfur. In Darfur is the provocative account of three intertwined lives at a camp for internally displaced persons in Darfur. The story follows an aid worker's mission to save and protect lives, a journalist's pursuit to deliver a "Page One" story and a Darfuri woman's quest for safety. It is a searing story of urgency and international significance," state press materials....
Friday, June 29, 2007
!!DARFUR URGENT!! al-Bashir LIVE VIDEO CONF W/ U.S. TOMORROW
MEDIA ADVISORY Contact: William Reed
202.547.4125
SUDANESE PRESIDENT TO ADDRESS AMERICAN AUDIENCE ABOUT DARFUR
His Excellency Omar al-Bashir To Speak on Crisis Via Satellite From
Accra, Ghana the site of the African Union Summit.
On Saturday, June 30, 2007, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir will speak
to Americans in five cities about plans he is promoting for peace in
his country and to resolve the continuing crisis in the Western Region
of Darfur.
President Omar al-Bashir will speak from Accra, Ghana where the
African Union Summit is taking place. He will take questions from the
press and public that are expected to assemble in Washington, DC, New
York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The events in America are being coordinated by the African Middle East
Literacy Foundation. According to sources in Accra, President Omar al-
Bashir plans to press for peace and for like commitments from Western
powers. Sources say he will use the backdrop of the AU Summit to
anchor his pledges and is expected to address the expanded “hybrid”
peacekeeping force in Darfur that will consist of 17,500 and 19,600
troops, in addition to more than 6,000 police who will help maintain
security in the region’s displaced person camps. The Sudanese
president has consistently accused the West of seeking to use the
United Nations “peacekeeping contingent” as a Trojan horse to topple
his regime. He is also expected to address peace efforts he and his
African Union counterparts are seeking to implement in the region.
President Omar al-Bashir will address the solidarity he has with
African heads of state and is anticipated to address Western media and
governments’ accusations that his government backs Arab militia to
kill, rape and burn villages of Blacks in that region. The Sudanese
President will again call for Western governments and humanitarian
groups operating in the area to cease their support of rebel factions
in the region and diligently push them to join into substantial peace
talks.
# # #
What follows are the venues, times and contacts for more information
about the satellite press conference on Saturday, June 30, 2007.
Chicago 1:00 – 4:00pm (CST)
Operation Push Headquarters
930 East 50th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60615
Contact Person: Malik Aziz, 813-928-7307
Los Angeles 11:00am – 2:00pm (PST)
Compton College
Student Lounge
1111 East Artesia Blvd, Compton Ca.
Contact Person: Dedon Kamathi, 323-294-3647
New York 2:00-5:00pm (EST)
Millennium UN Plaza Hotel
Ball Room 2nd Floor
One United Nation Plaza (44th St & 1st Ave)
New York, NY 10017
Contact Person: Idrees Saeed 212-361-9524
Philadelphia 2:00-5:00pm (EST)
Temple University
GLADFELTER HALL, Lobby Entrance
12th and Berks Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Contact Person: Jehron Hunter, 215-242-4755
Washington DC 2:00-5:00pm (EST)
DC Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW – Room 103
Washington, DC 20001
Contact Person: Hodari Abdul Ali, 301-728-8949
202.547.4125
SUDANESE PRESIDENT TO ADDRESS AMERICAN AUDIENCE ABOUT DARFUR
His Excellency Omar al-Bashir To Speak on Crisis Via Satellite From
Accra, Ghana the site of the African Union Summit.
On Saturday, June 30, 2007, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir will speak
to Americans in five cities about plans he is promoting for peace in
his country and to resolve the continuing crisis in the Western Region
of Darfur.
President Omar al-Bashir will speak from Accra, Ghana where the
African Union Summit is taking place. He will take questions from the
press and public that are expected to assemble in Washington, DC, New
York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The events in America are being coordinated by the African Middle East
Literacy Foundation. According to sources in Accra, President Omar al-
Bashir plans to press for peace and for like commitments from Western
powers. Sources say he will use the backdrop of the AU Summit to
anchor his pledges and is expected to address the expanded “hybrid”
peacekeeping force in Darfur that will consist of 17,500 and 19,600
troops, in addition to more than 6,000 police who will help maintain
security in the region’s displaced person camps. The Sudanese
president has consistently accused the West of seeking to use the
United Nations “peacekeeping contingent” as a Trojan horse to topple
his regime. He is also expected to address peace efforts he and his
African Union counterparts are seeking to implement in the region.
President Omar al-Bashir will address the solidarity he has with
African heads of state and is anticipated to address Western media and
governments’ accusations that his government backs Arab militia to
kill, rape and burn villages of Blacks in that region. The Sudanese
President will again call for Western governments and humanitarian
groups operating in the area to cease their support of rebel factions
in the region and diligently push them to join into substantial peace
talks.
# # #
What follows are the venues, times and contacts for more information
about the satellite press conference on Saturday, June 30, 2007.
Chicago 1:00 – 4:00pm (CST)
Operation Push Headquarters
930 East 50th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60615
Contact Person: Malik Aziz, 813-928-7307
Los Angeles 11:00am – 2:00pm (PST)
Compton College
Student Lounge
1111 East Artesia Blvd, Compton Ca.
Contact Person: Dedon Kamathi, 323-294-3647
New York 2:00-5:00pm (EST)
Millennium UN Plaza Hotel
Ball Room 2nd Floor
One United Nation Plaza (44th St & 1st Ave)
New York, NY 10017
Contact Person: Idrees Saeed 212-361-9524
Philadelphia 2:00-5:00pm (EST)
Temple University
GLADFELTER HALL, Lobby Entrance
12th and Berks Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Contact Person: Jehron Hunter, 215-242-4755
Washington DC 2:00-5:00pm (EST)
DC Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW – Room 103
Washington, DC 20001
Contact Person: Hodari Abdul Ali, 301-728-8949
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Vigil Day #113 Darfur Vigil Washington DC
Please note: The Darfur (Sudan) Vigil continues! ALL FUTURE UPDATES AT:
BrigadeOfPeacemakersForDarfur.blogspot.com
BrigadeOfPeacemakersForDarfur.blogspot.com
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Stand with Darfur Sudan Embassy Vigil Day #102
Today was spent not at the Darfur Vigil a the Embassy but at US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation; a demonstration at the Capitol and march to the Washington Monument.
102 days into this Darfur Vigil / Campaign a Q & A can be helpful:
Q. How is your health, are you still fasting; do you expect to survive?
A. My health is excellent. My weight continues to decline as I march 9-12 hours per day and take only about 800 calories per day, while normal intake for this level of activity might be closer to 3,000. I expect to survive. Although I experience no short or long term damage thus far, as my weight decreases to skeleton level some damage is likely.
Q. What is your routine, plan and why?
A. Basically I march with Darfur posters 9-12 hours per day depending on levels of pain and fatigue; some days are easy, some days are not. I take 2 breaks of roughly an hour each. I sleep sitting up (lying down would be arrestable) for the remainder. This is what I do 6/24. Saturday nights I accept hospitality at the Washington Peace House to shower, blog and bathe. I march for the same reason I do everything - as my best shot to stop the genocide by raising others to levels of "paying the price" to stop the genocide. Collateral benefits of the marching include: as opposed to traditional "Hunger Strikes" the marching is an added expression of commitment; and it drives my weight down faster so that soon I will be a visual reminder of the Holocaust Darfur is experiencing.
Q. How do you feel?
A. "A person is not equipped to Live until s/he knows what s/he would die for," said Dr. King. The corollary is that when you have something that is worth dying for you can fully Live. I feel fully aLive, full of Peace / Joy / Life / Love, and much pain. Some days are a breeze. Some days my legs are racked with pain even hours after I stop marching. But I am in such solidarity, from my soul, serving my Darfur family, that there are no more than a few seconds in any day that are not wonderful. I would not trade my quality of life these days for any time in my privileged 55 years. And I recommend that this level alone is where Life / the Divine / Love / Peace are to be found for the individual participant, and for their dear ones over the longer term. See Jesus, Good, God-Father, Alfred Adler, n Start Loving for more on this.
Q. What are you hoping to accomplish?
A. I am trying to stick / attach / insert the tortured, starving Darfuries on my large posters to the Hearts of the thousands of Federal, International, and normal drivers that pass me to and from work every day; EVERY DAY! Darfur has hit the "Head" of 70% of the U.S. populace, and the "Heart" of less than 10. Until it hits our Hearts, we will not "pay the price" of ending Genocide. Love and suffering is what you do for "family" in need. Right? Well it so happens that according to Dr. King (and your own reflection I'll wager), "Unearned suffering is redemptive."
Q. Are you being successful?
A. I am asked this question often. It is the wrong question in the sense that at such times that each of us is "humane," in our "right mind" it is not a question we would ask in the face of such attrocities. It is not the question of "brotherhood." The question of a Brother or Sister is, "What is my best shot in the face of such dire need?" The Sudan Embassy 24/6 Vigil / Fast / March is my best shot. I AM impacting thousands of influential people day, after day... 102 days so far. I am committed. I am "family." I am "paying the price." These things are all potentially infectious. [Apathy, neglect, indifference and lip service are also infectious.] There is no other hope besides what Gandhi prescribed, "Be the change you wish to see." The change I wish to see is millions "paying the price" to Rescue and Restore Darfur.
Q. Do you expect to continue and if so for how long?
A. I cannot imagine ending the Vigil until the Rescue of Darfur is unmistakably underway and their Restoration is absolutely assured. This could be by summer's end. It could be never.
Q. Are you still alone in this Sudan Embassy campaign and what are your needs?
A. I would have expired by now were it not for Ellen Thomas who simply saw the need and jumped in bringing whatever liquids and calories are needed every day. I have no needs. Our Darfur family needs hundreds or thousands of us "paying the price" for their rescue and restoration. Currently there are maybe 10 nation wide paying the price that needs to be paid.
Q. Is there progress for Darfur?
A. There may be progress for Darfur. France's energetic new regime. China's worry of having the PR value of the Olympics diminished. Some resolve on the part of the G8. Or it may be the 10,000th installment of "lip service," just like we-the-people of the world are giving our governmental employees (President, Congress...) lip service; and just like al-Bashier gives us all back - lip service.
Q. In your view what will it take to Rescue and Restore Darfur?
A. The only thing that has ever caused one group of people to be Rescued and Restored is other people "paying the price." The world has never stopped a genocide. We have never payed the price. If we-the-people do not pay the price, our elected officials, no dummies, will see that they have neither reward nor problems ahead, and Lip Service is all we'll get from them; and 2.5 million Darfuries will continue to die excruciating deaths. Yes China needs to be shamed leveraging the Olympics, multilateral sanctions are required on all parties in Sudan to force a lasting peace agreement, Russia needs bringing in line... BUT ALL THESE REQUIRE THAT THE PRICE BE PAID BY WE-THE-PEOPLE.
102 days into this Darfur Vigil / Campaign a Q & A can be helpful:
Q. How is your health, are you still fasting; do you expect to survive?
A. My health is excellent. My weight continues to decline as I march 9-12 hours per day and take only about 800 calories per day, while normal intake for this level of activity might be closer to 3,000. I expect to survive. Although I experience no short or long term damage thus far, as my weight decreases to skeleton level some damage is likely.
Q. What is your routine, plan and why?
A. Basically I march with Darfur posters 9-12 hours per day depending on levels of pain and fatigue; some days are easy, some days are not. I take 2 breaks of roughly an hour each. I sleep sitting up (lying down would be arrestable) for the remainder. This is what I do 6/24. Saturday nights I accept hospitality at the Washington Peace House to shower, blog and bathe. I march for the same reason I do everything - as my best shot to stop the genocide by raising others to levels of "paying the price" to stop the genocide. Collateral benefits of the marching include: as opposed to traditional "Hunger Strikes" the marching is an added expression of commitment; and it drives my weight down faster so that soon I will be a visual reminder of the Holocaust Darfur is experiencing.
Q. How do you feel?
A. "A person is not equipped to Live until s/he knows what s/he would die for," said Dr. King. The corollary is that when you have something that is worth dying for you can fully Live. I feel fully aLive, full of Peace / Joy / Life / Love, and much pain. Some days are a breeze. Some days my legs are racked with pain even hours after I stop marching. But I am in such solidarity, from my soul, serving my Darfur family, that there are no more than a few seconds in any day that are not wonderful. I would not trade my quality of life these days for any time in my privileged 55 years. And I recommend that this level alone is where Life / the Divine / Love / Peace are to be found for the individual participant, and for their dear ones over the longer term. See Jesus, Good, God-Father, Alfred Adler, n Start Loving for more on this.
Q. What are you hoping to accomplish?
A. I am trying to stick / attach / insert the tortured, starving Darfuries on my large posters to the Hearts of the thousands of Federal, International, and normal drivers that pass me to and from work every day; EVERY DAY! Darfur has hit the "Head" of 70% of the U.S. populace, and the "Heart" of less than 10. Until it hits our Hearts, we will not "pay the price" of ending Genocide. Love and suffering is what you do for "family" in need. Right? Well it so happens that according to Dr. King (and your own reflection I'll wager), "Unearned suffering is redemptive."
Q. Are you being successful?
A. I am asked this question often. It is the wrong question in the sense that at such times that each of us is "humane," in our "right mind" it is not a question we would ask in the face of such attrocities. It is not the question of "brotherhood." The question of a Brother or Sister is, "What is my best shot in the face of such dire need?" The Sudan Embassy 24/6 Vigil / Fast / March is my best shot. I AM impacting thousands of influential people day, after day... 102 days so far. I am committed. I am "family." I am "paying the price." These things are all potentially infectious. [Apathy, neglect, indifference and lip service are also infectious.] There is no other hope besides what Gandhi prescribed, "Be the change you wish to see." The change I wish to see is millions "paying the price" to Rescue and Restore Darfur.
Q. Do you expect to continue and if so for how long?
A. I cannot imagine ending the Vigil until the Rescue of Darfur is unmistakably underway and their Restoration is absolutely assured. This could be by summer's end. It could be never.
Q. Are you still alone in this Sudan Embassy campaign and what are your needs?
A. I would have expired by now were it not for Ellen Thomas who simply saw the need and jumped in bringing whatever liquids and calories are needed every day. I have no needs. Our Darfur family needs hundreds or thousands of us "paying the price" for their rescue and restoration. Currently there are maybe 10 nation wide paying the price that needs to be paid.
Q. Is there progress for Darfur?
A. There may be progress for Darfur. France's energetic new regime. China's worry of having the PR value of the Olympics diminished. Some resolve on the part of the G8. Or it may be the 10,000th installment of "lip service," just like we-the-people of the world are giving our governmental employees (President, Congress...) lip service; and just like al-Bashier gives us all back - lip service.
Q. In your view what will it take to Rescue and Restore Darfur?
A. The only thing that has ever caused one group of people to be Rescued and Restored is other people "paying the price." The world has never stopped a genocide. We have never payed the price. If we-the-people do not pay the price, our elected officials, no dummies, will see that they have neither reward nor problems ahead, and Lip Service is all we'll get from them; and 2.5 million Darfuries will continue to die excruciating deaths. Yes China needs to be shamed leveraging the Olympics, multilateral sanctions are required on all parties in Sudan to force a lasting peace agreement, Russia needs bringing in line... BUT ALL THESE REQUIRE THAT THE PRICE BE PAID BY WE-THE-PEOPLE.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Day #98 Darfur Vigil Sudan Embassy D.C.
Today I return to the Sudan Embassy, DC Darfur Vigil after my week of filling in for Ellen, my daily support, so she could visit her mom and daughter and grand daughter down south. I want to do what I can to keep the pressure / attention on among my northwest DC community. I expect to be at the Embassy 24/6 for many, many, many months. I pray that the new French Gov, focus at the G8, and selfish China (Olympics) combine at long last for some substantial progress - a peace agreement and 20,000+ police on the ground - NOW. We'll never have a better chance than we do now.
Students Pour Empathy Into Startling Poetry
By Delphine Schrank
If a war could be stopped with flights of compassion, 10-year-olds in Darfur might sleep a little easier tonight.
Comment from Start Loving: I've been captive of our Darfur family's agony for more than three years now. There is no hope for them until our Hearts wake-up that they are OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY. In these past more than three years the Heart journey of these 10 year olds is one of the only rays of light I've seen; one of the only instances where our Family Darfur has made it into any of our Western Hearts. Oh, they've made it into plenty of our Heads, but with these 10 year olds... Love has happened. "And the Children will lead them." Children, lead us
Students Pour Empathy Into Startling Poetry
By Delphine Schrank
If a war could be stopped with flights of compassion, 10-year-olds in Darfur might sleep a little easier tonight.
Comment from Start Loving: I've been captive of our Darfur family's agony for more than three years now. There is no hope for them until our Hearts wake-up that they are OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY. In these past more than three years the Heart journey of these 10 year olds is one of the only rays of light I've seen; one of the only instances where our Family Darfur has made it into any of our Western Hearts. Oh, they've made it into plenty of our Heads, but with these 10 year olds... Love has happened. "And the Children will lead them." Children, lead us
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
US DARFUR ACTIVISM - TOTAL MORAL FAILURE
Day #90 Darfur Vigil at Sudan Embassy DC.
Bush Intensifies Pressure on Sudan, Michael Abramowitz and Debbi Wilgoren, Washington Post, May 29, 2007 Bush Looks To Intensify Pressure On Sudan By Michael AbramowitzWashington Post, May 29, 2007
U.S. DARFUR ACTIVISM TOTAL MORAL FAILURE? Imagine the three people in the world you love the very most. Remember how much you love them. Do it. Ok. Now imagine that 4 years ago an all powerful entity, God, came and disguised these loved ones as Darfuries beyond any hope of recognition and placed them in Darfur; and further told you that if you told anyone that your loved ones would die immediately. You are told that the only way you can save them is to stop the genocide and restore Darfuries to their lives. WOULD YOU BE ACTING ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU ARE NOW?!??!?!?!?!!?!?!?!??!? You sure as hell would.
Here is the other way that I look at it. Another one of tests of accountability I hold myself to in my personal actions is to imagine myself in Heaven after I die in front of my Darfur brothers and sisters explaining what I did or did not do. I think I'll do all right in these conversations. In similar conversations with my Cambodian, Rwandan, Balkan... brothers and sisters the behaviors of mine I describe will leave me shamed and without a shred of humanity.
[US & UK have the Security Council until June 30. This is your last chance to TRULY Stand with Darfur. Join a Brigade of PeaceMakers - Darfur, NOW.]
I apply the same test when considering the behavior of my brothers and sisters in the "Save Darfur Movement (SDM)." I envision the conversation going something like this:
SDM: "Yes, we knew it was 4 years. Yes we knew 450,000 exterminated. Yes we knew 2.5 million in concentration camps of forced starvation, rape, mutilation, murder and disease. We in the US agonized for you our Darfur brothers and sisters. We had meetings, and more meetings. We fasted from luxuries for one whole day per year. ONE ENTIRE DAY - WE ABSTAINED FROM ONE OF OUR LUXURIES! On another day we formed a human chain. On another day we sent postcards. POSTCARDS! In all there were one million! We divested our Colleges and States. Sure the real money came from China but it helped a little and it gave us great connections and enhanced our resumes too! Two different sunny afternoons we went to parks for demonstrations, and we even listened to some of the speakers! Wow, we really pulled out all the stops! I mean, what else would you have wanted??!?!?!
DARFUR: "We wanted you to treat us as you would your immediate family, which before God, we are. "Do unto others, ALL that you would have done unto you." We were raped every day. Our children were starved every day. Our men were shot every day. Our women were mutilated every day. YOU DID NOTHING."
The lesson of the holocaust was entirely: IN THE FACE OF GENOCIDE THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD IMMEDIATELY LAY DOWN THEIR VERY LIVES UNTIL IT STOPS.
NEVER AGAIN DENY OUR FAMILY EMERGENCY! Eric Reeves, Brian Steidle and who else has laid down their lives for our Darfur FAMILY EMERGENCY?
The great desecration of the Holocaust didn't happen last month in Iran; it has been happening in the most Holocaust educated in the world, the US, for the last 4 years as we have risked nothing, suffered nothing, sacrificed nothing. We have done nothing.
Now we repent and vote immediately with our lives, WITH OUR LIVES giving Bush an iron clad, unmistakable mandate to end this, or we are Damned, and Darfur is dead.
Original, bad thinking? Strikingly parallel to what Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel had to say in 1938, possibly the most relevant prophetic, moral writing I've ever seen. For example:
* "We have trifled with the name of God. We have taken the ideals in vain. We have called for the Lord. He came. And was ignored. We have preached but eluded Him. We have praised but defied Him. Now we reap the fruits of our failure. Through centuries His voice cried in the wilderness. How skillfully it was trapped and imprisoned in the temples! How often it was drowned or distorted! Now we behold how it gradually withdraws, abandoning one people after another, departing from their souls, despising their wisdom. The taste for the good has all but gone from the earth. Men heap spite upon cruelty, malice upon atrocity."
* "Soldiers in the horror of battle offer solemn testimony that life is not a hunt for pleasure, but an engagement for service; that there are things more valuable than life; that the world is not a vacuum. Either we make it an altar for God or it is invaded by demons. "
* "The Almighty has not created the universe that we may have opportunities to satisfy our greed, envy and ambition. We have not survived that we may waste our years in vulgar vanities. The martyrdom of millions demands that we consecrate ourselves to the fulfillment of God’s dream of salvation. Israel did not accept the Torah of their own free will. When Israel approached Sinai, God lifted up the mountain and held it over their heads, saying: “Either you accept the Torah or be crushed beneath the mountain.
”The mountain of history is over our heads again. Shall we renew the covenant with God?"
YOUR LAST CHANCE/ THEIR LAST CHANCE: US & UK have the Security Council until June 30. This is your last chance to TRULY Stand with Darfur. Join a Brigade of PeaceMakers - Darfur, NOW.
See updates at all sites:
DARFUR'S LAST HOPE: Brigade of PeaceMakers: for Darfur. JOIN NOW
SAVING DARFUR, EARTH, OURSELVES: Jesus, God, Good...
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Holocaust Rescuers
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Peace and Nonviolence
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: David Dellinger
4 DARFUR HEROES; 21,000 FOR HOLOCAUST: Darfur Dying for Heroes
HUNGER STRIKE: Stand with Darfur: Sudan Embassy
WE'RE PROOF OF NO GENOCIDE: Darfur Genocide a Fraud
Actions 6/06 - 1/07: Stand With Darfur White House II
Actions 5/06 - 6/06: Stand With Darfur White House
Actions 7/05 - 5/06: Rescue Restore Darfur
[SEE: A Hunger For Justice : Darfur Becomes One Man's Cause for Deprivation Delphine Schrank, C01 (Post) Washington Post, April 14, 2007]
Bush Intensifies Pressure on Sudan, Michael Abramowitz and Debbi Wilgoren, Washington Post, May 29, 2007 Bush Looks To Intensify Pressure On Sudan By Michael AbramowitzWashington Post, May 29, 2007
U.S. DARFUR ACTIVISM TOTAL MORAL FAILURE? Imagine the three people in the world you love the very most. Remember how much you love them. Do it. Ok. Now imagine that 4 years ago an all powerful entity, God, came and disguised these loved ones as Darfuries beyond any hope of recognition and placed them in Darfur; and further told you that if you told anyone that your loved ones would die immediately. You are told that the only way you can save them is to stop the genocide and restore Darfuries to their lives. WOULD YOU BE ACTING ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU ARE NOW?!??!?!?!?!!?!?!?!??!? You sure as hell would.
Here is the other way that I look at it. Another one of tests of accountability I hold myself to in my personal actions is to imagine myself in Heaven after I die in front of my Darfur brothers and sisters explaining what I did or did not do. I think I'll do all right in these conversations. In similar conversations with my Cambodian, Rwandan, Balkan... brothers and sisters the behaviors of mine I describe will leave me shamed and without a shred of humanity.
[US & UK have the Security Council until June 30. This is your last chance to TRULY Stand with Darfur. Join a Brigade of PeaceMakers - Darfur, NOW.]
I apply the same test when considering the behavior of my brothers and sisters in the "Save Darfur Movement (SDM)." I envision the conversation going something like this:
SDM: "Yes, we knew it was 4 years. Yes we knew 450,000 exterminated. Yes we knew 2.5 million in concentration camps of forced starvation, rape, mutilation, murder and disease. We in the US agonized for you our Darfur brothers and sisters. We had meetings, and more meetings. We fasted from luxuries for one whole day per year. ONE ENTIRE DAY - WE ABSTAINED FROM ONE OF OUR LUXURIES! On another day we formed a human chain. On another day we sent postcards. POSTCARDS! In all there were one million! We divested our Colleges and States. Sure the real money came from China but it helped a little and it gave us great connections and enhanced our resumes too! Two different sunny afternoons we went to parks for demonstrations, and we even listened to some of the speakers! Wow, we really pulled out all the stops! I mean, what else would you have wanted??!?!?!
DARFUR: "We wanted you to treat us as you would your immediate family, which before God, we are. "Do unto others, ALL that you would have done unto you." We were raped every day. Our children were starved every day. Our men were shot every day. Our women were mutilated every day. YOU DID NOTHING."
The lesson of the holocaust was entirely: IN THE FACE OF GENOCIDE THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD IMMEDIATELY LAY DOWN THEIR VERY LIVES UNTIL IT STOPS.
NEVER AGAIN DENY OUR FAMILY EMERGENCY! Eric Reeves, Brian Steidle and who else has laid down their lives for our Darfur FAMILY EMERGENCY?
The great desecration of the Holocaust didn't happen last month in Iran; it has been happening in the most Holocaust educated in the world, the US, for the last 4 years as we have risked nothing, suffered nothing, sacrificed nothing. We have done nothing.
Now we repent and vote immediately with our lives, WITH OUR LIVES giving Bush an iron clad, unmistakable mandate to end this, or we are Damned, and Darfur is dead.
Original, bad thinking? Strikingly parallel to what Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel had to say in 1938, possibly the most relevant prophetic, moral writing I've ever seen. For example:
* "We have trifled with the name of God. We have taken the ideals in vain. We have called for the Lord. He came. And was ignored. We have preached but eluded Him. We have praised but defied Him. Now we reap the fruits of our failure. Through centuries His voice cried in the wilderness. How skillfully it was trapped and imprisoned in the temples! How often it was drowned or distorted! Now we behold how it gradually withdraws, abandoning one people after another, departing from their souls, despising their wisdom. The taste for the good has all but gone from the earth. Men heap spite upon cruelty, malice upon atrocity."
* "Soldiers in the horror of battle offer solemn testimony that life is not a hunt for pleasure, but an engagement for service; that there are things more valuable than life; that the world is not a vacuum. Either we make it an altar for God or it is invaded by demons. "
* "The Almighty has not created the universe that we may have opportunities to satisfy our greed, envy and ambition. We have not survived that we may waste our years in vulgar vanities. The martyrdom of millions demands that we consecrate ourselves to the fulfillment of God’s dream of salvation. Israel did not accept the Torah of their own free will. When Israel approached Sinai, God lifted up the mountain and held it over their heads, saying: “Either you accept the Torah or be crushed beneath the mountain.
”The mountain of history is over our heads again. Shall we renew the covenant with God?"
YOUR LAST CHANCE/ THEIR LAST CHANCE: US & UK have the Security Council until June 30. This is your last chance to TRULY Stand with Darfur. Join a Brigade of PeaceMakers - Darfur, NOW.
See updates at all sites:
DARFUR'S LAST HOPE: Brigade of PeaceMakers: for Darfur. JOIN NOW
SAVING DARFUR, EARTH, OURSELVES: Jesus, God, Good...
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Holocaust Rescuers
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Peace and Nonviolence
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: David Dellinger
4 DARFUR HEROES; 21,000 FOR HOLOCAUST: Darfur Dying for Heroes
HUNGER STRIKE: Stand with Darfur: Sudan Embassy
WE'RE PROOF OF NO GENOCIDE: Darfur Genocide a Fraud
Actions 6/06 - 1/07: Stand With Darfur White House II
Actions 5/06 - 6/06: Stand With Darfur White House
Actions 7/05 - 5/06: Rescue Restore Darfur
[SEE: A Hunger For Justice : Darfur Becomes One Man's Cause for Deprivation Delphine Schrank, C01 (Post) Washington Post, April 14, 2007]
Thursday, May 24, 2007
DARFUR HEROICS: STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Will we ever see people paying the price to end Darfur attrocities, genocide? God bless these students for showing the way. Thank you Google.
Stanford protest leads to arrestsInside Bay Area, CA - May 23, 2007The arrests Tuesday come on the heels of a hunger strike on campus last month, organized by the Stanford Labor Action Coalition. That protest sought higher ...Stanford Students Expect "Moral Integrity" from Prez Yahoo! Newsall 16 news articles »
A Hunger Strike Epidemic?Inside Higher Ed, DC - May 11, 2007Matt Seriff-Cullick, a junior at Stanford who took the quarter off to help organize the hunger strike there and negotiate with the administration, ...
Striking ZealotryHarvard Crimson, MA - May 21, 2007On the heels of a student hunger strike, Harvard’s outsourced security guards have authorized a strike against their employer, AlliedBarton, ...
UVM students end hunger strike, make deal with administrationVermont Guardian, VT - Apr 27, 2007On Sunday, students at Stanford University ended a nine-day hunger strike when the school’s president agreed to revisit its livable wage policy as it ...
Campus Progress
Starving for Social JusticeCampus Progress, DC - May 9, 2007On Thursday, May 3, 11 Harvard University students began a hunger strike in protest of the university’s decision not to intervene in stalled contract ...
F(ocus) Your ActivismHarvard Crimson, MA - May 11, 2007When the hunger strike commenced I wasn’t initially perturbed like many students on campus who reacted as if they were the ones being forced into an ...
Now
Interview: Fasting For A ChangeNow - Apr 26, 2007Daniel Weissman puts up a banner on the first day of the strike. » View Slideshow. Hunger striker Daniel Weissman is a physics graduate student at Stanford ...
'You're messing up my head, manTelegraph.co.uk, UK - May 10, 2007That day, 416 went on hunger strike, and two more prisoners - 1037 and 4325 - were sent home after showing symptoms of severe stress. ...
Ire and Vice: Obfuscated incorporatedStanford Daily, CA - May 8, 2007Diane Peck’s recent letter, regarding SLAC’s hunger strike, is a masterpiece. She obfuscates: “Hundreds of employees ... have been beneficiaries of the ...
Sweat-Free stages “sew-in”Stanford Daily, CA - Apr 26, 2007... on the coattails of the recent Stanford Labor Action Coalition (SLAC)-sponsored fast, when about a dozen students and supporters went on a hunger strike ...
A Standout Sit-InInside Higher Ed, DC - May 1, 2007That is more of a description of what happened at Stanford University last week, when a hunger strike ended with the university raising regular employees’ ...
Stanford protest leads to arrestsInside Bay Area, CA - May 23, 2007The arrests Tuesday come on the heels of a hunger strike on campus last month, organized by the Stanford Labor Action Coalition. That protest sought higher ...Stanford Students Expect "Moral Integrity" from Prez Yahoo! Newsall 16 news articles »
A Hunger Strike Epidemic?Inside Higher Ed, DC - May 11, 2007Matt Seriff-Cullick, a junior at Stanford who took the quarter off to help organize the hunger strike there and negotiate with the administration, ...
Striking ZealotryHarvard Crimson, MA - May 21, 2007On the heels of a student hunger strike, Harvard’s outsourced security guards have authorized a strike against their employer, AlliedBarton, ...
UVM students end hunger strike, make deal with administrationVermont Guardian, VT - Apr 27, 2007On Sunday, students at Stanford University ended a nine-day hunger strike when the school’s president agreed to revisit its livable wage policy as it ...
Campus Progress
Starving for Social JusticeCampus Progress, DC - May 9, 2007On Thursday, May 3, 11 Harvard University students began a hunger strike in protest of the university’s decision not to intervene in stalled contract ...
F(ocus) Your ActivismHarvard Crimson, MA - May 11, 2007When the hunger strike commenced I wasn’t initially perturbed like many students on campus who reacted as if they were the ones being forced into an ...
Now
Interview: Fasting For A ChangeNow - Apr 26, 2007Daniel Weissman puts up a banner on the first day of the strike. » View Slideshow. Hunger striker Daniel Weissman is a physics graduate student at Stanford ...
'You're messing up my head, manTelegraph.co.uk, UK - May 10, 2007That day, 416 went on hunger strike, and two more prisoners - 1037 and 4325 - were sent home after showing symptoms of severe stress. ...
Ire and Vice: Obfuscated incorporatedStanford Daily, CA - May 8, 2007Diane Peck’s recent letter, regarding SLAC’s hunger strike, is a masterpiece. She obfuscates: “Hundreds of employees ... have been beneficiaries of the ...
Sweat-Free stages “sew-in”Stanford Daily, CA - Apr 26, 2007... on the coattails of the recent Stanford Labor Action Coalition (SLAC)-sponsored fast, when about a dozen students and supporters went on a hunger strike ...
A Standout Sit-InInside Higher Ed, DC - May 1, 2007That is more of a description of what happened at Stanford University last week, when a hunger strike ended with the university raising regular employees’ ...
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Darfur: U.S. Activism a TOTAL MORAL FAILURE
[SEE: A Hunger For Justice : Darfur Becomes One Man's Cause for Deprivation
Delphine Schrank, C01 (Post) Washington Post, April 14, 2007]
What is wrong with this nasty, angry man! Some of my brothers and sisters in the Darfur activist community must be wondering. The rest have simply written me off.
Imagine the three people in the world you love the very most. Remember how much you love them. Do it. Ok. Now imagine that 4 years ago an all powerful entity, God, came and disguised these loved ones as Darfuries beyond any hope of recognition and placed them in Darfur; and further told you that if you told anyone that your loved ones would die immediately. You are told that the only way you can save them is to stop the genocide and restore Darfuries to their lives. WOULD YOU BE ACTING ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU ARE NOW?!??!?!?!?!!?!?!?!??!? You sure as hell would.
Here is the other way that I look at it. Another one of tests of accountability I hold myself to in my personal actions is to imagine myself in Heaven after I die in front of my Darfur brothers and sisters explaining what I did or did not do. I think I'll do all right in these conversations. In similar conversations with my Cambodian, Rwandan, Balkan... brothers and sisters the behaviors of mine I describe will leave me shamed and without a shred of humanity.
[US & UK have the Security Council until June 30. This is your last chance to TRULY Stand with Darfur. Join a Brigade of PeaceMakers - Darfur, NOW.]
I apply the same test when considering the behavior of my brothers and sisters in the "Save Darfur Movement (SDM)." I envision the conversation going something like this:
SDM: "Yes, we knew it was 4 years. Yes we knew 450,000 exterminated. Yes we knew 2.5 million in concentration camps of forced starvation, rape, mutilation, murder and disease. We in the US agonized for you our Darfur brothers and sisters. We had meetings, and more meetings. We fasted from luxuries for one whole day per year. ONE ENTIRE DAY - WE ABSTAINED FROM ONE OF OUR LUXURIES! On another day we formed a human chain. On another day we sent postcards. POSTCARDS! In all there were one million! We divested our Colleges and States. Sure the real money came from China but it helped a little and it gave us great connections and enhanced our resumes too! Two different sunny afternoons we went to parks for demonstrations, and we even listened to some of the speakers! Wow, we really pulled out all the stops! I mean, what else would you have wanted??!?!?!
DARFUR: "We wanted you to treat us as you would your immediate family, which before God, we are. "Do unto others, ALL that you would have done unto you." We were raped every day. Our children were starved every day. Our men were shot every day. Our women were mutilated every day. YOU DID NOTHING."
The lesson of the holocaust was entirely: IN THE FACE OF GENOCIDE THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD IMMEDIATELY LAY DOWN THEIR VERY LIVES UNTIL IT STOPS.
NEVER AGAIN DENY OUR FAMILY EMERGENCY! Eric Reeves, Brian Steidle and who else has laid down their lives for our Darfur FAMILY EMERGENCY?
The great desecration of the Holocaust didn't happen last month in Iran; it has been happening in the most Holocaust educated in the world, the US, for the last 4 years as we have risked nothing, suffered nothing, sacrificed nothing. We have done nothing.
Now we repent and vote immediately with our lives, WITH OUR LIVES giving Bush an iron clad, unmistakable mandate to end this, or we are Damned, and Darfur is dead.
Original, bad thinking? Strikingly parallel to what Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel had to say in 1938, possibly the most relevant prophetic, moral writing I've ever seen. For example:
* "We have trifled with the name of God. We have taken the ideals in vain. We have called for the Lord. He came. And was ignored. We have preached but eluded Him. We have praised but defied Him. Now we reap the fruits of our failure. Through centuries His voice cried in the wilderness. How skillfully it was trapped and imprisoned in the temples! How often it was drowned or distorted! Now we behold how it gradually withdraws, abandoning one people after another, departing from their souls, despising their wisdom. The taste for the good has all but gone from the earth. Men heap spite upon cruelty, malice upon atrocity."
* "Soldiers in the horror of battle offer solemn testimony that life is not a hunt for pleasure, but an engagement for service; that there are things more valuable than life; that the world is not a vacuum. Either we make it an altar for God or it is invaded by demons. "
* "The Almighty has not created the universe that we may have opportunities to satisfy our greed, envy and ambition. We have not survived that we may waste our years in vulgar vanities. The martyrdom of millions demands that we consecrate ourselves to the fulfillment of God’s dream of salvation. Israel did not accept the Torah of their own free will. When Israel approached Sinai, God lifted up the mountain and held it over their heads, saying: “Either you accept the Torah or be crushed beneath the mountain.
”The mountain of history is over our heads again. Shall we renew the covenant with God?"
YOUR LAST CHANCE/ THEIR LAST CHANCE: US & UK have the Security Council until June 30. This is your last chance to TRULY Stand with Darfur. Join a Brigade of PeaceMakers - Darfur, NOW.
See updates at all sites:
DARFUR'S LAST HOPE: Brigade of PeaceMakers: for Darfur. JOIN NOW
SAVING DARFUR, EARTH, OURSELVES: Jesus, God, Good...
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Holocaust Rescuers
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Peace and Nonviolence
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: David Dellinger
4 DARFUR HEROES; 21,000 FOR HOLOCAUST: Darfur Dying for Heroes
HUNGER STRIKE: Stand with Darfur: Sudan Embassy
WE'RE PROOF OF NO GENOCIDE: Darfur Genocide a Fraud
Actions 6/06 - 1/07: Stand With Darfur White House II
Actions 5/06 - 6/06: Stand With Darfur White House
Actions 7/05 - 5/06: Rescue Restore Darfur
Delphine Schrank, C01 (Post) Washington Post, April 14, 2007]
What is wrong with this nasty, angry man! Some of my brothers and sisters in the Darfur activist community must be wondering. The rest have simply written me off.
Imagine the three people in the world you love the very most. Remember how much you love them. Do it. Ok. Now imagine that 4 years ago an all powerful entity, God, came and disguised these loved ones as Darfuries beyond any hope of recognition and placed them in Darfur; and further told you that if you told anyone that your loved ones would die immediately. You are told that the only way you can save them is to stop the genocide and restore Darfuries to their lives. WOULD YOU BE ACTING ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU ARE NOW?!??!?!?!?!!?!?!?!??!? You sure as hell would.
Here is the other way that I look at it. Another one of tests of accountability I hold myself to in my personal actions is to imagine myself in Heaven after I die in front of my Darfur brothers and sisters explaining what I did or did not do. I think I'll do all right in these conversations. In similar conversations with my Cambodian, Rwandan, Balkan... brothers and sisters the behaviors of mine I describe will leave me shamed and without a shred of humanity.
[US & UK have the Security Council until June 30. This is your last chance to TRULY Stand with Darfur. Join a Brigade of PeaceMakers - Darfur, NOW.]
I apply the same test when considering the behavior of my brothers and sisters in the "Save Darfur Movement (SDM)." I envision the conversation going something like this:
SDM: "Yes, we knew it was 4 years. Yes we knew 450,000 exterminated. Yes we knew 2.5 million in concentration camps of forced starvation, rape, mutilation, murder and disease. We in the US agonized for you our Darfur brothers and sisters. We had meetings, and more meetings. We fasted from luxuries for one whole day per year. ONE ENTIRE DAY - WE ABSTAINED FROM ONE OF OUR LUXURIES! On another day we formed a human chain. On another day we sent postcards. POSTCARDS! In all there were one million! We divested our Colleges and States. Sure the real money came from China but it helped a little and it gave us great connections and enhanced our resumes too! Two different sunny afternoons we went to parks for demonstrations, and we even listened to some of the speakers! Wow, we really pulled out all the stops! I mean, what else would you have wanted??!?!?!
DARFUR: "We wanted you to treat us as you would your immediate family, which before God, we are. "Do unto others, ALL that you would have done unto you." We were raped every day. Our children were starved every day. Our men were shot every day. Our women were mutilated every day. YOU DID NOTHING."
The lesson of the holocaust was entirely: IN THE FACE OF GENOCIDE THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD IMMEDIATELY LAY DOWN THEIR VERY LIVES UNTIL IT STOPS.
NEVER AGAIN DENY OUR FAMILY EMERGENCY! Eric Reeves, Brian Steidle and who else has laid down their lives for our Darfur FAMILY EMERGENCY?
The great desecration of the Holocaust didn't happen last month in Iran; it has been happening in the most Holocaust educated in the world, the US, for the last 4 years as we have risked nothing, suffered nothing, sacrificed nothing. We have done nothing.
Now we repent and vote immediately with our lives, WITH OUR LIVES giving Bush an iron clad, unmistakable mandate to end this, or we are Damned, and Darfur is dead.
Original, bad thinking? Strikingly parallel to what Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel had to say in 1938, possibly the most relevant prophetic, moral writing I've ever seen. For example:
* "We have trifled with the name of God. We have taken the ideals in vain. We have called for the Lord. He came. And was ignored. We have preached but eluded Him. We have praised but defied Him. Now we reap the fruits of our failure. Through centuries His voice cried in the wilderness. How skillfully it was trapped and imprisoned in the temples! How often it was drowned or distorted! Now we behold how it gradually withdraws, abandoning one people after another, departing from their souls, despising their wisdom. The taste for the good has all but gone from the earth. Men heap spite upon cruelty, malice upon atrocity."
* "Soldiers in the horror of battle offer solemn testimony that life is not a hunt for pleasure, but an engagement for service; that there are things more valuable than life; that the world is not a vacuum. Either we make it an altar for God or it is invaded by demons. "
* "The Almighty has not created the universe that we may have opportunities to satisfy our greed, envy and ambition. We have not survived that we may waste our years in vulgar vanities. The martyrdom of millions demands that we consecrate ourselves to the fulfillment of God’s dream of salvation. Israel did not accept the Torah of their own free will. When Israel approached Sinai, God lifted up the mountain and held it over their heads, saying: “Either you accept the Torah or be crushed beneath the mountain.
”The mountain of history is over our heads again. Shall we renew the covenant with God?"
YOUR LAST CHANCE/ THEIR LAST CHANCE: US & UK have the Security Council until June 30. This is your last chance to TRULY Stand with Darfur. Join a Brigade of PeaceMakers - Darfur, NOW.
See updates at all sites:
DARFUR'S LAST HOPE: Brigade of PeaceMakers: for Darfur. JOIN NOW
SAVING DARFUR, EARTH, OURSELVES: Jesus, God, Good...
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Holocaust Rescuers
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Peace and Nonviolence
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: David Dellinger
4 DARFUR HEROES; 21,000 FOR HOLOCAUST: Darfur Dying for Heroes
HUNGER STRIKE: Stand with Darfur: Sudan Embassy
WE'RE PROOF OF NO GENOCIDE: Darfur Genocide a Fraud
Actions 6/06 - 1/07: Stand With Darfur White House II
Actions 5/06 - 6/06: Stand With Darfur White House
Actions 7/05 - 5/06: Rescue Restore Darfur
Thursday, April 12, 2007
US Christians shamefully exploit Darfur Genocide
1st letter of John, Chapter 2: "Whoever claims to abide in [Jesus] aught to live just as [Jesus] lived." Are we responding to Darfur as He would?
[SEE: A Hunger For Justice : Darfur Becomes One Man's Cause for Deprivation Delphine Schrank, C01 (Post) Washington Post, April 14, 2007]
GOLDEN RULE: "Do unto others ALL that you would have them do unto you." This has not been considered, let alone practiced. Inactivism thus far has been TOTAL MORAL FAILURE.
And who in the Darfur InActivist Christian Community is doing these? In year four of a genocide Jesus would be hanging banners? Jesus holding signs for an hour someplace all the while thinking and talking about everything except Darfur and having a grand social time of it? Jesus lobying with congress for a day? Jesus calling the President - and this is it?
"Do unto others ALL that you would have them do unto you."
"The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep."
This can be the day that Christianity, real "lays down his life" stuff came back to earth. It must be that day. We'll be given no more chances like Darfur.
Lay down your life for Darfur, with us or some other way - Brigade of PeaceMakers: for Darfur . Do it now. In the name of God.
See updates at all sites:
DARFUR'S LAST HOPE: Brigade of PeaceMakers: for Darfur. JOIN NOW SAVING DARFUR, EARTH, OURSELVES: Jesus, God, Good...
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Holocaust Rescuers
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: Peace and Nonviolence
REAL ACTIVISM LOOKS LIKE THIS: David Dellinger
4 DARFUR HEROES; 21,000 FOR HOLOCAUST: Darfur Dying for Heroes
HUNGER STRIKE: Stand with Darfur: Sudan Embassy
WE'RE PROOF OF NO GENOCIDE: Darfur Genocide a Fraud
Actions 6/06 - 1/07: Stand With Darfur White House II
Actions 5/06 - 6/06: Stand With Darfur White House
Actions 7/05 - 5/06: Rescue Restore Darfur
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Facing Prison for Darfur. Day #6 Hunger Strike in DC
It seems I face up to 6 months prison for fighting to stop the Darfur Genocide. Small price to pay.
In Januray I was on 23 hour/day vigil for Darfur at the White House. An old-school park police officer was on duty one night and decided he wanted me out of the park. After 60+ nights in the park vigiling for Darfur without arrest, he decided to chase me out. I would not leave my Darfur post. It was a nasty arrest. The next court date is March 21st.
The activists that have been demonstrating in the park for years agains war, nuclear weapons, etc. are kind of tired I think of my praising the professionalism and humanity of the police in the park. This gentlemen, this night, was a horrible exception.
In Januray I was on 23 hour/day vigil for Darfur at the White House. An old-school park police officer was on duty one night and decided he wanted me out of the park. After 60+ nights in the park vigiling for Darfur without arrest, he decided to chase me out. I would not leave my Darfur post. It was a nasty arrest. The next court date is March 21st.
The activists that have been demonstrating in the park for years agains war, nuclear weapons, etc. are kind of tired I think of my praising the professionalism and humanity of the police in the park. This gentlemen, this night, was a horrible exception.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
"Working" Hunger Strike for Darfur Day #3
Thomas is in the hospital. Yesterday we were a bit worried we might lose him. He couldn't breathe and by the 2nd day in the hospital they didn't know why. By yesterday afternoon they had him diagnosed with a degenerative lung blockage disease that had flared up. They placed him on a regimen of inhalation of medicine and he, it seems, pulled out of the danger zone. We cannot afford to lose Tomas, saint Thomas. Be a prayer for him.
Having begun the Hunger Strike for Darfur, almost literally on my way to the White House the morning of March 1st I came upon Thomas who was returning from his 25 year vigil. He reached his operations base and was obviously in great distress. I was asked to stay and help watch things while he was taken to the hospital. "Of course," I replied. Later in the day Thomas's wife Ellen called and said, "Thomas is hoping you will take his place at the 25 year vigil tonight." "Of course," I responded. It looks like it will be some days before Thomas can return. I've been asked to stand in until he can return. It is my great honor and privelage to take his place (inadequately as I can) until he can return. Ellen said I was the answer to many, many prayers. I am devestatingly humbled.
What about Darfur? Darfur is dying for Heroes, for lack of global brotherhood / humanity / Love / Otherishness / Spirit. Our Darfur Family can only be saved by the "Ransom" of This in the hearts of people. That is the work of the 25 year Peace Vigil. By working there I will be working for Darfur, although not as directly as I had planned, for now.
"Working" Hunger Strike? It is about a mile to the White House which I cover four times per day at 5:45am, 10:30am, 4:45pm and 10:30pm. Also, as time and energy permit I continue at construction on Thomas's base of operation. I figure this is 3-500 calories per day of energy I'd not be spending if I were stationary at the White House. I expect to consume this many calories per day as an offset.
Why Hunger Strike? How long? A hunger strike, if done out of the Spirit of brotherhood/Solidarity/Love/Service is a way of turning that Spirit, that Flame, up to high - turning up the Heat, Light, and Firemaking potential to maximum. Can it Ignite a bunch of people? As soaking wet as most of us, the wood, are? Hardly. But it might ignite a twig or so that happens to come near enough and be ready enough, and together we might then ignite a third.... And it will begin drying some of the other wood. Or not. G d knows.
Burning that hot (Hunger Strike) burns up the candle, the body. I'm expecting to continue for 45 days on only water. I've done electrolytes previously and this is too high tech, to "material." I expect to consume only water this time. At 45 days (it will not be a "working" hunger strike by then) I expect to consume about 400 calories per day for another month or so. This will be tough, but I'll probably make it through without too much damage to my body. No matter. What matters is that a Fire (Life) starts, and we stop the Darfur Genocide. Now.
Will this Hunger Strike do any Good? Certainly. Enough? Almost certainly not. Almost, certainly not.
Think of something more hopeful that I could do. If you succeed, tell me.
Having begun the Hunger Strike for Darfur, almost literally on my way to the White House the morning of March 1st I came upon Thomas who was returning from his 25 year vigil. He reached his operations base and was obviously in great distress. I was asked to stay and help watch things while he was taken to the hospital. "Of course," I replied. Later in the day Thomas's wife Ellen called and said, "Thomas is hoping you will take his place at the 25 year vigil tonight." "Of course," I responded. It looks like it will be some days before Thomas can return. I've been asked to stand in until he can return. It is my great honor and privelage to take his place (inadequately as I can) until he can return. Ellen said I was the answer to many, many prayers. I am devestatingly humbled.
What about Darfur? Darfur is dying for Heroes, for lack of global brotherhood / humanity / Love / Otherishness / Spirit. Our Darfur Family can only be saved by the "Ransom" of This in the hearts of people. That is the work of the 25 year Peace Vigil. By working there I will be working for Darfur, although not as directly as I had planned, for now.
"Working" Hunger Strike? It is about a mile to the White House which I cover four times per day at 5:45am, 10:30am, 4:45pm and 10:30pm. Also, as time and energy permit I continue at construction on Thomas's base of operation. I figure this is 3-500 calories per day of energy I'd not be spending if I were stationary at the White House. I expect to consume this many calories per day as an offset.
Why Hunger Strike? How long? A hunger strike, if done out of the Spirit of brotherhood/Solidarity/Love/Service is a way of turning that Spirit, that Flame, up to high - turning up the Heat, Light, and Firemaking potential to maximum. Can it Ignite a bunch of people? As soaking wet as most of us, the wood, are? Hardly. But it might ignite a twig or so that happens to come near enough and be ready enough, and together we might then ignite a third.... And it will begin drying some of the other wood. Or not. G d knows.
Burning that hot (Hunger Strike) burns up the candle, the body. I'm expecting to continue for 45 days on only water. I've done electrolytes previously and this is too high tech, to "material." I expect to consume only water this time. At 45 days (it will not be a "working" hunger strike by then) I expect to consume about 400 calories per day for another month or so. This will be tough, but I'll probably make it through without too much damage to my body. No matter. What matters is that a Fire (Life) starts, and we stop the Darfur Genocide. Now.
Will this Hunger Strike do any Good? Certainly. Enough? Almost certainly not. Almost, certainly not.
Think of something more hopeful that I could do. If you succeed, tell me.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Darfur Hunger Strike Resumes
My delay in returning to the White House is at an end. I have had a wonderful opportunity to contribute to some folks that have been waging a heroic war of brotherhood for all humanity for many decades. I hope I've been of some help to them. It is time to return to the Darfur side of my family.
Beyond that there is not much to say except what I've already written:
How does an outsider live in the face of Genocide?...
Darfur Hunger Strike March 1st; Ascent Begun
JESUS LED US TOWARD SUFFERING. Less we'll do for ...
Dave Dellinger Quotations Blog
I'm a bit worried about doing a Hunger Strike in what remains of winter. But, I'm even more worried about delaying any longer, just like what everyone else is doing. In killing time we are killing Darfur.
My Spirit is very good by the way. There has not been a second in as many months as I can remember now where the teaching's of Jesus (Tolstoy's "Gospel in Brief") have not demonstrated themselves to me as a better compass toward Joy / Life / Love / Peace / Truth / Heaven on Earth than everything I have ever known that says the contrary - that Stuff, Superiority and Systems/Institutions (even the worship of the "my" family Institution. ESPECIALLY "MY" FAMILY...) are the way. They are not. Waging TOTAL Love/Brotherhood is the way. As Ashley Montegue said, "The evils of the world are not due to the absence of love, but rather the presence of tribal love." (or something like that.)
Last night is the first time that the following has occurred to me, but in flashes such as what occurred this is how Jesus brilliance comes to me. I can see that once the System got a clear experience with Jesus, Jesus' days were numbered. They would dispose of him quickly. Not that it was a simple matter of plot or malevolence. There really is no malevolence in a pit bull. Killing life is simply what pit bulls do.
And, it is not quite that simple either. HEROES: Heaven on Earth (by whatever name you call it) is the Reign of Otherishness displacing Selfishness. Jesus was a Hero. Both Otherishness and Selfishness cannot reign. They are mutually exclusive. They literally kill/displace each other. Well, in Jesus day Selfishness reigned. The prevailing Systems/Institutions "sensed" Jesus as a mortal threat; He was. Their very being required that they be drawn toward killing Him before simply by His being and infecting others with Otherishness He killed them - the Systems/Institutions. Well, you say, but men killed Jesus. Men had in Truth enslaved themselves to the God of Mammon - Systems/Institutions. It is the same today, but much, much, much, much more so.
We may be laughing at j's delusionalism weeks or months ahead - his aggrandizement, and demonization of U.S. Systems/Institutions/Way of Life (Death). My guess is that we will not be laughing. Once I enter the system (the wrongful "Camping" at the White House on 23hr/day Darfur Vigil arrest has a court date of 3/21; Guantanamo arrest - April something; next; etc.) they will have to destroy me. They will want me to accept the inhuman treatment we Americans administer to millions of prisoners, and I suspect I will refuse to cooperate. As Gandhi said, "It is as much my moral obligation not to cooperate with evil as it is to cooperate with good." If they do not destroy me, my example will be a great threat to them. What would the other prisoners do?
No matter. What matters is that we Rescue and Restore Darfur. Now. Join the Heroes. Darfur is Dying for Heroes.
Beyond that there is not much to say except what I've already written:
How does an outsider live in the face of Genocide?...
Darfur Hunger Strike March 1st; Ascent Begun
JESUS LED US TOWARD SUFFERING. Less we'll do for ...
Dave Dellinger Quotations Blog
I'm a bit worried about doing a Hunger Strike in what remains of winter. But, I'm even more worried about delaying any longer, just like what everyone else is doing. In killing time we are killing Darfur.
My Spirit is very good by the way. There has not been a second in as many months as I can remember now where the teaching's of Jesus (Tolstoy's "Gospel in Brief") have not demonstrated themselves to me as a better compass toward Joy / Life / Love / Peace / Truth / Heaven on Earth than everything I have ever known that says the contrary - that Stuff, Superiority and Systems/Institutions (even the worship of the "my" family Institution. ESPECIALLY "MY" FAMILY...) are the way. They are not. Waging TOTAL Love/Brotherhood is the way. As Ashley Montegue said, "The evils of the world are not due to the absence of love, but rather the presence of tribal love." (or something like that.)
Last night is the first time that the following has occurred to me, but in flashes such as what occurred this is how Jesus brilliance comes to me. I can see that once the System got a clear experience with Jesus, Jesus' days were numbered. They would dispose of him quickly. Not that it was a simple matter of plot or malevolence. There really is no malevolence in a pit bull. Killing life is simply what pit bulls do.
And, it is not quite that simple either. HEROES: Heaven on Earth (by whatever name you call it) is the Reign of Otherishness displacing Selfishness. Jesus was a Hero. Both Otherishness and Selfishness cannot reign. They are mutually exclusive. They literally kill/displace each other. Well, in Jesus day Selfishness reigned. The prevailing Systems/Institutions "sensed" Jesus as a mortal threat; He was. Their very being required that they be drawn toward killing Him before simply by His being and infecting others with Otherishness He killed them - the Systems/Institutions. Well, you say, but men killed Jesus. Men had in Truth enslaved themselves to the God of Mammon - Systems/Institutions. It is the same today, but much, much, much, much more so.
We may be laughing at j's delusionalism weeks or months ahead - his aggrandizement, and demonization of U.S. Systems/Institutions/Way of Life (Death). My guess is that we will not be laughing. Once I enter the system (the wrongful "Camping" at the White House on 23hr/day Darfur Vigil arrest has a court date of 3/21; Guantanamo arrest - April something; next; etc.) they will have to destroy me. They will want me to accept the inhuman treatment we Americans administer to millions of prisoners, and I suspect I will refuse to cooperate. As Gandhi said, "It is as much my moral obligation not to cooperate with evil as it is to cooperate with good." If they do not destroy me, my example will be a great threat to them. What would the other prisoners do?
No matter. What matters is that we Rescue and Restore Darfur. Now. Join the Heroes. Darfur is Dying for Heroes.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Darfur: SO RUDE! 4 yrs of emails but gang rape continues.
The Janjaweed are so rude! We nice, rich folks in the US have been sending emails to Congress for four years now. We blog, but the Darfur gang-rapes continue! We fast-from-luxuries, but Darfur murder continues! We occasionally march, but Darfur atrocities continue! Bashir is so inconsiderate of us!
Source: Trócaire
Date: 23 Feb 2007
The Darfur conflict: four years on
The 23rd of February 2007 marks four years of brutal conflict between the Government of Sudan and rebel groups in the western region of Darfur. Throughout this time hundreds of thousands of people have died, with estimates of the mortality rate ranging from 200,000 to 400,000. The violence has displaced over 2.5 million people from their homes. Those who have survived attacks on their villages have often sought refuge in the sprawling IDP camps that have multiplied in Darfur, or alternatively have tried to find shelter across the border in refugee camps in eastern Chad, also plagued by 'spillover' violence from Darfur.
Worsening Insecurity
Ongoing insecurity makes life for the people of Darfur extremely challenging with over 4 million out of a population of 7 million now affected by the conflict. Yet as needs rise in the context of such alarming insecurity, the ability of humanitarian agencies to meet these needs is also threatened. The targeting and killing of humanitarian workers and the hijacking of humanitarian vehicles and supplies have recently prompted several relief agencies to suspend operations and relocate staff away from the most insecure areas of Darfur, or to withdraw from Darfur altogether.
World's worst humanitarian crisis
... and the article continues: The Darfur conflict: four years on
To contact Trócaire's press team:
Republic of Ireland
Catherine Ginty,
Press Officer,
Trócaire.
T: +353 1 505 3270
M: 086 629 3994
Northern Ireland & UK
David O'Hare ,
Press Officer,
Trócaire.
T: 028 90 80 80 30
M: +44 7900053884
Source:Reliefweb
Source: Trócaire
Date: 23 Feb 2007
The Darfur conflict: four years on
The 23rd of February 2007 marks four years of brutal conflict between the Government of Sudan and rebel groups in the western region of Darfur. Throughout this time hundreds of thousands of people have died, with estimates of the mortality rate ranging from 200,000 to 400,000. The violence has displaced over 2.5 million people from their homes. Those who have survived attacks on their villages have often sought refuge in the sprawling IDP camps that have multiplied in Darfur, or alternatively have tried to find shelter across the border in refugee camps in eastern Chad, also plagued by 'spillover' violence from Darfur.
Worsening Insecurity
Ongoing insecurity makes life for the people of Darfur extremely challenging with over 4 million out of a population of 7 million now affected by the conflict. Yet as needs rise in the context of such alarming insecurity, the ability of humanitarian agencies to meet these needs is also threatened. The targeting and killing of humanitarian workers and the hijacking of humanitarian vehicles and supplies have recently prompted several relief agencies to suspend operations and relocate staff away from the most insecure areas of Darfur, or to withdraw from Darfur altogether.
World's worst humanitarian crisis
... and the article continues: The Darfur conflict: four years on
To contact Trócaire's press team:
Republic of Ireland
Catherine Ginty,
Press Officer,
Trócaire.
T: +353 1 505 3270
M: 086 629 3994
Northern Ireland & UK
David O'Hare ,
Press Officer,
Trócaire.
T: 028 90 80 80 30
M: +44 7900053884
Source:Reliefweb
Friday, February 16, 2007
Darfur Genocide is Killing What's Left of the UN
Duh. Every day of clearly demonstrated impotence and lip-service regarding Darfur Genocide by the UN kills just a bit more of what is left of the Hope of the UN to be a constructive force in the world. Darfur is Dying. The UN is dying. Ban Ki-moon is dying.
UN's Ban Accuses Sudan of Blocking Human Rights MissionHULIQ, NC - 18 minutes agoThe UN chief also said he is awaiting a report from his special envoy to Darfur Jan Eliasson of Sweden on formation of a hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur. He told reporters he is concerned that conditions are worsening as President ...
UN's Ban Accuses Sudan of Blocking Human Rights MissionHULIQ, NC - 18 minutes agoThe UN chief also said he is awaiting a report from his special envoy to Darfur Jan Eliasson of Sweden on formation of a hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur. He told reporters he is concerned that conditions are worsening as President ...
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Save Darfur? Save Darfur AND save ourselves while there is time
Here is why we do not Save Darfur. We in the US have so lost our humanity we will not save our children; we certainly will not Save Darfur! UN REPORT OF CHILD HEALTH
Time to do both - Save Darfur AND save our Humanity. We are out of time.
Full Article: Children left in the shadows
Full UN REPORT: An Overview of Child-Wellbeing in Rich Countries
...The United Nations report, published today, reveals that the richest countries in the world are conversely some of the poorest when it comes to their treatment of children.
Joining the UK with the worst child welfare record is the US, the world's only superpower and considered to be the beating heart of the world's economy.
Both Britain and the US found themselves in the bottom third of the rankings for five of six areas of child welfare.
Many social studies experts say the only way to reverse the trend is to solve the root of the problem - public attitudes in Britain to children. Some say the modern way of life leaves little time for children, who are often seen in the rat-race culture as a pest.
Time to do both - Save Darfur AND save our Humanity. We are out of time.
Full Article: Children left in the shadows
Full UN REPORT: An Overview of Child-Wellbeing in Rich Countries
...The United Nations report, published today, reveals that the richest countries in the world are conversely some of the poorest when it comes to their treatment of children.
Joining the UK with the worst child welfare record is the US, the world's only superpower and considered to be the beating heart of the world's economy.
Both Britain and the US found themselves in the bottom third of the rankings for five of six areas of child welfare.
Many social studies experts say the only way to reverse the trend is to solve the root of the problem - public attitudes in Britain to children. Some say the modern way of life leaves little time for children, who are often seen in the rat-race culture as a pest.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Genocide in Darfur? We are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."
Genocide in Darfur?
We Americans are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."
Apartheid/Genocide in Israel/Palestine?
We Americans are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."
Three million slaughtered in Congo to steal raw materials for western "stuff?"
We Americans are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."
etc...
etc...
etc....
Why the hell have I spent four of the last eight months in front of the White House regarding Darfur Genocide? Because I can't continue to be "all evidence to the contrary."
I've just watched "Rachel Corrie: An American Consicience." At youtube you can find snippets on Rachel (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, more Rachel). But this movie is devistatingly effective at showing the Genocide of the Palastinian people.
We Americans, the normal day-to-day lives (deaths) we live are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."
We Americans are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."
Apartheid/Genocide in Israel/Palestine?
We Americans are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."
Three million slaughtered in Congo to steal raw materials for western "stuff?"
We Americans are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."
etc...
etc...
etc....
Why the hell have I spent four of the last eight months in front of the White House regarding Darfur Genocide? Because I can't continue to be "all evidence to the contrary."
I've just watched "Rachel Corrie: An American Consicience." At youtube you can find snippets on Rachel (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, more Rachel). But this movie is devistatingly effective at showing the Genocide of the Palastinian people.
We Americans, the normal day-to-day lives (deaths) we live are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."
Sunday, February 11, 2007
REEVES OLYMPIC IDEA: SHAME CHINA ON DARFUR
On China and the 2008 Olympic Games: An open letter to Darfur activists and advocates (by Eric Reeves)
The full-scale launch of a large, organized campaign to highlight China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide appears likely to begin soon. But it’s past time to start thinking about how to tap the creative power of students and other Darfur advocates in this critical initiative. Enough of selling green bracelets and writing letters to those who are content with posturing or avoiding the central challenge of the moment: changing the international diplomatic dynamic in ways that will result in deployment of an international peace-support operation to Darfur, one that can provide adequate protection to civilians and humanitarians. Without such security, humanitarian organizations will continue to withdraw and hundreds of thousands of additional Darfuri lives will be lost.
It’s time, now, to begin shaming China---demanding that if the Beijing government is going to host the premier international event, the Summer Olympic Games of 2008, they must be responsible international partners. China’s slogan for these Olympic Games---“One world, one dream”---is a ghastly irony, given Beijing’s complicity in the Darfur genocide (see the website for China’s hosting of the Olympic Games at http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/beijing/index_uk.asp). The Chinese leadership must understand that if they refuse to use their unrivaled political, economic, and diplomatic leverage with Khartoum to secure access for the force authorized under UN Security Council Resolution 1706, then they will face an extremely vigorous, unrelenting, and omnipresent campaign to shame them over this refusal.
To succeed, such a campaign must be fully international in character. The first order of business, I believe, is to fashion creative means for translating key talking points and broader analyses into a variety of languages and exporting them to as many countries as possible. If people come to understand the connection between China as host of the Olympic Games and China as silent partner in the Darfur genocide, they may well be moved to object to this intensely dismaying double role. But they must understand the connection clearly.
How to proceed? With knowledge comes both power and responsibility; the key task is to transfer knowledge to those presently ignorant of China’s role in Sudan generally and Darfur specifically. Some possible bullet points are offered below. Further below is an analysis of Chinese President Hu’s recent business trip to Khartoum, as well as two opinion pieces on the “Genocide Olympics.”
It is important to remember that this should not, in my strongly held view, be a campaign to boycott the Olympics: a boycott would defeat the whole purpose of the campaign, and be deeply divisive. Moreover, if a boycott were successful (extremely unlikely) the political platform from which to challenge China would disappear. Further, a boycott in and of itself achieves nothing: the challenge is to shame China, to hold Beijing’s leaders accountable, to make them understand that without exerting all necessary pressure on Khartoum, the current campaign will only grow in strength and visibility right up to the Opening Ceremonies.
Nor are athletes the targets. Certainly they can be encouraged to wear a green stripe, of whatever prominence and size they dare, on their athletic attire as a symbol of their support for the people of Darfur. Certainly they should be encouraged to speak out publicly on Darfur. But the Olympic athletes are not the target: the Beijing regime is. The regime alone has the power to change the current diplomatic dynamic in ways that will force Khartoum to allow in the forces that can provide security to the victims of ongoing genocide. China, not the Olympic Games or its participants, is the target.
What are the key initial tasks?
There is tremendous scope for creative advocacy here, and for the deployment of diverse skills and energies: linguistic, [Internet], communications, graphic design, advocacy writing, and organizational. What happens, for example, if 1,000 students and advocates demonstrate before the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., declaring with banner, placards, and T-shirts that China will be held accountable for its complicity in the Darfur genocide? What happens if such demonstrations are continuous, and grow, and take place outside China’s embassies in other countries? [In] many other countries? What happens if everywhere---everywhere---Chinese diplomats and politicians travel they are confronted by those who insist on making this an occasion for highlighting China’s role in the Darfur genocide?
Aspiring or experienced documentarians can make full use of extensive and widely available photography and videography to make short films that highlight the tradition of the Olympic Games, the Darfur genocide, and China’s role. It would not be inappropriate to include footage of the 1936 Olympic Games, held in Nazi Germany, as an example of a precedent for current concerns about genocide in Darfur. The opportunities for graphic artists, using photography and other resources, are also innumerable. Everything from high-quality PDF files to screensavers, bumper-stickers, posters, T-shirts, and coffee mugs can send the key message.
Translation is a key task: this cannot be an American or even Western campaign. China must feel the shaming pressure from all quarters. Those with advanced language skills---French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Swahili, German, Italian, Russian, Hungarian, Czech, or others---should start putting those skills to use in translating key texts and advocacy suggestions from English. Those with contacts in other countries should start networking, creating an advocacy presence on as many international fronts as possible. Human Rights in China (http://www.hrichina.org/public/index) may be an organization with the potential to introduce the issue into China itself. Other such means of taking the campaign directly to Beijing are available.
Letter-writing and petition campaigns that alert the International Olympic Committee (http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp) to the terrible disgrace of China’s dual role---sustaining the Darfur genocide and hosting the Games---will certainly register. Similar campaigns to urge Olympic corporate sponsors to use their leverage with the Chinese might also be effective: this is the season for corporate sponsorship agreements to be finalized.
To succeed, this campaign must go “viral”: it must be potent, creative, focused, and uncontrollable. It must take every advantage of the various means offered by the era of electronic communication (I’ll offer links on my website, www.sudanreeves.org, to particularly useful or creative efforts). The Chinese must be forced to see that there is a stark choice before them: either they use their leverage effectively with Khartoum and secure the regime’s assent for deployment of the UN peace support operation---authorized by Security Council Resolution 1706---or they will be the target of the most powerful international shaming campaign in history. The Chinese must understand that there is no third option, no “third way.”
The general lack of effective advocacy actions and initiatives has not been lost on Khartoum’s ruthless génocidaires. Despite the very high profile and potent nature of the American Darfur advocacy movement, and despite the enormous and consequential successes of the American-led divestment campaign, the pressure must be ratcheted up a good deal higher. Other European companies may well follow the lead of Germany’s Siemens and Switzerland’s ABB Ltd: both recently suspended operations in Sudan, as demanded by the divestment campaign that is currently a powerful success nationally. Such ongoing loss of European commercial and capital investment certainly has the full attention of the National Islamic Front leadership. But these losses must be combined with concerted diplomatic pressure from the Chinese, Khartoum’s dominant economic partner and military enabler, and heretofore unwavering diplomatic protector.
The task is daunting but fully practicable, given the moral passion and creative energies of the Darfur advocacy community. Let the campaigns begin!
Some suggested bullet points on China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide:
CHINA, HOST OF THE 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES, IS COMPLICIT IN THE DARFUR GENOCIDE:
LEFT CIVILIANS IN DARFUR AT RISK
•China abstained from UN Security Council Resolution 1706 (August 2006), compromising international support for a critically needed peace support operation in Darfur
SUPPORTED THE KHARTOUM REGIME
•China has repeatedly and uncritically supported claims of national sovereignty by Khartoum, emboldening the regime in its defiance of the UN and international community
IGNORED ATROCITIES THROUGHOUT SUDAN
•In pursuit of Sudan’s oil riches, China has for many years ignored massive human rights abuses and atrocity crimes by the Khartoum regime throughout Sudan
SUPPLIED THE WEAPONS
•China has been Khartoum’s leading weapons supplier over the past decade and more; many of these weapons have been used in Darfur
GAVE THE NOD TO GENOCIDE
•China has sent the diplomatic signals which, in their tepid nature, convince Khartoum it can complete its genocidal counter-insurgency war in Darfur without serious consequences
TIME FOR CHINA TO PRESSURE KHARTOUM TO STOP THE GENOCIDE:
•It is time for China to recognize that it cannot be a legitimate host of the 2008 Olympic Games while remaining complicit in Darfur’s genocidal destruction. China must use its enormous leverage with Khartoum to secure consent for the deployment of international forces fully capable of protecting civilians and humanitarians in Darfur and eastern Chad.
•If China refuses, Beijing must face an unprecedented, unwavering, unstoppable campaign of shame---one that will attach an unbearable opprobrium to genocidal complicity.
“Understanding President Hu’s Business Trip to Khartoum” at http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article20115 [and]http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article151.html
Articles on the “Genocide Olympics” [essentially a pairing of a recent "Washington Post" editorial and Reeves' subsequent "Boston Globe" op-ed] at http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article19956 [and] http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article142.html
Eric Reeves
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063
413-585-3326
ereeves@email.smith.edu
www.sudanreeves.org
The full-scale launch of a large, organized campaign to highlight China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide appears likely to begin soon. But it’s past time to start thinking about how to tap the creative power of students and other Darfur advocates in this critical initiative. Enough of selling green bracelets and writing letters to those who are content with posturing or avoiding the central challenge of the moment: changing the international diplomatic dynamic in ways that will result in deployment of an international peace-support operation to Darfur, one that can provide adequate protection to civilians and humanitarians. Without such security, humanitarian organizations will continue to withdraw and hundreds of thousands of additional Darfuri lives will be lost.
It’s time, now, to begin shaming China---demanding that if the Beijing government is going to host the premier international event, the Summer Olympic Games of 2008, they must be responsible international partners. China’s slogan for these Olympic Games---“One world, one dream”---is a ghastly irony, given Beijing’s complicity in the Darfur genocide (see the website for China’s hosting of the Olympic Games at http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/beijing/index_uk.asp). The Chinese leadership must understand that if they refuse to use their unrivaled political, economic, and diplomatic leverage with Khartoum to secure access for the force authorized under UN Security Council Resolution 1706, then they will face an extremely vigorous, unrelenting, and omnipresent campaign to shame them over this refusal.
To succeed, such a campaign must be fully international in character. The first order of business, I believe, is to fashion creative means for translating key talking points and broader analyses into a variety of languages and exporting them to as many countries as possible. If people come to understand the connection between China as host of the Olympic Games and China as silent partner in the Darfur genocide, they may well be moved to object to this intensely dismaying double role. But they must understand the connection clearly.
How to proceed? With knowledge comes both power and responsibility; the key task is to transfer knowledge to those presently ignorant of China’s role in Sudan generally and Darfur specifically. Some possible bullet points are offered below. Further below is an analysis of Chinese President Hu’s recent business trip to Khartoum, as well as two opinion pieces on the “Genocide Olympics.”
It is important to remember that this should not, in my strongly held view, be a campaign to boycott the Olympics: a boycott would defeat the whole purpose of the campaign, and be deeply divisive. Moreover, if a boycott were successful (extremely unlikely) the political platform from which to challenge China would disappear. Further, a boycott in and of itself achieves nothing: the challenge is to shame China, to hold Beijing’s leaders accountable, to make them understand that without exerting all necessary pressure on Khartoum, the current campaign will only grow in strength and visibility right up to the Opening Ceremonies.
Nor are athletes the targets. Certainly they can be encouraged to wear a green stripe, of whatever prominence and size they dare, on their athletic attire as a symbol of their support for the people of Darfur. Certainly they should be encouraged to speak out publicly on Darfur. But the Olympic athletes are not the target: the Beijing regime is. The regime alone has the power to change the current diplomatic dynamic in ways that will force Khartoum to allow in the forces that can provide security to the victims of ongoing genocide. China, not the Olympic Games or its participants, is the target.
What are the key initial tasks?
There is tremendous scope for creative advocacy here, and for the deployment of diverse skills and energies: linguistic, [Internet], communications, graphic design, advocacy writing, and organizational. What happens, for example, if 1,000 students and advocates demonstrate before the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., declaring with banner, placards, and T-shirts that China will be held accountable for its complicity in the Darfur genocide? What happens if such demonstrations are continuous, and grow, and take place outside China’s embassies in other countries? [In] many other countries? What happens if everywhere---everywhere---Chinese diplomats and politicians travel they are confronted by those who insist on making this an occasion for highlighting China’s role in the Darfur genocide?
Aspiring or experienced documentarians can make full use of extensive and widely available photography and videography to make short films that highlight the tradition of the Olympic Games, the Darfur genocide, and China’s role. It would not be inappropriate to include footage of the 1936 Olympic Games, held in Nazi Germany, as an example of a precedent for current concerns about genocide in Darfur. The opportunities for graphic artists, using photography and other resources, are also innumerable. Everything from high-quality PDF files to screensavers, bumper-stickers, posters, T-shirts, and coffee mugs can send the key message.
Translation is a key task: this cannot be an American or even Western campaign. China must feel the shaming pressure from all quarters. Those with advanced language skills---French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Swahili, German, Italian, Russian, Hungarian, Czech, or others---should start putting those skills to use in translating key texts and advocacy suggestions from English. Those with contacts in other countries should start networking, creating an advocacy presence on as many international fronts as possible. Human Rights in China (http://www.hrichina.org/public/index) may be an organization with the potential to introduce the issue into China itself. Other such means of taking the campaign directly to Beijing are available.
Letter-writing and petition campaigns that alert the International Olympic Committee (http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp) to the terrible disgrace of China’s dual role---sustaining the Darfur genocide and hosting the Games---will certainly register. Similar campaigns to urge Olympic corporate sponsors to use their leverage with the Chinese might also be effective: this is the season for corporate sponsorship agreements to be finalized.
To succeed, this campaign must go “viral”: it must be potent, creative, focused, and uncontrollable. It must take every advantage of the various means offered by the era of electronic communication (I’ll offer links on my website, www.sudanreeves.org, to particularly useful or creative efforts). The Chinese must be forced to see that there is a stark choice before them: either they use their leverage effectively with Khartoum and secure the regime’s assent for deployment of the UN peace support operation---authorized by Security Council Resolution 1706---or they will be the target of the most powerful international shaming campaign in history. The Chinese must understand that there is no third option, no “third way.”
The general lack of effective advocacy actions and initiatives has not been lost on Khartoum’s ruthless génocidaires. Despite the very high profile and potent nature of the American Darfur advocacy movement, and despite the enormous and consequential successes of the American-led divestment campaign, the pressure must be ratcheted up a good deal higher. Other European companies may well follow the lead of Germany’s Siemens and Switzerland’s ABB Ltd: both recently suspended operations in Sudan, as demanded by the divestment campaign that is currently a powerful success nationally. Such ongoing loss of European commercial and capital investment certainly has the full attention of the National Islamic Front leadership. But these losses must be combined with concerted diplomatic pressure from the Chinese, Khartoum’s dominant economic partner and military enabler, and heretofore unwavering diplomatic protector.
The task is daunting but fully practicable, given the moral passion and creative energies of the Darfur advocacy community. Let the campaigns begin!
Some suggested bullet points on China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide:
CHINA, HOST OF THE 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES, IS COMPLICIT IN THE DARFUR GENOCIDE:
LEFT CIVILIANS IN DARFUR AT RISK
•China abstained from UN Security Council Resolution 1706 (August 2006), compromising international support for a critically needed peace support operation in Darfur
SUPPORTED THE KHARTOUM REGIME
•China has repeatedly and uncritically supported claims of national sovereignty by Khartoum, emboldening the regime in its defiance of the UN and international community
IGNORED ATROCITIES THROUGHOUT SUDAN
•In pursuit of Sudan’s oil riches, China has for many years ignored massive human rights abuses and atrocity crimes by the Khartoum regime throughout Sudan
SUPPLIED THE WEAPONS
•China has been Khartoum’s leading weapons supplier over the past decade and more; many of these weapons have been used in Darfur
GAVE THE NOD TO GENOCIDE
•China has sent the diplomatic signals which, in their tepid nature, convince Khartoum it can complete its genocidal counter-insurgency war in Darfur without serious consequences
TIME FOR CHINA TO PRESSURE KHARTOUM TO STOP THE GENOCIDE:
•It is time for China to recognize that it cannot be a legitimate host of the 2008 Olympic Games while remaining complicit in Darfur’s genocidal destruction. China must use its enormous leverage with Khartoum to secure consent for the deployment of international forces fully capable of protecting civilians and humanitarians in Darfur and eastern Chad.
•If China refuses, Beijing must face an unprecedented, unwavering, unstoppable campaign of shame---one that will attach an unbearable opprobrium to genocidal complicity.
“Understanding President Hu’s Business Trip to Khartoum” at http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article20115 [and]http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article151.html
Articles on the “Genocide Olympics” [essentially a pairing of a recent "Washington Post" editorial and Reeves' subsequent "Boston Globe" op-ed] at http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article19956 [and] http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article142.html
Eric Reeves
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063
413-585-3326
ereeves@email.smith.edu
www.sudanreeves.org
Friday, February 09, 2007
"This has to stop..."
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Darfur: Necessary components for resolution by June 30
Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy
Darfur Hunger Strike Day 35: To The Death or Resolution by June 30
Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy
Darfur Hunger Strike Moves to Sudan Embassy 24 Hours Per Day
Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy
Darfur Hunger Striker's Letter to President el-Bashir
Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy
Monday, January 29, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Returning, but not so fast
Hmm. Per the previous post - our job of world-saving is to spread the fire of brotherhood, of "blessed community" as Dave Dellinger says it. This is an art more than a science. I am convinced that we must be ever vigilant for opportunities, and take them regardless of what others may think. In dramatic and non-dramatic circumstances our rule must be like that of Gandhi - "I will admit but one tyrant in my life, the still, small voice within."
At each moment our job is to spend our seconds having the greatest impact we possibly can on building the community. One of the highest leverage, highest impact opportunities is to protect, value, encourage and build an existing community that has some significant goodness to it, and or significant future promise. It is also a sacred opportunity to extend kindness and support to those that have been fighting the war at extreme personal cost.
To my surprise I remain in DC but away from the White House Darfur Stand Vigil. A rough edged, but to my eyes, "Blessed Community" that has fought for humanity for decades at great personal sacrifice continues to offer me the opportunity to help them with a construction project that they need completed. It is totally unglamorous. Extremely menial. Yet, I find it a sacred opportunity. I don't suspect many others would see it the same. As a matter of fact, this opportunity could be known by hundreds of folks because the activists I am helping are internationally known. So, by definition others don't see the opportunity as I do. :-)
The project just expanded so I expect to be away from the White House for yet another week. In my imagination I "check in" with my Darfur family and I get an "OK" from them regarding this detour. Surprising, but true.
jay
ps: Oh yes, Jesus WAS a carpenter. Me too right now.
pps: The activists I am helping include members that vigil outside in this freezing weather 12 hours a day. I'm pretty sure that in some small part they are trying to keep me out of that same cold the 23hrs/day as otherwise I would be. I feel no reluctance to be in the cold and actually miss serving in that way right now. However, our Father's will, not mine, be done. God/Good works in mysterious ways. :-)
At each moment our job is to spend our seconds having the greatest impact we possibly can on building the community. One of the highest leverage, highest impact opportunities is to protect, value, encourage and build an existing community that has some significant goodness to it, and or significant future promise. It is also a sacred opportunity to extend kindness and support to those that have been fighting the war at extreme personal cost.
To my surprise I remain in DC but away from the White House Darfur Stand Vigil. A rough edged, but to my eyes, "Blessed Community" that has fought for humanity for decades at great personal sacrifice continues to offer me the opportunity to help them with a construction project that they need completed. It is totally unglamorous. Extremely menial. Yet, I find it a sacred opportunity. I don't suspect many others would see it the same. As a matter of fact, this opportunity could be known by hundreds of folks because the activists I am helping are internationally known. So, by definition others don't see the opportunity as I do. :-)
The project just expanded so I expect to be away from the White House for yet another week. In my imagination I "check in" with my Darfur family and I get an "OK" from them regarding this detour. Surprising, but true.
jay
ps: Oh yes, Jesus WAS a carpenter. Me too right now.
pps: The activists I am helping include members that vigil outside in this freezing weather 12 hours a day. I'm pretty sure that in some small part they are trying to keep me out of that same cold the 23hrs/day as otherwise I would be. I feel no reluctance to be in the cold and actually miss serving in that way right now. However, our Father's will, not mine, be done. God/Good works in mysterious ways. :-)
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Returning to the White House
The objective of the "war" is for the victory of Love over Greed; Brotherhood over Selfishness; Health over Cancer.... I suspect that Always my call will be to serve in this war with my assignment/call on any particular day, in any particular hour, to be whatever best can help win this war.
For three years now Darfur Genocide has been the strategic focus I have been called to in this war. I suspect that this will continue.
However, from time to time I have been, and will continue to be called on temporary alternate assignments.
I am just now finishing up one such alternative assignment. For the last seven months the Washington Peace Center and the 25 Year Peace Vigil at the White House have been a Godsend to the Stand With Darfur - White House II (and I (one))vigil. Their contributions have been of God / Good. For the past week I've had an opportunity to make a contribution to them by helping in some construction they needed done on an office. It has been my honor and joy to do so.
I fully expect that by week's end I'll be back 23hrs/day at the White House.
For three years now Darfur Genocide has been the strategic focus I have been called to in this war. I suspect that this will continue.
However, from time to time I have been, and will continue to be called on temporary alternate assignments.
I am just now finishing up one such alternative assignment. For the last seven months the Washington Peace Center and the 25 Year Peace Vigil at the White House have been a Godsend to the Stand With Darfur - White House II (and I (one))vigil. Their contributions have been of God / Good. For the past week I've had an opportunity to make a contribution to them by helping in some construction they needed done on an office. It has been my honor and joy to do so.
I fully expect that by week's end I'll be back 23hrs/day at the White House.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Darfur: Our life is entirely to address such needs
Wow. Wish you were here! Where, DC? :-) No. Here closer to the Kingdom.
"[The Kingdom] consists in fulfillment of the Father's will and that fulfillment depends on each man's efforts and striving that people might understand that life is given not for oneself personally but only for the fulfillment of the Father's will, which alone saves us from death and gives life...." Gospel in Brief, Leo Tolstoy. The Father? The Father of us all. Real? I hope not. Indespensible as an imaginary construct - yes. To my shock and utter delight - yes.
WOW. My experience of these recent days is that I'm pretty close to conforming with the above. Oh my God, it is awesome. YES, this is absurd from the perspective of the religion of our society - greed; Life is given for my personal pleasure and for that of a few people around me. Oh my God, this is such an empty, joyless way to exist - death, emptiness. Oh I grieve for the 4 decades I've lived this lie. Oh I grieve for my loved ones that fully buy into this lie. They are so close, some of them, but so far. I wish I could save them. I wish I could save everyone. I'll try. I'll keep trying.
Jesus did not save the rich young man. He tried. I suspect He never gave up. But to the casual observer it probably looked like He abandoned the young man. He did not. No, he didn't go after the young man. Counter intuitively, to go after the young man would have diminished the creative tension that their encounter created - and only that creative tension was the young man's hope. Many are called, but few are chosen. Only God, Good can save. We must be Good/God, as much of the time, as intensely as possible. There is no other hope than this. There is nothing else to be done.
Imagine what the world would be like if this is how we lived the seconds of our lives. Now. Imagine it.
Darfur is maybe the greatest opportunity, gateway, for us to learn that Life is not given for our personal amusement, but for the extraordinary adventure of healing the world.
"[The Kingdom] consists in fulfillment of the Father's will and that fulfillment depends on each man's efforts and striving that people might understand that life is given not for oneself personally but only for the fulfillment of the Father's will, which alone saves us from death and gives life...." Gospel in Brief, Leo Tolstoy. The Father? The Father of us all. Real? I hope not. Indespensible as an imaginary construct - yes. To my shock and utter delight - yes.
WOW. My experience of these recent days is that I'm pretty close to conforming with the above. Oh my God, it is awesome. YES, this is absurd from the perspective of the religion of our society - greed; Life is given for my personal pleasure and for that of a few people around me. Oh my God, this is such an empty, joyless way to exist - death, emptiness. Oh I grieve for the 4 decades I've lived this lie. Oh I grieve for my loved ones that fully buy into this lie. They are so close, some of them, but so far. I wish I could save them. I wish I could save everyone. I'll try. I'll keep trying.
Jesus did not save the rich young man. He tried. I suspect He never gave up. But to the casual observer it probably looked like He abandoned the young man. He did not. No, he didn't go after the young man. Counter intuitively, to go after the young man would have diminished the creative tension that their encounter created - and only that creative tension was the young man's hope. Many are called, but few are chosen. Only God, Good can save. We must be Good/God, as much of the time, as intensely as possible. There is no other hope than this. There is nothing else to be done.
Imagine what the world would be like if this is how we lived the seconds of our lives. Now. Imagine it.
Darfur is maybe the greatest opportunity, gateway, for us to learn that Life is not given for our personal amusement, but for the extraordinary adventure of healing the world.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Re Darfur: Jesus was a fool
My goodness. What a fool Jesus was. He though he had to sacrifice himself to save the world.
If only He had lived today He, like Saint Jim Walis and the rest of the self proclaimed Christians would have realized that all He needed to do was sit back and blame Caesar! What an idiot! A freekin Martyr.
Jim Wallis: For God's Sake, Save Darfur
jay
If only He had lived today He, like Saint Jim Walis and the rest of the self proclaimed Christians would have realized that all He needed to do was sit back and blame Caesar! What an idiot! A freekin Martyr.
Jim Wallis: For God's Sake, Save Darfur
jay
Re: Darfur - Holocaust the height of Humanity
10,000-15,000 strangers risked their lives and that of their immediate family's to save Jews. I've always thought this was the height of inhumanity - that so few would risk everything in the face of Genocide.
Ha! What a joke! It was the height of Humanity! Today in the face of Genocide Eric Reeves and who else is sacrificing to save these folks? Oh yes, there were a few rallies and that heroic day when we sacrificed luxuries.
Your response and mine is a moral outrage.
God damn us. God damn us.
jay
ps: He is. He is.
Ha! What a joke! It was the height of Humanity! Today in the face of Genocide Eric Reeves and who else is sacrificing to save these folks? Oh yes, there were a few rallies and that heroic day when we sacrificed luxuries.
Your response and mine is a moral outrage.
God damn us. God damn us.
jay
ps: He is. He is.
Court Status
The charge related to the Dec 29th Pentagon leafletting for me was "Dismissed without Predjudice," meaning no penalty of any kind, but they can bring the case up again if I am charged in the future. I faced up to 6 mos in jail and a $5000 fine.
I'll be helping a friend work on their house for several days - then, back to the White House vigil.
jay
I'll be helping a friend work on their house for several days - then, back to the White House vigil.
jay
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Darfur: Day 134 White House Vigil 23 Hr/Day
Quick update.
Note: 1/19/07 I have a court date in Alexandria Federal for my arrest at the Pentagon 12/29/06 for handing out the book, "Colateral Damage." I am not knowledgeable in the process regarding this - what may happen tomorrow. I think it is astonishing that none of the other activists involved with me, knowing of my inexperience, have coached me and advised me. Amazing. Oh well. My point? Can I be put in jail tomorrow? If so, I'll REALLY be out of communication for up to about 30 days! :-) Rejoice for me, don't grieve! Our job is to be a "sacrifice" as Jesus was. Why?!?!?!?! Because that is how it works! Progress toward humanity happens when people sacrifice, Period; When people allow the evil of systems or persons to become manifest on their own body; thereby protecting others, bringing the evil into view, that maybe it may become seen for what it is, intollerable, and removed. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. To be alive (instead of merely existing) is to Sacrifice for others. There is no other way to be ALive.
Arrested falsely/illegally for "Camping" in President's Park. Every other night the Officers have been professional and have acknowledged that by sitting up all night with my posters I was legally within my rights. 2 weeks ago an officer, old line, nasty - decided different and arrested me when I would not be intimidated and flee (I was fearful and felt abused). Mid March court date. Up to 180 days in prison faced. I'll go to court rather than pay $50 and dodging the jail time, trying to protect others from abuse by this officer, and to help him see the error of his ways.
Sub freezing nights now. With the help of an Angel I'm surviving fine. People have been providing food.
Much time to commune with our Father. Awesome.
One candle can ignite the entire world. Not, if it goes out.
Our Father in Heaven does not operate according to the interests of the flesh. He is Spirit. We have within us His Son. We can choose to let that Son rule, and thereby reside with Him in Heaven, at this moment. I'm in, or close.
My food is to do His will, to serve His family as best I can - in Darfur for now. I have much Food now, and in the future. A banquet.
My life is filled, every moment, with Love, Peace, Joy, Life and Persecution.
Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world. He showed us how to live. We are all called to follow him. He was the perfect sacrifice. We are to strive to be the same - to save others, to save ourselves. It works. It is the Truth. I recommend it highly - way above any other way of life (Death) I have tried. I regret those years I've lived away from Him. I grieve for those who choose to live away from Him / Love / Life / Sacrifice / Persecution.
Dr. King: "Nothing is so tempting as evil in the garb of Virtue." I am escaping Temptation regularly, unlike most of my life up until now. Join in! Live!
Love,
jay
Note: 1/19/07 I have a court date in Alexandria Federal for my arrest at the Pentagon 12/29/06 for handing out the book, "Colateral Damage." I am not knowledgeable in the process regarding this - what may happen tomorrow. I think it is astonishing that none of the other activists involved with me, knowing of my inexperience, have coached me and advised me. Amazing. Oh well. My point? Can I be put in jail tomorrow? If so, I'll REALLY be out of communication for up to about 30 days! :-) Rejoice for me, don't grieve! Our job is to be a "sacrifice" as Jesus was. Why?!?!?!?! Because that is how it works! Progress toward humanity happens when people sacrifice, Period; When people allow the evil of systems or persons to become manifest on their own body; thereby protecting others, bringing the evil into view, that maybe it may become seen for what it is, intollerable, and removed. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. To be alive (instead of merely existing) is to Sacrifice for others. There is no other way to be ALive.
Arrested falsely/illegally for "Camping" in President's Park. Every other night the Officers have been professional and have acknowledged that by sitting up all night with my posters I was legally within my rights. 2 weeks ago an officer, old line, nasty - decided different and arrested me when I would not be intimidated and flee (I was fearful and felt abused). Mid March court date. Up to 180 days in prison faced. I'll go to court rather than pay $50 and dodging the jail time, trying to protect others from abuse by this officer, and to help him see the error of his ways.
Sub freezing nights now. With the help of an Angel I'm surviving fine. People have been providing food.
Much time to commune with our Father. Awesome.
One candle can ignite the entire world. Not, if it goes out.
Our Father in Heaven does not operate according to the interests of the flesh. He is Spirit. We have within us His Son. We can choose to let that Son rule, and thereby reside with Him in Heaven, at this moment. I'm in, or close.
My food is to do His will, to serve His family as best I can - in Darfur for now. I have much Food now, and in the future. A banquet.
My life is filled, every moment, with Love, Peace, Joy, Life and Persecution.
Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world. He showed us how to live. We are all called to follow him. He was the perfect sacrifice. We are to strive to be the same - to save others, to save ourselves. It works. It is the Truth. I recommend it highly - way above any other way of life (Death) I have tried. I regret those years I've lived away from Him. I grieve for those who choose to live away from Him / Love / Life / Sacrifice / Persecution.
Dr. King: "Nothing is so tempting as evil in the garb of Virtue." I am escaping Temptation regularly, unlike most of my life up until now. Join in! Live!
Love,
jay
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Darfur: A Christain US would stop Genocide now
Darfur: A Christian US would stop Genocide now http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/#116696771684651341
Moving back toward Lafayette Park - Christmas Eve
Who could doubt that a US of Christ followers (as distinct from "admirers," "exploiters" or "abusers") would have stopped Genocide in its tracks?
Who could doubt that if Jesus were alive He would stand alone if necessary with his very life to stand with Darfur against Genocide? "The good shepherd lays down his Life for his flock...."
May the Joy, Love and Peace of Christmas emerge from the rubble of the Christ-Distortion/Abuse/Perversion/Exploitation that is piled in Everests smothering and obscuring what He taught, and how He Loved.
That Darfur may be saved. That we may be saved. This His "Kingdom come." There is no more time to wait.
jay
ps: The "religious" teachings for which I claim some knowledge and expertise are those of Jesus. Yet in my limited knowledge I suspect that were we a Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Humanist, Ethical or Buddhist US we too would have stopped the Genocide and "Saved" ourselves.
Moving back toward Lafayette Park - Christmas Eve
Who could doubt that a US of Christ followers (as distinct from "admirers," "exploiters" or "abusers") would have stopped Genocide in its tracks?
Who could doubt that if Jesus were alive He would stand alone if necessary with his very life to stand with Darfur against Genocide? "The good shepherd lays down his Life for his flock...."
May the Joy, Love and Peace of Christmas emerge from the rubble of the Christ-Distortion/Abuse/Perversion/Exploitation that is piled in Everests smothering and obscuring what He taught, and how He Loved.
That Darfur may be saved. That we may be saved. This His "Kingdom come." There is no more time to wait.
jay
ps: The "religious" teachings for which I claim some knowledge and expertise are those of Jesus. Yet in my limited knowledge I suspect that were we a Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Humanist, Ethical or Buddhist US we too would have stopped the Genocide and "Saved" ourselves.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Darfur: Never Again... What? So few "rescuers!!!!"
For the first time in 2.5 years of being possessed by the Darfur Genocide I think I grasp what "Never Again" means. It means - "Never Again" so few rescuers! "Never Again" so few people that would risk their life, liberty and happiness to stop the atrocity of Genocide!
For 2.5 years now I've been possessed by the Darfur Genocide - by the call to stop it, to give it my all, to take my best shot. All that time, and I still do not fully grasp what "Never Again" means. I think I am not the only one that does not grasp the meaning.
I feel I am grasped by "Never Again" and I would like to grasp the meaning! I think that would be helpful to guide my future efforts. The following is a quick musing that just occurred to me, toward the goal of "grasping" that which has me in its grasp:
"Never Again," that phrase that has a casual residence in so many of us is ultimately a statement of price one must be willing to pay in order to be a fully functioning humane being. As I try to imagine what that continuum is I start at the easy, least costly end and work to the other end. What should I be willing to "pay," what "price" to be a full humane being. What would I want for others to risk, to "pay" if necessary to stop a Genocide being visited on my group?
OBVIOUSLY I SHOULD BE WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE OF:
* Awareness
* Postcards
* A phone call or two
* Attending a meeting or rally
DO I ALSO HAVE TO GO AS FAR AS, IF THE GENOCIDE DOES NOT STOP:
* Conveniences
* Luxuries
* Most or all leisure time
MUST I GO EVEN FURTHER AND OFFER/RISK AND EVEN PAY THE PRICE OF:
* Career
* Household
* Health
* Life
* The physical health and welfare of my immediate loved ones, indirectly through my resonsible efforts??!?!?!!
Hmmmm. Seems absurd. But risking or paying the ultimate price is what the Righteous Among Nations did - the 10,000 or so non-Jews that are recognized for heroically working to rescue Jews during the Holocaust.
For 2.5 years now I've been possessed by the Darfur Genocide - by the call to stop it, to give it my all, to take my best shot. All that time, and I still do not fully grasp what "Never Again" means. I think I am not the only one that does not grasp the meaning.
I feel I am grasped by "Never Again" and I would like to grasp the meaning! I think that would be helpful to guide my future efforts. The following is a quick musing that just occurred to me, toward the goal of "grasping" that which has me in its grasp:
"Never Again," that phrase that has a casual residence in so many of us is ultimately a statement of price one must be willing to pay in order to be a fully functioning humane being. As I try to imagine what that continuum is I start at the easy, least costly end and work to the other end. What should I be willing to "pay," what "price" to be a full humane being. What would I want for others to risk, to "pay" if necessary to stop a Genocide being visited on my group?
OBVIOUSLY I SHOULD BE WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE OF:
* Awareness
* Postcards
* A phone call or two
* Attending a meeting or rally
DO I ALSO HAVE TO GO AS FAR AS, IF THE GENOCIDE DOES NOT STOP:
* Conveniences
* Luxuries
* Most or all leisure time
MUST I GO EVEN FURTHER AND OFFER/RISK AND EVEN PAY THE PRICE OF:
* Career
* Household
* Health
* Life
* The physical health and welfare of my immediate loved ones, indirectly through my resonsible efforts??!?!?!!
Hmmmm. Seems absurd. But risking or paying the ultimate price is what the Righteous Among Nations did - the 10,000 or so non-Jews that are recognized for heroically working to rescue Jews during the Holocaust.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Darfur: US must end constructive engagement policy...
Darfur: US must end constructive engagement policy... [and we-the-citizens must end our policy of talking and not acting. DARFUR: DyingForHeroes, jay] The following is an excerpt from: U.S. Must Crank Up the Heat on Khartoum (by John Prendergast and Colin Thomas-Jensen)
The Bush administration must end its policy of constructive engagement and push for multilateral measures -- either through the Security Council or a "coalition of the willing" -- that will finally change Khartoum's calculations. These include the following:
-- Apply asset freezes and travel bans to NCP leaders responsible for atrocities in Darfur, as determined by previous UN investigations.
-- Investigate the offshore accounts of the NCP and its affiliated businesses to facilitate economic sanctions against the regime's commercial entities, the main conduits for NCP revenue used to support the Janjaweed.
-- Explore possible sanctions against the petroleum sector, including bans on investment and the provision of technical expertise and equipment.
-- Share intelligence with the International Criminal Court to break the cycle of impunity.
Tigers don't change their stripes. History demonstrates that Khartoum bends when it faces strong pressure, and it's time to punish those who orchestrate atrocity crimes in Darfur to get a muscular, mobile, U.N. force on the ground. The world is three years into this crisis and we still have not confronted the criminal cabal in Khartoum. Shame on us.
The Bush administration must end its policy of constructive engagement and push for multilateral measures -- either through the Security Council or a "coalition of the willing" -- that will finally change Khartoum's calculations. These include the following:
-- Apply asset freezes and travel bans to NCP leaders responsible for atrocities in Darfur, as determined by previous UN investigations.
-- Investigate the offshore accounts of the NCP and its affiliated businesses to facilitate economic sanctions against the regime's commercial entities, the main conduits for NCP revenue used to support the Janjaweed.
-- Explore possible sanctions against the petroleum sector, including bans on investment and the provision of technical expertise and equipment.
-- Share intelligence with the International Criminal Court to break the cycle of impunity.
Tigers don't change their stripes. History demonstrates that Khartoum bends when it faces strong pressure, and it's time to punish those who orchestrate atrocity crimes in Darfur to get a muscular, mobile, U.N. force on the ground. The world is three years into this crisis and we still have not confronted the criminal cabal in Khartoum. Shame on us.
Monday, October 16, 2006
DARFUR: Lazarus' Soup, are we obliged to spit in it? As brothers and sisters, are we morally obliged?
Lazarus (New Testament) was a person of means that stepped over those in need. Lazarus in the case of Darfur is we-the-citizens of the world. Why? We are the UN. We are the US Gov/Congress/White House. We are the EU, the AU, NATO, supporters/customers of China / India / Malasia / Russia.... No? We-the-citizens are not these governments? Gandhi's India proved that we-the-citizens are the government beyond any question, we are.
No we-the-citizens are not responsible for the Genocide in Darfur? We-the-citizens have the Power to Protect and we do not Protect Darfur. We do Starbucks, Outback, one-day-fast-from luxuries, postcards, 3 hour no-risk demonstrations… we protect our own normal life, instead.
Will History / God / Darfuries ask us, “When your other attempts failed, why didn’t you spit in our soup, we onlookers to Genocide? Why didn’t you make our murderous neglect unpleasant for us, in time? You might have saved the souls of we neglectful onlookers. You might have Saved Darfur."
Please write to me. Daily I draw on the wisdom of Gandhi, King, Jesus, Tolstoy, Deming, Dear, Zinn... as much as I can, but I am unaware that any of them directly provided answers to this question: Are we morally obligated to spit in the soup of our dear brother Lazarus?
For the first time in my life, the question posed here, "are we obliged..." pops into my head, confronts me, and I realize that prior movements did spit in the soup of the oppressors / neglecters / torturers.... The explicit goal of our activist forefathers was to antiviolently stand for their own human rights, but they did "spit in the soup" in the process as a byproduct of their actions. It became really uncomfortable to condone or practice racism against Black Americans. The activists did make normalcy ultimately unpalatable. Are we morally obliged to do the same? Why the question? Because neglect is a much more difficult opponent to fight than the lynch mob. Dr. King, Gandhi and others were explicit on this.
jay
mailto:jayjymcginley@cs.com
http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/
ps: Having had some time to think about this today the following updates my own thoughts -
1. What is needed is to make people dissatisfied with the status quo - permitting the Genocide to continue! This is an important new insight for me. IF WE ARE NOT UPSETTING THE STATUS QUO we are not achieving the impact we need to achieve. Preferably we will make radically HEROIC LOVE overpoweringly attractive to the alternatives.
2. NOT the ideal way is any direct attempt to "spit in the soup." Indirect YES, but rather living SO HEROICALLY OUT OF LOVE that it makes our current mass, killing neglect unpalatable, HIGHLY UNPALATABLE.
3. However, is there a necessary place and time for explicitly and directly "spitting in the soup?" Hmmmmm. When? What conditions? Is this necessary now? HELP!!!!!
Jay
No we-the-citizens are not responsible for the Genocide in Darfur? We-the-citizens have the Power to Protect and we do not Protect Darfur. We do Starbucks, Outback, one-day-fast-from luxuries, postcards, 3 hour no-risk demonstrations… we protect our own normal life, instead.
Will History / God / Darfuries ask us, “When your other attempts failed, why didn’t you spit in our soup, we onlookers to Genocide? Why didn’t you make our murderous neglect unpleasant for us, in time? You might have saved the souls of we neglectful onlookers. You might have Saved Darfur."
Please write to me. Daily I draw on the wisdom of Gandhi, King, Jesus, Tolstoy, Deming, Dear, Zinn... as much as I can, but I am unaware that any of them directly provided answers to this question: Are we morally obligated to spit in the soup of our dear brother Lazarus?
For the first time in my life, the question posed here, "are we obliged..." pops into my head, confronts me, and I realize that prior movements did spit in the soup of the oppressors / neglecters / torturers.... The explicit goal of our activist forefathers was to antiviolently stand for their own human rights, but they did "spit in the soup" in the process as a byproduct of their actions. It became really uncomfortable to condone or practice racism against Black Americans. The activists did make normalcy ultimately unpalatable. Are we morally obliged to do the same? Why the question? Because neglect is a much more difficult opponent to fight than the lynch mob. Dr. King, Gandhi and others were explicit on this.
jay
mailto:jayjymcginley@cs.com
http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/
ps: Having had some time to think about this today the following updates my own thoughts -
1. What is needed is to make people dissatisfied with the status quo - permitting the Genocide to continue! This is an important new insight for me. IF WE ARE NOT UPSETTING THE STATUS QUO we are not achieving the impact we need to achieve. Preferably we will make radically HEROIC LOVE overpoweringly attractive to the alternatives.
2. NOT the ideal way is any direct attempt to "spit in the soup." Indirect YES, but rather living SO HEROICALLY OUT OF LOVE that it makes our current mass, killing neglect unpalatable, HIGHLY UNPALATABLE.
3. However, is there a necessary place and time for explicitly and directly "spitting in the soup?" Hmmmmm. When? What conditions? Is this necessary now? HELP!!!!!
Jay
Friday, October 06, 2006
OCTOBER 5TH START to RESCUE DARFUR FAST
From a really excelent blog:
Atlantic Review
A press digest on transatlantic affairs edited by three German Fulbright Alumni
... and this specific link.
Darfur: Finally some Transatlantic Cooperation to Discuss "the Next Steps"?
Dear brothers and sisters of Atlantic Review.
Some of you seem to share my desire for us to take action beyond writing. Make no mistake, writing, blogging, analyzing have a place IN EVERY STRUGGLE. BUT, SO DO FEET ON THE STREET! And, there is no chance so far that history will write that "people did not TALK / blog / write enough about Darfur." My hope now, ALL OF MY HOPE NOW at this stage is for feet on the street. Currently, history WILL WRITE that all we did was... TALK. Nero fiddled while Rome burned....
OCTOBER 5th STAND (Students Taking Action for Darfur) is organizing a 1 day. OK, LET'S TURN IT INTO THE START, T-H-E S-T-A-R-T of a worldwide FAST, that we stay on until the GENOCIDE IS ENDING, NOT BEFORE. Is this too radical!?!?!?!!? Does Genocide warrant less?!?!!!? Is this an OVERREACTION TO GENOCIDE? YES, we would almost certainly fail in the attempt. YES, if we got it off the ground and 1,000's participated the effort might fail. SO WHAT!?!?!? As your uniquely brilliant and helpful Alfred Adler said, "Courage is doing what needs to be done, whether or not you know you will succeed."
Some loose FUNCTIONAL AND OPERATIONAL patterning after the TroopsHomeFast.org effort could be executed.
Full time activists like me - water only. People in school or holding "normal" jobs - 1,000 calories. Equal. COMMITTED. PROPORTIONAL RESPONSE. UNEQUIVOCAL MANDATE. JUST. SOLIDARITY. WORTHY.
STUPID IDEA YOU SAY? Two responses. 1. "If at first the idea is not absurd, it has no hope," Albert Einstein; 2. GIVE ME A BETTER IDEA. I'll run with it, even if you don't. I'm going to do something, my best shot. This global Fast idea is my best so far.
OUR YARDSTICK FOR MEASUREING SUCH IDEAS MUST NOT BE "WILL IT WORK." THIS IS THE QUESTION OF BYSTANDERS. THE QUESTION OF THE COMMITTED HUMANE BEING IS, "WHAT IS MY BEST SHOT, MY BEST CHANCE IN THIS SITUATION, TO SAVE AS MUCH OF MY DARFUR FAMILY AS POSSIBLE."
For more on this idea: DARFUR Dying for Heroes
To join the FAST-TILL-IT STOPS with us: JOIN RESCUE-DARFUR-FAST-TILL-IT-STOPS
Atlantic Review
A press digest on transatlantic affairs edited by three German Fulbright Alumni
... and this specific link.
Darfur: Finally some Transatlantic Cooperation to Discuss "the Next Steps"?
Dear brothers and sisters of Atlantic Review.
Some of you seem to share my desire for us to take action beyond writing. Make no mistake, writing, blogging, analyzing have a place IN EVERY STRUGGLE. BUT, SO DO FEET ON THE STREET! And, there is no chance so far that history will write that "people did not TALK / blog / write enough about Darfur." My hope now, ALL OF MY HOPE NOW at this stage is for feet on the street. Currently, history WILL WRITE that all we did was... TALK. Nero fiddled while Rome burned....
OCTOBER 5th STAND (Students Taking Action for Darfur) is organizing a 1 day. OK, LET'S TURN IT INTO THE START, T-H-E S-T-A-R-T of a worldwide FAST, that we stay on until the GENOCIDE IS ENDING, NOT BEFORE. Is this too radical!?!?!?!!? Does Genocide warrant less?!?!!!? Is this an OVERREACTION TO GENOCIDE? YES, we would almost certainly fail in the attempt. YES, if we got it off the ground and 1,000's participated the effort might fail. SO WHAT!?!?!? As your uniquely brilliant and helpful Alfred Adler said, "Courage is doing what needs to be done, whether or not you know you will succeed."
Some loose FUNCTIONAL AND OPERATIONAL patterning after the TroopsHomeFast.org effort could be executed.
Full time activists like me - water only. People in school or holding "normal" jobs - 1,000 calories. Equal. COMMITTED. PROPORTIONAL RESPONSE. UNEQUIVOCAL MANDATE. JUST. SOLIDARITY. WORTHY.
STUPID IDEA YOU SAY? Two responses. 1. "If at first the idea is not absurd, it has no hope," Albert Einstein; 2. GIVE ME A BETTER IDEA. I'll run with it, even if you don't. I'm going to do something, my best shot. This global Fast idea is my best so far.
OUR YARDSTICK FOR MEASUREING SUCH IDEAS MUST NOT BE "WILL IT WORK." THIS IS THE QUESTION OF BYSTANDERS. THE QUESTION OF THE COMMITTED HUMANE BEING IS, "WHAT IS MY BEST SHOT, MY BEST CHANCE IN THIS SITUATION, TO SAVE AS MUCH OF MY DARFUR FAMILY AS POSSIBLE."
For more on this idea: DARFUR Dying for Heroes
To join the FAST-TILL-IT STOPS with us: JOIN RESCUE-DARFUR-FAST-TILL-IT-STOPS
Sunday, October 01, 2006
IT IS TIME TO OFFICIALLY ABANDON DARFUR
Why not. Because until we-the-people admit that we are failing to stop it, the game is over.
And unless we get on with finding enough LOCAL HEROES here to save them, DARFUR IS DEAD.
DARFUR is Dying for Heroes
And unless we get on with finding enough LOCAL HEROES here to save them, DARFUR IS DEAD.
DARFUR is Dying for Heroes
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
DARFUR: THERE IS ONLY ONE SUCCESS POSSIBLE
Tough day today. Hmm.
I want to see how to stop the genocide. Not a fantasy, I don't want to see a fantasy, but a real way forward. Am I frustrated? That's irrelevant. Am I confused? Yes. Am I unclear what I am called to do? How? When? Yes. Funny, I am finally clear what we-the-people are called to do - Rescue Darfur Fast. But me? :-)
A massive Rescue Darfur Fast! Yes, massive, that would do it; that would end the genocide. How massive? MASSIVE.
To about 1000 folks, all of the activist community, bloggers and College/Univ Newspaper folks I've now sent multiple teasers on the Rescue Darfur Fast idea. MULTIPLE in the recent 10 days. Less than 20 to 40 web hits or emails have resulted directly from this. This is a very bad indicator. Aggressive promotion of Rescue Darfur Fast by a team of one to four of us could be the spark, if there were dry kindling and logs around. The deafening silence to these teasers suggests to me that the wood is very, very wet, still.
Jan Pronk today, pretty much out of the blue, the lead UN Envoy to Sudan was extremely negative on the likelihood of UN Peacekeepers. An honest, informed voice, or cowardice, lack of vision, and fatigue speaking? A leader? A "father" of Darfur?
I am tempted to go the direction of Pronk. No. His is not realism, but defeatism. A fine line, but he crossed it. Prank's attitude is not the attitude that won Independence for America, Independence for India, Freedom from Apartheid for South Africa; that developed the microchip, that put man on the moon....
Am I discouraged? That is irrelevant. No, I am not. Confused? Yes, I am.
"Our Father calls us to be Faithful, not Successful" comes to mind.
"Full effort is full success," Gandhi, comes to mind.
There is only one success - "Do unto others ALL..." comes to mind. ONLY ONE SUCCESS is possible in life; is possible in being confronted with the Evil of Genocide. DO UNTO OTHERS ALL THAT YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. And, there is only ONE FAILURE POSSIBLE. To do less than "all."
"Hope is lost, only if and when we quit," comes to mind.
Is the ultimate goal to stop the genocide in Darfur? Our Father, History, will not ask you or me if we did. Our Father, History, will ask us how we behaved in the face of genocide; what we taught our brothers and sisters about how to live life in the face of such evil. Our Father, History will want to know if the model we fashioned and provided, was a moral beacon, a lantern, something promising for the future.
Darfur Genocide is the symptom, not the disease. Inhumanity is the disease. The only hope is that we spend our lives each day, every day, being humanity incarnate, overwhelming the inhumanity with our humanity. Being superior antiviolence, to the world's violence.
Hmmmm. There is only one success possible in life. Do unto others ALL.... Only one failure possible in Life, and in the face of genocide.
Jay
I want to see how to stop the genocide. Not a fantasy, I don't want to see a fantasy, but a real way forward. Am I frustrated? That's irrelevant. Am I confused? Yes. Am I unclear what I am called to do? How? When? Yes. Funny, I am finally clear what we-the-people are called to do - Rescue Darfur Fast. But me? :-)
A massive Rescue Darfur Fast! Yes, massive, that would do it; that would end the genocide. How massive? MASSIVE.
To about 1000 folks, all of the activist community, bloggers and College/Univ Newspaper folks I've now sent multiple teasers on the Rescue Darfur Fast idea. MULTIPLE in the recent 10 days. Less than 20 to 40 web hits or emails have resulted directly from this. This is a very bad indicator. Aggressive promotion of Rescue Darfur Fast by a team of one to four of us could be the spark, if there were dry kindling and logs around. The deafening silence to these teasers suggests to me that the wood is very, very wet, still.
Jan Pronk today, pretty much out of the blue, the lead UN Envoy to Sudan was extremely negative on the likelihood of UN Peacekeepers. An honest, informed voice, or cowardice, lack of vision, and fatigue speaking? A leader? A "father" of Darfur?
I am tempted to go the direction of Pronk. No. His is not realism, but defeatism. A fine line, but he crossed it. Prank's attitude is not the attitude that won Independence for America, Independence for India, Freedom from Apartheid for South Africa; that developed the microchip, that put man on the moon....
Am I discouraged? That is irrelevant. No, I am not. Confused? Yes, I am.
"Our Father calls us to be Faithful, not Successful" comes to mind.
"Full effort is full success," Gandhi, comes to mind.
There is only one success - "Do unto others ALL..." comes to mind. ONLY ONE SUCCESS is possible in life; is possible in being confronted with the Evil of Genocide. DO UNTO OTHERS ALL THAT YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. And, there is only ONE FAILURE POSSIBLE. To do less than "all."
"Hope is lost, only if and when we quit," comes to mind.
Is the ultimate goal to stop the genocide in Darfur? Our Father, History, will not ask you or me if we did. Our Father, History, will ask us how we behaved in the face of genocide; what we taught our brothers and sisters about how to live life in the face of such evil. Our Father, History will want to know if the model we fashioned and provided, was a moral beacon, a lantern, something promising for the future.
Darfur Genocide is the symptom, not the disease. Inhumanity is the disease. The only hope is that we spend our lives each day, every day, being humanity incarnate, overwhelming the inhumanity with our humanity. Being superior antiviolence, to the world's violence.
Hmmmm. There is only one success possible in life. Do unto others ALL.... Only one failure possible in Life, and in the face of genocide.
Jay
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
DARFUR/JAY: "APOLOGY ACCEPTED"
From one of the very kind emails I have received, from someone I am not clear that I have met, or know (forgive my dreadful memory?):
Jay,
Your sincere apology should be enough to calm the most righteous indignation (reference the two posts this blog: DARFUR, URGENT: What would Rachel Corrie or Steve Beko start THIS WEEK? and then JAY WOUNDED. LEAVING DARFUR STRUGGLE. ) You used what you saw as a heroic act to motivate those of us wringing our hands in safety. Keep fighting, Jay. Your words and actions are needed now more than ever.
Sincerely, xxxxx xxxxxxx
Jay's reply today:
Dear Sister,
What a lovely, loving note.
Last night after watching an Academy Award winning documentary American Dream about a failed strike attempt at a midwest Hormel plant, we noticed an "added feature," "Children of the Night" it was called. It was a brief documentary of footage from among the 1,600,000 children exterminated in the Holocaust. I am so sad, distraught over our pitifully timid and cowardly response to Darfur. Oh my God, where is the outrage? Where is the intolerance of one day more, one hour more of genocide??!?!!?!?!?!? What type of creatures are we? I want to explode, not AT anyone, but I want/need to be a much louder scream than yet I have been, LET'S STOP THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The world should have stopped, EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE STOPPED THEIR NORMAL LIVES IN THEIR TRACKS TO STOP THE HOLOCAUST. Anything less is a heinous insult to human dignity and worth. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore."
My God, why don't we see this?
I'm quite sobbing uncontrollably right now. I'm so confused. I just do not understand us.
I think that we should begin, BEGIN a worldwide all out FAST on October 5th, the day that STAND is planning a one day abstinence from snacks. One day abstaining from snacks. Oh my God. What about those 1,600,000 children from the Holocaust? OCTOBER 5TH "START to RESCUE DARFUR FAST". Open ended. We eat when the Genocide is Stopping, NOT BEFORE! Would history say this was TOO RADICAL? TOO MUCH? AN OVERREACTION TO 4,000,000 BEING EXTERMINATED? Full time activists like me - water only. People in school or holding "normal" jobs - 1,000 calories. Equal. COMMITTED. PROPORTIONAL RESPONSE. UNEQUIVOCAL MANDATE. JUST. SOLIDARITY. WORTHY.
I think I would pay any price to wake us up. But I am losing hope for us. I have no idea what to do, personally. Oh activities? We can get lost in those forever for Darfur. I mean, proportional response not to make ME feel better, but to STOP THE GENOCIDE NOW.
Brother Jay
ps: You've very much helped me at a difficult time. I'll post this on the blog in such a way as to remove your ID. Thank you. www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
Jay,
Your sincere apology should be enough to calm the most righteous indignation (reference the two posts this blog: DARFUR, URGENT: What would Rachel Corrie or Steve Beko start THIS WEEK? and then JAY WOUNDED. LEAVING DARFUR STRUGGLE. ) You used what you saw as a heroic act to motivate those of us wringing our hands in safety. Keep fighting, Jay. Your words and actions are needed now more than ever.
Sincerely, xxxxx xxxxxxx
Jay's reply today:
Dear Sister,
What a lovely, loving note.
Last night after watching an Academy Award winning documentary American Dream about a failed strike attempt at a midwest Hormel plant, we noticed an "added feature," "Children of the Night" it was called. It was a brief documentary of footage from among the 1,600,000 children exterminated in the Holocaust. I am so sad, distraught over our pitifully timid and cowardly response to Darfur. Oh my God, where is the outrage? Where is the intolerance of one day more, one hour more of genocide??!?!!?!?!?!? What type of creatures are we? I want to explode, not AT anyone, but I want/need to be a much louder scream than yet I have been, LET'S STOP THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The world should have stopped, EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE STOPPED THEIR NORMAL LIVES IN THEIR TRACKS TO STOP THE HOLOCAUST. Anything less is a heinous insult to human dignity and worth. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore."
My God, why don't we see this?
I'm quite sobbing uncontrollably right now. I'm so confused. I just do not understand us.
I think that we should begin, BEGIN a worldwide all out FAST on October 5th, the day that STAND is planning a one day abstinence from snacks. One day abstaining from snacks. Oh my God. What about those 1,600,000 children from the Holocaust? OCTOBER 5TH "START to RESCUE DARFUR FAST". Open ended. We eat when the Genocide is Stopping, NOT BEFORE! Would history say this was TOO RADICAL? TOO MUCH? AN OVERREACTION TO 4,000,000 BEING EXTERMINATED? Full time activists like me - water only. People in school or holding "normal" jobs - 1,000 calories. Equal. COMMITTED. PROPORTIONAL RESPONSE. UNEQUIVOCAL MANDATE. JUST. SOLIDARITY. WORTHY.
I think I would pay any price to wake us up. But I am losing hope for us. I have no idea what to do, personally. Oh activities? We can get lost in those forever for Darfur. I mean, proportional response not to make ME feel better, but to STOP THE GENOCIDE NOW.
Brother Jay
ps: You've very much helped me at a difficult time. I'll post this on the blog in such a way as to remove your ID. Thank you. www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
Friday, September 22, 2006
WE ARE TALKING DARFUR TO DEATH
From a Washington Post online discussion: Our Question
Posted at 12:10 AM ET, 09/22/2006
Should regional solidarity be allowed to trump human rights needs? What could be done to pull away support from the Sudanese regime and enable UN troops to enter?
Jay's Response:
This question, the one you have posed above, and those like it (the only kind in the news) are central to why the genocide is not ending!!! YOU ARE CAUSING THE DEATH OF 4 million with such questions. Why? Because such questions are a profound distraction from the problem!!!! Don't blow me off yet. Hear me. Please.
Harvard's Samantha Power's "Problem from Hell," my reading of it anyway: THE BATTLE TO STOP GENOCIDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LOST ON THE FIELD OF US PUBLIC OPINION... THE US PEOPLE HAVE NEVER STOOD UP!!!! Duh!!! And questions like this (yours above) continue to distract attention from SOLVING THIS PROBLEM - getting us to stand up! We are not standing up! Instead, we are sitting around our computer screens, sipping our Starbuck's in smug complacency, enjoying playing "State Department," or "UN" in conversations like this.... Doesn't anyone else think of the M word in this context? What we need to do is get off of our butts, and get our bodies, get our "skin in the game!" No?
We the people, press, activist community have NO MORAL RIGHT TO BE TELLING ANYONE WHAT TO DO, UNTIL WE STEP UP TO THE PLATE! Sure, we have the legal right, the constitutional right. So what? MORAL RIGHT. Lipservice is what we are paying so far! Who currently is paying more than lip service? Who is fighting with the real commitment that we've seen before: Civil Rights movement, Suffrage, stopping Vietnam war.... Ok, Eric Reeve, Samantha did, maybe John Prendergast did, probably a dozen others are now, BUT NO ONE CAN SEE IT!
I am reminded, to my horror, of All Quiet on the Western Front - of the townspeople fanning the flame so that OTHERS could go get slaughtered in a hopeless WWI.
Make no mistake, I THINK WE-THE-PEOPLE, THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD SHOULD BE GIVING OUR LIVES if that is what it takes TO ESTABLISH OUR POLITICAL MANDATE LOUD ENOUGH, AND FAST ENOUGH to execute BOTH aspects posed by your question: Maximal political pressure (targeted sanctions, ICC, travel restrictions AND Troops on the ground now (with or WITHOUT Bashir's acceptance) AND solemn, explicit proclamation to the world, NOW, that THE WEST WILL NOT TOUCH CHINA'S PREFERENTIAL ACCESS TO SUDAN OIL. Duh. But BOTH will happen - Bashir's acquiesce AND troops on the ground - and they will happen instantly that we pay the price - we the people of the US and world. The policy options are NOT why Darfuries are dying. LACK OF WILL ON THE PART OF WE THE PEOPLE is why they are dying. It is so obvious.
In summary? We, including we in this dialog, are guys in bar Monday Morning Quarterbacking - at the expense of 4,000,000 being exterminated in Darfur. We are spectators, Monday Quarterbacks. WE NEED TO GET ON THE FIELD OF PLAY WITH OUR BODIES.
Gentlemen and ladies of the press, in the name of God, point the finger at we-the-people. PLEASE. Help us wake up and get us out of the stands as spectators, and onto the playing field. Please. We are headed toward extermination rates of 25,000 per week (six 911's per week.)
Jay McGinleyDARFUR VIGIL DAY 119 (currently in NYC); 56 DAYS HUNGER STRIKE since July 4, 2006 (water only) www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
Posted at 12:10 AM ET, 09/22/2006
Should regional solidarity be allowed to trump human rights needs? What could be done to pull away support from the Sudanese regime and enable UN troops to enter?
Jay's Response:
This question, the one you have posed above, and those like it (the only kind in the news) are central to why the genocide is not ending!!! YOU ARE CAUSING THE DEATH OF 4 million with such questions. Why? Because such questions are a profound distraction from the problem!!!! Don't blow me off yet. Hear me. Please.
Harvard's Samantha Power's "Problem from Hell," my reading of it anyway: THE BATTLE TO STOP GENOCIDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LOST ON THE FIELD OF US PUBLIC OPINION... THE US PEOPLE HAVE NEVER STOOD UP!!!! Duh!!! And questions like this (yours above) continue to distract attention from SOLVING THIS PROBLEM - getting us to stand up! We are not standing up! Instead, we are sitting around our computer screens, sipping our Starbuck's in smug complacency, enjoying playing "State Department," or "UN" in conversations like this.... Doesn't anyone else think of the M word in this context? What we need to do is get off of our butts, and get our bodies, get our "skin in the game!" No?
We the people, press, activist community have NO MORAL RIGHT TO BE TELLING ANYONE WHAT TO DO, UNTIL WE STEP UP TO THE PLATE! Sure, we have the legal right, the constitutional right. So what? MORAL RIGHT. Lipservice is what we are paying so far! Who currently is paying more than lip service? Who is fighting with the real commitment that we've seen before: Civil Rights movement, Suffrage, stopping Vietnam war.... Ok, Eric Reeve, Samantha did, maybe John Prendergast did, probably a dozen others are now, BUT NO ONE CAN SEE IT!
I am reminded, to my horror, of All Quiet on the Western Front - of the townspeople fanning the flame so that OTHERS could go get slaughtered in a hopeless WWI.
Make no mistake, I THINK WE-THE-PEOPLE, THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD SHOULD BE GIVING OUR LIVES if that is what it takes TO ESTABLISH OUR POLITICAL MANDATE LOUD ENOUGH, AND FAST ENOUGH to execute BOTH aspects posed by your question: Maximal political pressure (targeted sanctions, ICC, travel restrictions AND Troops on the ground now (with or WITHOUT Bashir's acceptance) AND solemn, explicit proclamation to the world, NOW, that THE WEST WILL NOT TOUCH CHINA'S PREFERENTIAL ACCESS TO SUDAN OIL. Duh. But BOTH will happen - Bashir's acquiesce AND troops on the ground - and they will happen instantly that we pay the price - we the people of the US and world. The policy options are NOT why Darfuries are dying. LACK OF WILL ON THE PART OF WE THE PEOPLE is why they are dying. It is so obvious.
In summary? We, including we in this dialog, are guys in bar Monday Morning Quarterbacking - at the expense of 4,000,000 being exterminated in Darfur. We are spectators, Monday Quarterbacks. WE NEED TO GET ON THE FIELD OF PLAY WITH OUR BODIES.
Gentlemen and ladies of the press, in the name of God, point the finger at we-the-people. PLEASE. Help us wake up and get us out of the stands as spectators, and onto the playing field. Please. We are headed toward extermination rates of 25,000 per week (six 911's per week.)
Jay McGinleyDARFUR VIGIL DAY 119 (currently in NYC); 56 DAYS HUNGER STRIKE since July 4, 2006 (water only) www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
JAY WOUNDED. LEAVING DARFUR STRUGGLE.
Self-inflicted wounds.
To many, Rachel Corrie is a profoundly controversial figure. I did not know that yesterday. I could have. Maybe I should have known. But I did not.
To me, for me, her Truth is Simple: everyone, EVERYONE IS FAMILY, IMMEDIATE FAMILY, PART OF OUR BODY, EXACTLY, TOTALLY. Everyone is to be treasured. Israelis, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, white, black.... EVERY VICTIM IS TO BE SHIELDED WITH YOUR OWN BODY. ANY VICTIM. ANYONE'S AGONY IS TO BE EVERYONE'S AGONY, UNTIL WE MAKE IT STOP FOR US ALL. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore." That is how it is with me.
But today I see what yesterday, Thursday, I did not. There has been a political firestorm around Rachel that people have created to help polarize and hate each other. In stepping into this I have unknowingly boobytrapped myself as an enormous potential distraction from whatever cowardly, minuscule efforts to Save Darfur that we might otherwise mount.
I expect that I will immediately withdraw from the activities and position I have been fulfilling to solitary fast and prayer, for as long as I am able.
I will continue to pray that we morbidly cowardly brothers and sisters here in the US and worldwide shake off our cowardice and enter the antiviolent WAR FOR DARFUR; that the cancer that has eaten away our humanity, eaten away our body of which Darfur is a part, is CURED. That we reclaim our body, all of it, treasure it, PROTECT IT, and heal it. THAT WE RESCUE AND RESTORE DARFUR, NOW.
Good by, Brother Jay
To many, Rachel Corrie is a profoundly controversial figure. I did not know that yesterday. I could have. Maybe I should have known. But I did not.
To me, for me, her Truth is Simple: everyone, EVERYONE IS FAMILY, IMMEDIATE FAMILY, PART OF OUR BODY, EXACTLY, TOTALLY. Everyone is to be treasured. Israelis, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, white, black.... EVERY VICTIM IS TO BE SHIELDED WITH YOUR OWN BODY. ANY VICTIM. ANYONE'S AGONY IS TO BE EVERYONE'S AGONY, UNTIL WE MAKE IT STOP FOR US ALL. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore." That is how it is with me.
But today I see what yesterday, Thursday, I did not. There has been a political firestorm around Rachel that people have created to help polarize and hate each other. In stepping into this I have unknowingly boobytrapped myself as an enormous potential distraction from whatever cowardly, minuscule efforts to Save Darfur that we might otherwise mount.
I expect that I will immediately withdraw from the activities and position I have been fulfilling to solitary fast and prayer, for as long as I am able.
I will continue to pray that we morbidly cowardly brothers and sisters here in the US and worldwide shake off our cowardice and enter the antiviolent WAR FOR DARFUR; that the cancer that has eaten away our humanity, eaten away our body of which Darfur is a part, is CURED. That we reclaim our body, all of it, treasure it, PROTECT IT, and heal it. THAT WE RESCUE AND RESTORE DARFUR, NOW.
Good by, Brother Jay
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
DARFUR, URGENT: What would Rachel Corrie or Steve Beko start THIS WEEK?
Young Rachel Corrie saw a bulldozer intentionally bearing down on the house of a family, a family she probably never knew. She got in front of that bulldozer, between the bulldozer and the house, between the threat, and the innocents. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore." DARFUR GENOCIDE. WE-CITIZENS SITTING IN COMFORT AND SAFETY IN THE FACE OF GENOCIDE, "THIS HAS TO STOP." (http://www.criticalconcern.com/rachelcorrie.html.)
We need to get between what is killing Darfur (Bashir's performance and the nonperformance of we-the-people, the world's citizens) - and our children, sisters and brothers in Darfur. Now. As of now we are not: SEPT 17TH ACTIVISM: AWESOME! BUT NOT STOPPING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR. How do we do that? How do we make it happen? What would a sufficient "wake up" look like? IF SOMEONE HAS THIS ALREADY STARTED, LET ME KNOW. I'll join you, or even back out if that is best.
I am deciding what I will do next, what I expect to be my final attempt to spark the Rescue of Darfur by waking up sufficient numbers of we humans in time, converting us from spectators, critics and activists-of-convenience into antiviolent warriors (think Civil Rights struggle) of profound courage, wisdom, tenacity and effectiveness; utilizing to the max the few weeks, days and seconds that our Darfur family has left.
What would Rachel Corrie start THIS WEEK? This question strikes me as the way to approach the task of deciding. The way to focus the mind to come up with the appropriate, proportional response of greatest chance - THE BEST AIMED "HAIL MARY" PASS.
Rachel Corrie stood in front of a bulldozer about to destroy the house of people she did not know. (http://www.criticalconcern.com/rachelcorrie.html). Would a different role model help you more? How about Steve Beko (South Africa, movie, Denzel), a young Gandhi, a young Nelson Mandella, an antivioloent Rambo, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, John Q (from the Denzel Washington movie)...? You get the idea. Think of your own role model APPROPRIATE to this situation.
LET’S JOIN TOGETHER IN THIS QUANDARY, before it is too late, please: Send me, or post, your ideas (http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/). Now. I expect to embark on whatever best plan by early next week at the latest, with anyone that wants to join together.
A CONSTRAINT: Suggestions must centrally embrace this notion of the problem from Samantha Power's inspired, Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Problem from Hell" (and I paraphrase AND take license): THE BATTLE TO STOP GENOCIDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LOST ON THE FIELD OF PUBLIC OPINION. THE PEOPLE [WE THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD]... HAVE NEVER STOOD UP SUFFICIENTLY TO STOP IT.HUNCH: The plan should involve leveraging STAND's Oct 5th Fast to make it into the END OF THE GENOCIDE, the START of a WORLDWIDE FAST UNTIL DARFUR GENOCIDE IS ENDING. One-day only by all participants is too-little-too-late. A one day fast is NOT what the world's response to the Holocaust, the extermination of 6,000,000 Jews lacked. Not by many orders of magnitude. Death rates are climbing toward 25,000 per week in Darfur, NOW. We must be REALISTIC. Code Pink's "Troops Home Fast" could be a model (www.troopshomefast.org). Make STAND's October 5th the START? THAT COULD DO IT.
But, WE NEED EVEN BETTER, MUCH BETTER SUGGESTIONS and specific ideas for approach and execution than I am hinting at.
RESPOND. PLEASE. Deadline: FRIDAY, 9/22/06, because THERE IS NO MORE T-I-M-E. (For those of you that just want to watch, and have a good laugh at my frantic gyrations, enjoy.)
What would Rachel Corrie start THIS WEEK?
Jay McGinley
DARFUR VIGIL DAY 118 (now in NYC); 56 DAYS HUNGER STRIKE since July 4, 2006; Jay McGinley (jymcginley@cs.com) 484-356-6243
Monday, September 18, 2006
SEPT 17TH ACTIVISM: AWESOME! BUT NOT STOPPING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR
It only took just one failed component, one failed component out of millions that painstaking effort had made right, to cause the searing tragedy of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. You'll remember that for Challenger it was a faulty "O ring."
The contributions of the many that led to a brilliantly executed September 17th series of worldwide events is something we all should humbly honor, praise, reverence and express our deep respect and gratitude for. I do. It was awesome. And a handful of truly heroic efforts took place - promoting/filling busses from Pittsburgh, Boston, Ohio, Washington...; logistics; PR.... Thank you and God bless your commitment. And your accomplishments including front page coverage in the New York Times, appointment of a special envoy to Darfur as desrcibed in Bush to Name Envoy for Darfur Washington Post, By Colum Lynch and Glenn Kessler Staff Writers Tuesday, September 19, 2006; and finally, a spotlight on China, for example The Genocide Test, Editorial, Washington Post.
What the September 17th teams worldwide did is absolutely necessary! But there is a faulty "O ring" in the Campaign to Save Darfur. SEPTEMBER 17TH, AND THE FOLLOW-ON EVENTS CONTEMPLATED AND PLANNED WILL NOT STOP THE GENOCIDE. And I have yet to have anyone prominently involved with the Darfur movement disagree. And I've asked them. And I've received responses.
A crucial component is missing; a component that has been essential for every previous social-change movement. Stopping Genocide requires Monumental Social-Change - NEVER has genocide been stopped. N-E-V-E-R. Never. Not Rwanda, Cambodia, Kurds, Serbrinka, not 6,000,000 Jews.... Kosovo was far too late addressed to some degree.
What is profoundly missing is a Core Group of Leaders that anyone, EVERYONE SEES is heroically putting their skin in the game, standing up for, getting in harms way for, SACRIFICING PERSONALLY for Darfur. Name major social change that has ever come without this. Civil Rights? Apartheid? Stopping Vietnam War? Suffrage? IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED.
Unmistakable-Sacrificial-Leadership-visible-to-the-masses is the spark plug; the inspiration; the moral clarity; THE PROOF OF IMPORTANCE THAT INSPIRES COMMITTED ACTION IN OTHERS. Leadership of this kind, in sufficient quantity is - the price to Save Darfur. Until the "price" is paid, the genocide will not stop, no matter what else we do.
We can do everything else right (and these are NECESSARY): advertising, PR, rallies, celebrity participation, strategy, Sudan Envoys... but without the ignition, without the spark-plug we've got our "O ring," our efforts will crash in defeat, and 4,000,000 family members in Darfur are exterminated.
I have been begging for two years for such effort:
9/23/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/09/radical_commitm.html
10/17/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/10/jay_mcginley_ai.html
8/11/05: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-6-pioneers-must-pay.html
8/14/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/08/the_latest_from_1.html
7/11/06: http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/2006/07/call-to-battle-launch-all-out.html
8/16/06: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-12-enough-radicals.html
8/22/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/07/jay_mcginley_hu.html
So Jay, does all this make you right? What matters is: 1. Might it be correct?; 2. That YOU decide, correctly, in time. As Reverend Gloria said in NYC on Sunday, “It’s about T-I-M-E.”
Rosa Parks was a seamstress. Steven Beko was from no organization. Ghandi was a young lawyer and the wave upon wave of fellow leaders were from all walks of life. Dr. King a brilliant minister and many co-leaders were uneducated laborers. King said, "Anyone can be great because anyone can serve." Gandhi said, 'The frailest, old crippled body can be just as powerful as any head of state."
BUT THE MOST LIKELY SOURCE FOR THE LEADERSHIP CORE IS STUDENTS. This has been true in every movement. And if the students of this country do not rise up for humanity and justice, NOW, there is no hope. THEY must form the core of our leadership. We adults in the NGOs, Churches, Synagogues, Mosques HAVE MADE OUR POSITION CLEAR. WE WILL NOT GET IN HARMS WAY FOR DARFUR.
Someone(s) cried out about the "O ring" long, long before the Challenger exploded. I'm sure of it. He/She/They were blown off as troublemaker, renegade, lone ranger, loner, outsider, not-a-team-player.... The Challenger exploded. All that is left are, regrets.
The contributions of the many that led to a brilliantly executed September 17th series of worldwide events is something we all should humbly honor, praise, reverence and express our deep respect and gratitude for. I do. It was awesome. And a handful of truly heroic efforts took place - promoting/filling busses from Pittsburgh, Boston, Ohio, Washington...; logistics; PR.... Thank you and God bless your commitment. And your accomplishments including front page coverage in the New York Times, appointment of a special envoy to Darfur as desrcibed in Bush to Name Envoy for Darfur Washington Post, By Colum Lynch and Glenn Kessler Staff Writers Tuesday, September 19, 2006; and finally, a spotlight on China, for example The Genocide Test, Editorial, Washington Post.
What the September 17th teams worldwide did is absolutely necessary! But there is a faulty "O ring" in the Campaign to Save Darfur. SEPTEMBER 17TH, AND THE FOLLOW-ON EVENTS CONTEMPLATED AND PLANNED WILL NOT STOP THE GENOCIDE. And I have yet to have anyone prominently involved with the Darfur movement disagree. And I've asked them. And I've received responses.
A crucial component is missing; a component that has been essential for every previous social-change movement. Stopping Genocide requires Monumental Social-Change - NEVER has genocide been stopped. N-E-V-E-R. Never. Not Rwanda, Cambodia, Kurds, Serbrinka, not 6,000,000 Jews.... Kosovo was far too late addressed to some degree.
What is profoundly missing is a Core Group of Leaders that anyone, EVERYONE SEES is heroically putting their skin in the game, standing up for, getting in harms way for, SACRIFICING PERSONALLY for Darfur. Name major social change that has ever come without this. Civil Rights? Apartheid? Stopping Vietnam War? Suffrage? IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED.
Unmistakable-Sacrificial-Leadership-visible-to-the-masses is the spark plug; the inspiration; the moral clarity; THE PROOF OF IMPORTANCE THAT INSPIRES COMMITTED ACTION IN OTHERS. Leadership of this kind, in sufficient quantity is - the price to Save Darfur. Until the "price" is paid, the genocide will not stop, no matter what else we do.
We can do everything else right (and these are NECESSARY): advertising, PR, rallies, celebrity participation, strategy, Sudan Envoys... but without the ignition, without the spark-plug we've got our "O ring," our efforts will crash in defeat, and 4,000,000 family members in Darfur are exterminated.
I have been begging for two years for such effort:
9/23/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/09/radical_commitm.html
10/17/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/10/jay_mcginley_ai.html
8/11/05: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-6-pioneers-must-pay.html
8/14/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/08/the_latest_from_1.html
7/11/06: http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/2006/07/call-to-battle-launch-all-out.html
8/16/06: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-12-enough-radicals.html
8/22/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/07/jay_mcginley_hu.html
So Jay, does all this make you right? What matters is: 1. Might it be correct?; 2. That YOU decide, correctly, in time. As Reverend Gloria said in NYC on Sunday, “It’s about T-I-M-E.”
Rosa Parks was a seamstress. Steven Beko was from no organization. Ghandi was a young lawyer and the wave upon wave of fellow leaders were from all walks of life. Dr. King a brilliant minister and many co-leaders were uneducated laborers. King said, "Anyone can be great because anyone can serve." Gandhi said, 'The frailest, old crippled body can be just as powerful as any head of state."
BUT THE MOST LIKELY SOURCE FOR THE LEADERSHIP CORE IS STUDENTS. This has been true in every movement. And if the students of this country do not rise up for humanity and justice, NOW, there is no hope. THEY must form the core of our leadership. We adults in the NGOs, Churches, Synagogues, Mosques HAVE MADE OUR POSITION CLEAR. WE WILL NOT GET IN HARMS WAY FOR DARFUR.
Someone(s) cried out about the "O ring" long, long before the Challenger exploded. I'm sure of it. He/She/They were blown off as troublemaker, renegade, lone ranger, loner, outsider, not-a-team-player.... The Challenger exploded. All that is left are, regrets.
APPOLOGY TO SAMANTHA POWER / WHYY WEDNESDAY CALL-IN FROM “JAY” AT THE WHITE HOUSE
September 18, 2006
To: Samantha Power
Fr: Jay “LEMKIN” McGinley
RE: APPOLOGY TO SAMANTHA POWER / WHYY WEDNESDAY CALL-IN FROM “JAY” AT THE WHITE HOUSE HOUSE (http://www.whyy.org/rameta/RT/2006/RT20060913_20.ram roughly at 38 minutes in.)
Dear Sister,
I am deeply sorry for any destructive, inappropriate or unnecessary pain I caused you. I am so sorry. You are a rare gift to us. I am profoundly grateful for you. I treasure you.
I swear to God who I love and serve that your pain is my pain. You are my sister. Darfur is my, and your family. And God bless you, I know that about you – that Darfur is YOUR family, in your heart. So rare. That is why you are the number one person I’ve wanted / needed to talk to about Darfur; why I have studied and studied and recommended and gifted your book, and why I have tried to contact you over the last four months. I am and remain distraught that you have never responded. Personally hurt by your ignoring me? God no. There is no “personal” with me anymore. THERE IS ONLY STOPPING THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, NOW, stopping the slaughter of my family, our family. That is my heart. That is my life. Your’s too, I believe you feel.
Why do I qualify my apology even a little? (the Pope qualified his MONSTROUSLY. Shamefully?)
1) “All hope lies with the unreasonable [person]….” I’ve been a “Lemkin” my whole adult life. We are perceived as obnoxious, insensitive, crude, brusk, heartless, rough, boorish, boring, nerdy…. It goes with the territory. He didn’t try to provoke those reactions. I try not to, however…. Don’t hate me for being a Lemkin. Help me be an effective one. Please.
2) I am, like you have been, an anitviolent (much better term than nonviolent) commando for Darfur. I’m in the war as best I can as totally as I can. I’m in a foxhole. You are too. If a fellow commando doesn’t by accident jam me in the ribs with their riffle butt as they are swinging around for an incoming enemy, we’re both/all dead. Sorry about my riffle butt in your ribs on Monday!
3) I’m only doing what you said. I’m following your conclusions. Through no intention of your own, tragically, correctably you appear to me to have forgotten some of your miraculous wisdom from “problem from hell!” This is why I called in, to tell you this!
a) ‘The battle… always…lost on the field of US public opinion… we-the-people have never stood up.” [Apology for misquotes. Col. Ann Wright, now of Code Pink has my copy of “Problem from Hell.”] This is the problem. BUT WE ARE NOT ACTING ON YOUR ADVICE! ALL FINGERS POINT AWAY FROM WE-THE-PEOPLE at strategy, Bush, China, Russia, UN, AU, Koffi…. We need the finger pointing at we-the-people. So we can rise to greatness.
b) The “Lemkin” factor. LEADERSHIP. SAMANTHA, YOUR, POTENTIAL GREAT CONTRIBUTION NOW IS LEADING US TO STOP THE GENOCIDE, TODAY. Visibly, courageously, passionately, unmistakably, committedly. George Washington-style. WE NEED YOU LEADING THE CHARGE, out where we can see you; more with your actions/ skin in the game, less with your words at this late stage. George Washington did. No one else (or not many) has your visibility, stature, credibility! [Do I claim infallible wisdom on this? No. Am I correct? You deicide.] If you spend your time now, at this critical juncture, writing a book about the UN, you’ve signaled that the battle for Darfur is lost. No? Even if you don’t believe it!
4) I didn’t know you were to be on the air until 10:20. We spoke at 10:35. I had not time to prepare, and no opportunity to explain.
Obviously, I would give any limb of mine for 20 minutes of your time to discuss this face to face.
Thank God for “Problem from Hell.” HOWEVER, more words, more theory, more strategy WILL NOT SAVE DARFUR at this juncture. Unmistakable leadership and sacrifice by the few is the only thing that can spark, or ever has sparked, those with less imagination to the level of committed action that will stop the Genocide now. Or, please tell me why this is not so, and what historical precedents would say otherwise than I have; because I can’t see any – Vietnam War, apartheid, India Liberation, Suffrage, Civil Rights….
LEADING US VISIBLY, ISN’T THIS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?
Your Brother,
Jay McGinley
115 Days of Vigil in DC for Darfur; 54 Days of Hunger Strike since July 4th.
484 356 6243
jymcginley@cs.com
To: Samantha Power
Fr: Jay “LEMKIN” McGinley
RE: APPOLOGY TO SAMANTHA POWER / WHYY WEDNESDAY CALL-IN FROM “JAY” AT THE WHITE HOUSE HOUSE (http://www.whyy.org/rameta/RT/2006/RT20060913_20.ram roughly at 38 minutes in.)
Dear Sister,
I am deeply sorry for any destructive, inappropriate or unnecessary pain I caused you. I am so sorry. You are a rare gift to us. I am profoundly grateful for you. I treasure you.
I swear to God who I love and serve that your pain is my pain. You are my sister. Darfur is my, and your family. And God bless you, I know that about you – that Darfur is YOUR family, in your heart. So rare. That is why you are the number one person I’ve wanted / needed to talk to about Darfur; why I have studied and studied and recommended and gifted your book, and why I have tried to contact you over the last four months. I am and remain distraught that you have never responded. Personally hurt by your ignoring me? God no. There is no “personal” with me anymore. THERE IS ONLY STOPPING THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, NOW, stopping the slaughter of my family, our family. That is my heart. That is my life. Your’s too, I believe you feel.
Why do I qualify my apology even a little? (the Pope qualified his MONSTROUSLY. Shamefully?)
1) “All hope lies with the unreasonable [person]….” I’ve been a “Lemkin” my whole adult life. We are perceived as obnoxious, insensitive, crude, brusk, heartless, rough, boorish, boring, nerdy…. It goes with the territory. He didn’t try to provoke those reactions. I try not to, however…. Don’t hate me for being a Lemkin. Help me be an effective one. Please.
2) I am, like you have been, an anitviolent (much better term than nonviolent) commando for Darfur. I’m in the war as best I can as totally as I can. I’m in a foxhole. You are too. If a fellow commando doesn’t by accident jam me in the ribs with their riffle butt as they are swinging around for an incoming enemy, we’re both/all dead. Sorry about my riffle butt in your ribs on Monday!
3) I’m only doing what you said. I’m following your conclusions. Through no intention of your own, tragically, correctably you appear to me to have forgotten some of your miraculous wisdom from “problem from hell!” This is why I called in, to tell you this!
a) ‘The battle… always…lost on the field of US public opinion… we-the-people have never stood up.” [Apology for misquotes. Col. Ann Wright, now of Code Pink has my copy of “Problem from Hell.”] This is the problem. BUT WE ARE NOT ACTING ON YOUR ADVICE! ALL FINGERS POINT AWAY FROM WE-THE-PEOPLE at strategy, Bush, China, Russia, UN, AU, Koffi…. We need the finger pointing at we-the-people. So we can rise to greatness.
b) The “Lemkin” factor. LEADERSHIP. SAMANTHA, YOUR, POTENTIAL GREAT CONTRIBUTION NOW IS LEADING US TO STOP THE GENOCIDE, TODAY. Visibly, courageously, passionately, unmistakably, committedly. George Washington-style. WE NEED YOU LEADING THE CHARGE, out where we can see you; more with your actions/ skin in the game, less with your words at this late stage. George Washington did. No one else (or not many) has your visibility, stature, credibility! [Do I claim infallible wisdom on this? No. Am I correct? You deicide.] If you spend your time now, at this critical juncture, writing a book about the UN, you’ve signaled that the battle for Darfur is lost. No? Even if you don’t believe it!
4) I didn’t know you were to be on the air until 10:20. We spoke at 10:35. I had not time to prepare, and no opportunity to explain.
Obviously, I would give any limb of mine for 20 minutes of your time to discuss this face to face.
Thank God for “Problem from Hell.” HOWEVER, more words, more theory, more strategy WILL NOT SAVE DARFUR at this juncture. Unmistakable leadership and sacrifice by the few is the only thing that can spark, or ever has sparked, those with less imagination to the level of committed action that will stop the Genocide now. Or, please tell me why this is not so, and what historical precedents would say otherwise than I have; because I can’t see any – Vietnam War, apartheid, India Liberation, Suffrage, Civil Rights….
LEADING US VISIBLY, ISN’T THIS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?
Your Brother,
Jay McGinley
115 Days of Vigil in DC for Darfur; 54 Days of Hunger Strike since July 4th.
484 356 6243
jymcginley@cs.com
Friday, September 15, 2006
'Never again'. But do they mean it?, GENOCIDE Survivors Talk to UK Independent
The Independent, UK: Day for Darfur inspires protests in 32 countries , By Paul Vallely, Published: 16 September 2006
Note: Will heroes emerge for Darfur? Maybe the folks pictured below, and dozens more HERE from Saturday's AfricaAction.org demonstation September 9, 2006? Maybe nobody?
Susan Pollack, SURVIVOR, THE HOLOCAUST IN EUROPE
I was 13 years old when German troops came to my village of Felsogod in Hungary and took my father. I never saw him again. Then they came for me and my family and sent us to Auschwitz. My mother was gassed to death as soon as we arrived. I survived Auschwitz, slave labour, selection at the hands of Doctor Josef Mengele and a death march to Belsen before I was 15. I can still see the mountains of corpses at Auschwitz. After the Holocaust, the world said "never again". Today they are still saying it, but when genocides like Darfur go on unchecked, I'm beginning to wonder if they mean it.
Beatha Uwazaninka, SURVIVOR, GENOCIDE IN RWANDA
When the genocide began, I was 14 years old and it was hard to make sense of it.
For three months, I was on the run, hiding in sugar cane fields and the houses of the dead. I narrowly avoided being raped and murdered but a million of my people, including my family and friends, were massacred in the space of a hundred days while the world looked on.
I have rebuilt my life and have a baby girl now. For her sake, and the sake of millions of others all over the world, I have to speak out about what is going on today in Darfur.
Kemal Pervanic, SURVIVOR, ETHNIC CLEANSING IN BOSNIA
Life in the Serb concentration camps was horrific. I witnessed atrocities daily. You live day-to-day, keeping your head down in case you catch a guard's eye; seeing men called out who never return; hearing their tortured screams. Despite the lessons of the failures in Rwanda and the Balkans hundreds of thousands of Muslims have been killed in Darfur and no one cares enough to stop it. Western governments dithered over Bosnia. This time, despite the fact that it's Muslims being killed, it is Arab governments whose silence is allowing the conflict to continue unabated.
And today from the Washington Post: For Darfur Women, Survival Means Leaving Camp, Risking Rape; By Craig Timberg Washington Post Foreign ServiceSaturday, September 16, 2006
The tall, light-skinned man reeking of sweat and cigarettes often gallops his horse right into the nightmares of Darelsalam Ahmed Eisa, 18. Each time, she said, he throws her to the ground, pushes up her skirt and forces himself inside her while muttering: " Abdah. Abdah. Abdah ."
Slave woman. Slave woman. Slave woman.
He was in her dreams just last night, she recalled, as real and horrifying in his green camouflage uniform as he was the day he raped her two months ago. But when Eisa awoke this morning, there was no time for terror, no time for tears. She covered herself in an orange and blue cloth, grabbed the family's ax and departed for the perilous Darfur countryside, out of the relative safety of a sprawling camp for people displaced by the violence in this region of western Sudan.
In the wilderness, Eisa can find grass for the donkeys and firewood for cooking. But it is also where government-backed militias known as the Janjaweed roam, terrorizing villagers. Violence and disease in Darfur have killed as many as 450,000 people since 2003, and an estimated 2 million have been forced to flee their homes....
'Never again,' But do they, do we mean it? Now history will know the answer. Jay
Note: Will heroes emerge for Darfur? Maybe the folks pictured below, and dozens more HERE from Saturday's AfricaAction.org demonstation September 9, 2006? Maybe nobody?Susan Pollack, SURVIVOR, THE HOLOCAUST IN EUROPE
I was 13 years old when German troops came to my village of Felsogod in Hungary and took my father. I never saw him again. Then they came for me and my family and sent us to Auschwitz. My mother was gassed to death as soon as we arrived. I survived Auschwitz, slave labour, selection at the hands of Doctor Josef Mengele and a death march to Belsen before I was 15. I can still see the mountains of corpses at Auschwitz. After the Holocaust, the world said "never again". Today they are still saying it, but when genocides like Darfur go on unchecked, I'm beginning to wonder if they mean it.
Beatha Uwazaninka, SURVIVOR, GENOCIDE IN RWANDA
When the genocide began, I was 14 years old and it was hard to make sense of it.
For three months, I was on the run, hiding in sugar cane fields and the houses of the dead. I narrowly avoided being raped and murdered but a million of my people, including my family and friends, were massacred in the space of a hundred days while the world looked on.
I have rebuilt my life and have a baby girl now. For her sake, and the sake of millions of others all over the world, I have to speak out about what is going on today in Darfur.Kemal Pervanic, SURVIVOR, ETHNIC CLEANSING IN BOSNIA
Life in the Serb concentration camps was horrific. I witnessed atrocities daily. You live day-to-day, keeping your head down in case you catch a guard's eye; seeing men called out who never return; hearing their tortured screams. Despite the lessons of the failures in Rwanda and the Balkans hundreds of thousands of Muslims have been killed in Darfur and no one cares enough to stop it. Western governments dithered over Bosnia. This time, despite the fact that it's Muslims being killed, it is Arab governments whose silence is allowing the conflict to continue unabated.
And today from the Washington Post: For Darfur Women, Survival Means Leaving Camp, Risking Rape; By Craig Timberg Washington Post Foreign ServiceSaturday, September 16, 2006
The tall, light-skinned man reeking of sweat and cigarettes often gallops his horse right into the nightmares of Darelsalam Ahmed Eisa, 18. Each time, she said, he throws her to the ground, pushes up her skirt and forces himself inside her while muttering: " Abdah. Abdah. Abdah ."
Slave woman. Slave woman. Slave woman.
He was in her dreams just last night, she recalled, as real and horrifying in his green camouflage uniform as he was the day he raped her two months ago. But when Eisa awoke this morning, there was no time for terror, no time for tears. She covered herself in an orange and blue cloth, grabbed the family's ax and departed for the perilous Darfur countryside, out of the relative safety of a sprawling camp for people displaced by the violence in this region of western Sudan.
In the wilderness, Eisa can find grass for the donkeys and firewood for cooking. But it is also where government-backed militias known as the Janjaweed roam, terrorizing villagers. Violence and disease in Darfur have killed as many as 450,000 people since 2003, and an estimated 2 million have been forced to flee their homes....
'Never again,' But do they, do we mean it? Now history will know the answer. Jay
Thursday, September 14, 2006
WASHINGTON POST: COUPLE WHO FOUGHT GENOCIDE; & OTHER NEWS
Note: Will heroes emerge for Darfur? Maybe the folks pictured below, and dozens more HERE from Saturday's AfricaAction.org demonstation September 9, 2006? Maybe nobody?
The Ithacan 9/14/06: Alumnus sacrifices family and food for Darfur cause; and also Assisting those in Darfur. Question: For we as individuals, what actions would be appropriate for us if those being exterminated at this very moment were: OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY? WHITE, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AMERICANS? 6,000,000 JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?
Washington Post 9/14/06: Rebels Say They May Abandon Darfur Pact, Faction Commanders Demand a Strong International Force. Note:Illusions of stability, and that we have time to discuss, delay, deny... the facts no longer support these illusions.
Washington Post 9/14/06 Couple Who Fought Genocide; same article without registering at MSNBC. By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 14, 2006; Some excerpts:
As the Nazis marched across Europe in 1939 and 1940, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and his wife rushed into the coming Holocaust to save Jews and other refugees, including dozens of children.
For their heroism, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will dedicate plaques today in memory of Waitstill and Martha Sharp. They are only the second and third U.S. citizens named to an honor roll of 21,000 "righteous" gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.
The Holocaust museum is honoring Martha and Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, for their rescue missions to Europe as the Nazis ravaged the Continent. (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee)
But the moral example of the Sharps is arguably much greater, and certainly more complex, than those bare facts suggest. When they made two lengthy trips to Europe to save the children of strangers, they left their own children with relatives and parishioners. Their 2-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were separated, and the daughter nearly died of pneumonia in her parents' absence.
Decades later, the Sharps' children and grandchildren are still working out the emotional consequences -- and thinking over the ethical questions -- created by the couple's wartime activity...
"The moral dilemma they pose for each of us is not just 'Am I willing to risk my own skin to save someone else's life?' It is 'Am I willing to impose risk and sacrifice on my children to save other people's lives?' " said their grandson, Artemis Joukowsky III of Boston...
Joukowsky, 45, is proud of them. He has done more than anyone to win them recognition by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that maintains the list of righteous gentiles. He is making a documentary film and writing a book in hopes that their story will inspire Americans to act boldly when genocides occur in such places as Darfur, Sudan.
Yet he said he could never do to his children what his grandparents did to his mother and uncle.
"I have to say, they crossed a certain line. One of them leaving was fine. But the fact that they both left, especially the second time, when they knew what they were getting into. . . . It was heroic, but it crossed a line..."
Looking back, Martha Sharp Joukowsky said, "The values I hold for myself may not be the same that I held my parents to. I think that sacrifice is something they felt they had to do. I don't make any value judgments. I can't. . . . Is home important? Yes, but it is more important that ideas are put into action. They felt the world was in a crisis, they had to rise to the occasion. Nobody else was."
Washington Post 9/15/06: Clooney, Wiesel tell UN time running out in Darfur
By Evelyn LeopoldReutersThursday, September 14, 2006; 7:59 PM. Note: It is like when you decide to push an enormous boulder to the top of a huge hill - once you get it going and toward the top, if you lose momentum you will probably NEVER get the boulder to the top of the hill; we would probably NEVER STOP THE GENOCIDE. NOW is the time.
The Ithacan 9/14/06: Alumnus sacrifices family and food for Darfur cause; and also Assisting those in Darfur. Question: For we as individuals, what actions would be appropriate for us if those being exterminated at this very moment were: OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY? WHITE, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AMERICANS? 6,000,000 JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?
Washington Post 9/14/06: Rebels Say They May Abandon Darfur Pact, Faction Commanders Demand a Strong International Force. Note:Illusions of stability, and that we have time to discuss, delay, deny... the facts no longer support these illusions.
Washington Post 9/14/06 Couple Who Fought Genocide; same article without registering at MSNBC. By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 14, 2006; Some excerpts:As the Nazis marched across Europe in 1939 and 1940, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and his wife rushed into the coming Holocaust to save Jews and other refugees, including dozens of children.
For their heroism, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will dedicate plaques today in memory of Waitstill and Martha Sharp. They are only the second and third U.S. citizens named to an honor roll of 21,000 "righteous" gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.
The Holocaust museum is honoring Martha and Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, for their rescue missions to Europe as the Nazis ravaged the Continent. (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee)
But the moral example of the Sharps is arguably much greater, and certainly more complex, than those bare facts suggest. When they made two lengthy trips to Europe to save the children of strangers, they left their own children with relatives and parishioners. Their 2-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were separated, and the daughter nearly died of pneumonia in her parents' absence.
Decades later, the Sharps' children and grandchildren are still working out the emotional consequences -- and thinking over the ethical questions -- created by the couple's wartime activity...
"The moral dilemma they pose for each of us is not just 'Am I willing to risk my own skin to save someone else's life?' It is 'Am I willing to impose risk and sacrifice on my children to save other people's lives?' " said their grandson, Artemis Joukowsky III of Boston...
Joukowsky, 45, is proud of them. He has done more than anyone to win them recognition by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that maintains the list of righteous gentiles. He is making a documentary film and writing a book in hopes that their story will inspire Americans to act boldly when genocides occur in such places as Darfur, Sudan.Yet he said he could never do to his children what his grandparents did to his mother and uncle.
"I have to say, they crossed a certain line. One of them leaving was fine. But the fact that they both left, especially the second time, when they knew what they were getting into. . . . It was heroic, but it crossed a line..."
Looking back, Martha Sharp Joukowsky said, "The values I hold for myself may not be the same that I held my parents to. I think that sacrifice is something they felt they had to do. I don't make any value judgments. I can't. . . . Is home important? Yes, but it is more important that ideas are put into action. They felt the world was in a crisis, they had to rise to the occasion. Nobody else was."
Washington Post 9/15/06: Clooney, Wiesel tell UN time running out in Darfur
By Evelyn LeopoldReutersThursday, September 14, 2006; 7:59 PM. Note: It is like when you decide to push an enormous boulder to the top of a huge hill - once you get it going and toward the top, if you lose momentum you will probably NEVER get the boulder to the top of the hill; we would probably NEVER STOP THE GENOCIDE. NOW is the time.
THE ONLY HOPE FOR DARFUR: WE-THE-PEOPLE. duh
Note: Click HERE for 100s o f photos and detials from Sunday's AfricaAction.org arrests at the White House 9/09/06.
It is said that the mark of truly being “crazy” is expecting different results to come despite repeating the same actions over and over and…
Ok, we've tried some new approaches, hoping we could find a new formula for mass social change (stopping Genocide has NEVER been done. N-E-V-E-R); looking for a way that would be comfortable, convenient, safe, executed from where we are, from our computer terminal / phone / office / home in some combination. The variations we’ve tried are:
* Blame - UN, EU, AU, Bush, Congress...
* Emails / Blogs / Letters / Phone calls / Post cards / 1-day-fasts (yawn; oh, excuse me) / an occasional 3 hour demonstration (with entertainment!)...
* Letting the Nonprofits do it - SaveDarfur.org, AfricaAction.org, GenocideIntervention.net, STANDnow.org...
* Divestment...
* Meetings, lectures, prayer services...
And the results are in! WE ARE NOT, N-O-T STOPPING THE GENOCIDE! Infact, all evidence to the contrary - things have gotten worse, much worse. We might have known it would not come this cheap.
The answer for Darfur is the same answer we found for…
* Ending the Vietnam War
* Gaining Civil Rights in the US
* Gaining Women the right to Vote in the US
* Ending apartheid in South Africa
* Throwing off oppression at the start of the US....
Yup. Soldiers, of the antiviolent variety, putting themselves in harms way to protect the innocent. King's way. Gandhi's way. Jesus' way. A mother's way.
Let the blame for the Genocide rest with us. WE-THE-PEOPLE. Let the END OF GENOCIDE BE BROUGHT BY US, we-the-people-of-the-world! No one else, nothing else can stop it, can save 4,000,000 in Concentration Camps in Sudan and Chad. The buck stops with WE-THE-PEOPLE.
Time for us to start - marching, demonstrating, sitting-in, hunger striking… UNTIL DARFUR GENOCIDE STOPS.
The next step is September 17th (SaveDarfur.org; DayForDarfur.org). We must make these worldwide events an earsplitting mandate to the “governing bodies” that we demand, we mandate, we support nothing less than the immediate end to the Genocide. Our message must be unmistakable, “Do what it takes. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. Do what we hired you to do, or make room for those who will.”
Then we need to be ready on SEPTEMBER 18th, 19th… AS LONG AS IT TAKES, WHATEVER IT TAKES FROM US TO END THIS GENOCIDE, NOW.
It is said that the mark of truly being “crazy” is expecting different results to come despite repeating the same actions over and over and…Ok, we've tried some new approaches, hoping we could find a new formula for mass social change (stopping Genocide has NEVER been done. N-E-V-E-R); looking for a way that would be comfortable, convenient, safe, executed from where we are, from our computer terminal / phone / office / home in some combination. The variations we’ve tried are:
* Blame - UN, EU, AU, Bush, Congress...
* Emails / Blogs / Letters / Phone calls / Post cards / 1-day-fasts (yawn; oh, excuse me) / an occasional 3 hour demonstration (with entertainment!)...
* Letting the Nonprofits do it - SaveDarfur.org, AfricaAction.org, GenocideIntervention.net, STANDnow.org...
* Divestment...
* Meetings, lectures, prayer services...
And the results are in! WE ARE NOT, N-O-T STOPPING THE GENOCIDE! Infact, all evidence to the contrary - things have gotten worse, much worse. We might have known it would not come this cheap.
The answer for Darfur is the same answer we found for…* Ending the Vietnam War
* Gaining Civil Rights in the US
* Gaining Women the right to Vote in the US
* Ending apartheid in South Africa
* Throwing off oppression at the start of the US....
Yup. Soldiers, of the antiviolent variety, putting themselves in harms way to protect the innocent. King's way. Gandhi's way. Jesus' way. A mother's way.
Let the blame for the Genocide rest with us. WE-THE-PEOPLE. Let the END OF GENOCIDE BE BROUGHT BY US, we-the-people-of-the-world! No one else, nothing else can stop it, can save 4,000,000 in Concentration Camps in Sudan and Chad. The buck stops with WE-THE-PEOPLE.
Time for us to start - marching, demonstrating, sitting-in, hunger striking… UNTIL DARFUR GENOCIDE STOPS.The next step is September 17th (SaveDarfur.org; DayForDarfur.org). We must make these worldwide events an earsplitting mandate to the “governing bodies” that we demand, we mandate, we support nothing less than the immediate end to the Genocide. Our message must be unmistakable, “Do what it takes. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. Do what we hired you to do, or make room for those who will.”
Then we need to be ready on SEPTEMBER 18th, 19th… AS LONG AS IT TAKES, WHATEVER IT TAKES FROM US TO END THIS GENOCIDE, NOW.
Important in the News
Note: Will heroes emerge for Darfur? Maybe the folks pictured below, and dozens more HERE from Saturday's AfricaAction.org demonstation September 9, 2006? Maybe nobody?
The Ithacan 9/14/06: Alumnus sacrifices family and food for Darfur cause; and also Assisting those in Darfur. Question: For we as individuals, what actions would be appropriate for us if those being exterminated, as we speak, were: OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY? WHITE, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AMERICANS? 6,000,000 JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?
Washington Post 9/14/06: Rebels Say They May Abandon Darfur Pact, Faction Commanders Demand a Strong International Force. Note:Illusions of stability, and that we have time to discuss, delay, deny... the facts no longer support these illusions.
Washington Post 9/14/06 Couple Who Fought Genocide; same article without registering at MSNBC. By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 14, 2006; Some excerpts:
As the Nazis marched across Europe in 1939 and 1940, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and his wife rushed into the coming Holocaust to save Jews and other refugees, including dozens of children.
For their heroism, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will dedicate plaques today in memory of Waitstill and Martha Sharp. They are only the second and third U.S. citizens named to an honor roll of 21,000 "righteous" gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.
The Holocaust museum is honoring Martha and Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, for their rescue missions to Europe as the Nazis ravaged the Continent. (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee)
But the moral example of the Sharps is arguably much greater, and certainly more complex, than those bare facts suggest. When they made two lengthy trips to Europe to save the children of strangers, they left their own children with relatives and parishioners. Their 2-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were separated, and the daughter nearly died of pneumonia in her parents' absence.
Decades later, the Sharps' children and grandchildren are still working out the emotional consequences -- and thinking over the ethical questions -- created by the couple's wartime activity...
"The moral dilemma they pose for each of us is not just 'Am I willing to risk my own skin to save someone else's life?' It is 'Am I willing to impose risk and sacrifice on my children to save other people's lives?' " said their grandson, Artemis Joukowsky III of Boston...
Joukowsky, 45, is proud of them. He has done more than anyone to win them recognition by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that maintains the list of righteous gentiles. He is making a documentary film and writing a book in hopes that their story will inspire Americans to act boldly when genocides occur in such places as Darfur, Sudan.
Yet he said he could never do to his children what his grandparents did to his mother and uncle.
"I have to say, they crossed a certain line. One of them leaving was fine. But the fact that they both left, especially the second time, when they knew what they were getting into. . . . It was heroic, but it crossed a line..."
Looking back, Martha Sharp Joukowsky said, "The values I hold for myself may not be the same that I held my parents to. I think that sacrifice is something they felt they had to do. I don't make any value judgments. I can't. . . . Is home important? Yes, but it is more important that ideas are put into action. They felt the world was in a crisis, they had to rise to the occasion. Nobody else was."
The Ithacan 9/14/06: Alumnus sacrifices family and food for Darfur cause; and also Assisting those in Darfur. Question: For we as individuals, what actions would be appropriate for us if those being exterminated, as we speak, were: OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY? WHITE, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AMERICANS? 6,000,000 JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?
Washington Post 9/14/06: Rebels Say They May Abandon Darfur Pact, Faction Commanders Demand a Strong International Force. Note:Illusions of stability, and that we have time to discuss, delay, deny... the facts no longer support these illusions.
Washington Post 9/14/06 Couple Who Fought Genocide; same article without registering at MSNBC. By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 14, 2006; Some excerpts:As the Nazis marched across Europe in 1939 and 1940, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and his wife rushed into the coming Holocaust to save Jews and other refugees, including dozens of children.
For their heroism, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will dedicate plaques today in memory of Waitstill and Martha Sharp. They are only the second and third U.S. citizens named to an honor roll of 21,000 "righteous" gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.
The Holocaust museum is honoring Martha and Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, for their rescue missions to Europe as the Nazis ravaged the Continent. (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee)
But the moral example of the Sharps is arguably much greater, and certainly more complex, than those bare facts suggest. When they made two lengthy trips to Europe to save the children of strangers, they left their own children with relatives and parishioners. Their 2-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were separated, and the daughter nearly died of pneumonia in her parents' absence.
Decades later, the Sharps' children and grandchildren are still working out the emotional consequences -- and thinking over the ethical questions -- created by the couple's wartime activity...
"The moral dilemma they pose for each of us is not just 'Am I willing to risk my own skin to save someone else's life?' It is 'Am I willing to impose risk and sacrifice on my children to save other people's lives?' " said their grandson, Artemis Joukowsky III of Boston...
Joukowsky, 45, is proud of them. He has done more than anyone to win them recognition by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that maintains the list of righteous gentiles. He is making a documentary film and writing a book in hopes that their story will inspire Americans to act boldly when genocides occur in such places as Darfur, Sudan.Yet he said he could never do to his children what his grandparents did to his mother and uncle.
"I have to say, they crossed a certain line. One of them leaving was fine. But the fact that they both left, especially the second time, when they knew what they were getting into. . . . It was heroic, but it crossed a line..."
Looking back, Martha Sharp Joukowsky said, "The values I hold for myself may not be the same that I held my parents to. I think that sacrifice is something they felt they had to do. I don't make any value judgments. I can't. . . . Is home important? Yes, but it is more important that ideas are put into action. They felt the world was in a crisis, they had to rise to the occasion. Nobody else was."
Sunday, September 10, 2006
SEPT 17: FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
September 9th Africa Action set the tone...
[Note: Many more photos thanks to GenocideIntervention.net a. HERE and b. HERE]
FOR... D DAY (Darfur Day) - SEPT 17 NYC Central Park 2:00 PM, !!See now also: California, District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington
WE MUST MAKE SUNDAY THE ABSOLUTE END OF GENOCIDE - ABSOLUTE VICTORY OVER EL BASHIR'S OBSTRUCTION OF UN.
FAILURE CANNOT BE AN OPTION. Your mandate, OUR TURNOUT must be MASSIVE and DEFINITIVE If you discover that CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE is necessary to make YOUR VOICE FINAL,
CLICK left for details
CLICK left for detials
...BUT IF WE MUST FIGHT SEPTEMBER 20TH, 21ST, 22ND, 23RD... WE MUST BE READY, WILLING AND ABLE! FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.
[Note: Many more photos thanks to GenocideIntervention.net a. HERE and b. HERE]
FOR... D DAY (Darfur Day) - SEPT 17 NYC Central Park 2:00 PM, !!See now also: California, District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington
WE MUST MAKE SUNDAY THE ABSOLUTE END OF GENOCIDE - ABSOLUTE VICTORY OVER EL BASHIR'S OBSTRUCTION OF UN.
FAILURE CANNOT BE AN OPTION. Your mandate, OUR TURNOUT must be MASSIVE and DEFINITIVE If you discover that CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE is necessary to make YOUR VOICE FINAL,
FOR GOD'S SAKE BE PREPARED, AND DO IT. (YOU DID FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, LIVING WAGES, ENDING APARTHEID...). THERE IS NO OCTOBER FOR DARFUR.
CLICK left for detailsCLICK left for detials...BUT IF WE MUST FIGHT SEPTEMBER 20TH, 21ST, 22ND, 23RD... WE MUST BE READY, WILLING AND ABLE! FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.
30 ARRESTED AT WHITE HOUSE SATURDAY
Hunger Strike Day 35; DC Vigil Day 105
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: “When you are right you cannot be too radical….”
“… when a person is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed...... Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved...civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its sirens on full.”
[Note: Many more photos thanks to GenocideIntervention.net HERE]
A Cry for Intervention in Darfur
D.C. Demonstrators Call On Bush to Press for U.N. Peacekeepers By Henri E. Cauvin Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 10, 2006.
...30 protesters carrying signs marched from Lafayette Square across Pennsylvania Avenue, where they lay down on the sidewalk outside the White House fence and held up the signs.
The protesters were arrested by U.S. Park Police to the cheers of hundreds of fellow demonstrators who watched from across Pennsylvania Avenue, chanting for their cause.
"Stop the genocide! Break the deadlock! Protect the people!" the group called out as the 30 demonstrators lay, still holding up their signs…
"It's been two years, and Mr. Bush hasn't done anything about it," said Emily Funigiello, 17, who traveled from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington to join the demonstration.
Her friend Melissa Salvatore, 18, said the United States and the president cannot forget what happened not so many years ago. "We can't let what happened in Rwanda happen in Darfur."
Darfur Trembles as Peacekeepers’ Exit Looms By LYDIA POLGREEN Published: September 10, 2006
“What happened in Rwanda, it will happen here,” said Sheik Abdullah Muhammad Ali, who fled here from a nearby village seeking the safety that he hoped the presence of about 200 African Union peacekeepers would bring. But the Sudanese government has asked the African Union to quit Darfur… “If these soldiers leave,” Sheik Ali said, “we will all be slaughtered… “We beg the international community, somebody, come and save us….”
On Sunday [September 3, 2006 ] riot police broke up demonstrations in favor of the peacekeepers at a university in el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur province. Two students [were killed] and more than 10 were injured, the United Nations reported.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: “When you are right you cannot be too radical….”“… when a person is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed...... Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved...civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its sirens on full.”
[Note: Many more photos thanks to GenocideIntervention.net HERE]
A Cry for Intervention in DarfurD.C. Demonstrators Call On Bush to Press for U.N. Peacekeepers By Henri E. Cauvin Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 10, 2006.
...30 protesters carrying signs marched from Lafayette Square across Pennsylvania Avenue, where they lay down on the sidewalk outside the White House fence and held up the signs.
The protesters were arrested by U.S. Park Police to the cheers of hundreds of fellow demonstrators who watched from across Pennsylvania Avenue, chanting for their cause.
"Stop the genocide! Break the deadlock! Protect the people!" the group called out as the 30 demonstrators lay, still holding up their signs…
"It's been two years, and Mr. Bush hasn't done anything about it," said Emily Funigiello, 17, who traveled from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington to join the demonstration.
Her friend Melissa Salvatore, 18, said the United States and the president cannot forget what happened not so many years ago. "We can't let what happened in Rwanda happen in Darfur."
Darfur Trembles as Peacekeepers’ Exit Looms By LYDIA POLGREEN Published: September 10, 2006“What happened in Rwanda, it will happen here,” said Sheik Abdullah Muhammad Ali, who fled here from a nearby village seeking the safety that he hoped the presence of about 200 African Union peacekeepers would bring. But the Sudanese government has asked the African Union to quit Darfur… “If these soldiers leave,” Sheik Ali said, “we will all be slaughtered… “We beg the international community, somebody, come and save us….”
On Sunday [Tuesday, September 05, 2006
DARFUR: HUNGER STRIKE RESUMES IN DC
The Hunger Strike for Darfur at the White House / around DC resumes Friday, September 8th.
NOW, given the developments of this past week, September 9th at the White House (africaaction.org) and September 17th in NYC (savedarfur.org)/Around the World (dayfordarfur.org) MUST BE THE START OF OUR BATTLE FOR DARFUR. Or, we have finally and certainly abandoned Darfur to Genocide; and God help us.
The HUNGER STRIKE SUSPENDED (War over? War beginning?) Wednesday, August 30th after 45 days water only, in the midst of highly divergent accounts of the prospects for ending the Genocide. Bashir's behavior suggested a total disregard for International and US will. However, US Ambassador to the UN Bolton asserted that his only worry was responding fast enough to Bashir's acquiescence to troops. All of which suggested that it would take several weeks to see who knew what he was talking about, and who had the will to determine the outcome.
No need to wait any longer. If "will" were measured in words, the Hunger Strike would be suspended for good! My goodness, we in the US have been chanting in earnest "NEVER AGAIN" and "NOT ON OUR WATCH" for three years now. BUT WORDS ARE CHEAP, ACTION IS DEAR. And Bashir is the one determined to act on this stage, so far.
Our WORDS say: Never again!
Our ACTIONS say: Never again! if I can stop it with emails, postcards, a rally every 6 months and the telephone during commercials and between classes.
Our WORDS say: Not on my watch!
Our ACTIONS say: Not on my watch! if it is safe, convenient and does not disrupt my plans for me and mine or mess up my GPA.
Our WORDS say: GENOCIDE!
Our ACTIONS say: Darfur GENOCIDE is less important than whether there are to be Soda Machines at my little brother's middle school or not, or that date I have planned for this weekend.
Within the last week Bashir has called the UN resolution for immediate troops "illegal," restarted the war counter to the May 5th DPA, moved most of 10,000 troops into Darfur, restarted genocidal slaughter of civilians with bombs and guns, told the AU to leave unless they agree to NEVER accept UN Blue Hat, KILLED DARFUR STUDENTS STRIKING FOR UN INTERVENTION, killed more aid workers, destroyed what safety was left to allow aid workers to keep 4,000,000 alive.... He's been busy this past week!
The International and Activist community in the face of all this horror has... hmmmm... DONE NOTHING, except what we do... talk....blog.... write emails.... read news... basically watch ....pontificate, analyze ....whine, ....criticize... issue press releases.... But really ACT? PUT OUR SKIN IN THE GAME? Nah.
I know this can change. We Americans, we world citizens are better than this. We have more humanity and courage than this. Now, immediately - others must join in real action - civil disobedience, mass - protracted demonstrations, hunger strikes.... Until we are heard; until 24,000 peace keepers are on the ground in Darfur with Chapter 7 mandate. We must leave no room for the US Government, our fellow Americans, and the international community to continue to watch. The only option that OUR BEHAVIOR must leave is for the World to stop the genocide now. Period. End of discussion. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.
THE NGO / NONPROFIT LEADERS MUST BEGIN TO LEAD US, not to activity, but to victory. Nothing less is acceptable. AfricaAction.org is beginning to show signs of appropriate leadership. Others must follow. History, Darfur, Bashir are watching. Failure is not an option.
This can be our finest hour. This must be our finest hour. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MORE THAN DARFUR IS AT STAKE, as if 4,000,000 Darfur lives were not enough.
NOW, given the developments of this past week, September 9th at the White House (africaaction.org) and September 17th in NYC (savedarfur.org)/Around the World (dayfordarfur.org) MUST BE THE START OF OUR BATTLE FOR DARFUR. Or, we have finally and certainly abandoned Darfur to Genocide; and God help us.
The HUNGER STRIKE SUSPENDED (War over? War beginning?) Wednesday, August 30th after 45 days water only, in the midst of highly divergent accounts of the prospects for ending the Genocide. Bashir's behavior suggested a total disregard for International and US will. However, US Ambassador to the UN Bolton asserted that his only worry was responding fast enough to Bashir's acquiescence to troops. All of which suggested that it would take several weeks to see who knew what he was talking about, and who had the will to determine the outcome.
No need to wait any longer. If "will" were measured in words, the Hunger Strike would be suspended for good! My goodness, we in the US have been chanting in earnest "NEVER AGAIN" and "NOT ON OUR WATCH" for three years now. BUT WORDS ARE CHEAP, ACTION IS DEAR. And Bashir is the one determined to act on this stage, so far.
Our WORDS say: Never again!
Our ACTIONS say: Never again! if I can stop it with emails, postcards, a rally every 6 months and the telephone during commercials and between classes.
Our WORDS say: Not on my watch!
Our ACTIONS say: Not on my watch! if it is safe, convenient and does not disrupt my plans for me and mine or mess up my GPA.
Our WORDS say: GENOCIDE!
Our ACTIONS say: Darfur GENOCIDE is less important than whether there are to be Soda Machines at my little brother's middle school or not, or that date I have planned for this weekend.
Within the last week Bashir has called the UN resolution for immediate troops "illegal," restarted the war counter to the May 5th DPA, moved most of 10,000 troops into Darfur, restarted genocidal slaughter of civilians with bombs and guns, told the AU to leave unless they agree to NEVER accept UN Blue Hat, KILLED DARFUR STUDENTS STRIKING FOR UN INTERVENTION, killed more aid workers, destroyed what safety was left to allow aid workers to keep 4,000,000 alive.... He's been busy this past week!
The International and Activist community in the face of all this horror has... hmmmm... DONE NOTHING, except what we do... talk....blog.... write emails.... read news... basically watch ....pontificate, analyze ....whine, ....criticize... issue press releases.... But really ACT? PUT OUR SKIN IN THE GAME? Nah.
I know this can change. We Americans, we world citizens are better than this. We have more humanity and courage than this. Now, immediately - others must join in real action - civil disobedience, mass - protracted demonstrations, hunger strikes.... Until we are heard; until 24,000 peace keepers are on the ground in Darfur with Chapter 7 mandate. We must leave no room for the US Government, our fellow Americans, and the international community to continue to watch. The only option that OUR BEHAVIOR must leave is for the World to stop the genocide now. Period. End of discussion. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.
THE NGO / NONPROFIT LEADERS MUST BEGIN TO LEAD US, not to activity, but to victory. Nothing less is acceptable. AfricaAction.org is beginning to show signs of appropriate leadership. Others must follow. History, Darfur, Bashir are watching. Failure is not an option.
This can be our finest hour. This must be our finest hour. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MORE THAN DARFUR IS AT STAKE, as if 4,000,000 Darfur lives were not enough.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Recuperating with Family
While the dust settles on the activities by the State Dept / UN / Sept 9th / Sept 17th / Bashir obstruction... while the Hunger Strike is suspended my body demanded some recovery time that I am taking with friends / family. All I've done for several days is sleep. Apparantly I was more exhausted from the Strike and 100+ day Vigil than I realized; and my body was much more shut down than I realized. Eating, more particulary digesting, is an extremely difficult task for my body to accomplish.
I think this issue with digestion is why my legs are so extremely swolen - severe edema. My guess is that my kidneys have lost the ability to process my food properly - eliminate salt, and balince protiens, etc. In any case, my body is a bit messed up and so that I can serve better in a few weeks, I regretably will be away from the Vigil until mid to late this week.
I WILL be back for Saturday 9th for the Africa Action Civil Disobedience, God willing.
Jay
I think this issue with digestion is why my legs are so extremely swolen - severe edema. My guess is that my kidneys have lost the ability to process my food properly - eliminate salt, and balince protiens, etc. In any case, my body is a bit messed up and so that I can serve better in a few weeks, I regretably will be away from the Vigil until mid to late this week.
I WILL be back for Saturday 9th for the Africa Action Civil Disobedience, God willing.
Jay
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
HUNGER STRIKE SUSPENDED. War over? War beginning?
We must avoid the tragedy of April 30, 2006 - the rally at the Capitol - where we had no plan for the next day/week/month/quarter...! All that mobilization, that glorious army, so brilliantly and valiantly constructed, only to be allowed to dissipate, disband, and fade away. Tragic. Deadly.
I intend to do what little I can to help us keep our focus and readiness so that no delay or gap again cripples us this time. If within the next few weeks we see that it is to be war (discussion below), we must IMMEDIATELY capitalize on, BUILD ON the momentum of September 9th & 17th.
We must harness the energies of the masses that are mobilized on these two days. The attendees on these two days should be presented with contingency plans while they are still at the events!!!!!!!!!! They must not be allowed to leave thinking that they are...done, that things are fine now, like happened April 30th. The energies must not be allowed to dwindle like last time - April 30th! We must be ready. We must have plans. We must be ready to escalate, not evaporate, dissipate, strangulate...!
These two dates are not about hosting successful events. They are about stopping genocide. The organizers of these events must no longer afford themselves the luxury of restricting their responsibility to "hosting successful events." They are cast by circumstances to be the leaders of our nonviolent anti-genocide effort. THE LEADERS OF THE MAJOR NONPROFITS ARE MORALLY BOUND BY THEIR DEFACTO LEADERSHIP POSITIONS AND WILL BE MEASURED BY HISTORY BY THE OUTCOME, NOT THEIR INDIVIDUAL EVENTS. No longer can any cast off this role. They must embrace it and act accordingly. Or, stand down and be replaced by those who will lead us to win; FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. They must lead as though their lives depended on it, because 3,000,000 lives do.
Bashir must not be allowed a victory in this round of his fight with the rest of the world. Stalemate at best is what he must be allowed. If to give Bush the mandate and support he needs, we need to mount mass hunger strikes, civil disobedience, campus sit ins, etc, late September, early October - let us be ready!!!!!!!!!!
In light of our current situation including the events of the last week the Hunger Strike is now fully suspended.
UN ambassador Bolton tonight says that the biggest problem may be implementing the UN resolution he expects passage of this week, quickly enough because Bashir may surprise all with a speedy approval of troops! War over.
But earlier this week Basher totally snubs the US in the form of Frazer as she goes to Sudan begging to meet with him. War about to begin?
It will be several weeks before we know whether it is victory or war and I can see no benefit to a continuation of the Hunger Strike during this period of unknown. I can serve better by staying on Vigil but regaining strength and body mass in case a renewal of the Hunger Strike is necessary.
My gratitude and thanks to Africa Action, Human Rights First, Save Darfur, Genocide Intervention, Stand, et al for effort regarding September 9th and 17th. I have been working every waking hour literally to boost traffic for these two all important events. I will continue to do so up until the last moment.
My body would desperately like to return to friends, a bed, roof and shower in Philadelphia to recover from the 45 days of no food and 102 days of round-the-clock Vigil, out in the elements, on the streets. But I want to maintain the Vigil at the White House and around Washington until it is clear whether it is victory, or war we are about to face. Not sure what I’ll decide.
Finally, we must not continue to fall in the trap of telling Washington - President and Congress what to do. That is their job. The last car that you bought, did you specify the design of seats and doors? No. You rightly expected that of the company. That is why organizations have executives. All that we must tell Bush and Congress is that we want a force of 20-30,000 with Ch. 7 equivalent mandate, fully funded and supported now, peace now, and repatriation to peaceful lands immediately for the people of Darfur. UN, AU, NATO, ultimately even US - that is their job to determine - not ours. And, no messing with China's oil - hands off!
Must we demand hands of Bashir, no regime change? Probably that is what we need to commit to him at the same time he is told privately – “gracefully let in the UN or we're taking you out.” But again, that is for Bush to decide. We need to be simple and clear to Bush - we want the genocide stopped and these people restored to their lives and land - now. Tell us what you need us to do to support you, and we'll move heaven and earth to do it.
This can be our finest hour. This MUST be our finest hour - we-the-people.
I intend to do what little I can to help us keep our focus and readiness so that no delay or gap again cripples us this time. If within the next few weeks we see that it is to be war (discussion below), we must IMMEDIATELY capitalize on, BUILD ON the momentum of September 9th & 17th.
We must harness the energies of the masses that are mobilized on these two days. The attendees on these two days should be presented with contingency plans while they are still at the events!!!!!!!!!! They must not be allowed to leave thinking that they are...done, that things are fine now, like happened April 30th. The energies must not be allowed to dwindle like last time - April 30th! We must be ready. We must have plans. We must be ready to escalate, not evaporate, dissipate, strangulate...!
These two dates are not about hosting successful events. They are about stopping genocide. The organizers of these events must no longer afford themselves the luxury of restricting their responsibility to "hosting successful events." They are cast by circumstances to be the leaders of our nonviolent anti-genocide effort. THE LEADERS OF THE MAJOR NONPROFITS ARE MORALLY BOUND BY THEIR DEFACTO LEADERSHIP POSITIONS AND WILL BE MEASURED BY HISTORY BY THE OUTCOME, NOT THEIR INDIVIDUAL EVENTS. No longer can any cast off this role. They must embrace it and act accordingly. Or, stand down and be replaced by those who will lead us to win; FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. They must lead as though their lives depended on it, because 3,000,000 lives do.
Bashir must not be allowed a victory in this round of his fight with the rest of the world. Stalemate at best is what he must be allowed. If to give Bush the mandate and support he needs, we need to mount mass hunger strikes, civil disobedience, campus sit ins, etc, late September, early October - let us be ready!!!!!!!!!!
In light of our current situation including the events of the last week the Hunger Strike is now fully suspended.
UN ambassador Bolton tonight says that the biggest problem may be implementing the UN resolution he expects passage of this week, quickly enough because Bashir may surprise all with a speedy approval of troops! War over.
But earlier this week Basher totally snubs the US in the form of Frazer as she goes to Sudan begging to meet with him. War about to begin?
It will be several weeks before we know whether it is victory or war and I can see no benefit to a continuation of the Hunger Strike during this period of unknown. I can serve better by staying on Vigil but regaining strength and body mass in case a renewal of the Hunger Strike is necessary.
My gratitude and thanks to Africa Action, Human Rights First, Save Darfur, Genocide Intervention, Stand, et al for effort regarding September 9th and 17th. I have been working every waking hour literally to boost traffic for these two all important events. I will continue to do so up until the last moment.
My body would desperately like to return to friends, a bed, roof and shower in Philadelphia to recover from the 45 days of no food and 102 days of round-the-clock Vigil, out in the elements, on the streets. But I want to maintain the Vigil at the White House and around Washington until it is clear whether it is victory, or war we are about to face. Not sure what I’ll decide.
Finally, we must not continue to fall in the trap of telling Washington - President and Congress what to do. That is their job. The last car that you bought, did you specify the design of seats and doors? No. You rightly expected that of the company. That is why organizations have executives. All that we must tell Bush and Congress is that we want a force of 20-30,000 with Ch. 7 equivalent mandate, fully funded and supported now, peace now, and repatriation to peaceful lands immediately for the people of Darfur. UN, AU, NATO, ultimately even US - that is their job to determine - not ours. And, no messing with China's oil - hands off!
Must we demand hands of Bashir, no regime change? Probably that is what we need to commit to him at the same time he is told privately – “gracefully let in the UN or we're taking you out.” But again, that is for Bush to decide. We need to be simple and clear to Bush - we want the genocide stopped and these people restored to their lives and land - now. Tell us what you need us to do to support you, and we'll move heaven and earth to do it.
This can be our finest hour. This MUST be our finest hour - we-the-people.
Monday, August 28, 2006
DARFUR: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr... WILL WE HEAR HIM, IN TIME?
Washington Round-the-Clock Vigil Day 100; Hunger Strike on Hold at Day 45 (800 calories per day) to maintain strength for VOLUME BUILDING FOR SEPTEMBER 9th and 17th.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR:
“There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a fire is raging, the fire truck goes right through the red light......Or, when a person is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed...... Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved.......civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its sirens on full.”
I would bet my life [ I guess that I am betting my life on it :-) !!! ] that Civil Disobedience is ESSENTIAL as a COMPONENT of our efforts IF WE ARE TO STOP GENOCIDE. One of your fellow activists, from the Midwest emailed me inquiring as to my views. Our exchange follows (or it is on the web under 2 comments):
[email received by me tonight in response to an earlier email DARFUR: BASES LOADED. WE-THE-PEOPLE UP AT BAT ] --------------------
Dear Jay,
Thank you for the inspiring e-mail and the loud call to action during September. I look forward to seeing you out there. And thank you for the wealth of information and articles included in the email.
One note: You mentioned civil disobedience. I was just considering whether or not our objectives for the rally would be better advanced by this tactic. As you said Bush needs our help. We in Fort Wayne feel that above all the rally is intended to lay out our demands for action to be taken in Darfur AND to let Bush know that when he does take AGGRESSIVE action, he will have our support. I think that perhaps civil disobedience may be a counterintuitive measure in this instance.
[MY RESPONSE} 8:09 PM ------------------
Jay McGinley said... Dear Comrade,
How wonderful to hear from you. I believe I understand your concern. Is it that Civil Disobedience is generally considered PROTEST?
As you may know I have been in front of the White House or similar institutions in Washington on Vigil since May 14th, pretty much round the clock. Many times a day I am asked, "what are you PROTESTING?" I explain that I am "DEMONSTRATING" to SUPPORT and ENCOURAGE the president, and my fellow countrymen to higher levels of action! My point? That I believe that you and I see that SUPPORT and ENCOURAGEMENT is what the President needs. But the world community, our fellow countrymen, China, al BASHIR need to be our focus TOO!
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, and/or HUNGER STRIKE are ESSENTIAL at this point:
* THEY ARE THE LOUDEST WE CAN SHOUT OUR SUPPORT FOR TROOPS ON THE GROUND. Why are they loud? Because like any loud, widely heard ADVERTISING... THEY COST A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
* Yes, but what about Civil Disobedience? WE MUST PROTEST WORLD INACTION / U.N. INACTION / WE-THE-PEOPLE INACTION / CHINA OBSTRUCTION / BASHIR OBSTRUCTION!!! And IN TRUTH, THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE. If we do NOT use Civil Disobedience, but use ONLY less "costly" means (meetings, concerts, rallies, 4 hr demonstrations), THAT is the message - that Darfur requires ONLY CHEAP SOLUTIONS.
* SOME OF US MUST INSPIRE / ENCOURAGE / PROVIDE EXAMPLE to our brothers and sisters so that they "see," and step up in HUGE NUMBERS, MORE FORCEFULLY THAN OTHERWISE THEY WOULD. This has always been the way, no? Civil Rights, Suffrage, stopping the Vietnam War....
Please tell me if I understood your thoughts, and your reaction to the above. I grow through such thoughtful people as you.
Your Brother,
Jay
-------------------------------------------
IN CLOSING:
* For the noble cause (but arguably less so than stopping the GENOCIDE OF 3,000,000) Georgetown U and U Washington, and Harvard U students HUNGER STRUCK last year and WON LIVING WAGES FOR THEIR CUSTODIAL AND FOOD WORKER STAFFS. (ERROR: Washington and Harvard were SIT INS, not Hunger Strikes per my earlier email.)
* FEW IF ANY SOCIAL CAUSES HAVE BEEN WON... WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT ANTIVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Suffrage? Civil Rights? Stopping Apartheid? Ending Vietnam War? Etc? Etc?
Why would we take that chance with the lives of these 3,000,000??????? Why ARE we taking a chance with 3,000,000 lives?
AND, WHY WOULD WE DEPRIVE PEOPLE OF TODAY OF THEIR FINEST HOUR??!?!?!?! I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, AND STOPPING THE VIETNAM WAR. WILL WE DEPRIVE TODAY'S YOUTH OF STANDING UP FOR THEIR GREAT MOMENT IN HISTORY? WILL WE STAND IN THEIR WAY OF FINDING THEIR GREATNESS? Or, will we offer them the chance, and follow their lead?
Your brother,
Jay
ps: I'm in! Call me if I can help! In any way!
1. Antiviolent component of SEPT 17th in NYC; Elsewhere in US, and Abroad? THERE SHOULD BE!!!!!!!!
2. MASSIVE TURNOUT FOR SEPT 9th? THERE MUST BE!!!!!!!!
3. ESCALLATION ON SEPT. 10th AT THE WHITE HOUSE? CALL ME!!!!!!!!!!
pps: ANTIVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: IF NOT FOR GENOCIDE, FOR WHAT!?!?! IF NOT NOW, WHEN? IF NOT US, IF NOT YOU, WHO?
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR:
“There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a fire is raging, the fire truck goes right through the red light......Or, when a person is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed...... Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved.......civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its sirens on full.”
I would bet my life [ I guess that I am betting my life on it :-) !!! ] that Civil Disobedience is ESSENTIAL as a COMPONENT of our efforts IF WE ARE TO STOP GENOCIDE. One of your fellow activists, from the Midwest emailed me inquiring as to my views. Our exchange follows (or it is on the web under 2 comments):
[email received by me tonight in response to an earlier email DARFUR: BASES LOADED. WE-THE-PEOPLE UP AT BAT ] --------------------
Dear Jay,
Thank you for the inspiring e-mail and the loud call to action during September. I look forward to seeing you out there. And thank you for the wealth of information and articles included in the email.
One note: You mentioned civil disobedience. I was just considering whether or not our objectives for the rally would be better advanced by this tactic. As you said Bush needs our help. We in Fort Wayne feel that above all the rally is intended to lay out our demands for action to be taken in Darfur AND to let Bush know that when he does take AGGRESSIVE action, he will have our support. I think that perhaps civil disobedience may be a counterintuitive measure in this instance.
[MY RESPONSE} 8:09 PM ------------------
Jay McGinley said... Dear Comrade,
How wonderful to hear from you. I believe I understand your concern. Is it that Civil Disobedience is generally considered PROTEST?
As you may know I have been in front of the White House or similar institutions in Washington on Vigil since May 14th, pretty much round the clock. Many times a day I am asked, "what are you PROTESTING?" I explain that I am "DEMONSTRATING" to SUPPORT and ENCOURAGE the president, and my fellow countrymen to higher levels of action! My point? That I believe that you and I see that SUPPORT and ENCOURAGEMENT is what the President needs. But the world community, our fellow countrymen, China, al BASHIR need to be our focus TOO!
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, and/or HUNGER STRIKE are ESSENTIAL at this point:
* THEY ARE THE LOUDEST WE CAN SHOUT OUR SUPPORT FOR TROOPS ON THE GROUND. Why are they loud? Because like any loud, widely heard ADVERTISING... THEY COST A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
* Yes, but what about Civil Disobedience? WE MUST PROTEST WORLD INACTION / U.N. INACTION / WE-THE-PEOPLE INACTION / CHINA OBSTRUCTION / BASHIR OBSTRUCTION!!! And IN TRUTH, THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE. If we do NOT use Civil Disobedience, but use ONLY less "costly" means (meetings, concerts, rallies, 4 hr demonstrations), THAT is the message - that Darfur requires ONLY CHEAP SOLUTIONS.
* SOME OF US MUST INSPIRE / ENCOURAGE / PROVIDE EXAMPLE to our brothers and sisters so that they "see," and step up in HUGE NUMBERS, MORE FORCEFULLY THAN OTHERWISE THEY WOULD. This has always been the way, no? Civil Rights, Suffrage, stopping the Vietnam War....
Please tell me if I understood your thoughts, and your reaction to the above. I grow through such thoughtful people as you.
Your Brother,
Jay
-------------------------------------------
IN CLOSING:
* For the noble cause (but arguably less so than stopping the GENOCIDE OF 3,000,000) Georgetown U and U Washington, and Harvard U students HUNGER STRUCK last year and WON LIVING WAGES FOR THEIR CUSTODIAL AND FOOD WORKER STAFFS. (ERROR: Washington and Harvard were SIT INS, not Hunger Strikes per my earlier email.)
* FEW IF ANY SOCIAL CAUSES HAVE BEEN WON... WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT ANTIVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Suffrage? Civil Rights? Stopping Apartheid? Ending Vietnam War? Etc? Etc?
Why would we take that chance with the lives of these 3,000,000??????? Why ARE we taking a chance with 3,000,000 lives?
AND, WHY WOULD WE DEPRIVE PEOPLE OF TODAY OF THEIR FINEST HOUR??!?!?!?! I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, AND STOPPING THE VIETNAM WAR. WILL WE DEPRIVE TODAY'S YOUTH OF STANDING UP FOR THEIR GREAT MOMENT IN HISTORY? WILL WE STAND IN THEIR WAY OF FINDING THEIR GREATNESS? Or, will we offer them the chance, and follow their lead?
Your brother,
Jay
ps: I'm in! Call me if I can help! In any way!
1. Antiviolent component of SEPT 17th in NYC; Elsewhere in US, and Abroad? THERE SHOULD BE!!!!!!!!
2. MASSIVE TURNOUT FOR SEPT 9th? THERE MUST BE!!!!!!!!
3. ESCALLATION ON SEPT. 10th AT THE WHITE HOUSE? CALL ME!!!!!!!!!!
pps: ANTIVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: IF NOT FOR GENOCIDE, FOR WHAT!?!?! IF NOT NOW, WHEN? IF NOT US, IF NOT YOU, WHO?
DARFUR: BASES LOADED. WE-THE-PEOPLE UP AT BAT
Hunger Strike Day #45 and Holding - 700 calories / day so that I have the energy for a special round-the-clock project to marshal attendance for THE ALL IMPORTANT SEPT 9TH White House/AfricaAction.org and SEPT 17th SaveDarfur.org NYC. !!See now also: California, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Washington!!
Harvard’s Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize winning Genocide study of the last 100 years presents a clear conclusion: “the battle to stop genocide has thus been repeatedly lost… [because] Americans outside the executive branch were largely mute….” From "Problem from Hell."
I pray to God that we email, blog, write articles and DEVOUR THE NEWS for more than just its ENTERTAINMENT VALUE. Well, its crunch time now, FOR US.
Maybe not with the greatest skill or diplomacy in the world, but Bush and Bolton have gotten us up to bat - they are bringing the situation to a head at the UN. Per a number of really, really sobering articles recently, WE, THE US ARE IN A MUCH WEAKER POSITION THAN I HAD REALIZED (NY Times, Washington Institute for Near East Policy). Bases loaded, final inning, DARFUR IS BEHIND.
So, what are we the people, and what are we the US going to do? BUSH CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT OUR HELP - MASSIVE HELP. With it, he and we cannot fail.
1. Failure is not an option. We must do whatever it takes - we the people - to get the Peace Keeping troops on the ground. NOW. If we lose this round in the UN: Bashir is FURTHER EMPOWERED, WE are FURTHER WEAKENED, 10,000s more in DARFUR are tortured and die BEFORE WE CAN SAY, "we shuda...." (Are we all emulating SAVE DARFUR MASS. in some way? Thanks http://www.savedarfurma.org/).
2. THE 9TH AND 17TH MUST BE EVEN HUGER. Such a mandate that the other countries of the world QUAKE and realize that BUSH MUST ACT; THAT WE HAVE GIVEN HIM NO CHOICE.
3. IF CHINA OBSTRUCTS? What do we do? DON'T WE PROTEST SEVERELY AT THE CHINESE EMBASSY, presuming that they obstruct in the Security Council? Or SEVERE DEMONSTRATIONS at whatever Embassy obstructs?
4. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ON SEPTEMBER 17th?!?!?! IS ANYONE CONTEMPLATING THIS? YOU WOULD IF IT WERE YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY IN THE CAMPS.
Contact me if you need to plan and discuss this.
Jay McGinley
84 356 6243
Harvard’s Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize winning Genocide study of the last 100 years presents a clear conclusion: “the battle to stop genocide has thus been repeatedly lost… [because] Americans outside the executive branch were largely mute….” From "Problem from Hell."
I pray to God that we email, blog, write articles and DEVOUR THE NEWS for more than just its ENTERTAINMENT VALUE. Well, its crunch time now, FOR US.
Maybe not with the greatest skill or diplomacy in the world, but Bush and Bolton have gotten us up to bat - they are bringing the situation to a head at the UN. Per a number of really, really sobering articles recently, WE, THE US ARE IN A MUCH WEAKER POSITION THAN I HAD REALIZED (NY Times, Washington Institute for Near East Policy). Bases loaded, final inning, DARFUR IS BEHIND.
So, what are we the people, and what are we the US going to do? BUSH CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT OUR HELP - MASSIVE HELP. With it, he and we cannot fail.
1. Failure is not an option. We must do whatever it takes - we the people - to get the Peace Keeping troops on the ground. NOW. If we lose this round in the UN: Bashir is FURTHER EMPOWERED, WE are FURTHER WEAKENED, 10,000s more in DARFUR are tortured and die BEFORE WE CAN SAY, "we shuda...." (Are we all emulating SAVE DARFUR MASS. in some way? Thanks http://www.savedarfurma.org/).
2. THE 9TH AND 17TH MUST BE EVEN HUGER. Such a mandate that the other countries of the world QUAKE and realize that BUSH MUST ACT; THAT WE HAVE GIVEN HIM NO CHOICE.
3. IF CHINA OBSTRUCTS? What do we do? DON'T WE PROTEST SEVERELY AT THE CHINESE EMBASSY, presuming that they obstruct in the Security Council? Or SEVERE DEMONSTRATIONS at whatever Embassy obstructs?
4. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ON SEPTEMBER 17th?!?!?! IS ANYONE CONTEMPLATING THIS? YOU WOULD IF IT WERE YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY IN THE CAMPS.
Contact me if you need to plan and discuss this.
Jay McGinley
84 356 6243
Saturday, August 26, 2006
1ST REALLY BAD DAY; Hunger Strike Day 43, Day/Night Vigil Day 95
It is not that it is so uncomfortable, but my productivity is about 40%. The fact that I lugged my stuff literally 80 blocks on Vigil yesterday probably contributes. :-(
This is the first Saturday I've missed in the park. I continue on a massive communication campaign - building a fax database of about 5000 Places of Worship and sending them posters of the Sept 9th and Sept 17 events. REALLY HARD given the way my mind is on 40%. The fact that in about 5 days I've just survived on naps sitting up at the computer is probably a factor too. I am not taking any satisfaction that this is treading on our laws about faxing. I take responsibility that given the profoundly short time, compounded by the fact of school just getting in session, people just returning from holiday - URGENT MEASURES ARE REQUIRED TO GET THE WORD OUT. If it is to be prison, and huge fines over this - so be it. But, let's stop the Genocide - NOW.
During this intirrim period when I am working 3 major campaigns - Vigil, Hunger Strike, Media/Fax/Promotion campagn - I am taking up to 1000 calories per day to try to keep enought energy going. Also I take them to slow my discent - I need to last and I'm buring quite a few more calories than if I were just sittiing under a tree somewhere.
By the way, as I may have mentioned, for the last several weeks I've Vigiled at a variety of locations - Washington Post, NPR, the Methodist Building (accross the street from the Capitol onn the east) housing major faith groups. This feels VERY correct at this juncture. With as many Hunger Strike days as I have under my belt (sorry) it is an important injection of hope, commitment, and prayer - to go to these different places.
As to regular "diet" - water and the following every day - multivitimin, salt packet every 3 days, 2 packets emergenC every day, and a teaspoon or two of peanutbutter (a friend thinks it will protect my brain from being consumed).
Nights are now usually spent under the stars (on top of the ants) vigiling in the next park up from the White House because they have Power Outlets (cell phone and laptop), and so far none has been provided by George and Laura. :-)
Just got word of some new internet press. NewsBlaze - God bless them. Also, the Blog is getting important hits from around the world.
Spirits remain unchanged - GREAT.
Really good news in the press what with Bush sending Lendayi Frazer/REALLY commiting himself!!! - really bad news (see yesterday's post re NY Times) - big concern that the postive press will cause people to relax. Death that would be.
Hey, I still tell folks that I have no support. Relative to what a campaign like this should have, that is true. But you friends / heroes know who you are. We love you and are deeply grateful for you.
THE END OF GENOCIDE IS WITHIN OUR GRASP. WE MUST KEEP GOING WITH EVERY OUNCE OF STRENGTH. PLEASE.
Failure is not an option. THERE IS NO OCTOBER FOR DARFUR.
Jay
This is the first Saturday I've missed in the park. I continue on a massive communication campaign - building a fax database of about 5000 Places of Worship and sending them posters of the Sept 9th and Sept 17 events. REALLY HARD given the way my mind is on 40%. The fact that in about 5 days I've just survived on naps sitting up at the computer is probably a factor too. I am not taking any satisfaction that this is treading on our laws about faxing. I take responsibility that given the profoundly short time, compounded by the fact of school just getting in session, people just returning from holiday - URGENT MEASURES ARE REQUIRED TO GET THE WORD OUT. If it is to be prison, and huge fines over this - so be it. But, let's stop the Genocide - NOW.
During this intirrim period when I am working 3 major campaigns - Vigil, Hunger Strike, Media/Fax/Promotion campagn - I am taking up to 1000 calories per day to try to keep enought energy going. Also I take them to slow my discent - I need to last and I'm buring quite a few more calories than if I were just sittiing under a tree somewhere.
By the way, as I may have mentioned, for the last several weeks I've Vigiled at a variety of locations - Washington Post, NPR, the Methodist Building (accross the street from the Capitol onn the east) housing major faith groups. This feels VERY correct at this juncture. With as many Hunger Strike days as I have under my belt (sorry) it is an important injection of hope, commitment, and prayer - to go to these different places.
As to regular "diet" - water and the following every day - multivitimin, salt packet every 3 days, 2 packets emergenC every day, and a teaspoon or two of peanutbutter (a friend thinks it will protect my brain from being consumed).
Nights are now usually spent under the stars (on top of the ants) vigiling in the next park up from the White House because they have Power Outlets (cell phone and laptop), and so far none has been provided by George and Laura. :-)
Just got word of some new internet press. NewsBlaze - God bless them. Also, the Blog is getting important hits from around the world.
Spirits remain unchanged - GREAT.
Really good news in the press what with Bush sending Lendayi Frazer/REALLY commiting himself!!! - really bad news (see yesterday's post re NY Times) - big concern that the postive press will cause people to relax. Death that would be.
Hey, I still tell folks that I have no support. Relative to what a campaign like this should have, that is true. But you friends / heroes know who you are. We love you and are deeply grateful for you.
THE END OF GENOCIDE IS WITHIN OUR GRASP. WE MUST KEEP GOING WITH EVERY OUNCE OF STRENGTH. PLEASE.
Failure is not an option. THERE IS NO OCTOBER FOR DARFUR.
Jay
Friday, August 25, 2006
NOW, WE HELP BUSH, OR ITS "GAME OVER;" Hunger Strike Day 42
OK, now without question Bush has done more than any other president, AND MORE THAN WE-THE-PEOPLE to stop this Genocide.
IMPLICIT IN THIS MUST-READ NY TIMES ARTICLE (U.S. to Press Sudan’s Leader to Accept U.N. Force): Bush CANNOT DO IT, END THE GENOCIDE, WITHOUT A HUGE MANDATE FROM US SEPTEMBER 9TH AT THE WHITE HOUSE, AND SEPTEMBER 17TH IN MANHATTAN.
My generation had its time to be great - ending the Vietnam War, gaining Civil Rights.
DARFUR IS THE GREAT CHALLANGE, AND THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY OF OUR TIME. History will judge us on this, forever.
IMPLICIT IN THIS MUST-READ NY TIMES ARTICLE (U.S. to Press Sudan’s Leader to Accept U.N. Force): Bush CANNOT DO IT, END THE GENOCIDE, WITHOUT A HUGE MANDATE FROM US SEPTEMBER 9TH AT THE WHITE HOUSE, AND SEPTEMBER 17TH IN MANHATTAN.
My generation had its time to be great - ending the Vietnam War, gaining Civil Rights.
DARFUR IS THE GREAT CHALLANGE, AND THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY OF OUR TIME. History will judge us on this, forever.
Monday, August 21, 2006
IT JUST UNFOLDED BEFORE ME. Hunger Strike Day 38; Vigil Day 90
[ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AT:
http://202.113.16.117/cgi-bin/bbs/bbstcon?board=Pictures&file=M.1156166484.A]
My/our dear brothers and sisters,
FIRST OF ALL: I implore you to really search your hearts. I believe that the opportunity for personal LIFE represented by the 9th (Africa Action - White House Demonstration) and 17th (NYC/World Wide Demonstrations) events I've mentioned are the equivalent of our shot of achieving Civil Rights, or stopping Apartheid.... DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY. DON'T. You'll always regret it.
HEALTH: All systems go. Ok, yes, quite a bit of girth is going. But NO signs of long term damage yet. Amazing. A number of people after they talk to me say, "Your health is because God is using you." I think this is True.
MENTAL: Quite sure I have never been quite as sharp.
EMOTIONAL: Hmm. I wouldn't trade any 5 minutes of the last 3+ months or the next 1.3 months for $1,000,000,000. True. But Jay, you could use the $ to do so much good! No. $$$$ are not going to save Darfur, or us. There is enormous stress, fatigue, deep down worry. But oh my gosh, the sense of being in the flow, of being an instrument being used by Good, Love, Truth, LIFE. Just like Jesus said. No, no sense of euphoria or anything like it. But it remains awesome. Heaven.
SPIRITUAL: In the 5-50 deep conversations I have each day in the park, it is far from rare that the comment is made of me, "you are profoundly humble." I think that is True. I love, I LOVE the Truth, and the Truth is only possible with profound humility. So I think it is Truth, not arrogance, that has me say - I am achieving a very, very high level of spirituality. When I imagine what Jesus, Gandhi, King... will say of me today, when we meet in the distant future, I think it will be quite respectful, approving, and pleased.
ENVIRONMENTAL: The conversation I've heard tell of is something like, "Mother Teresa, I couldn't do what you do for a million dollars!" To which M. Teresa replied, "Me either!" I love my Darfur family. I love my family of US. I love my global family. THIS is where my mind/body/spirit/heart is - saving Darfur/us from Hell-on-earth in the variety of forms we are in it. Sure the environment is tough, but there haven't been 5 minutes total that it has been a negative to me. Amazing. I can remember as a nice, but terribly spoiled child being so clear in my mind. "If I lose all the material supports and comforts to which I have become accustomed, I will prefer death;" I was CERTAIN. This was so clear and tangible to me then. Hmm. Boy, was I wrong. I HAVE LOST NOTHING. I HAVE GAINED EVERYTHING.
AN UNFORESEEN OPPORTUNITY FOR ME TO HELP MY MANY FAMILIES HAS UNFOLDED BEFORE ME: Consequently I need undivided computer time for several days as round the clock as I can muster. Two days at least. Maybe four. I'll be totally out of touch with anyone until Wednesday or so. Very exciting prospect to help be a catalyst to stop this Genocide. NOTHING to fear I promise. I promise. Trust me. Involves maybe HUGE social risk for me, and me alone. But I see nothing but upside, maybe HUGE for Darfur and ALL of my global Families. It is best that I not explain until later in the week to those of you that are close to me. How big is our family now? 6+ billion? Jay
THE BEGINNING & THE END IN SEPTEMBER 2006
SEPT 9TH 12:00 NOON, WHITE HOUSE LAFAYETTE PARK... IGNITE THE FINAL VICTORY
This DEMONSTRATION and (for we who so-choose) CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE LEADING TO ARREST is absolutely crucial for enabling SEPT 17th TO DEFINITIVELY CAUSE THE UN TROOPS TO EMBARK FOR DARFUR.
FLIER WITH DETAILS click
CONTACT THEM: mobilize@africaaction.org (202) 546-7961
SUNDAY 9/10 - FURTHER IGNITION
IF YOU NEED (AS I DO) TO BE EVEN MORE CERTAIN OF A FINAL-SEPTEMBER-VICTORY, JOIN ME IN AN ESCALLATION OF SEPTEMBER 9TH'S CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. CONTACT ME.
Finally... D DAY - SEPT 17, !!See now also: California, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Washington!!
THE ABSOLUTE END OF GENOCIDE - ABSOLUTE VICTORY OVER EL BASHIR'S OBSTRUCTION OF UN:
FOR GOD'S SAKE BE PREPARED, AND DO IT. (YOU DID FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, LIVING WAGES, ENDING APARTHEID...)
THERE'S NO OCTOBER FOR DARFUR
CLICK left for details
CLICK left for detials
This DEMONSTRATION and (for we who so-choose) CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE LEADING TO ARREST is absolutely crucial for enabling SEPT 17th TO DEFINITIVELY CAUSE THE UN TROOPS TO EMBARK FOR DARFUR.FLIER WITH DETAILS click
CONTACT THEM: mobilize@africaaction.org (202) 546-7961
SUNDAY 9/10 - FURTHER IGNITION
IF YOU NEED (AS I DO) TO BE EVEN MORE CERTAIN OF A FINAL-SEPTEMBER-VICTORY, JOIN ME IN AN ESCALLATION OF SEPTEMBER 9TH'S CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. CONTACT ME.
Finally... D DAY - SEPT 17, !!See now also: California, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Washington!!
THE ABSOLUTE END OF GENOCIDE - ABSOLUTE VICTORY OVER EL BASHIR'S OBSTRUCTION OF UN:
FAILURE CANNOT BE AN OPTION
Your mandate, OUR TURNOUT must be MASSIVE and DEFINITIVE If you discover that CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE is necessary to make YOUR VOICE FINAL,FOR GOD'S SAKE BE PREPARED, AND DO IT. (YOU DID FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, LIVING WAGES, ENDING APARTHEID...)
THERE'S NO OCTOBER FOR DARFUR
CLICK left for detailsCLICK left for detialsFriday, August 18, 2006
DARFUR HUNGER STRIKE: PRESS RELEASE. Hunger Strike Day 36, Vigil Day 88
For Immediate Release Contact: Jay McGinley, 484-356-6243
August 18, 2006 jymcginley@cs.com
Darfur Hunger Striker to Abstain from Eating
Until UN Peace Keepers Deployed
RESCUE RESTORE DARFUR
STAND WITH DARFUR - WHITE HOUSE
Stand With Darfur-White House II
Washington, DC – A Philadelphia man who has been on round the clock Vigil for Darfur at the White House since May 14th 88 days, announced today that he will continue his Hunger Strike until 20-30,000 UN Peace Keepers are deployed to Darfur. “Our Darfur family is out of time,” said Jay McGinley, a 54 year old businessperson from Philadelphia. “I am throwing my lot in fully with them to attempt to bring the urgency of their need to Washington, and to my brothers and sisters throughout the US. We must make Sept. 9th at the White House, and Sept. 17th at the Word-wide demonstrations – their salvation. There will be no other chance, for them or us (below).”
In the last 2 weeks more aid workers have been killed than in the previous 3 years of war. This predictable escalation will drive the international aid workers away forcing in estimated 25,000-50,000 deaths per week among the 3,000,000 in the concentration camps along the border with Chad. According to SaveDarfur.org, a coalition of 170 Faith, Humanitarian and Human Rights organizations, nearly three years into the crisis, the western Sudanese region of Darfur is acknowledged to be a humanitarian and human rights tragedy of the first order. The humanitarian, security and political situation continues to deteriorate: atrocities continue, people are still dying in large numbers of malnutrition and disease, and a new famine is feared. According to reports by the World Food Program, the United Nations and the Coalition for International Justice, 3.5 million people are now hungry, 2.5 million have been displaced due to violence, and 400,000 people have died in Darfur thus far. The international community is failing to protect civilians or to influence the Sudanese government to do so.
Darfur is at the final tipping point now:
1. With the aid workers now being killed and thereby driven away, death tolls will hit 30,000 per week.
2. The Sudan and the international community are three months overdue in enforcing the May 5 Darfur Peace Agreement,
3. The African Union force of 7,000 is departing from Darfur October 1, so even this pitiful fig leaf will be removed from the Genocide,
4. Sept. 9th Civil Disobedience at the White House is one of two huge opportunities we have left – AfricaAction.org (“Two years….”). Must be a massive success to spark the activism for Sept. 17th.
5. September 17th is our last chance (dayfordarfur.org) as US Citizens to register our unmistakable, life-giving mandate for immediate rescue of the people from Genocide. September 17th is the day of international demonstrations, most importantly in NYC, as organized by the Day for Darfur and Save Darfur Coalition (SaveDarfur.org),
6. At a news briefing last Friday State Department Sean McCormack signaled administration readiness to get the troops to Darfur. "The A.U. has said that they want that turnover to take place by October first. That date's coming up on us real fast. We support the A.U. in that, and we're pushing hard at the U.N. and elsewhere to try to make that happen. That ultimately is going to, along with the good faith steps by parties to the Darfur peace agreement and the comprehensive peace agreement, bring greater peace and stability to Sudan," he said. We must hold them, ourselves, to it. Sept 9th. Sept 17th.
McGinley has been Hunger Strike at the White House for 36 days this summer. He figures that based on his current body weight, he will be able to last long enough, until the end of September. “Darfur is my family. Darfur is our family. I am a man of anti-violence so Hunger Strike is the strongest method at my disposal to help my US brothers and sisters to rise to the level of humanity, of brotherhood that I know we aspire to. We must make the September 17th worldwide demonstrations the end of this atrocity, of this Genocide in Darfur. There is no more time.”
August 18, 2006 jymcginley@cs.com
Darfur Hunger Striker to Abstain from Eating
Until UN Peace Keepers Deployed
RESCUE RESTORE DARFUR
STAND WITH DARFUR - WHITE HOUSE
Stand With Darfur-White House II
Washington, DC – A Philadelphia man who has been on round the clock Vigil for Darfur at the White House since May 14th 88 days, announced today that he will continue his Hunger Strike until 20-30,000 UN Peace Keepers are deployed to Darfur. “Our Darfur family is out of time,” said Jay McGinley, a 54 year old businessperson from Philadelphia. “I am throwing my lot in fully with them to attempt to bring the urgency of their need to Washington, and to my brothers and sisters throughout the US. We must make Sept. 9th at the White House, and Sept. 17th at the Word-wide demonstrations – their salvation. There will be no other chance, for them or us (below).”
In the last 2 weeks more aid workers have been killed than in the previous 3 years of war. This predictable escalation will drive the international aid workers away forcing in estimated 25,000-50,000 deaths per week among the 3,000,000 in the concentration camps along the border with Chad. According to SaveDarfur.org, a coalition of 170 Faith, Humanitarian and Human Rights organizations, nearly three years into the crisis, the western Sudanese region of Darfur is acknowledged to be a humanitarian and human rights tragedy of the first order. The humanitarian, security and political situation continues to deteriorate: atrocities continue, people are still dying in large numbers of malnutrition and disease, and a new famine is feared. According to reports by the World Food Program, the United Nations and the Coalition for International Justice, 3.5 million people are now hungry, 2.5 million have been displaced due to violence, and 400,000 people have died in Darfur thus far. The international community is failing to protect civilians or to influence the Sudanese government to do so.
Darfur is at the final tipping point now:
1. With the aid workers now being killed and thereby driven away, death tolls will hit 30,000 per week.
2. The Sudan and the international community are three months overdue in enforcing the May 5 Darfur Peace Agreement,
3. The African Union force of 7,000 is departing from Darfur October 1, so even this pitiful fig leaf will be removed from the Genocide,
4. Sept. 9th Civil Disobedience at the White House is one of two huge opportunities we have left – AfricaAction.org (“Two years….”). Must be a massive success to spark the activism for Sept. 17th.
5. September 17th is our last chance (dayfordarfur.org) as US Citizens to register our unmistakable, life-giving mandate for immediate rescue of the people from Genocide. September 17th is the day of international demonstrations, most importantly in NYC, as organized by the Day for Darfur and Save Darfur Coalition (SaveDarfur.org),
6. At a news briefing last Friday State Department Sean McCormack signaled administration readiness to get the troops to Darfur. "The A.U. has said that they want that turnover to take place by October first. That date's coming up on us real fast. We support the A.U. in that, and we're pushing hard at the U.N. and elsewhere to try to make that happen. That ultimately is going to, along with the good faith steps by parties to the Darfur peace agreement and the comprehensive peace agreement, bring greater peace and stability to Sudan," he said. We must hold them, ourselves, to it. Sept 9th. Sept 17th.
McGinley has been Hunger Strike at the White House for 36 days this summer. He figures that based on his current body weight, he will be able to last long enough, until the end of September. “Darfur is my family. Darfur is our family. I am a man of anti-violence so Hunger Strike is the strongest method at my disposal to help my US brothers and sisters to rise to the level of humanity, of brotherhood that I know we aspire to. We must make the September 17th worldwide demonstrations the end of this atrocity, of this Genocide in Darfur. There is no more time.”
PRESS. THANK GOD. Hunger Strike Day 36, Vigil Day 88
Some courageous souls are giving visibility to the tactics employed in this Vigil and Hunger Strike. Tactics that have been employed by MANY in ALL successful human rights struggles. Thank God for the courage and help of these folks. May others see, find courage and implement... in time for the 3,000,000:
ROSEMARY AT:
KNICKERBOCKER NEWS
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 The Series: Jay's Hunger Strike for Darfur, Part 1
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 The Series: Jay's Hunger Strike for Darfur, Part 2
Thursday, August 17, 2006 The Series: Jay's Hunger Strike for Darfur, Part 3
CAUSES OF INTERST
Full press release
GENOCIDE INTERVENTION FUND - NEWSLETTER AUGUST 18, 2006
A Philadelphia man announced today that he will continue his hunger strike until 20,000-30,000 UN peacekeepers are deployed to Darfur. Jay McGinley, 54, has been on a round-the-clock vigil for Darfur at the White House since May 14, but has recently decided to escalate his tactics. “Our Darfur family is out of time,” said the 54 year-old. “I am throwing my lot in fully with them to attempt to bring the urgency of their need to Washington, and to my brothers and sisters throughout the US and the world.”
ALAN AT NEWSBLAZE.COM - FULL PRESS RELEASE GOING OUT ON GOOGLE NEWS!
FrauBudgie at Red Hot Cuppa Politics - Hunger Strike and Antiviolent Tactics
Kansas City infoZine - Full press release!
ROSEMARY AT:
KNICKERBOCKER NEWS
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 The Series: Jay's Hunger Strike for Darfur, Part 1
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 The Series: Jay's Hunger Strike for Darfur, Part 2
Thursday, August 17, 2006 The Series: Jay's Hunger Strike for Darfur, Part 3
CAUSES OF INTERST
Full press release
GENOCIDE INTERVENTION FUND - NEWSLETTER AUGUST 18, 2006
A Philadelphia man announced today that he will continue his hunger strike until 20,000-30,000 UN peacekeepers are deployed to Darfur. Jay McGinley, 54, has been on a round-the-clock vigil for Darfur at the White House since May 14, but has recently decided to escalate his tactics. “Our Darfur family is out of time,” said the 54 year-old. “I am throwing my lot in fully with them to attempt to bring the urgency of their need to Washington, and to my brothers and sisters throughout the US and the world.”
ALAN AT NEWSBLAZE.COM - FULL PRESS RELEASE GOING OUT ON GOOGLE NEWS!
FrauBudgie at Red Hot Cuppa Politics - Hunger Strike and Antiviolent Tactics
Kansas City infoZine - Full press release!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
SOME SUPPORT FOR THE FIGHT-TO-WIN. Hunger Strike Day 33, Vigil Day 85
10/2/06 NOTE: NEW BLOG - DARFUR Dying for Heroes <-click!
Our sister Rosemary has done a wonderful job with two of her news outlets. The links below are her final publications:
http://knickerbockernews.blogspot.com/ and
http://capitalistrosie.blogspot.com/2006/08/series-jays-hunger-strike-for-darfur.html
Some Sudanese brothers and sisters have taken interest in the Hunger Strike and Vigil. They kindly have brought cold water, have included information on sudaneseonline.com. Mr. Mohamed has built a site featuring the campaign that is linked to sudaneseonline.com. He says that the links have received many hits among the Sudanese community. Four of them have funded an additional month of online access for the campaign.
Our sister Rosemary has done a wonderful job with two of her news outlets. The links below are her final publications:
http://knickerbockernews.blogspot.com/ and
http://capitalistrosie.blogspot.com/2006/08/series-jays-hunger-strike-for-darfur.html
Some Sudanese brothers and sisters have taken interest in the Hunger Strike and Vigil. They kindly have brought cold water, have included information on sudaneseonline.com. Mr. Mohamed has built a site featuring the campaign that is linked to sudaneseonline.com. He says that the links have received many hits among the Sudanese community. Four of them have funded an additional month of online access for the campaign.
Monday, August 14, 2006
DARFUR - HOW MANY DIE BEFORE NGO'S/COALITIONS STEP UP?
Day 32 Hunger Strike, Day 84 Vigil at White House
I do not believe that the NGOs/COALITIONS are poplulated by cowardly, self-serving people. BUT HOW ELSE DOES ONE INTERPRET THE FACTS THAT DEPITE PROOF THAT THEIR TACTICS OF REPORTS, EMAILS, POSTCARDS, DIVESTMENT, 4 HOUR DEMONSTRATIONS, 5 MINUTE DIE-INS... ARE FAILING THEY DO NOT ESCALATE?!?!?!?!!?
LIVES MUST BE PUT ON THE LINE TO STOP GENOCIDE. HUNGER STRIKES. MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, MASS ARRESTS.
Darfur, Three Months Hence: Extrapolating from Current Conditions
Eric Reeves' latest full-length analysis is now available both on his site and on Sudan Tribune; here is the second section (the first being devoted to a "hypothetical dispatch" from this coming November--i.e., three months from now)...
HOW PLAUSIBLE A “HYPOTHETICAL” ACCOUNT?
Could conditions in Darfur deteriorate so rapidly? Could the already appalling security crisis grow to such threatening proportions? Could human mortality---already exceeding 500,000---accelerate? (See my global mortality assessment of April 2006 at http://www.sudanreeves.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=102.) Could the residual destructiveness of violence that became genocidal over three years ago increase even further? Could the international community remain inert as these realities became relentlessly clearer?
The only answers available are those deriving from current assessments of conditions on the ground in Darfur and eastern Chad, as well as statements by major international actors; but these suggest there is neither exaggeration nor implausibility to any feature to this hypothetical account.
DANGER TO HUMANITARIANS IN DARFUR AND EASTERN CHAD
The warnings concerning violence against humanitarians and the continuing attenuation of humanitarian access could not be more blunt. Citing a “more than 100% increase in violent clashes [in Darfur] in the first half of 2006 compared to the first half of last year,” UN humanitarian aid chief Jan Egeland declared:
“The situation in Darfur was going from really bad to catastrophic.” (Jan Egeland interview, August 10, 2006, transcript from UN Department of Public Information [Geneva])
Mike McDonagh, senior humanitarian affairs officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Khartoum, declared:
"During the second half of July [2006], we lost more aid workers than over the previous two years.” (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks [IRIN] [dateline: Nairobi], August 3, 2006)
More recently IRIN reports:
“July was the most dangerous month of the three-year-old conflict in Darfur for aid workers, four major international humanitarian agencies working in the region said on Tuesday [August 8, 2006]. Violence has escalated since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement on 5 May [2006] between the government and the largest rebel group. Eight Sudanese humanitarian workers were killed in July alone. The increasing insecurity is also limiting the ability of aid agencies to reach people in need, with potentially disastrous consequences, warned the four agencies---Care, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Oxfam International, and World Vision.” (IRIN [dateline: Nairobi], August 10, 2006)
This assessment was echoed by Manuel da Silva, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan:
"‘The level of violence being faced by humanitarian workers in Darfur is unprecedented,’ da Silva [said]. ‘The situation is made even more serious by the fact that the need for humanitarian assistance is increasing while our ability to respond is being ever more restricted,’ da Silva added.”
(IRIN [dateline: Nairobi], August 10, 2006)
The view is the same from the African Union: Baba Gana Kingibe, Special Representative of the AU Commission Chairperson, declared bluntly in el-Fasher [capital of North Darfur], “Security in Darfur ‘is plummeting’” (Associated Press [dateline: el-Fasher], August 7, 2006).
What Kingibe did not discuss is the continuing failure of the AU to fashion a working cease-fire commission in Darfur per the terms of the May 5 Abuja agreement---or to publish even the most rudimentary reports about massive, ongoing military violence in North Darfur. This includes active collaboration between Khartoum’s regular military forces and those of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction of Minni Minawi, now Special Assistant to National Islamic Front President and Field Marshal Omar el-Bashir. Nor does Kingibe discuss the implications of the AU providing transport and accommodations to Minawi’s commanders in the field, even those implicated in recent atrocities.
To his credit, Kingibe has finally spoken out against the numerous and highly credible charges of torture used as a weapon of war by Minawi’s forces. But this came only a week after authoritative accounts of atrocities by Minawi’s forces had been published by Amnesty International and Refugees International. The latter reported:
“One woman in the Tawilla camp [North Darfur] described the nature of these [threatened] punishments [of non-signatories to the DPA]. She said that hundreds of Minawi’s soldiers entered her village and started shooting. They went inside the houses one by one shooting the men, including her husband, and beating or raping the women and girls. The soldiers took whatever they could find---clothing, shoes, money, livestock. Her story is remarkably consistent with thousands of others in the region that detail targeted executions of men and violent, forced displacement.” (Refugees International, “Town in North Darfur Reflects Changing Nature of Conflict,” July 24, 2006)
Amnesty International reports that:
“The African Union peacekeeping force in al-Fasher has not only been unable to protect civilians in Korma [North Darfur], but has yet to investigate the killings. Civilians reported the attacks to [the African Union] on 5 July [2006], but the SLA (Minni Minawi) reportedly opposed [the AU’s] going to Korma.” (Amnesty International, “Korma: Yet more attacks on civilians” [AI Index AFR 54/026/2006])
Moreover, the AU has lost all initiative in patrolling within camps or rural areas: there is no AU access in the vast majority of camps, many fewer patrols are being mounted, morale is abysmal, and few of the troops deployed are looking to more than a September exit. A senior UN aid official on the ground in North Darfur estimates privately that unchecked internecine fighting between SLA factions has left over 60% of North Darfur inaccessible to humanitarian operations for the past two months. IRIN reports Turid Laegreid, a senior UN humanitarian official in el-Fasher, as declaring that “access to the local population in North Darfur is at an all-time low” (IRIN [dateline: Nairobi] August 1, 2006).
And while North Darfur is currently the most threatened of the three Darfur states, the potential for explosions in both South and West Darfur is all too clear. Indeed, last week Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the largest international humanitarian presence in Darfur, reported that in West Darfur,
“Security incidents have led to the evacuation of our teams in Serif Umra and two projects in the Jebel Marra, as well as the interruption of mobile clinics, and the limitation in the referral of emergency cases to surgical facilities in other areas. [ ] Many MSF activities are currently suspended, leaving thousands of patients untreated everyday. MSF has been attacked in the past weeks in several locations in all regions of Darfur.” ("Increased insecurity hampers MSF medical assistance to the population of Darfur," MSF [press] release, August 3, 2006)
Not only is medical care being denied to desperate civilians, but food aid as well:
“The UN World Food Program was unable to deliver supplies to 400,000 people in July, up from 290,000 in June.” (Associated Press [dateline: el-Fasher, North Darfur], August 8, 2006)
The number of people in Darfur not receiving food aid in mid-August is over 500,000 and rising rapidly. And this represents those currently targeted for food delivery, not the global Darfuri population in need.
Conditions in eastern Chad in many ways mirror those in Darfur, as the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) declared in an August 8, 2006 press release in Geneva:
“UNHCR is very concerned about the safety of humanitarian workers in eastern Chad following a deterioration in the security situation there. We are particularly worried about the situation in and around the town of Guereda, which is located about 65 kilometres from the border with Sudan.”
“Last Friday, seven men brandishing assault rifles and wearing military uniforms broke into the compound of a non-governmental organisation in Guereda. Three aid workers were hit in the head with rifle butts and one of them was later evacuated to a French military hospital in Abeche, capital of eastern Chad. [ ] This is the seventh time humanitarian workers have been targeted in the Guereda area since May. Three weeks ago, two vehicles from another NGO were stolen. At the beginning of July, two UNHCR cars were stolen from our Guereda office after armed men overpowered the guards.” [ ]
“We are extremely concerned about these incidents. The growing insecurity is making it more difficult and more dangerous for humanitarian agencies and their staff to provide assistance to Sudanese refugees from Darfur in the area. Some international and local humanitarian agencies are working with only essential staff and have reduced their activities in the camps.”
None of these trends will be reversed in the foreseeable future; on the contrary, all evidence suggests a further deterioration of security. The UN’s “Darfur Peace Agreement Monitor” (July 2006) gives a grim assessment of the fundamentally changed dynamic of violence on the ground:
“The increasing fragmentation of armed groups has made humanitarian action more difficult and dangerous. Previously, humanitarian actors used an established notification system to inform armed groups of their movements. During the past month, the number of military actors increased, combat zones multiplied, and chains of command disintegrated. In some cases, established notification systems have failed completely, dramatically increasing the humanitarian actors’ operational risks.” (UN “DPA Monitor,” July 2006, page 11)
I do not believe that the NGOs/COALITIONS are poplulated by cowardly, self-serving people. BUT HOW ELSE DOES ONE INTERPRET THE FACTS THAT DEPITE PROOF THAT THEIR TACTICS OF REPORTS, EMAILS, POSTCARDS, DIVESTMENT, 4 HOUR DEMONSTRATIONS, 5 MINUTE DIE-INS... ARE FAILING THEY DO NOT ESCALATE?!?!?!?!!?
LIVES MUST BE PUT ON THE LINE TO STOP GENOCIDE. HUNGER STRIKES. MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, MASS ARRESTS.
Darfur, Three Months Hence: Extrapolating from Current Conditions
Eric Reeves' latest full-length analysis is now available both on his site and on Sudan Tribune; here is the second section (the first being devoted to a "hypothetical dispatch" from this coming November--i.e., three months from now)...
HOW PLAUSIBLE A “HYPOTHETICAL” ACCOUNT?
Could conditions in Darfur deteriorate so rapidly? Could the already appalling security crisis grow to such threatening proportions? Could human mortality---already exceeding 500,000---accelerate? (See my global mortality assessment of April 2006 at http://www.sudanreeves.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=102.) Could the residual destructiveness of violence that became genocidal over three years ago increase even further? Could the international community remain inert as these realities became relentlessly clearer?
The only answers available are those deriving from current assessments of conditions on the ground in Darfur and eastern Chad, as well as statements by major international actors; but these suggest there is neither exaggeration nor implausibility to any feature to this hypothetical account.
DANGER TO HUMANITARIANS IN DARFUR AND EASTERN CHAD
The warnings concerning violence against humanitarians and the continuing attenuation of humanitarian access could not be more blunt. Citing a “more than 100% increase in violent clashes [in Darfur] in the first half of 2006 compared to the first half of last year,” UN humanitarian aid chief Jan Egeland declared:
“The situation in Darfur was going from really bad to catastrophic.” (Jan Egeland interview, August 10, 2006, transcript from UN Department of Public Information [Geneva])
Mike McDonagh, senior humanitarian affairs officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Khartoum, declared:
"During the second half of July [2006], we lost more aid workers than over the previous two years.” (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks [IRIN] [dateline: Nairobi], August 3, 2006)
More recently IRIN reports:
“July was the most dangerous month of the three-year-old conflict in Darfur for aid workers, four major international humanitarian agencies working in the region said on Tuesday [August 8, 2006]. Violence has escalated since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement on 5 May [2006] between the government and the largest rebel group. Eight Sudanese humanitarian workers were killed in July alone. The increasing insecurity is also limiting the ability of aid agencies to reach people in need, with potentially disastrous consequences, warned the four agencies---Care, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Oxfam International, and World Vision.” (IRIN [dateline: Nairobi], August 10, 2006)
This assessment was echoed by Manuel da Silva, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan:
"‘The level of violence being faced by humanitarian workers in Darfur is unprecedented,’ da Silva [said]. ‘The situation is made even more serious by the fact that the need for humanitarian assistance is increasing while our ability to respond is being ever more restricted,’ da Silva added.”
(IRIN [dateline: Nairobi], August 10, 2006)
The view is the same from the African Union: Baba Gana Kingibe, Special Representative of the AU Commission Chairperson, declared bluntly in el-Fasher [capital of North Darfur], “Security in Darfur ‘is plummeting’” (Associated Press [dateline: el-Fasher], August 7, 2006).
What Kingibe did not discuss is the continuing failure of the AU to fashion a working cease-fire commission in Darfur per the terms of the May 5 Abuja agreement---or to publish even the most rudimentary reports about massive, ongoing military violence in North Darfur. This includes active collaboration between Khartoum’s regular military forces and those of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction of Minni Minawi, now Special Assistant to National Islamic Front President and Field Marshal Omar el-Bashir. Nor does Kingibe discuss the implications of the AU providing transport and accommodations to Minawi’s commanders in the field, even those implicated in recent atrocities.
To his credit, Kingibe has finally spoken out against the numerous and highly credible charges of torture used as a weapon of war by Minawi’s forces. But this came only a week after authoritative accounts of atrocities by Minawi’s forces had been published by Amnesty International and Refugees International. The latter reported:
“One woman in the Tawilla camp [North Darfur] described the nature of these [threatened] punishments [of non-signatories to the DPA]. She said that hundreds of Minawi’s soldiers entered her village and started shooting. They went inside the houses one by one shooting the men, including her husband, and beating or raping the women and girls. The soldiers took whatever they could find---clothing, shoes, money, livestock. Her story is remarkably consistent with thousands of others in the region that detail targeted executions of men and violent, forced displacement.” (Refugees International, “Town in North Darfur Reflects Changing Nature of Conflict,” July 24, 2006)
Amnesty International reports that:
“The African Union peacekeeping force in al-Fasher has not only been unable to protect civilians in Korma [North Darfur], but has yet to investigate the killings. Civilians reported the attacks to [the African Union] on 5 July [2006], but the SLA (Minni Minawi) reportedly opposed [the AU’s] going to Korma.” (Amnesty International, “Korma: Yet more attacks on civilians” [AI Index AFR 54/026/2006])
Moreover, the AU has lost all initiative in patrolling within camps or rural areas: there is no AU access in the vast majority of camps, many fewer patrols are being mounted, morale is abysmal, and few of the troops deployed are looking to more than a September exit. A senior UN aid official on the ground in North Darfur estimates privately that unchecked internecine fighting between SLA factions has left over 60% of North Darfur inaccessible to humanitarian operations for the past two months. IRIN reports Turid Laegreid, a senior UN humanitarian official in el-Fasher, as declaring that “access to the local population in North Darfur is at an all-time low” (IRIN [dateline: Nairobi] August 1, 2006).
And while North Darfur is currently the most threatened of the three Darfur states, the potential for explosions in both South and West Darfur is all too clear. Indeed, last week Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the largest international humanitarian presence in Darfur, reported that in West Darfur,
“Security incidents have led to the evacuation of our teams in Serif Umra and two projects in the Jebel Marra, as well as the interruption of mobile clinics, and the limitation in the referral of emergency cases to surgical facilities in other areas. [ ] Many MSF activities are currently suspended, leaving thousands of patients untreated everyday. MSF has been attacked in the past weeks in several locations in all regions of Darfur.” ("Increased insecurity hampers MSF medical assistance to the population of Darfur," MSF [press] release, August 3, 2006)
Not only is medical care being denied to desperate civilians, but food aid as well:
“The UN World Food Program was unable to deliver supplies to 400,000 people in July, up from 290,000 in June.” (Associated Press [dateline: el-Fasher, North Darfur], August 8, 2006)
The number of people in Darfur not receiving food aid in mid-August is over 500,000 and rising rapidly. And this represents those currently targeted for food delivery, not the global Darfuri population in need.
Conditions in eastern Chad in many ways mirror those in Darfur, as the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) declared in an August 8, 2006 press release in Geneva:
“UNHCR is very concerned about the safety of humanitarian workers in eastern Chad following a deterioration in the security situation there. We are particularly worried about the situation in and around the town of Guereda, which is located about 65 kilometres from the border with Sudan.”
“Last Friday, seven men brandishing assault rifles and wearing military uniforms broke into the compound of a non-governmental organisation in Guereda. Three aid workers were hit in the head with rifle butts and one of them was later evacuated to a French military hospital in Abeche, capital of eastern Chad. [ ] This is the seventh time humanitarian workers have been targeted in the Guereda area since May. Three weeks ago, two vehicles from another NGO were stolen. At the beginning of July, two UNHCR cars were stolen from our Guereda office after armed men overpowered the guards.” [ ]
“We are extremely concerned about these incidents. The growing insecurity is making it more difficult and more dangerous for humanitarian agencies and their staff to provide assistance to Sudanese refugees from Darfur in the area. Some international and local humanitarian agencies are working with only essential staff and have reduced their activities in the camps.”
None of these trends will be reversed in the foreseeable future; on the contrary, all evidence suggests a further deterioration of security. The UN’s “Darfur Peace Agreement Monitor” (July 2006) gives a grim assessment of the fundamentally changed dynamic of violence on the ground:
“The increasing fragmentation of armed groups has made humanitarian action more difficult and dangerous. Previously, humanitarian actors used an established notification system to inform armed groups of their movements. During the past month, the number of military actors increased, combat zones multiplied, and chains of command disintegrated. In some cases, established notification systems have failed completely, dramatically increasing the humanitarian actors’ operational risks.” (UN “DPA Monitor,” July 2006, page 11)
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
'Jay, don't give up. Live..."; R&R August 8th, Philadelphia
Someone that has been a true sister to me longer than anyone has ever been true "family" to me is totally against what I have announced - tying my life to that of the 3,000,000 in Darfur, that may well mean that as with many of them, I may well not live to see much of October.
She wrote me a long, passionate, thoughtful, forceful letter. I will not publish it here, out of respect and confidentiality for her. But the issues she raised I addressed in a letter to her and that I will share.
Among her major issues:
* Are you so frustrated, depleted and tired that you are just giving up? Get help! Rebuild yourself.
* The way of life is to scratch to keep yourself alive! Don't stop!
* Can serve better alive!
* Healthy people should not throw their lives away! That is simply wrong!
* I just don't understand you!
The response from me:
Hi sweetie!
I really, really value what you had to say, and the love and compassion that you said it with. Thanks dear.
I have never felt more alive. I have never been more greedy for Life. Tired? I don't get it, but I've got tons of energy lately. (Hmm. I do get it. My body is getting real good at feeding off of itself.) But it is not just my life that I am greedy for, but rather everyone's life, born and not yet born, for eons to come.
All the people we referenced, Gandhi, Jesus, King, etc. agree with me, not you dear. :-) . All the soldiers of destruction and violence, but nobility throughout the ages agree with me, not you. Good soldiers, really good ones - violent or antiviolent, do not hesitate to put their lives on the line, or even to take suicide missions. This is indesputable. WHAT MAKES IT HARD TO SEE IN ME IS THAT WE'VE ALL BEEN WEANED ON THE IDEA THAT FIGHTING MEANS DESTRUCTION. WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN NO MODELS OF ANTIVIOLENT FIGHTING. What models we do have in the so-called "peace" movement is the cowardice that is nothing of the kind - no model of nonviolence at all. HOWEVER, THANK GOD, THERE ARE SOME VALID EXCEPTIONS EMERGING!!! CODE PINK / TROOPS HOME FAST!!!!!!!! King, AND HIS FAMILY, were under documented DEATH THREAT virtually every day of his adult life. AND HIS "FAMILY"!!! I can't imagine that level of courage, and goodness. But I want to. HORRIBLE OF HIM, unless we realize that he, like I've now come to, REJECTS THE IDEA THAT EVERYONE IS NOT HIS FAMILY.
What follows is not a request, but if you ever want to understand me, ponder what I've written on the blog, deeply. Study nonviolent writings (antiviolent is a much more correct term than "nonviolent" that suggests passivity). Gandhi's "All Men are Brothers" may be the best. There is little original in the direction of my thinking or action in light of these folks we've mentioned. I am in line with their lives, actions and views.
And no, you are wrong. Scratching for our own lives is NOT the way of life. Scratching for the lives of OTHERS is the way of life. Nice try! Trying to fool me. :-) . Look at you and [your husband] and how you scratch for your biological [20 something son]! (The scratching-for-ourselves, AND FOR "OUR OWN," that has become our religion in this sick culture of ours, is actually death - cancer; that is when cells become cancer - they turn from scratching for the body/all other cells, and just start scratching for themselves, and the few cells around them, and then the whole body gets sick, CANCEROUS, and dies. Just like we HAVE BECOME CANCEROUS, AND ARE DYING. Ok, now imagine that not just [NAME] is your son, but so are all the 3,000,000 in concentration camps in Darfur being starved to death; and SO ARE THE NEXT GENERATION OF DESTITUTE; SO ARE THE NEXT GENERATION OF OPPRESSORS - WE IN THE US.... Imagine how you might scratch for all of them!!!!!!!!!!
Regarding that you will not have me come stay with you in what may be my final days - [Sister], I feel you with me. I feel your unconditional love; always have. Never doubt that. I know you love me and support not what I am doing, but me. I am so grateful for that.
I've got your info and will keep you updated, largely through the blog though. Must keep focussed on trying to save us. It is not too late. Must make every second count. Matter of life and death. September 17th is our last chance. SAVEDARFUR.ORG
Just so you know, I WILL BE FIGHTING FOR OUR LIVES, MINE AND DARFUR'S UP UNTIL MY LAST BREATH. ANYONE THAT WANTS TO SAVE ME AND OUR DARFUR FAMILY CAN DO SO BY MAKING THE SAVEDARFUR.ORG COALITION SEPTEMBER 17TH RALLY'S AROUND THE COUNTRY AND AROUND THE WORLD THE END OF THE GENOCIDE. IF DARFUR AND I DIE IT WILL BE DUE TO THE NEGLECT OF OUR FAMILY, EVERYWHERE.
SEPT 17TH can be allowed to fail, and the neglect of this opportunity will kill us.
Love you all always,
Jay
She wrote me a long, passionate, thoughtful, forceful letter. I will not publish it here, out of respect and confidentiality for her. But the issues she raised I addressed in a letter to her and that I will share.
Among her major issues:
* Are you so frustrated, depleted and tired that you are just giving up? Get help! Rebuild yourself.
* The way of life is to scratch to keep yourself alive! Don't stop!
* Can serve better alive!
* Healthy people should not throw their lives away! That is simply wrong!
* I just don't understand you!
The response from me:
Hi sweetie!
I really, really value what you had to say, and the love and compassion that you said it with. Thanks dear.
I have never felt more alive. I have never been more greedy for Life. Tired? I don't get it, but I've got tons of energy lately. (Hmm. I do get it. My body is getting real good at feeding off of itself.) But it is not just my life that I am greedy for, but rather everyone's life, born and not yet born, for eons to come.
All the people we referenced, Gandhi, Jesus, King, etc. agree with me, not you dear. :-) . All the soldiers of destruction and violence, but nobility throughout the ages agree with me, not you. Good soldiers, really good ones - violent or antiviolent, do not hesitate to put their lives on the line, or even to take suicide missions. This is indesputable. WHAT MAKES IT HARD TO SEE IN ME IS THAT WE'VE ALL BEEN WEANED ON THE IDEA THAT FIGHTING MEANS DESTRUCTION. WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN NO MODELS OF ANTIVIOLENT FIGHTING. What models we do have in the so-called "peace" movement is the cowardice that is nothing of the kind - no model of nonviolence at all. HOWEVER, THANK GOD, THERE ARE SOME VALID EXCEPTIONS EMERGING!!! CODE PINK / TROOPS HOME FAST!!!!!!!! King, AND HIS FAMILY, were under documented DEATH THREAT virtually every day of his adult life. AND HIS "FAMILY"!!! I can't imagine that level of courage, and goodness. But I want to. HORRIBLE OF HIM, unless we realize that he, like I've now come to, REJECTS THE IDEA THAT EVERYONE IS NOT HIS FAMILY.
What follows is not a request, but if you ever want to understand me, ponder what I've written on the blog, deeply. Study nonviolent writings (antiviolent is a much more correct term than "nonviolent" that suggests passivity). Gandhi's "All Men are Brothers" may be the best. There is little original in the direction of my thinking or action in light of these folks we've mentioned. I am in line with their lives, actions and views.
And no, you are wrong. Scratching for our own lives is NOT the way of life. Scratching for the lives of OTHERS is the way of life. Nice try! Trying to fool me. :-) . Look at you and [your husband] and how you scratch for your biological [20 something son]! (The scratching-for-ourselves, AND FOR "OUR OWN," that has become our religion in this sick culture of ours, is actually death - cancer; that is when cells become cancer - they turn from scratching for the body/all other cells, and just start scratching for themselves, and the few cells around them, and then the whole body gets sick, CANCEROUS, and dies. Just like we HAVE BECOME CANCEROUS, AND ARE DYING. Ok, now imagine that not just [NAME] is your son, but so are all the 3,000,000 in concentration camps in Darfur being starved to death; and SO ARE THE NEXT GENERATION OF DESTITUTE; SO ARE THE NEXT GENERATION OF OPPRESSORS - WE IN THE US.... Imagine how you might scratch for all of them!!!!!!!!!!
Regarding that you will not have me come stay with you in what may be my final days - [Sister], I feel you with me. I feel your unconditional love; always have. Never doubt that. I know you love me and support not what I am doing, but me. I am so grateful for that.
I've got your info and will keep you updated, largely through the blog though. Must keep focussed on trying to save us. It is not too late. Must make every second count. Matter of life and death. September 17th is our last chance. SAVEDARFUR.ORG
Just so you know, I WILL BE FIGHTING FOR OUR LIVES, MINE AND DARFUR'S UP UNTIL MY LAST BREATH. ANYONE THAT WANTS TO SAVE ME AND OUR DARFUR FAMILY CAN DO SO BY MAKING THE SAVEDARFUR.ORG COALITION SEPTEMBER 17TH RALLY'S AROUND THE COUNTRY AND AROUND THE WORLD THE END OF THE GENOCIDE. IF DARFUR AND I DIE IT WILL BE DUE TO THE NEGLECT OF OUR FAMILY, EVERYWHERE.
SEPT 17TH can be allowed to fail, and the neglect of this opportunity will kill us.
Love you all always,
Jay
Monday, August 07, 2006
CRY FREEDOM: MANY MUST GIVE LIFE. Hunger Strike holding at Day 28; Vigil hold at Day 80
Note: I am on my way to my Philadelphia family to fatten up so that by week's end / mid next week I can get back on Hunger Strike in DC with a chance of surviving until the end of September. That is our last chance to Save Darfur, and by being able to hold out that long, it may save me as well! :-)
Have you seen the movie "Cry Freedom" with Denzel Washington? It is the story of Steven Beko, just one of the many ANTI-VIOLENT fighters for an apartheid-free South Africa who risked and gave their lives to the mad, merciless South African machine over 20 years or more before some level of victory was won. It works that way. Society demands sacrifices until it gets tired of all the lost life, looks at itself finally, and begins to live and grow again.
I've faced this reality before, particularly in the Chester battle, but finally I am called by circumstances to walk the walk of Steven Beko.
The circumstances?
1. Arguably our culture has eroded our humanity, courage, clinical individual "life" to a lower level than any time in history. We are paying the price of meaningless, joyless lives. The world is paying the price in ever more brutal exploitation and manipulation. Our children, and their children? It has become unimaginably horrible to contemplate. As God is my witness I am certain that Cheney and pals may be planning how to bring us to full Police State before they would otherwise be forced out of office. We're too asleep to notice, OR CARE! And that is one of the lesser horrors!
Both parties and houses blessing the destruction of Lebanon and Palestine? Both parties washing in the blood of the Lebanese children? This is evil, darkness beyond comprehension. AND MAYBE WORSE, all the US Lebanese population can think to do is CANDLE LIGHT VIGILS!!!!!!!!! MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!! No strikes. No arrests. No civil disobedience. CANDLE LIGHT VIGILS that are really quite festive social events. WE ARE WALKING DEAD.
NO FREE PRESS. Simply a government propaganda machine. Can't you feel us drool over the prospect of forcing our wonderful sham illusion of "democracy" on Cuba? Do you feel the eagerness for all-out war with Islam - World War III. Madness.
2. It is NOW or NEVER for Darfur per yesterday's post "Jay is going to play...."
No euphoria on my part, BUT I AM VERY HAPPY AND EXCITED. I am feeling some of the freedom, purpose, significance, participation-in-life and meaning that I have been greedy for throughout my life. I am NOT seeking Martyrdom. But it now is seeking me. :-) I am honored to be called and to serve in this way. And I think martyrdom is going to seek, and need many others in the coming years.
I have a vision of an infinately more humane, joyful, brotherly/sisterly world than the Matrix-like machine that is today's reality. It is what Dr. King sensed; and Gandhi; Jesus; Sidhartha; Mandella; Beko.... It is worth a great price. It is a great joy to pursue and to try to help birth.
Finally, it is said that the hardest role played in a battle like this is by the friends. Many of you are my "family." I am grateful for your friendship; I am sorry for the pain I cause you; and I will try to be as little a burden on you as I can, but in this I will have limited success.
3. We now must streatch our hearts accross oceans. Hmmm. This is a new clarity for me. We've streatched our bodies and eyes around the globe with planes, ships and video. We've yet to streatch our hearts. Let us remember that Einstein and his ilk have many decades ago been telling us that unless our morality catches up with our techonology, humanity is doomed. I see this clearly.
4. We must give our lives to keep our Lives. Life is advancing the wellbeing of the species, and the planet and universe. This is the way of Life; the ONLY way of Life. I think most scientists in relevant domains would have to agree with my definition, in concept. "life" (little "l") is our pulse. This is not who we are. This is a meer vessel. We know this. Really. Please don't brush this off. Think about it. We've all seen and "believed" movies where someone's "spirit" is placed in a robot or something and they "Live" (captal "L") on. We've known parapalegics that are much more alive than most people. Jesus lives on. Gandhi, Buddha, King, Teresa, Abe Lincoln.... All who give their life to others Live on forever, as I've just shown and reminded you. The more we Give, the more we Live on. :-) The more we give, THE MORE THAT OUR HUMAN FAMILY LIVES ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thruly, I see we humans of 2006 as walking dead now. Sorry, but it is True. The materially wealthy like we in the US are drowning in our own selfish pleasure. The destitute of the world are burning in their own hell of material torment. Teresa, King, Gandhi, Jesus all saw it the same way. This is unacceptable. I want us to Live. I will help as best I can. Forever.
Your brother, Jay
Have you seen the movie "Cry Freedom" with Denzel Washington? It is the story of Steven Beko, just one of the many ANTI-VIOLENT fighters for an apartheid-free South Africa who risked and gave their lives to the mad, merciless South African machine over 20 years or more before some level of victory was won. It works that way. Society demands sacrifices until it gets tired of all the lost life, looks at itself finally, and begins to live and grow again.
I've faced this reality before, particularly in the Chester battle, but finally I am called by circumstances to walk the walk of Steven Beko.
The circumstances?
1. Arguably our culture has eroded our humanity, courage, clinical individual "life" to a lower level than any time in history. We are paying the price of meaningless, joyless lives. The world is paying the price in ever more brutal exploitation and manipulation. Our children, and their children? It has become unimaginably horrible to contemplate. As God is my witness I am certain that Cheney and pals may be planning how to bring us to full Police State before they would otherwise be forced out of office. We're too asleep to notice, OR CARE! And that is one of the lesser horrors!
Both parties and houses blessing the destruction of Lebanon and Palestine? Both parties washing in the blood of the Lebanese children? This is evil, darkness beyond comprehension. AND MAYBE WORSE, all the US Lebanese population can think to do is CANDLE LIGHT VIGILS!!!!!!!!! MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!! No strikes. No arrests. No civil disobedience. CANDLE LIGHT VIGILS that are really quite festive social events. WE ARE WALKING DEAD.
NO FREE PRESS. Simply a government propaganda machine. Can't you feel us drool over the prospect of forcing our wonderful sham illusion of "democracy" on Cuba? Do you feel the eagerness for all-out war with Islam - World War III. Madness.
2. It is NOW or NEVER for Darfur per yesterday's post "Jay is going to play...."
No euphoria on my part, BUT I AM VERY HAPPY AND EXCITED. I am feeling some of the freedom, purpose, significance, participation-in-life and meaning that I have been greedy for throughout my life. I am NOT seeking Martyrdom. But it now is seeking me. :-) I am honored to be called and to serve in this way. And I think martyrdom is going to seek, and need many others in the coming years.
I have a vision of an infinately more humane, joyful, brotherly/sisterly world than the Matrix-like machine that is today's reality. It is what Dr. King sensed; and Gandhi; Jesus; Sidhartha; Mandella; Beko.... It is worth a great price. It is a great joy to pursue and to try to help birth.
Finally, it is said that the hardest role played in a battle like this is by the friends. Many of you are my "family." I am grateful for your friendship; I am sorry for the pain I cause you; and I will try to be as little a burden on you as I can, but in this I will have limited success.
3. We now must streatch our hearts accross oceans. Hmmm. This is a new clarity for me. We've streatched our bodies and eyes around the globe with planes, ships and video. We've yet to streatch our hearts. Let us remember that Einstein and his ilk have many decades ago been telling us that unless our morality catches up with our techonology, humanity is doomed. I see this clearly.
4. We must give our lives to keep our Lives. Life is advancing the wellbeing of the species, and the planet and universe. This is the way of Life; the ONLY way of Life. I think most scientists in relevant domains would have to agree with my definition, in concept. "life" (little "l") is our pulse. This is not who we are. This is a meer vessel. We know this. Really. Please don't brush this off. Think about it. We've all seen and "believed" movies where someone's "spirit" is placed in a robot or something and they "Live" (captal "L") on. We've known parapalegics that are much more alive than most people. Jesus lives on. Gandhi, Buddha, King, Teresa, Abe Lincoln.... All who give their life to others Live on forever, as I've just shown and reminded you. The more we Give, the more we Live on. :-) The more we give, THE MORE THAT OUR HUMAN FAMILY LIVES ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thruly, I see we humans of 2006 as walking dead now. Sorry, but it is True. The materially wealthy like we in the US are drowning in our own selfish pleasure. The destitute of the world are burning in their own hell of material torment. Teresa, King, Gandhi, Jesus all saw it the same way. This is unacceptable. I want us to Live. I will help as best I can. Forever.
Your brother, Jay
Sunday, August 06, 2006
JAY TO PLAY THE SAVE DARFUR COALITION'S, YOU BE YOUR LIFE!
Ok, I give in, I'LL PLAY TOO!
FACT: of the 10-50 people I speak with in-depth per day about Darfur at the White House, 99% of them I BEG to center their lives around making the SAVE DARFUR COALITION'S SEPTEMBER 17TH GLOBAL DEMONSTRATIONS THE END OF THIS GENOCIDE.
Thank God that the Coalition has planned and is organizing these around the world SEPTEMBER 17th. This has been my feeling since the second I heard of them at the early July 06 planning meeting at Georgetown University. They are a Godsend opportunity.
I MUST ADMIT, I have always maintained that they are NECESSARY, but not sufficient. BUT I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN A HINT OF AGREEMENT ON THIS DEFICIENCY IN ANY FORM FROM ANYONE IN THE COALITION.
SO, I'M IN!!!!!! IF THE SAVE DARFUR COALITION IS WILLING TO BET 3,000,000 LIVES ON THIS EVENT BEING SUFFICIENT TO SAVE THEM, THAT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.
I'm going to bet my life that they are correct.
Here's how! Please follow:
1. We all know that the Darfuries are OUT OF TIME. With the abandonment of Darfur by the world's people Bashir is getting the aid workers shot. As the aid workers leave the Darfur death toll will approach 25-50,000 per week. Our Darfur family is cooked.
2. Therefore obviously Save Darfur, in expressing not the slightest concern in any way that I can see that their plan is not SUFFICIENT, they assert that the September 17th events WILL SECURE IMMEDIATE, IRON CLAD COMMITMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE 20-30,000 UN TROOPS WITH CHAPTER 7 MANDATE! (Nothing less will prevent 100,000's of thousands more deaths.)
3. SO, I'M GOING TO BACK THEM WITH ONE MORE LIFE! Today is day 29 of my water only Hunger Strike. I figure that I can go 60 days (although what I saw in the mirror 2 days ago scared me pretty good. Oh well.) But, if I continue the Hunger Strike without interruption that isn't fair. I'd probably be dead before September 17th. No cheating! :-) I figure I need to give the Coalition until the end of September to produce the IMMEDIATE, IRON CLAD COMMITMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE 20-30,000 UN TROOPS WITH CHAPTER 7 MANDATE!
4. So, today, August 7th I will weigh myself and maintain today's weight until September 1; thereby freezing the clock until then. Except for a few days off, the Vigil will continue in President's Park. I will give every second to driving people to these truly God given, LIFE or DEATH, last chance for Darfur September 17th events.
5. On September 1 I will resume the water only hunger strike.
6. I'll stop when I am notified of the IMMEDIATE, IRON CLAD COMMITMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE 20-30,000 UN TROOPS WITH CHAPTER 7 MANDATE!
7. And, everything will then be fine. Right?
The game has begun! How exciting! This will be so interesting. I am really, really hungry, so I wouldn't mind if the Coalition won early!
BY THE WAY, HONESTLY AND TRULY, BEFORE GOD AND IN THE NAME OF GOD, IN THE NAME OF GOOD, I INVITE 1,000'S OF PEOPLE TO JOIN ME. NOW. WOULD A "BROTHER" OR "SISTER" OF DARFUR DO ANYTHING LESS UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES? FOR MANY OF US, NO. IT'S TIME TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE. THE GAME IS ALMOST AT AN END.
(By now, you should know me too well to think that I am kidding. The game has begun.)
FACT: of the 10-50 people I speak with in-depth per day about Darfur at the White House, 99% of them I BEG to center their lives around making the SAVE DARFUR COALITION'S SEPTEMBER 17TH GLOBAL DEMONSTRATIONS THE END OF THIS GENOCIDE.
Thank God that the Coalition has planned and is organizing these around the world SEPTEMBER 17th. This has been my feeling since the second I heard of them at the early July 06 planning meeting at Georgetown University. They are a Godsend opportunity.
I MUST ADMIT, I have always maintained that they are NECESSARY, but not sufficient. BUT I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN A HINT OF AGREEMENT ON THIS DEFICIENCY IN ANY FORM FROM ANYONE IN THE COALITION.
SO, I'M IN!!!!!! IF THE SAVE DARFUR COALITION IS WILLING TO BET 3,000,000 LIVES ON THIS EVENT BEING SUFFICIENT TO SAVE THEM, THAT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.
I'm going to bet my life that they are correct.
Here's how! Please follow:
1. We all know that the Darfuries are OUT OF TIME. With the abandonment of Darfur by the world's people Bashir is getting the aid workers shot. As the aid workers leave the Darfur death toll will approach 25-50,000 per week. Our Darfur family is cooked.
2. Therefore obviously Save Darfur, in expressing not the slightest concern in any way that I can see that their plan is not SUFFICIENT, they assert that the September 17th events WILL SECURE IMMEDIATE, IRON CLAD COMMITMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE 20-30,000 UN TROOPS WITH CHAPTER 7 MANDATE! (Nothing less will prevent 100,000's of thousands more deaths.)
3. SO, I'M GOING TO BACK THEM WITH ONE MORE LIFE! Today is day 29 of my water only Hunger Strike. I figure that I can go 60 days (although what I saw in the mirror 2 days ago scared me pretty good. Oh well.) But, if I continue the Hunger Strike without interruption that isn't fair. I'd probably be dead before September 17th. No cheating! :-) I figure I need to give the Coalition until the end of September to produce the IMMEDIATE, IRON CLAD COMMITMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE 20-30,000 UN TROOPS WITH CHAPTER 7 MANDATE!
4. So, today, August 7th I will weigh myself and maintain today's weight until September 1; thereby freezing the clock until then. Except for a few days off, the Vigil will continue in President's Park. I will give every second to driving people to these truly God given, LIFE or DEATH, last chance for Darfur September 17th events.
5. On September 1 I will resume the water only hunger strike.
6. I'll stop when I am notified of the IMMEDIATE, IRON CLAD COMMITMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE 20-30,000 UN TROOPS WITH CHAPTER 7 MANDATE!
7. And, everything will then be fine. Right?
The game has begun! How exciting! This will be so interesting. I am really, really hungry, so I wouldn't mind if the Coalition won early!
BY THE WAY, HONESTLY AND TRULY, BEFORE GOD AND IN THE NAME OF GOD, IN THE NAME OF GOOD, I INVITE 1,000'S OF PEOPLE TO JOIN ME. NOW. WOULD A "BROTHER" OR "SISTER" OF DARFUR DO ANYTHING LESS UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES? FOR MANY OF US, NO. IT'S TIME TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE. THE GAME IS ALMOST AT AN END.
(By now, you should know me too well to think that I am kidding. The game has begun.)
AND THE CHILDREN WILL LEAD THEM. Hunger Strike Day 28, Vigil Day 79
Two nights ago six Cherrubs and an Angel descended upon me at President's park about 10:30 pm. I'm really not kidding. Six young children and their aunt who leads them all in a summer camp. I can't recall encountering more human, warm, intelligent, empathic, compassionate hearts in my 79 days in the park. They were deeply, reverently concerned with everything about their Darfur family (yes, none has Sudan ancestors). Their questions were deeply respectful, relevent and highly sensitive. It was glorious.
Today at about 4pm, this is what I saw. Ok, I kinda saw it through my tears. Darfur, you do have family in the US. Pittifully small, but it can grow. LET THE CHILDREN LEAD US.
Ms. Abby Robinson, their teacher, told me to include - "I see you (Mr Jay), as a Godsend, you have awakened my children's consciousness in a inmeasurable and unquantifiable way. The lesson they learned from you in two days will benifit them a lifetime " Msabby
From left to right these blessed children are (front row) Mary Kate, Katelyn, Aziah, (back row) Robert, Ms. Robinson, Alvin and Nataniel.
And others care too. Pictured with me is one of the few great men of God, of Jesus that ever I have met. Michael Dorn is a Maryknoll Seminarian. MICHAEL IS THE FIRST TO LOVE HIS DARFUR FAMILY SO MUCH THAT HE JOINED THE VIGIL AND HUNGER STRIKE FOR THEM IN LAFAYETTE PARK. 2 DAYS NO FOOD. 2 DAYS DAY AND NIGHT VIGIL.
Neither Michael nor I can understand why hundreds or thousands haven't joined. HOW CAN YOU RESIST? REALLY? THIS IS THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME. IT IS.
Today at about 4pm, this is what I saw. Ok, I kinda saw it through my tears. Darfur, you do have family in the US. Pittifully small, but it can grow. LET THE CHILDREN LEAD US.
Ms. Abby Robinson, their teacher, told me to include - "I see you (Mr Jay), as a Godsend, you have awakened my children's consciousness in a inmeasurable and unquantifiable way. The lesson they learned from you in two days will benifit them a lifetime " Msabby
From left to right these blessed children are (front row) Mary Kate, Katelyn, Aziah, (back row) Robert, Ms. Robinson, Alvin and Nataniel.
And others care too. Pictured with me is one of the few great men of God, of Jesus that ever I have met. Michael Dorn is a Maryknoll Seminarian. MICHAEL IS THE FIRST TO LOVE HIS DARFUR FAMILY SO MUCH THAT HE JOINED THE VIGIL AND HUNGER STRIKE FOR THEM IN LAFAYETTE PARK. 2 DAYS NO FOOD. 2 DAYS DAY AND NIGHT VIGIL.
Neither Michael nor I can understand why hundreds or thousands haven't joined. HOW CAN YOU RESIST? REALLY? THIS IS THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME. IT IS.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
INDEPTH INTERVIEW: Hunger Strike Day 27; Vigil Day 78
My Newz 'n Ideas Plus!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Interview: Jay's Hunger Strike for Darfur
Our senior editor, Rosemary, has had a wonderful opportunity to interview a man by the name of Jay McGinley. He is standing to the North of the White House in President's Park facing the White House. He has been on a hunger strike, and the news media deems this as non-issue. Rosemary does not. So we got a jump on a story before the New York Times. Oh, but then again, she worked for it. It was not handed to her.
There are several questions that were asked, and all of them were answered frankly and honestly-as he sees the issues. What shall be done, in order to preserve some space and keep your interest, is to eliminate some of the reduncacies. Let me first apologize for asking insufficient and out of order questions. Let us go to the interview.
(This interview took place through e-mail and the telephone. My answers shall be in bold, his shall be in regular print.)
Hello, Mr. Jay McGinley. It is nice to 'meet' to you. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. Would you like to get started? Yes, thank you.
1. First of all, would you like to tell us why you are on hunger strike for the people of Darfur, Sudan?I reject the notion we have unconsciously embraced. That there needs to be, that there should be, a difference in the way we treat people who live nextdoor to us, and a different standard for those who do not. I am a desciple of Jesus. He was explicit. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others all that you would have them do unto you. As you do unto the least of these, my family, you do unto me. This is in my heart. People in Darfur are my family. For those who do not have faith or have a different faith, it is the Golden Rule.
Ok, so if your family in Darfur is being slaughtered, what do you do? You fight for the solution that all parties involved are calling for: "20,000 to 30,000 UN Peacekeeping Troops on the ground with a Chaper 7 mandate (empowered to use force), to protect and make these people's land safe again for farming and living. And you fight to get your fellow citizens to give a mandate to our administration that they apply all pressure necessary on Sudan's President el Bashir to allow the peacekeepers and aid workers in, unmolested, to do their jobs.
According to Samantha Power's Pulitzer prize winning analysis of the last 100 years of genocide (Problem from Hell), the battle to stop genocide has always been lost on the field of public opinion in the US. We have the power, but we as a citizenry have never raised the will. We have never found the courage to step out of our comfort zone and registered our mandate with our elected officials. So what can you do? You set about to raise the courage among your fellow citizens.
I believe in nonviolent warfare in general, and certainly in the fight to raise courage among "we the people". In all of the important such struggles in this country - Civil Rights, Womens' Suffrage, Anti-Apartheid - a small group of people have stood up with tremendous courage, given an example to millions who then stood up with them with substantial courage to unmistakably state their mandate to the elected officials. I am calling for an all out nonviolent war, or campaign, here in the US to raise the mandate that I know our elected officials want to see. I believe some of us need to pay a personal price. I am leading by example. That is why I am on Hunger strike.
2. How many days have been on the hunger strike?Today is day 75 of the round the clock vigil for Darfur at the White House. Today is Day 24 of the Hunger strike. I intend to go through Day 60 on Hunger Strike. This will put me in extreme harms way. This is where a soldier fighting for his brothers and sisters belongs. But I have a good chance of surviving, and a good soldier is neither reckless or suicidal. I am neither.
3. What do you hope to accomplish? When will you feel you haveachieved your goal?As Gandhi said, "Full effort is full victory." Our Heavenly Father is not going to ask me if I stopped the Genocide. What He will ask me is whether I did everything in my power to try to stop it. This is what I hope to achieve "doing all that I would have them do unto me.
I want to raise awareness so that others will have a similar level of commitment and sacrifice. That would spark hundreds of thousands to register their mandate through nonviolence but unmistakeable personal sacrifice, so the administration would have the mandate they need to push forward.
Specifically I want to see that which will be the catalyst to raise our will - 20 to 500 of us will gather in August at the White House for either a mass hunger strike, or a rolling one. It is possible there may be nonviolent arrests, but these will instill in our brothers and sisters around the country the urgency of the situation and the courage stand up for Darfur.
With this August's action, we can deliver to the September 17 rally planned for NYC by the Save Darfur Coalition 100,000 to 300,000 people that have sufficient courage to undertake whatever remaining nonviolent civil disobedience is necessary so that the 20-30,000 UN Peacekeepers needed by our Darfur family are deployed to Darfor without further delay.
4. Do you believe the American people are aware of the seriousness of the Darfur situation?Yes and no. It is said that the longest journey in the world is from the head to the heart. Millions upon millions of Americans have heard something about this situation, but almost none have allowed the information to travel from their head to their heart.
I am passionately convinced that the cowardly way we have reacted to the information is not what my brothers and sisters in America truly desire. I honestly believe that once they are raised to a courageous response, the joy that will be released in them will constitute their finest hour. It would be a turning point for our country. We would be back in the world's leadership in humanity and human rights that we always have aspired to fulfill.
5. Do you think the press is neglecting this issue?I think everyone in this country is avoiding this issue. I think that the press has ceased to be fighters for morality and truth, and they have become nothing more than entertainers.
They, too, have prevented the journey from the head to the heart. Also, unless some of us can successfully encourage their leadership, they will at some time in their life be ashamed and deeply regretful for the cowardice and inhumanity they are now providing.
6. What is so important about Darfur?The world knows, and has known since the Holocaust, that those suffering Genocide are the least of these. It has been said that the reason for forming the United Nations was to prevent genocide. Shortly after the Holocaust, the word Genocide was coined. Before very long all the countries of the world, except the United States, had ratified the Genocide convention which committed the world to protect such victims. After decades the United States signed the document.
The world has taken no such unanimous action toward any other type of atrocity. By definition, therefore, "victims of Genocide constitute the Least of These."
We are no longer humane beings if we will stand by while 3,000,000 of our brothers and sisters are exterminated. Just because they are native Africans and not the Arab elite who want this country?
I believe that our Father has given Darfur to us as a test as one last opportunity to turn our lives toward His service. He as given us 3,000,000 lives to save. He has made it quite an easy, low risk task for us - a bully government, subject to US and world pressure, and 3 years of visibility to this unfolding horror. We have no excuses not to fight, and fight to win now.
Why is Darfur important? It is reasonable to think that if we do not find the humanity to stop such an easily stopped Genocide, that statement-Never Again- will absolutely be again, and again, and again.
7. Why should the American people care about Darfur, Sudan?The people of Darfur are our family, our brothers and sisters. He is the Father of us all. He is going to ask us what we did for the least of these in His family, our family. What will the defense of our inaction be? We didn't know? We couldn't afford it? They were poor black people? We couldn't stop it? It was too difficult? Some of us would have to skip a few weeks meals on Hunger Strike? A few of us might have to go to jail over night? A few of us will have to put our professional and economic lives at risk? Let's get on with His work.
Before our Father we have no excuses. There are many examples: Love as I have loved, there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your fellow man, the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, do unto others all that you would have them do unto you, and love your brother as yourself. These are just a few.
I will not apologize for my belief in the Lord. I understand there are people who do not. I say to those people, do you want to live in a world of hope or despair? How about a land where everyone that protects is gone when they come for you lastly? It is better to be humane.
8. Who is your inspiration to being doing this? Who is it you admire?Jesus most of all. Gandhi, for whom Jesus was the greatest practitioner of his religion "Selfless Love," Dr. King, and Teresa of Calcutta.
9. How old are you? Why now? What stirred you to become an activist?I'll be fifty-five years old in October of this year. As a youth I was introduced to Jesus and I fell in love. I was born to wealth and as my late teens and early twenties came, I moved out from the loving cacoon formed by my extraordinary biological father. I allowed myself to be seduced by the lies of the "American Dream" of independence, take care of yourself, get comfort, get safety, get sex, get power, get a career, squander it all on your biological family and abandon and exploit all others."
I never became a bad man, but I stopped viewing the teachings of Jesus, the Son of God, as something to be lived literally. About twelve years ago I experienced what was our Father's call: "I did not put you here to make rich people richer, nor to teach your biological family that only they are family. All people are your family. Go and serve them."
Within 4 years I had moved from my computer executive career path and was a Guidance Counselor in arguably the lowest performing, largest elementary school in the country, fighting for the lives and spirits of these doomed kids. That took everything I had physically and materially. A loving non-biologiclly related family that I knew very casually read of my plight on the front of the Philadelphia Inquirer and made me part of their family.
By working in their furniture business, I nursed back to health. Then I became aware of Darfur from a Nicholas Kristof article in the NY Times. That was over two years ago.
Even as a child I saw that the world should have come to a standstill if need be to stop the Holocaust. Now I saw Genocide on my watch. I would do anything and everything in my power, I would put my life on the line to stop the Genocide. I have marched on the DC mall solo 2 summers ago. Hunger striked for Darfur 20 days last summer.
Sent over 20,000 faxes to faith organizations on the east coast, colleges and universities around the country.
10. Do you think the UN is helping, hurting, or remaining neutral on Darfur? Please explain.There is no UN. Actually, there is no US Government in Washington. There is only we the people of the world and the United States. I am trying to be neither cute, trite nor mystical in this response. We the people of the world are the government, whether or not we are in a democracy. This was Gandhi's great genius. If the people exert their will with enough resolution the Government must follow.
The streets of the world are empty of people delivering their unmistakable mandate to their officials to see that 20-30,000 UN peacekeepers be put on the ground in Darfur with a Chapter 7 mandate (ability to use force) NOW.
The UN is not the problem. "We the people" are both the problem, and we are the solution. Now, having said that, China and Russia are problems. They both have preferential relationships regarding Sudanese oil, and they are worried that UN intervention could cause sanctions that would get in the way of their profits. We have to do a better job of convincing them that genocide is unacceptable.
11. How many men, women, and children have been raped, tortured, executed, enslaved, forced to flee their homes to go to refugee camps, and how many people have starved to death for lack of aid? Please seperate those whom have already fled. I believe that number is around 2.5 million. Is that correct?
I would defer to the largest, best funded coalition of activists, Save Darfur coalition . I believe their numbers are 400,000 exterminated, 10,000's raped, 3,000,000 [million] displaced from their destroyed homes. The Janjaweed would burn the children they were not kidnapping for sex-slaves and hard labor, and then through them in the wells to poison village water. They were held in dessert camps where they faced forced starvation. They die at a rate of 2-5000 per week.
The heinous neglect from the world is now so unmistakeable to the el Bashir, he feels completely comfortable to allow his Khartoum regime to now attack aid workers with his Janjaweed Arab militia. Therefore it is forcing the life-support from these people to stay away. This is leading to expected death tolls of 25,000 per week.
12. What are the conditions of the refugee camps? How do you know?I can add little to the unanimous view of Human Rights Watch, Save Darfur Coalition, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Africa Action, Genocide Intervention Fund. Two-five thousand per week die due to murder from the Arab Militia, combined with forced food starvation and starvation.. We saw this in Stalin's Communism, and now we are seeing it again.
When we allow el Bashir drive the aid workers away, the numbers have started to do rise to twenty-five thousand per week begin to starve. Women go out for firewood that is needed. When they do this, the are gang raped. If men go out, the militias murder them. The children have had no school for three years now. They are not free from attacks, either. They are often slaughtered in front of their parents. If not, they are taken as slaves. When are we going to stop the slave trade? I thought it was over, but I was wrong.
13. Who is responsible for this? Directly, and indirectly.Directly, the Arab government by a Coup 17 years ago. Much more importantly , our brothers and sisters of all countries are responsible, because we have absolutely the power to protect them. Before God, we have no excuse and just as humane beings we, we need to all that we can to make this front page news.
14. Is the African Union (AU) able to protect an area the size of France withonly 7000 men?The most conservative estimates are 20,000[-30,000] troops with a Chapter 7 mandate to use force. Sudan Reeves has the most authoritative analysis. Eric Reeves is a Smith College professor dying of cancer. He has mortgaged his house so he can afford to spend what days and months he has left keeping Darfur on the world stage through his authoritative studies and articles.
15. Is the AU allowed to use force against the Janjaweed militia of the Islamic government?The AU has no authority to use force. They are window dressing to enable the neglect of we brothers and sisters around the world.
16. What religion are the Black Darfurians?The 3,000,000 in Southern Sudan that were exterminated by el Bashir were non-Arab Christians. But he is an equal opportunity butcher. In Darfur they are Muslums like him, but the fact that they are non-Arabs makes them fair game.
17. What is your opinion of this new peace deal that only the SLA signed on to?As it stands it is entirely inadequate. If it is not enhanced to better represent the needs of the Darfur people (not just the war lords who are themselves as evil as Bashir) it is a time killer. However it can be enhanced and if so done, and then enforced it will be a benefit.
18. How much area does the leader of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) control?Minni Minnawi, who with his entourage came to meet with me two days ago, represents 4% of the Darfuries, but as much of 80% of the rebel fighting force.
19. How many Armies are in Darfur? How much terrority do they control?The armies control little if any territory, if you mean the so called rebel armies. I think there were three Minnawi's SLA remains separate, and the other 2 have merged. I think the other two may, may more truly represent the masses.The Janjaweed is the only one truly in control of territory all of it.
20. Why did the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD) refuse to sign on to the peace deal?The two that did not sign on had selfish reasons, but the truly selfish leader was Minnawi I fear. It may be that he cut the deal for himself. The others saw that it was profoundly unjust and inadequate for their people. Too little protection. Too little of the country's oil wealth. Too little representation. I hope that Minniwa performs in a way that proves me wrong. He seemed like an honorable man when I met him.
21. Is there any fighting between these Armies?Yes, there is constant fighting for territory and influence, largely so that the "leaders" can have wealth and power when the dust settles. There are no good guys that I can see. Only innocent, totally abandoned victims.
22. Have you had an opportunity to speak to the Black Causes? Have they tried to speak with you? Do they know of your existence and purpose? How?My experience with the Black Cause is limited to 3 that were here in President'ss park participating in a small rally conducted by Africa Action. I approached 2 of the 3 and because I was not a dignitary, someone that could help their selfish interests, only someone that had sacrificed everything for their Darfur brothers and sisters, they almost literally ran away from me. Kind of like you move away from garbage.
23. Do you believe the hatred for President Bush is coloring how the press covers their stories and which ones they cover?Frankly, I feel that there is little independent press left. None in the mainstream seem more than shameless entertainers and puppets of the establishment.. They are entertainment workers with no courage, and they fear Bush' influence on their careers through their corporate owners.I believe that on Darfur Bush is doing as well, or slightly better than any previous President facing Genocide and I feel the press is accurately reflecting this.
24. Do you believe the same hatred is blinding the American Liberals to the point they can no longer see suffering or the seriousness of Darfur?Hatred is not blinding Liberals or Conservatives. Our greed, selfishness and lust for pleasure, comfort and safety for me and mine is what blinds us. Embracing the lie that we are not all brothers and sisters is blinding us. We want to be blind, because this blindness is what allows us to divorce our brothers and sisters around the world, and it protects our ability to work and live only for ourselves. This is the exact opposite of what Jesus died to give us.
We want the log in our eye. That way we don't have to see and serve the least of these. What we gain through this embrace of blindness is the ocean of pleasure, safety, comfort for which we are drowning. That is what we lust for.
25. Is there anything I missed about the situation in Darfur?I think you covered everything.
26. Feel free to add anything I have not asked for which you think is important for the people to know. Please feel free to go on and on and on. I went on an on above. I am extremely fatigued today. After 24 days with no food really hit me for the first time. Sorry I've not done a better job.
There are a few notes I would like to add. In the first place, the number of murdered Darfurians claimed to be at 400,000 is the same number I wrote about in May of 2005 ! Now either I'm claravoyant (I am not) or no one else has died. Neither of these claims are true. I believe we are seeing another Rwanda. Must we wait for the movie to come out before we grieve?
Jay can be reached for comment at JyMcGinley@cs.com.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Interview: Jay's Hunger Strike for Darfur
Our senior editor, Rosemary, has had a wonderful opportunity to interview a man by the name of Jay McGinley. He is standing to the North of the White House in President's Park facing the White House. He has been on a hunger strike, and the news media deems this as non-issue. Rosemary does not. So we got a jump on a story before the New York Times. Oh, but then again, she worked for it. It was not handed to her.
There are several questions that were asked, and all of them were answered frankly and honestly-as he sees the issues. What shall be done, in order to preserve some space and keep your interest, is to eliminate some of the reduncacies. Let me first apologize for asking insufficient and out of order questions. Let us go to the interview.
(This interview took place through e-mail and the telephone. My answers shall be in bold, his shall be in regular print.)
Hello, Mr. Jay McGinley. It is nice to 'meet' to you. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. Would you like to get started? Yes, thank you.
1. First of all, would you like to tell us why you are on hunger strike for the people of Darfur, Sudan?I reject the notion we have unconsciously embraced. That there needs to be, that there should be, a difference in the way we treat people who live nextdoor to us, and a different standard for those who do not. I am a desciple of Jesus. He was explicit. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others all that you would have them do unto you. As you do unto the least of these, my family, you do unto me. This is in my heart. People in Darfur are my family. For those who do not have faith or have a different faith, it is the Golden Rule.
Ok, so if your family in Darfur is being slaughtered, what do you do? You fight for the solution that all parties involved are calling for: "20,000 to 30,000 UN Peacekeeping Troops on the ground with a Chaper 7 mandate (empowered to use force), to protect and make these people's land safe again for farming and living. And you fight to get your fellow citizens to give a mandate to our administration that they apply all pressure necessary on Sudan's President el Bashir to allow the peacekeepers and aid workers in, unmolested, to do their jobs.
According to Samantha Power's Pulitzer prize winning analysis of the last 100 years of genocide (Problem from Hell), the battle to stop genocide has always been lost on the field of public opinion in the US. We have the power, but we as a citizenry have never raised the will. We have never found the courage to step out of our comfort zone and registered our mandate with our elected officials. So what can you do? You set about to raise the courage among your fellow citizens.
I believe in nonviolent warfare in general, and certainly in the fight to raise courage among "we the people". In all of the important such struggles in this country - Civil Rights, Womens' Suffrage, Anti-Apartheid - a small group of people have stood up with tremendous courage, given an example to millions who then stood up with them with substantial courage to unmistakably state their mandate to the elected officials. I am calling for an all out nonviolent war, or campaign, here in the US to raise the mandate that I know our elected officials want to see. I believe some of us need to pay a personal price. I am leading by example. That is why I am on Hunger strike.
2. How many days have been on the hunger strike?Today is day 75 of the round the clock vigil for Darfur at the White House. Today is Day 24 of the Hunger strike. I intend to go through Day 60 on Hunger Strike. This will put me in extreme harms way. This is where a soldier fighting for his brothers and sisters belongs. But I have a good chance of surviving, and a good soldier is neither reckless or suicidal. I am neither.
3. What do you hope to accomplish? When will you feel you haveachieved your goal?As Gandhi said, "Full effort is full victory." Our Heavenly Father is not going to ask me if I stopped the Genocide. What He will ask me is whether I did everything in my power to try to stop it. This is what I hope to achieve "doing all that I would have them do unto me.
I want to raise awareness so that others will have a similar level of commitment and sacrifice. That would spark hundreds of thousands to register their mandate through nonviolence but unmistakeable personal sacrifice, so the administration would have the mandate they need to push forward.
Specifically I want to see that which will be the catalyst to raise our will - 20 to 500 of us will gather in August at the White House for either a mass hunger strike, or a rolling one. It is possible there may be nonviolent arrests, but these will instill in our brothers and sisters around the country the urgency of the situation and the courage stand up for Darfur.
With this August's action, we can deliver to the September 17 rally planned for NYC by the Save Darfur Coalition 100,000 to 300,000 people that have sufficient courage to undertake whatever remaining nonviolent civil disobedience is necessary so that the 20-30,000 UN Peacekeepers needed by our Darfur family are deployed to Darfor without further delay.
4. Do you believe the American people are aware of the seriousness of the Darfur situation?Yes and no. It is said that the longest journey in the world is from the head to the heart. Millions upon millions of Americans have heard something about this situation, but almost none have allowed the information to travel from their head to their heart.
I am passionately convinced that the cowardly way we have reacted to the information is not what my brothers and sisters in America truly desire. I honestly believe that once they are raised to a courageous response, the joy that will be released in them will constitute their finest hour. It would be a turning point for our country. We would be back in the world's leadership in humanity and human rights that we always have aspired to fulfill.
5. Do you think the press is neglecting this issue?I think everyone in this country is avoiding this issue. I think that the press has ceased to be fighters for morality and truth, and they have become nothing more than entertainers.
They, too, have prevented the journey from the head to the heart. Also, unless some of us can successfully encourage their leadership, they will at some time in their life be ashamed and deeply regretful for the cowardice and inhumanity they are now providing.
6. What is so important about Darfur?The world knows, and has known since the Holocaust, that those suffering Genocide are the least of these. It has been said that the reason for forming the United Nations was to prevent genocide. Shortly after the Holocaust, the word Genocide was coined. Before very long all the countries of the world, except the United States, had ratified the Genocide convention which committed the world to protect such victims. After decades the United States signed the document.
The world has taken no such unanimous action toward any other type of atrocity. By definition, therefore, "victims of Genocide constitute the Least of These."
We are no longer humane beings if we will stand by while 3,000,000 of our brothers and sisters are exterminated. Just because they are native Africans and not the Arab elite who want this country?
I believe that our Father has given Darfur to us as a test as one last opportunity to turn our lives toward His service. He as given us 3,000,000 lives to save. He has made it quite an easy, low risk task for us - a bully government, subject to US and world pressure, and 3 years of visibility to this unfolding horror. We have no excuses not to fight, and fight to win now.
Why is Darfur important? It is reasonable to think that if we do not find the humanity to stop such an easily stopped Genocide, that statement-Never Again- will absolutely be again, and again, and again.
7. Why should the American people care about Darfur, Sudan?The people of Darfur are our family, our brothers and sisters. He is the Father of us all. He is going to ask us what we did for the least of these in His family, our family. What will the defense of our inaction be? We didn't know? We couldn't afford it? They were poor black people? We couldn't stop it? It was too difficult? Some of us would have to skip a few weeks meals on Hunger Strike? A few of us might have to go to jail over night? A few of us will have to put our professional and economic lives at risk? Let's get on with His work.
Before our Father we have no excuses. There are many examples: Love as I have loved, there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your fellow man, the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, do unto others all that you would have them do unto you, and love your brother as yourself. These are just a few.
I will not apologize for my belief in the Lord. I understand there are people who do not. I say to those people, do you want to live in a world of hope or despair? How about a land where everyone that protects is gone when they come for you lastly? It is better to be humane.
8. Who is your inspiration to being doing this? Who is it you admire?Jesus most of all. Gandhi, for whom Jesus was the greatest practitioner of his religion "Selfless Love," Dr. King, and Teresa of Calcutta.
9. How old are you? Why now? What stirred you to become an activist?I'll be fifty-five years old in October of this year. As a youth I was introduced to Jesus and I fell in love. I was born to wealth and as my late teens and early twenties came, I moved out from the loving cacoon formed by my extraordinary biological father. I allowed myself to be seduced by the lies of the "American Dream" of independence, take care of yourself, get comfort, get safety, get sex, get power, get a career, squander it all on your biological family and abandon and exploit all others."
I never became a bad man, but I stopped viewing the teachings of Jesus, the Son of God, as something to be lived literally. About twelve years ago I experienced what was our Father's call: "I did not put you here to make rich people richer, nor to teach your biological family that only they are family. All people are your family. Go and serve them."
Within 4 years I had moved from my computer executive career path and was a Guidance Counselor in arguably the lowest performing, largest elementary school in the country, fighting for the lives and spirits of these doomed kids. That took everything I had physically and materially. A loving non-biologiclly related family that I knew very casually read of my plight on the front of the Philadelphia Inquirer and made me part of their family.
By working in their furniture business, I nursed back to health. Then I became aware of Darfur from a Nicholas Kristof article in the NY Times. That was over two years ago.
Even as a child I saw that the world should have come to a standstill if need be to stop the Holocaust. Now I saw Genocide on my watch. I would do anything and everything in my power, I would put my life on the line to stop the Genocide. I have marched on the DC mall solo 2 summers ago. Hunger striked for Darfur 20 days last summer.
Sent over 20,000 faxes to faith organizations on the east coast, colleges and universities around the country.
10. Do you think the UN is helping, hurting, or remaining neutral on Darfur? Please explain.There is no UN. Actually, there is no US Government in Washington. There is only we the people of the world and the United States. I am trying to be neither cute, trite nor mystical in this response. We the people of the world are the government, whether or not we are in a democracy. This was Gandhi's great genius. If the people exert their will with enough resolution the Government must follow.
The streets of the world are empty of people delivering their unmistakable mandate to their officials to see that 20-30,000 UN peacekeepers be put on the ground in Darfur with a Chapter 7 mandate (ability to use force) NOW.
The UN is not the problem. "We the people" are both the problem, and we are the solution. Now, having said that, China and Russia are problems. They both have preferential relationships regarding Sudanese oil, and they are worried that UN intervention could cause sanctions that would get in the way of their profits. We have to do a better job of convincing them that genocide is unacceptable.
11. How many men, women, and children have been raped, tortured, executed, enslaved, forced to flee their homes to go to refugee camps, and how many people have starved to death for lack of aid? Please seperate those whom have already fled. I believe that number is around 2.5 million. Is that correct?
I would defer to the largest, best funded coalition of activists, Save Darfur coalition . I believe their numbers are 400,000 exterminated, 10,000's raped, 3,000,000 [million] displaced from their destroyed homes. The Janjaweed would burn the children they were not kidnapping for sex-slaves and hard labor, and then through them in the wells to poison village water. They were held in dessert camps where they faced forced starvation. They die at a rate of 2-5000 per week.
The heinous neglect from the world is now so unmistakeable to the el Bashir, he feels completely comfortable to allow his Khartoum regime to now attack aid workers with his Janjaweed Arab militia. Therefore it is forcing the life-support from these people to stay away. This is leading to expected death tolls of 25,000 per week.
12. What are the conditions of the refugee camps? How do you know?I can add little to the unanimous view of Human Rights Watch, Save Darfur Coalition, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Africa Action, Genocide Intervention Fund. Two-five thousand per week die due to murder from the Arab Militia, combined with forced food starvation and starvation.. We saw this in Stalin's Communism, and now we are seeing it again.
When we allow el Bashir drive the aid workers away, the numbers have started to do rise to twenty-five thousand per week begin to starve. Women go out for firewood that is needed. When they do this, the are gang raped. If men go out, the militias murder them. The children have had no school for three years now. They are not free from attacks, either. They are often slaughtered in front of their parents. If not, they are taken as slaves. When are we going to stop the slave trade? I thought it was over, but I was wrong.
13. Who is responsible for this? Directly, and indirectly.Directly, the Arab government by a Coup 17 years ago. Much more importantly , our brothers and sisters of all countries are responsible, because we have absolutely the power to protect them. Before God, we have no excuse and just as humane beings we, we need to all that we can to make this front page news.
14. Is the African Union (AU) able to protect an area the size of France withonly 7000 men?The most conservative estimates are 20,000[-30,000] troops with a Chapter 7 mandate to use force. Sudan Reeves has the most authoritative analysis. Eric Reeves is a Smith College professor dying of cancer. He has mortgaged his house so he can afford to spend what days and months he has left keeping Darfur on the world stage through his authoritative studies and articles.
15. Is the AU allowed to use force against the Janjaweed militia of the Islamic government?The AU has no authority to use force. They are window dressing to enable the neglect of we brothers and sisters around the world.
16. What religion are the Black Darfurians?The 3,000,000 in Southern Sudan that were exterminated by el Bashir were non-Arab Christians. But he is an equal opportunity butcher. In Darfur they are Muslums like him, but the fact that they are non-Arabs makes them fair game.
17. What is your opinion of this new peace deal that only the SLA signed on to?As it stands it is entirely inadequate. If it is not enhanced to better represent the needs of the Darfur people (not just the war lords who are themselves as evil as Bashir) it is a time killer. However it can be enhanced and if so done, and then enforced it will be a benefit.
18. How much area does the leader of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) control?Minni Minnawi, who with his entourage came to meet with me two days ago, represents 4% of the Darfuries, but as much of 80% of the rebel fighting force.
19. How many Armies are in Darfur? How much terrority do they control?The armies control little if any territory, if you mean the so called rebel armies. I think there were three Minnawi's SLA remains separate, and the other 2 have merged. I think the other two may, may more truly represent the masses.The Janjaweed is the only one truly in control of territory all of it.
20. Why did the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD) refuse to sign on to the peace deal?The two that did not sign on had selfish reasons, but the truly selfish leader was Minnawi I fear. It may be that he cut the deal for himself. The others saw that it was profoundly unjust and inadequate for their people. Too little protection. Too little of the country's oil wealth. Too little representation. I hope that Minniwa performs in a way that proves me wrong. He seemed like an honorable man when I met him.
21. Is there any fighting between these Armies?Yes, there is constant fighting for territory and influence, largely so that the "leaders" can have wealth and power when the dust settles. There are no good guys that I can see. Only innocent, totally abandoned victims.
22. Have you had an opportunity to speak to the Black Causes? Have they tried to speak with you? Do they know of your existence and purpose? How?My experience with the Black Cause is limited to 3 that were here in President'ss park participating in a small rally conducted by Africa Action. I approached 2 of the 3 and because I was not a dignitary, someone that could help their selfish interests, only someone that had sacrificed everything for their Darfur brothers and sisters, they almost literally ran away from me. Kind of like you move away from garbage.
23. Do you believe the hatred for President Bush is coloring how the press covers their stories and which ones they cover?Frankly, I feel that there is little independent press left. None in the mainstream seem more than shameless entertainers and puppets of the establishment.. They are entertainment workers with no courage, and they fear Bush' influence on their careers through their corporate owners.I believe that on Darfur Bush is doing as well, or slightly better than any previous President facing Genocide and I feel the press is accurately reflecting this.
24. Do you believe the same hatred is blinding the American Liberals to the point they can no longer see suffering or the seriousness of Darfur?Hatred is not blinding Liberals or Conservatives. Our greed, selfishness and lust for pleasure, comfort and safety for me and mine is what blinds us. Embracing the lie that we are not all brothers and sisters is blinding us. We want to be blind, because this blindness is what allows us to divorce our brothers and sisters around the world, and it protects our ability to work and live only for ourselves. This is the exact opposite of what Jesus died to give us.
We want the log in our eye. That way we don't have to see and serve the least of these. What we gain through this embrace of blindness is the ocean of pleasure, safety, comfort for which we are drowning. That is what we lust for.
25. Is there anything I missed about the situation in Darfur?I think you covered everything.
26. Feel free to add anything I have not asked for which you think is important for the people to know. Please feel free to go on and on and on. I went on an on above. I am extremely fatigued today. After 24 days with no food really hit me for the first time. Sorry I've not done a better job.
There are a few notes I would like to add. In the first place, the number of murdered Darfurians claimed to be at 400,000 is the same number I wrote about in May of 2005 ! Now either I'm claravoyant (I am not) or no one else has died. Neither of these claims are true. I believe we are seeing another Rwanda. Must we wait for the movie to come out before we grieve?
Jay can be reached for comment at JyMcGinley@cs.com.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
VOLUNTARILY SUFFERING WILL SAVE DARFUR; NOTHING LESS WILL. Hunger Strike Day 26, Vigil Day/Night 77
Only voluntary-suffering-so-I-can-achieve-something-huge is what causes huge things to happen. This is true in ALL ASPECTS OF HUMAN ENDEAVOR. To Rescue and Restore Darfur other actions are NECESSARY – 4 hour rallies, post cards, legislation, die-ins, 3 hour arrests. But these are NEVER SUFFICIENT.
* The women of Code Pink are currently suffering starvation (31 days water only hunger strike so far) and many, many arrests in DC this July to stop the carnage in Iraq. THIS WEEK IT WONE THEM AN INVITATION FROM 5 IRAQI MINISTERS OF PARLIAMENT TO DISCUSS THEIR PEACE PLAN. A MIRACLE!!! http://www.troopshomefast.org/
* Georegetown U. students suffered extended hunger strike to stop sub-living-wages for their family the staff.
* Harvard U. students did the same.
* Women’s Suffrage advocates suffered jail, humiliation, social isolation, violence.
* Jack Welsh of GE suffers 20 hour work days.
* Steven Beko, like hundreds of brothers, sisters and STUDENTS suffered banning, clubbing, torture, beatings and ultimately death by police torture to save his brothers and sisters (oppressed and oppressor) from Apartheid.
* Gandhi and his fellow soldiers suffered clubs, bullets, hunger strikes, humiliation, economic and social discrimination EAGERLY to free their brothers and sisters from British oppression.
* Bill Gates suffered the termination of his Harvard Education.
* Anti-Slavery advocates suffered death.
* Civil Rights advocates suffered firehosing, lynching, flogging, death by thousands in war, social isolation, humiliation….
* Jesus Christ started a now world-wide religion giving us the likes of Teresa, Gandhi, ML King, Oscar Romero, Jan Juste, Daniel Barrigan, Dorothy Day….
*. Etc.
* Etc.
A. DARFUR IS DEAD UNTIL WE HAVE A SIMILAR ENTRY TO THE ABOVE FOR DARFUR. THEIR SENTENCE IS ABSOLUTE DEATH, AS THINGS STAND.
B. VOLUNTARY-SUFFERING-IN-PURSUIT-OF-A-GOAL IS WHAT THE MASSES SEE AND WHICH RADICALIZES AND MOBILIZES THEM.
C. VOLUNTARY-SUFFERING-BY-CHOICE, THIS IS THE ONLY THING THAT THE MASSES CAN SEE. THEY CAN SEE NOTHING LESS.
D. THEY SEE ANYTHING LESS AS A SIGN THAT EVERYTHING IS FINE. THEIR LIFE SHOULD GO ONE AS NORMAL
The time is NOW. We must have actions NOW so that RADICALIZED, COURAGEOUS MASSES arrive at the global events being organized SEPTEMBER 17 world wide by WWW.SAVEDARFUR.ORG.
Contact me,
Jay McGinley
484 356 6243
jymcginley@cs.com
www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
President's Park, White House north side, Washington, DC
* The women of Code Pink are currently suffering starvation (31 days water only hunger strike so far) and many, many arrests in DC this July to stop the carnage in Iraq. THIS WEEK IT WONE THEM AN INVITATION FROM 5 IRAQI MINISTERS OF PARLIAMENT TO DISCUSS THEIR PEACE PLAN. A MIRACLE!!! http://www.troopshomefast.org/
* Georegetown U. students suffered extended hunger strike to stop sub-living-wages for their family the staff.
* Harvard U. students did the same.
* Women’s Suffrage advocates suffered jail, humiliation, social isolation, violence.
* Jack Welsh of GE suffers 20 hour work days.
* Steven Beko, like hundreds of brothers, sisters and STUDENTS suffered banning, clubbing, torture, beatings and ultimately death by police torture to save his brothers and sisters (oppressed and oppressor) from Apartheid.
* Gandhi and his fellow soldiers suffered clubs, bullets, hunger strikes, humiliation, economic and social discrimination EAGERLY to free their brothers and sisters from British oppression.
* Bill Gates suffered the termination of his Harvard Education.
* Anti-Slavery advocates suffered death.
* Civil Rights advocates suffered firehosing, lynching, flogging, death by thousands in war, social isolation, humiliation….
* Jesus Christ started a now world-wide religion giving us the likes of Teresa, Gandhi, ML King, Oscar Romero, Jan Juste, Daniel Barrigan, Dorothy Day….
*. Etc.
* Etc.
A. DARFUR IS DEAD UNTIL WE HAVE A SIMILAR ENTRY TO THE ABOVE FOR DARFUR. THEIR SENTENCE IS ABSOLUTE DEATH, AS THINGS STAND.
B. VOLUNTARY-SUFFERING-IN-PURSUIT-OF-A-GOAL IS WHAT THE MASSES SEE AND WHICH RADICALIZES AND MOBILIZES THEM.
C. VOLUNTARY-SUFFERING-BY-CHOICE, THIS IS THE ONLY THING THAT THE MASSES CAN SEE. THEY CAN SEE NOTHING LESS.
D. THEY SEE ANYTHING LESS AS A SIGN THAT EVERYTHING IS FINE. THEIR LIFE SHOULD GO ONE AS NORMAL
The time is NOW. We must have actions NOW so that RADICALIZED, COURAGEOUS MASSES arrive at the global events being organized SEPTEMBER 17 world wide by WWW.SAVEDARFUR.ORG.
Contact me,
Jay McGinley
484 356 6243
jymcginley@cs.com
www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
President's Park, White House north side, Washington, DC
Sunday, July 30, 2006
NEVER AGAIN COOPERATE WITH THE ULTIMATE EVIL. Hunger Strike Day 22; Vigil day 73.
IT IS SACRED DUTY TO REJECT ALL BUT UBUNTU, no matter the personal cost. ONLY UBUNTU (pronounced oo boon too). LIFE IS UBUNTU. DEATH OR MEER EXISTANCE IS THE ABSENCE OF, OR THE COMPROMISE OF UBUNTU. Below this is explained. THERE IS NO LIFE BUT UBUNTU.
Health: All systems go. I've lost quite a bit of weight (25-30 lbs?) and much energy, but no signs of damaged health.
Plan: 18 days more of hunger strike water only, 5 days food, a final 20 days hunger strike (witness for the returning College Students) for a total of 60 days Hunger Strike. I am very excited and pleased.
Support for the effort. Yesterday and today thanks to some angels (some in Code Pink) support began to materialize. More on that at a later date, within the limits of confidentiality.
Today came the most important clarity of my life thus far. The most important with respect to Darfur, and more broadly with respect to my quest to help heal and save the world.
Roughly 12 years ago a door was closed by me. I sensed it, I permitted it, I cooperated with the closing but only today did I gain clarity. On that day something snapped, something that had been progressing for my whole life jumped a quantum. What I understood that day was that $250,000 (or $2.5 million for that matter) per year guaranteed income was insufficient to pay for the use of my life to make rich people richer. I immediately resigned my VP Business Development position with the Boston software firm that employed me and began the journey that brings me here today.
The clarity of today? I can name the door I allowed to close now, and in doing so I can be even more deliberate in what I reject, and what I embrace and stand for in my life!!!!
This revelation of today did not occur due to my restudy this last week of Gandhi, but that study definitely helps with the perspective! Gandhi has always taught - IT IS SACRED DUTY TO NON-COOPERATE WITH EVIL.
THE EVIL THAT I BEGAN TO LEARN TO REJECT MORE CLEARLY 12 YEARS AGO IS THE EVIL OF the double standard inherent in the notion of NON-IMMEDIATE-FAMILY.
NO!!! EVERY ETHICAL SYSTEM HAS TOLD US - ONE FAMILY - NO DOUBLE STANDARDS. OUR HEARTS TELL US - ONE FAMILY, NO DOUBLE STANDARDS. Love your neighbor AS YOURSELF. "Ubuntu," an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others"; also means "I am what I am because of who we all are".
Several days ago I realized that the small slush fund I thought I had to enable the Darfur Vigil / Hunger Strike laptop and cell phone was gone. Any money for transportation or food for after the vigil was gone. (A delivery company reneged on money owed me for wrecking a car I owned.) The implications of this financial shortfall were death: death of communication for this fight for Darfur; death for me by ultimate starvation. I faced death down this several days ago. I would not give in. I would not give up. This was frightening, enormously liberating, and ultimately a great relief, and JOY.
NEVER AGAIN. I expect to never again cooperate with the consummate evil, the root of all evil, THE LIE THAT WE ARE NOT ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS. I cry with relief and joy at this long sought clarity. I will BE a brother to all no matter what. I will exist, I will live ONLY if others treat me as such. To do otherwise would be to ENABLE, TO EMPOWER the greatest evil on the plant - the LIE OF MULTIPLE FAMILIES; THE LIE THAT WE ARE NOT ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS TOTALLY, LITERALLY, ACTUALLY, REALLY.
WE ARE. Come on my brothers and sisters, let's get on with it. LET'S BASK, LET US FIGHT FOR THE LEAST OF THESE OUR FAMILY IN THE JOY, LIFE AND LOVE OF IT. Let us go where Gandhi, King, Jesus... died to lead us. Heaven. Heaven in the attempt even as we fall short of the goal.
posted by Jay McGinley at 11:33 AM 0 comments links to this post
Health: All systems go. I've lost quite a bit of weight (25-30 lbs?) and much energy, but no signs of damaged health.
Plan: 18 days more of hunger strike water only, 5 days food, a final 20 days hunger strike (witness for the returning College Students) for a total of 60 days Hunger Strike. I am very excited and pleased.
Support for the effort. Yesterday and today thanks to some angels (some in Code Pink) support began to materialize. More on that at a later date, within the limits of confidentiality.
Today came the most important clarity of my life thus far. The most important with respect to Darfur, and more broadly with respect to my quest to help heal and save the world.
Roughly 12 years ago a door was closed by me. I sensed it, I permitted it, I cooperated with the closing but only today did I gain clarity. On that day something snapped, something that had been progressing for my whole life jumped a quantum. What I understood that day was that $250,000 (or $2.5 million for that matter) per year guaranteed income was insufficient to pay for the use of my life to make rich people richer. I immediately resigned my VP Business Development position with the Boston software firm that employed me and began the journey that brings me here today.
The clarity of today? I can name the door I allowed to close now, and in doing so I can be even more deliberate in what I reject, and what I embrace and stand for in my life!!!!
This revelation of today did not occur due to my restudy this last week of Gandhi, but that study definitely helps with the perspective! Gandhi has always taught - IT IS SACRED DUTY TO NON-COOPERATE WITH EVIL.
THE EVIL THAT I BEGAN TO LEARN TO REJECT MORE CLEARLY 12 YEARS AGO IS THE EVIL OF the double standard inherent in the notion of NON-IMMEDIATE-FAMILY.
NO!!! EVERY ETHICAL SYSTEM HAS TOLD US - ONE FAMILY - NO DOUBLE STANDARDS. OUR HEARTS TELL US - ONE FAMILY, NO DOUBLE STANDARDS. Love your neighbor AS YOURSELF. "Ubuntu," an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others"; also means "I am what I am because of who we all are".
Several days ago I realized that the small slush fund I thought I had to enable the Darfur Vigil / Hunger Strike laptop and cell phone was gone. Any money for transportation or food for after the vigil was gone. (A delivery company reneged on money owed me for wrecking a car I owned.) The implications of this financial shortfall were death: death of communication for this fight for Darfur; death for me by ultimate starvation. I faced death down this several days ago. I would not give in. I would not give up. This was frightening, enormously liberating, and ultimately a great relief, and JOY.
NEVER AGAIN. I expect to never again cooperate with the consummate evil, the root of all evil, THE LIE THAT WE ARE NOT ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS. I cry with relief and joy at this long sought clarity. I will BE a brother to all no matter what. I will exist, I will live ONLY if others treat me as such. To do otherwise would be to ENABLE, TO EMPOWER the greatest evil on the plant - the LIE OF MULTIPLE FAMILIES; THE LIE THAT WE ARE NOT ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS TOTALLY, LITERALLY, ACTUALLY, REALLY.
WE ARE. Come on my brothers and sisters, let's get on with it. LET'S BASK, LET US FIGHT FOR THE LEAST OF THESE OUR FAMILY IN THE JOY, LIFE AND LOVE OF IT. Let us go where Gandhi, King, Jesus... died to lead us. Heaven. Heaven in the attempt even as we fall short of the goal.
posted by Jay McGinley at 11:33 AM 0 comments links to this post
Saturday, July 29, 2006
RECRUITING IN A GRAVEYARD? Day 72 Vigil; Day 21 Hunger Strike
My life has been spent raising groups of people to courage to face and surmount difficult, life-critical situations. The image that has come to me in attempting to do this for our Darfur brothers and sisters is that my attempts are taking place in a morgue. I'm not trying to be mean, just honest.
Within the Darfur activist community, and the faith community more broadly - are we already dead? Have we no capacity for experiencing Darfur as our family? Have we no courage to truly, TRULY put our lives on the line, briefly, to save them?
I've never before been faced with such a hopeless situation. I've considered quitting. I WILL NOT QUIT. They are our family. You are my family. They must be saved. You must rise up. The Hunger Strike continues indefinitely. The Vigil continues indefinitely.
JOIN ME. HAVE ME JOIN YOU. We must stand WITH our Brothers and Sisters, completely. FAILURE MUST NO LONGER BE AN OPTION. Or our Humanity dies as we abandon our Darfur family.
posted by Jay McGinley at 4:34 PM
Within the Darfur activist community, and the faith community more broadly - are we already dead? Have we no capacity for experiencing Darfur as our family? Have we no courage to truly, TRULY put our lives on the line, briefly, to save them?
I've never before been faced with such a hopeless situation. I've considered quitting. I WILL NOT QUIT. They are our family. You are my family. They must be saved. You must rise up. The Hunger Strike continues indefinitely. The Vigil continues indefinitely.
JOIN ME. HAVE ME JOIN YOU. We must stand WITH our Brothers and Sisters, completely. FAILURE MUST NO LONGER BE AN OPTION. Or our Humanity dies as we abandon our Darfur family.
posted by Jay McGinley at 4:34 PM
Sunday, July 23, 2006
"NEVER AGAIN" MEANS NOTHING WITHOUT "I" - Darfur Hunger Strike Day 19
Vigil Day 69 and holding. On 5 days of R&R in Philadelphia before resuming indefinate Vigil and Water Only Hunger Strike at the White House.
Many people involved with Darfur have been trying to cause "Never Again" without the "I", substituting instead, "him," or "them," "it," or "we." It can't be done. It will take 100's of "I's" totally committed to stop this genocide, and once "I" is COMMITTED enough, the Genocide will end rapidly.
THERE IS ONLY ONE "WIN" IN LIFE: TO DO UNTO OTHERS ALL THAT YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. There is no "win" besides this. Nothing else we can truly take credit or responsibility for, that is of any earthly value. The proof I offer you is inside yourself. Ponder and I think you will agree. 21 of the world's religions teach the same. ["WIN" too requires "I"]
THERE IS ONLY ONE "LOSE" IN LIFE: To NOT do unto others ALL that you would have them do unto you. "Lose" places no demands on "I", places no risk, no cost, no value on "I". "I" has a terrible freedom, IRRELEVANCE, when it accepts "lose" as an option.
NOW, HERE'S THE CORROLLARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It clarified for me just today when I was talking to my brother Dave:
THERE IS NO "I" IN WEALTH, THERE IS ONLY "WE." Oh, please try to see that this is more than just a cute word and letter play. Look to your hearts again. Speaking for myself, I am feeling like I have found "home" for the first time in my life largely because I have effectively abandoned the traditional notion of wealth in which "I" and "mine" count for everything. I REJECT THAT NOTION AFTER 55 YEARS OF FINDING IT A TOTALLY BANKRUPT NOTION. I cannot imagine that ever again in my life will I regain the ignorance, stupidity, self-doubt, weakness, or craziness to embrace the prevailing notion of "wealth".
I NOW "EXPERIENCE/FEEL" WEALTH TO BE: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT I GIVE WITH LOVE, AND WHAT I HAVE LEFT. THE MORE I GIVE OUT OF FELT BROTHERHOOD, AND THE LESS HAVE LEFT, "THE WEALTHIER I FEEL THAT I AM." When I reflect back on my life I find no exceptions. You?
No this does NOT lead to self-abuse or self-destruction. If you give beyond a certain point then your productive capacity is damaged and the "wealth" stops! Look to your life for proof. This "wealth" (with the "we") is self-preserving in this sense. The radical brother seeks to give indefinitely, as much as possible, for as many years as possible. His/her life for the first time takes on real importance.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, 'The greatest poverty I have found in the world is in the West. It is the terrible poverty of the spirit.' Let us seek wealth! Let us be the "I" that causes Never AgaIn, that causes wIn: the Rescue and Restore of Darfur.
Let us be the TRUE WEALTH OF LOVE, OF TRUE BROTHERHOOD, the ONLY WEALTH THAT CAN POSSIBLY HEAL THE WORLD.
Many people involved with Darfur have been trying to cause "Never Again" without the "I", substituting instead, "him," or "them," "it," or "we." It can't be done. It will take 100's of "I's" totally committed to stop this genocide, and once "I" is COMMITTED enough, the Genocide will end rapidly.
THERE IS ONLY ONE "WIN" IN LIFE: TO DO UNTO OTHERS ALL THAT YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. There is no "win" besides this. Nothing else we can truly take credit or responsibility for, that is of any earthly value. The proof I offer you is inside yourself. Ponder and I think you will agree. 21 of the world's religions teach the same. ["WIN" too requires "I"]
THERE IS ONLY ONE "LOSE" IN LIFE: To NOT do unto others ALL that you would have them do unto you. "Lose" places no demands on "I", places no risk, no cost, no value on "I". "I" has a terrible freedom, IRRELEVANCE, when it accepts "lose" as an option.
NOW, HERE'S THE CORROLLARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It clarified for me just today when I was talking to my brother Dave:
THERE IS NO "I" IN WEALTH, THERE IS ONLY "WE." Oh, please try to see that this is more than just a cute word and letter play. Look to your hearts again. Speaking for myself, I am feeling like I have found "home" for the first time in my life largely because I have effectively abandoned the traditional notion of wealth in which "I" and "mine" count for everything. I REJECT THAT NOTION AFTER 55 YEARS OF FINDING IT A TOTALLY BANKRUPT NOTION. I cannot imagine that ever again in my life will I regain the ignorance, stupidity, self-doubt, weakness, or craziness to embrace the prevailing notion of "wealth".
I NOW "EXPERIENCE/FEEL" WEALTH TO BE: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT I GIVE WITH LOVE, AND WHAT I HAVE LEFT. THE MORE I GIVE OUT OF FELT BROTHERHOOD, AND THE LESS HAVE LEFT, "THE WEALTHIER I FEEL THAT I AM." When I reflect back on my life I find no exceptions. You?
No this does NOT lead to self-abuse or self-destruction. If you give beyond a certain point then your productive capacity is damaged and the "wealth" stops! Look to your life for proof. This "wealth" (with the "we") is self-preserving in this sense. The radical brother seeks to give indefinitely, as much as possible, for as many years as possible. His/her life for the first time takes on real importance.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, 'The greatest poverty I have found in the world is in the West. It is the terrible poverty of the spirit.' Let us seek wealth! Let us be the "I" that causes Never AgaIn, that causes wIn: the Rescue and Restore of Darfur.
Let us be the TRUE WEALTH OF LOVE, OF TRUE BROTHERHOOD, the ONLY WEALTH THAT CAN POSSIBLY HEAL THE WORLD.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY 1,000'S AREN'T DOING THIS. Vigil Day 64; Hunger Stike Day 13.
I really and truly can't. My heart. Truly. Yes, my head can go on at some length at the reasons, by my heart, my higher intellect? I don't get it.
It would seem that virtually NO ONE, NO ONE, not even the Sudanese in this country, view the 3,000,000 in the camps as worth their skin, as being their kin.
I have every inclination to ride the Hunger Strike into the red zone. I will fight to the finish. No, I don't plan to die, but I am going to get beat up for these folks.
Unless I switch fights.
There is a bigger tragedy than Darfur. It is our death in the US. The death of our Humanity. It is the greatest humanitarian crisis on the planet, because it results in the globally exterminating neglect and murder we wage planet wide. It, we are the single reason Darfur will die. And we, even we activists don't even care, any more than a masturbator wants to make children.
The fight I would switch to? This bigger one. If I decide I can be of greater hope to the current Code Pink effort by switching full time, I'll do it. Darfur is dead anyway, I see now. A handful of Code Pink KNOW what it means - "as you do unto the least of these my family ...." They are joyfully putting their lives on the line for the folks in Iraq - American and Iraqi. Their hunger strike started July 4th as well. They are the "Marines" I called forth for Darfur.
They are our "salt," our "Light," and our hope. It is critically important that they succeed by staying the course strongly.
Either way, I want desperately to fight on, and expect to do so.
It is very hard. Very stressful. Very tiring. Very sad - the needless death in Darfur. The needless death among we Americans.
It is very, very joyful. Working for God full time. :-) .
It would seem that virtually NO ONE, NO ONE, not even the Sudanese in this country, view the 3,000,000 in the camps as worth their skin, as being their kin.
I have every inclination to ride the Hunger Strike into the red zone. I will fight to the finish. No, I don't plan to die, but I am going to get beat up for these folks.
Unless I switch fights.
There is a bigger tragedy than Darfur. It is our death in the US. The death of our Humanity. It is the greatest humanitarian crisis on the planet, because it results in the globally exterminating neglect and murder we wage planet wide. It, we are the single reason Darfur will die. And we, even we activists don't even care, any more than a masturbator wants to make children.
The fight I would switch to? This bigger one. If I decide I can be of greater hope to the current Code Pink effort by switching full time, I'll do it. Darfur is dead anyway, I see now. A handful of Code Pink KNOW what it means - "as you do unto the least of these my family ...." They are joyfully putting their lives on the line for the folks in Iraq - American and Iraqi. Their hunger strike started July 4th as well. They are the "Marines" I called forth for Darfur.
They are our "salt," our "Light," and our hope. It is critically important that they succeed by staying the course strongly.
Either way, I want desperately to fight on, and expect to do so.
It is very hard. Very stressful. Very tiring. Very sad - the needless death in Darfur. The needless death among we Americans.
It is very, very joyful. Working for God full time. :-) .
Thursday, July 13, 2006
LONDON TIMES. Hunger Strike Day 10, Vigil Day 61
The Times July 11, 2006
+ Post a Comment
The clock ticks. Sudan heads for disaster
James Smith
The world seems to be turning away from the refugees of Darfur — but the United Nations has a duty to act
A COUNTDOWN of less than 90 days has begun until the vulnerable people of Darfur are abandoned by world leaders who cannot make a decision — whether to protect them or leave them at the mercy of a Government that has killed at least a quarter of a million and driven millions more from their land. The scene is set for the world’s worst humanitarian crisis to tip from bad to worse.
The head of the African Union mission to Darfur, Baba Gana Kingibe, has said it is willing to hold the fort in Darfur until the end of the year. But if there is no date soon for the UN to deploy troops in Darfur, then the African Union mission will not wait; the 7,000 African soldiers will be pulled out on September 30.
For the past three years the Government of Sudan has supported its proxy, the Janjaweed Arab militia, to perform a brutal genocidal operation closely backed by Sudanese forces. Darfur Africans cannot farm for fear of attack. No harvests mean that more than three million are dependent on international food aid. In the absence of the African Union and with no certainty that the UN will protect them, a few million hungry people will predictably turn to the only forces showing an interest in their survival — one of several rebel factions.
The Government of Sudan has probably calculated that, by playing for time, the rebel groups will attempt to provide protection for their own people. An escalation of fighting will prevent access for aid agencies and the media, and Khartoum will have the excuse it needs for a resumption of air attacks on Darfuris.
The Janjaweed leaders have had time to reflect that they have not achieved their mission to rid Darfur of black Africans. The onslaught by the mounted militia three years ago led to thousands of villages being burnt. Their aim of destroying the Darfuris will be easier now that two million people are congregated into refugee camps because they will argue that, as the camps are recruitment grounds for rebels, they are legitimate targets.
Neutralisation of the Janjaweed is a key rebel demand — indeed the Government of Sudan has been responsible for disarming them for two years. But Khartoum’s broken promises leave a legacy of mistrust. By giving the Janjaweed free rein, the Government goads the rebels into not taking peace seriously. Furthermore, many rebels are not satisfied that the peace agreement reverses the underlying problems in Darfur.
Genocide is the extreme end of a process that starts with social, political and economic exclusion of a group from society. The Darfur peace agreement still deprives Darfur Africans of significant political representation, thereby maintaining their exclusion. It is hardly a wonder, then, that two of the three rebel factions have not signed up to it, and that the third is threatening to pull out unless the UN deploys in Darfur.
The UN Secretary-General is visibly frustrated, especially with the powerful nations of the world. “A certain political will is required for action — and I don’t think we have that kind of political will,” Kofi Annan stated last week at the African Union summit in Gambia. Political will may only be induced if the public demand that their leaders protect Darfur.
After Iraq, there is a fear of deploying forces in another Muslim nation, even though this would be a humanitarian intervention with no agenda other than protecting people from genocide. However, if we dither much longer, there will be charges that vulnerable Muslims in Darfur are being neglected just as the Muslims in Bosnia were abandoned a decade ago.
The UN estimates that 17,000 troops are required to provide security and, even if they can be found, will take six months to become operational. Denmark, while president of the UN Security Council last month, showed leadership and offered troops for Darfur. Other countries should now follow. The 7,000 African soldiers already on the ground will be needed. Even though Britain is overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, it should offer assistance.
The success of a UN mission will be judged first on whether food aid reaches those who need it; secondly on whether rape and violence ends; and finally by a reversal of the ethnic cleansing, returning people to villages in safety.
To achieve this, the mission must have a strong enough mandate. Most peace-support operations are under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. This will allow them to disarm and, if necessary, engage the Janjaweed. It would be preferable, and in everyone’s interests, for the Sudanese Government to co-operate. So far though, Khartoum has categorically rejected UN intervention, calling it colonial invasion. Sudan cannot have it both ways: they have not stopped the violence, yet they don’t want an outside force to do it.
At the World Summit in September 2005, leaders declared that “The international community . . . has the responsibility . . . to help to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” They also stated: “We are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner . . . should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations.”
Peaceful means are clearly inadequate and the national authorities in Sudan are manifestly failing to protect their populations. With time ticking toward a disaster that could dwarf the 1994 carnage in Rwanda, the UN Security Council must fulfil its duty and exercise its authority to sanction the deployment of a protection force, with or without Sudan’s consent.
James M. Smith is chief executive of the Aegis Trust
+ Post a Comment
The clock ticks. Sudan heads for disaster
James Smith
The world seems to be turning away from the refugees of Darfur — but the United Nations has a duty to act
A COUNTDOWN of less than 90 days has begun until the vulnerable people of Darfur are abandoned by world leaders who cannot make a decision — whether to protect them or leave them at the mercy of a Government that has killed at least a quarter of a million and driven millions more from their land. The scene is set for the world’s worst humanitarian crisis to tip from bad to worse.
The head of the African Union mission to Darfur, Baba Gana Kingibe, has said it is willing to hold the fort in Darfur until the end of the year. But if there is no date soon for the UN to deploy troops in Darfur, then the African Union mission will not wait; the 7,000 African soldiers will be pulled out on September 30.
For the past three years the Government of Sudan has supported its proxy, the Janjaweed Arab militia, to perform a brutal genocidal operation closely backed by Sudanese forces. Darfur Africans cannot farm for fear of attack. No harvests mean that more than three million are dependent on international food aid. In the absence of the African Union and with no certainty that the UN will protect them, a few million hungry people will predictably turn to the only forces showing an interest in their survival — one of several rebel factions.
The Government of Sudan has probably calculated that, by playing for time, the rebel groups will attempt to provide protection for their own people. An escalation of fighting will prevent access for aid agencies and the media, and Khartoum will have the excuse it needs for a resumption of air attacks on Darfuris.
The Janjaweed leaders have had time to reflect that they have not achieved their mission to rid Darfur of black Africans. The onslaught by the mounted militia three years ago led to thousands of villages being burnt. Their aim of destroying the Darfuris will be easier now that two million people are congregated into refugee camps because they will argue that, as the camps are recruitment grounds for rebels, they are legitimate targets.
Neutralisation of the Janjaweed is a key rebel demand — indeed the Government of Sudan has been responsible for disarming them for two years. But Khartoum’s broken promises leave a legacy of mistrust. By giving the Janjaweed free rein, the Government goads the rebels into not taking peace seriously. Furthermore, many rebels are not satisfied that the peace agreement reverses the underlying problems in Darfur.
Genocide is the extreme end of a process that starts with social, political and economic exclusion of a group from society. The Darfur peace agreement still deprives Darfur Africans of significant political representation, thereby maintaining their exclusion. It is hardly a wonder, then, that two of the three rebel factions have not signed up to it, and that the third is threatening to pull out unless the UN deploys in Darfur.
The UN Secretary-General is visibly frustrated, especially with the powerful nations of the world. “A certain political will is required for action — and I don’t think we have that kind of political will,” Kofi Annan stated last week at the African Union summit in Gambia. Political will may only be induced if the public demand that their leaders protect Darfur.
After Iraq, there is a fear of deploying forces in another Muslim nation, even though this would be a humanitarian intervention with no agenda other than protecting people from genocide. However, if we dither much longer, there will be charges that vulnerable Muslims in Darfur are being neglected just as the Muslims in Bosnia were abandoned a decade ago.
The UN estimates that 17,000 troops are required to provide security and, even if they can be found, will take six months to become operational. Denmark, while president of the UN Security Council last month, showed leadership and offered troops for Darfur. Other countries should now follow. The 7,000 African soldiers already on the ground will be needed. Even though Britain is overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, it should offer assistance.
The success of a UN mission will be judged first on whether food aid reaches those who need it; secondly on whether rape and violence ends; and finally by a reversal of the ethnic cleansing, returning people to villages in safety.
To achieve this, the mission must have a strong enough mandate. Most peace-support operations are under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. This will allow them to disarm and, if necessary, engage the Janjaweed. It would be preferable, and in everyone’s interests, for the Sudanese Government to co-operate. So far though, Khartoum has categorically rejected UN intervention, calling it colonial invasion. Sudan cannot have it both ways: they have not stopped the violence, yet they don’t want an outside force to do it.
At the World Summit in September 2005, leaders declared that “The international community . . . has the responsibility . . . to help to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” They also stated: “We are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner . . . should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations.”
Peaceful means are clearly inadequate and the national authorities in Sudan are manifestly failing to protect their populations. With time ticking toward a disaster that could dwarf the 1994 carnage in Rwanda, the UN Security Council must fulfil its duty and exercise its authority to sanction the deployment of a protection force, with or without Sudan’s consent.
James M. Smith is chief executive of the Aegis Trust
DYING PEACE DEAL. Hunger Strike Day 10, Vigil Day 61
If you care about Darfur, BE CERTAIN THAT YOU ARE TIGHT WITH "AFRICAACTION.ORG". Please. They are our greatest hope now.
A dying deal in Darfur
Boston Globe
REBEL-HELD NORTH DARFUR IN THIS EERILY depopulated area of war-ravaged Darfur, a woman named Ayesha explained to me why she and a handful of others refused to become refugees. ``We fear another attack," she said, ``but we brave the situation and come back to be near our village." Why, I ask. ``Because this is where we belong."
John Prendergast
July 13, 2006
-->
JOHN PRENDERGAST
A dying deal in Darfur
By John Prendergast July 13, 2006
REBEL-HELD NORTH DARFUR IN THIS EERILY depopulated area of war-ravaged Darfur, a woman named Ayesha explained to me why she and a handful of others refused to become refugees. ``We fear another attack," she said, ``but we brave the situation and come back to be near our village." Why, I ask. ``Because this is where we belong."
Most Darfurians, however -- more than 2.5 million displaced within Sudan and in neighboring Chad -- cannot go back where they belong, because the government still supports the Janjaweed militias, who continue to rape and pillage across Darfur and eastern Chad. We are now witnessing the second phase of a state-sponsored campaign to forcibly displace the largest of Darfur's non-Arab peoples from their homelands in collective punishment for the rebellion of a few among them: first, kill and displace as many of those targeted as possible; second, manipulate humanitarian aid so that survivors succumb to the attrition of diseases and malnutrition in squalid camps.
An enduring peace in Darfur would mean reversing this trend, but unless the survivors feel safe, no one is going to leave their hideaway or displacement or refugee camp, and go back and rebuild their scorched village. The specific security guarantee every Darfurian talks about is a United Nations force that will ensure the Janjaweed disarm, and that will protect refugees and help them return home. Sadly, the Darfur Peace Agreement, signed by Khartoum and one rebel faction in Abuja in May, is not meeting this expectation. Relying solely on the government to disarm the Janjaweed without UN verification, as the Abuja agreement sets out, appears to be a nonstarter for those most affected by this war. For them, homelessness seems a safer bet.
This is the first time in my 20 years of work in Africa's war zones that I can remember meeting people so opposed to their own peace deal. They are not opposed to peace, to be sure. They are opposed to specific provisions in the Abuja agreement that would leave them vulnerable to Janjaweed predation and land-grabbing. The key issue in Darfur is security, and that primarily means Janjaweed disarmament, or at best neutralization. Local confidence in Janjaweed neutralization requires independent, external verification, and responsibility for that in the Darfur Peace Agreement rests with the African Union force now on the ground in Darfur, which openly admits it cannot do the job. The situation demands a transition to a UN force with a stronger mandate than the current African Union mission, but the government of Sudan opposes a UN force of any kind.
As it stands, the deal thus hinges entirely on the Sudanese government's willingness to disarm the Janjaweed -- something Khartoum has disingenuously pledged to do many times before (including to both Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice) and something it will not do because the Janjaweed are the cornerstone of regime security in Darfur.
And it is not just the war's victims who understand the reality of the situation. An African Union officer on the ground told me, ``The government of Sudan will not disarm the Janjaweed as long as there are rebels. Without UN verification, it won't happen." President Idriss Déby of Chad also said that the holdout rebel factions would sign the Darfur Peace Agreement if these same security conditions were met: ``The population of Darfur doesn't trust the government of Sudan," he told me. ``They need the UN as a guarantor of the agreement."
For the past six years, the United States and the European Union have pursued an incentives-based strategy to try to change Sudan's behavior. Khartoum pocketed each incentive while state-sponsored violence continued in Darfur.
It is time for serious pressure. The United States should tell regime officials it will work multilaterally to impose targeted sanctions, help the war crimes investigations of the International Criminal Court, and support the divestment movement that seeks to have companies stop doing business with Sudan.
The regime in Khartoum has taken the measure of the international community and believes it will face no consequence for continuing to support the Janjaweed and blocking a UN peacekeeping mission. As one high-ranking Sudanese government official brazenly told me this week, ``The United Nations Security Council has threatened us so many times, we no longer take it seriously." That state of impunity and arrogance is dangerous to the international system and deadly to the people of Darfur.
John Prendergast is a senior advisor at the International Crisis Group.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
A dying deal in Darfur
Boston Globe
REBEL-HELD NORTH DARFUR IN THIS EERILY depopulated area of war-ravaged Darfur, a woman named Ayesha explained to me why she and a handful of others refused to become refugees. ``We fear another attack," she said, ``but we brave the situation and come back to be near our village." Why, I ask. ``Because this is where we belong."
John Prendergast
July 13, 2006
-->
JOHN PRENDERGAST
A dying deal in Darfur
By John Prendergast July 13, 2006
REBEL-HELD NORTH DARFUR IN THIS EERILY depopulated area of war-ravaged Darfur, a woman named Ayesha explained to me why she and a handful of others refused to become refugees. ``We fear another attack," she said, ``but we brave the situation and come back to be near our village." Why, I ask. ``Because this is where we belong."
Most Darfurians, however -- more than 2.5 million displaced within Sudan and in neighboring Chad -- cannot go back where they belong, because the government still supports the Janjaweed militias, who continue to rape and pillage across Darfur and eastern Chad. We are now witnessing the second phase of a state-sponsored campaign to forcibly displace the largest of Darfur's non-Arab peoples from their homelands in collective punishment for the rebellion of a few among them: first, kill and displace as many of those targeted as possible; second, manipulate humanitarian aid so that survivors succumb to the attrition of diseases and malnutrition in squalid camps.
An enduring peace in Darfur would mean reversing this trend, but unless the survivors feel safe, no one is going to leave their hideaway or displacement or refugee camp, and go back and rebuild their scorched village. The specific security guarantee every Darfurian talks about is a United Nations force that will ensure the Janjaweed disarm, and that will protect refugees and help them return home. Sadly, the Darfur Peace Agreement, signed by Khartoum and one rebel faction in Abuja in May, is not meeting this expectation. Relying solely on the government to disarm the Janjaweed without UN verification, as the Abuja agreement sets out, appears to be a nonstarter for those most affected by this war. For them, homelessness seems a safer bet.
This is the first time in my 20 years of work in Africa's war zones that I can remember meeting people so opposed to their own peace deal. They are not opposed to peace, to be sure. They are opposed to specific provisions in the Abuja agreement that would leave them vulnerable to Janjaweed predation and land-grabbing. The key issue in Darfur is security, and that primarily means Janjaweed disarmament, or at best neutralization. Local confidence in Janjaweed neutralization requires independent, external verification, and responsibility for that in the Darfur Peace Agreement rests with the African Union force now on the ground in Darfur, which openly admits it cannot do the job. The situation demands a transition to a UN force with a stronger mandate than the current African Union mission, but the government of Sudan opposes a UN force of any kind.
As it stands, the deal thus hinges entirely on the Sudanese government's willingness to disarm the Janjaweed -- something Khartoum has disingenuously pledged to do many times before (including to both Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice) and something it will not do because the Janjaweed are the cornerstone of regime security in Darfur.
And it is not just the war's victims who understand the reality of the situation. An African Union officer on the ground told me, ``The government of Sudan will not disarm the Janjaweed as long as there are rebels. Without UN verification, it won't happen." President Idriss Déby of Chad also said that the holdout rebel factions would sign the Darfur Peace Agreement if these same security conditions were met: ``The population of Darfur doesn't trust the government of Sudan," he told me. ``They need the UN as a guarantor of the agreement."
For the past six years, the United States and the European Union have pursued an incentives-based strategy to try to change Sudan's behavior. Khartoum pocketed each incentive while state-sponsored violence continued in Darfur.
It is time for serious pressure. The United States should tell regime officials it will work multilaterally to impose targeted sanctions, help the war crimes investigations of the International Criminal Court, and support the divestment movement that seeks to have companies stop doing business with Sudan.
The regime in Khartoum has taken the measure of the international community and believes it will face no consequence for continuing to support the Janjaweed and blocking a UN peacekeeping mission. As one high-ranking Sudanese government official brazenly told me this week, ``The United Nations Security Council has threatened us so many times, we no longer take it seriously." That state of impunity and arrogance is dangerous to the international system and deadly to the people of Darfur.
John Prendergast is a senior advisor at the International Crisis Group.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
FAREWELL. Darfur Hunger Strike Day #9, Round-the-clock Vigil Day #60
Dear brothers and sisters,
With all of my salvos of communication I wish to be sure that I don’t confuse you:
1. JAY’S A MADMAN. Doubtless many of you have concluded that I am something of a madman, or egomaniac, delusional SOB... whatever. What matters is if enough of you see that I am not; that I’m just a Darfurian dad and brother whose IMMEDIATE family is being slaughtered; a dad who will gladly give his life, if it will help, to Rescue and Restore his family; just like many, MANY of you should become; like many, many of you WOULD BE OVERWHELMINGLY OVERJOYED TO BE, in my humble opinion.THE GREATEST EXPERIENCE OF YOUR LIFE? THE SINGLE GREATEST GIFT YOU WILL EVER GIVE TO YOUR "BIOLOGICAL FAMILY?" TO YOUR GOD? IF ONLY YOU SEE THIS IN TIME. Maybe I am mistaken. Also, my aparent "madness" is not that, but necessarily aggressive action, vision and conviction that comes from a lifetime of expertise successfully leading the turnaround of high stakes situations. Expertise few people have; that few if any in the movement have. (Fighting and FIGHTING-TO-WIN are as different as Death and Life.)
2. YOU, YOU are Darfur’s only hope. Their lives are in your hands. There is no one else. DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY and let's try to work the Miracle that "families" DEDICATE THEMSELVES to work for their "kin", IMPOSSIBLE crisis after crisis after crisis.... Right?
3. THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT NOW. I’ve taken my best shots toward your heart, that you might SEE THAT YOUR "IMMEDIATE FAMILY", DARFUR, IS SHEDULED FOR IMMEDIATE EXECUTION, AND THAT YOU CAN SAVE THEM. (http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/2006/07/call-to-battle-launch-all-out.html) Do I know that you are called to RECOGNIZE AND TREAT DARFUR AS IMMEDIATE FAMILY? Only your God/Heart/Values/Humanity/Conscience, and you can know that. The three blogs I’ve created might help you explore your heart, as they’ve helped me.
4. IT IS TO BE DEATH BY GENOCIDE FOR DARFUR. As it stands, the verdict is crystal clear as it has been for 2.5 years; THEY ARE NOT WORTH OUR SKIN. THEY ARE NOT OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY. WE HAVE AN IMMEDIATE FAMILY, AND THEY DO NOT INCLUDE DARFUR. Darfuries are worth our lip service, and some token efforts, but not our LIFE SERVICE. THEY ARE NOT IMMEDIATE FAMILY.
5. WE CAN SAVE THEM. A heroic cadre of Nonviolent “Marines/Commandos” can spark the turnaround IF: a. 20-50+ immediately emerge and fully commit, THIS WEEK and NEXT. Later than July 21 and the game is already over. The nonviolent “Marine’s/Commandos” land at the White House by July 31 or it is too late. b. If a group of support folks and consultants emerge as well.
6. CONTACT ME, if, AND ONLY IF you sense that you CANNOT, CANNOT LET THESE FOLKS, YOUR FAMILY DIE. AFTER we form a team that is IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS TO DARFUR, we can work out the details of our plan, although as people join we will progress together. Otherwise, there has been more than enough time for talk/analysis/research/talk/news/emails/blogs/letters/phone calls/ speculation/blame…. We’ve killed enough time. Our lips and fingers need a rest. It is up to our hearts and feet now.
7. MY JOB FOR THIS PHASE IS DONE NOW. I desperately, DESPERATELY wish I could keep chasing you! But it is up to your hearts now. I’ll be here fighting and waiting, planning/fasting/round-the-clock-vigiling here in DC, for a while. 484 356 6243; jymcginley@cs.com. I expect that for a while, only those who find they are "IMMEDIATE FAMILY" OF DARFUR will be hearing from me. If it becomes clear that our Darfur family does not unclude at least TWENTY (20) of us, that they are therefore already dead, I suspect I’ll go looking for "the least of these my family" elsewhere in the world who are not.
It is between each of us and our God, our hearts now.
I wish there were the time to be gentle, talk, explore, get to know each other. But, there is not. Time’s up. War is tough.
At peace, your brother,
Jay
With all of my salvos of communication I wish to be sure that I don’t confuse you:
1. JAY’S A MADMAN. Doubtless many of you have concluded that I am something of a madman, or egomaniac, delusional SOB... whatever. What matters is if enough of you see that I am not; that I’m just a Darfurian dad and brother whose IMMEDIATE family is being slaughtered; a dad who will gladly give his life, if it will help, to Rescue and Restore his family; just like many, MANY of you should become; like many, many of you WOULD BE OVERWHELMINGLY OVERJOYED TO BE, in my humble opinion.THE GREATEST EXPERIENCE OF YOUR LIFE? THE SINGLE GREATEST GIFT YOU WILL EVER GIVE TO YOUR "BIOLOGICAL FAMILY?" TO YOUR GOD? IF ONLY YOU SEE THIS IN TIME. Maybe I am mistaken. Also, my aparent "madness" is not that, but necessarily aggressive action, vision and conviction that comes from a lifetime of expertise successfully leading the turnaround of high stakes situations. Expertise few people have; that few if any in the movement have. (Fighting and FIGHTING-TO-WIN are as different as Death and Life.)
2. YOU, YOU are Darfur’s only hope. Their lives are in your hands. There is no one else. DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY and let's try to work the Miracle that "families" DEDICATE THEMSELVES to work for their "kin", IMPOSSIBLE crisis after crisis after crisis.... Right?
3. THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT NOW. I’ve taken my best shots toward your heart, that you might SEE THAT YOUR "IMMEDIATE FAMILY", DARFUR, IS SHEDULED FOR IMMEDIATE EXECUTION, AND THAT YOU CAN SAVE THEM. (http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/2006/07/call-to-battle-launch-all-out.html) Do I know that you are called to RECOGNIZE AND TREAT DARFUR AS IMMEDIATE FAMILY? Only your God/Heart/Values/Humanity/Conscience, and you can know that. The three blogs I’ve created might help you explore your heart, as they’ve helped me.
4. IT IS TO BE DEATH BY GENOCIDE FOR DARFUR. As it stands, the verdict is crystal clear as it has been for 2.5 years; THEY ARE NOT WORTH OUR SKIN. THEY ARE NOT OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY. WE HAVE AN IMMEDIATE FAMILY, AND THEY DO NOT INCLUDE DARFUR. Darfuries are worth our lip service, and some token efforts, but not our LIFE SERVICE. THEY ARE NOT IMMEDIATE FAMILY.
5. WE CAN SAVE THEM. A heroic cadre of Nonviolent “Marines/Commandos” can spark the turnaround IF: a. 20-50+ immediately emerge and fully commit, THIS WEEK and NEXT. Later than July 21 and the game is already over. The nonviolent “Marine’s/Commandos” land at the White House by July 31 or it is too late. b. If a group of support folks and consultants emerge as well.
6. CONTACT ME, if, AND ONLY IF you sense that you CANNOT, CANNOT LET THESE FOLKS, YOUR FAMILY DIE. AFTER we form a team that is IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS TO DARFUR, we can work out the details of our plan, although as people join we will progress together. Otherwise, there has been more than enough time for talk/analysis/research/talk/news/emails/blogs/letters/phone calls/ speculation/blame…. We’ve killed enough time. Our lips and fingers need a rest. It is up to our hearts and feet now.
7. MY JOB FOR THIS PHASE IS DONE NOW. I desperately, DESPERATELY wish I could keep chasing you! But it is up to your hearts now. I’ll be here fighting and waiting, planning/fasting/round-the-clock-vigiling here in DC, for a while. 484 356 6243; jymcginley@cs.com. I expect that for a while, only those who find they are "IMMEDIATE FAMILY" OF DARFUR will be hearing from me. If it becomes clear that our Darfur family does not unclude at least TWENTY (20) of us, that they are therefore already dead, I suspect I’ll go looking for "the least of these my family" elsewhere in the world who are not.
It is between each of us and our God, our hearts now.
I wish there were the time to be gentle, talk, explore, get to know each other. But, there is not. Time’s up. War is tough.
At peace, your brother,
Jay
CALL TO BATTLE: LAUNCH ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WAR IN JULY TO RESCUE DARFUR. Fast Day #8; Vigil Day #59 - A CONCRETE PROPOSAL
We are years, YEARS behind in stopping this Genocide; a tragic, inexcusable failure of will and humanity on our part. We must bring this to an end. Bashir's Genocide is exterminating 500 people per day, more than one 9/11 per week. We are giving crystal clear signals to Bashir that he has the time to exterminate, NOW, the remaining 3,000,000 people. Oxfam is pulling out, and the other aid groups are on the verge of following – too hostile on the ground. We are training ourselves to the "gradualism" that was Dr. King's greatest enemy and horror. We are fast depleting the energy that was so valiantly raised by so many of you by April 30th.
Nonviolent wars are not started with tricks and manipulation, emails, four hour demonstrations, letters or phone calls (although, brilliantly, the efforts by many of you thus far have set the stage). We can now win the war if we unleash the masses. Now. ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WARS OF THE MASSES are ALWAYS STARTED by a small group of NONVIOLENT "MARINES", fully acting out their anguish, agony and horror at the suffering of others (In APPENDIX below: Gandhi in India, Civil Rights Movement...). When these "Marines" do so and sufficiently pay an honest price, it is an irresistible media spectacle. The radical self-sacrifice of these "Marines" ignites the hearts of the masses – possessing less vision, imagination and information. Here is the idea:
STAGE #1. IGNITE THE ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WAR - DEPLOY THE NONVIOLENT "MARINES" to Rescue and Restore Darfur. Nonviolent campaigns need to be started by the few on the nonviolent side.
I pray that anyone that passionately wants to join will emulate the Gandhi/India campaign (APPENDIX) as follows:
We will begin a long, drawn out series of rolling arrests. Where? The White House. Alternate targets could be the Sudan Embassy, Chinese Embassy, Russian Embassy, United Nations in NYC, or one of the network headquarters for their profound non-coverage of Darfur. If it is the White House, this is not a protest aginst the White House, or President Bush. Why?
WE THE PEOPLE ARE THE PROBLEM AND THE ONLY SOLUTION. WE MUST DELIVER A MANDATE THAT 20-30,000 PEACEKEEPERS (preferably African Union and non-Western UN) BE ON THE GROUND IN DARFUR, BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, with sufficient empowerment/funding/support. With an unmistakable outcry from the masses, the administration and congress have given every sign that they will happily comply. They need a "win."
PHASE A: A minimum of 20 people are required for us to enter this phase. We need to dramatically demonstrate and HONESTLY EXPRESS the despair we feel over the agony of our Darfur family.
Every 3 hours (so it stretches over days) one of us nonviolently violates the rules at the White House President's Park so as to get arrested. The law is that for the first arrest there is likely to be a 12 hour or less holding period, a $50 fine, and then release.
Phase B. If by the end of this cycle of arrests (3 days elapsed?) we do NOT see the beginning-of-the-end of Hell for Darfur in sight the same group immediately goes through the process a 2nd time, knowing full well that 6 MONTHS IN PRISON may well be the price. This phase goes on until 1. all of us are in prison, OR, 2. the end of Hell for Darfur is assured.
Obviously numbers count for this initial action. If instead of the example of 20, it is 200 or 2,000 people, the impact goes up astronomically. Maybe "prison" will be avoided, but this CANNOT be our goal.
Those involved must fully accept responsibility for staying the course and make certain over the months and years ahead that US Imperialist Tendencies do not come to bear, and that we Rescue, AND Restore Darfur.
STAGE #2. THE MASSES OF NONVIOLENT WARRIORS BECOME ENGAGED, ORGANIZED AND DEPLOYED IN THE FIGHTING.
For every one of the initial "Marines" (just one riding alone across the battlefield in "Dances with Wolves"/100's walking into swinging clubs in Gandhi's India/100's facing the fire hoses down South - APPENDIX) the numbers multiply: 1,000, 10,000, 100,000. The masses become warriors too. National organizations (Africa Action, Save Darfur Coalition, STAND, Genocide Intervention) and other vehicles exist to register this 2nd tier of 100,000's, 1,000,000's of nonviolent fighters and to effectively utilize and deploy them; radically for the Save Darfur Coalition 9/17 event at the United Nations for example.
HOW TO ORGANIZE THE INITIAL STAND? Some thoughts:
Let's not care whose idea or what idea we implement. Instead, let us care that it is the best possible shot at raising the mass army THAT FIGHTS TO WIN, immediately. We must "be" the Truth Force that Gandhi so powerfully weilded. We must be the Truth of Darfur’s desperate need at the White House, at the United Nations, and wherever we go.
Got any ideas you think are good? Better? AWESOME! Contact me or tell me how to contact YOU! Want me to come and talk with you or your group? Want me to join and follow your group? Let's do it. Contact your friends, associates, acquaintances who might be interested.
Let's make this happen. We're killing time. Lets stop the Genocide This Summer, while there is life in Darfur to save.
Sincerely, Jay McGinley
email: jymcginley@cs.com
phone: 484 356 6243
………………………………….
Appendix: ADDITIONAL RATIONALE AND PERSPECTIVE
EXAMPLE: Do you remember the scene from "Gandhi" when for days, man after man after man walked headlong into swinging British clubs? Well, so did the millions of India, and the entire civilized world watch and remember, and ACT.
EXAMPLE: Do you remember the beginning scene from the movie "Dances With Wolves," when, impossibly, the hero rode across a Civil War field raging with gunfire, both sides behind stone walls, totally in stalemate? His insane ride miraculously shocked his side out of passivity and denial to follow him across the field and rout the opposition. (Yes, this was a violent war but it still illustrates the dynamic that radically committed leaders cause the masses to fight; no other way does it as well. Ever.)
EXAMPLE: Do you remember the TV images of the Civil Rights marchers getting fire-hosed, beaten, and attacked by Police Dogs then doing it all again? And how only then did the MILLIONS of US Citizens go to war? And, on, and on....
Harvard’s Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize winning Genocide study of the last 100 years presents a clear conclusion: “the battle to stop genocide has thus been repeatedly lost… [because] Americans outside the executive branch were largely mute….” From "Problem from Hell."
Isn't God/Goodness/Justice/Humanity/History asking us: "WHY DON’T YOU GO TO ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WAR FOR YOUR FAMILY IN DARFUR?" We must start BEING THE ANSWER to this question by July’s end.
I am open to any appropriate way to go to nonviolent war as long as it equates to fighting to win and doing the very best that we can do.
Nonviolent wars are not started with tricks and manipulation, emails, four hour demonstrations, letters or phone calls (although, brilliantly, the efforts by many of you thus far have set the stage). We can now win the war if we unleash the masses. Now. ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WARS OF THE MASSES are ALWAYS STARTED by a small group of NONVIOLENT "MARINES", fully acting out their anguish, agony and horror at the suffering of others (In APPENDIX below: Gandhi in India, Civil Rights Movement...). When these "Marines" do so and sufficiently pay an honest price, it is an irresistible media spectacle. The radical self-sacrifice of these "Marines" ignites the hearts of the masses – possessing less vision, imagination and information. Here is the idea:
STAGE #1. IGNITE THE ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WAR - DEPLOY THE NONVIOLENT "MARINES" to Rescue and Restore Darfur. Nonviolent campaigns need to be started by the few on the nonviolent side.
I pray that anyone that passionately wants to join will emulate the Gandhi/India campaign (APPENDIX) as follows:
We will begin a long, drawn out series of rolling arrests. Where? The White House. Alternate targets could be the Sudan Embassy, Chinese Embassy, Russian Embassy, United Nations in NYC, or one of the network headquarters for their profound non-coverage of Darfur. If it is the White House, this is not a protest aginst the White House, or President Bush. Why?
WE THE PEOPLE ARE THE PROBLEM AND THE ONLY SOLUTION. WE MUST DELIVER A MANDATE THAT 20-30,000 PEACEKEEPERS (preferably African Union and non-Western UN) BE ON THE GROUND IN DARFUR, BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, with sufficient empowerment/funding/support. With an unmistakable outcry from the masses, the administration and congress have given every sign that they will happily comply. They need a "win."
PHASE A: A minimum of 20 people are required for us to enter this phase. We need to dramatically demonstrate and HONESTLY EXPRESS the despair we feel over the agony of our Darfur family.
Every 3 hours (so it stretches over days) one of us nonviolently violates the rules at the White House President's Park so as to get arrested. The law is that for the first arrest there is likely to be a 12 hour or less holding period, a $50 fine, and then release.
Phase B. If by the end of this cycle of arrests (3 days elapsed?) we do NOT see the beginning-of-the-end of Hell for Darfur in sight the same group immediately goes through the process a 2nd time, knowing full well that 6 MONTHS IN PRISON may well be the price. This phase goes on until 1. all of us are in prison, OR, 2. the end of Hell for Darfur is assured.
Obviously numbers count for this initial action. If instead of the example of 20, it is 200 or 2,000 people, the impact goes up astronomically. Maybe "prison" will be avoided, but this CANNOT be our goal.
Those involved must fully accept responsibility for staying the course and make certain over the months and years ahead that US Imperialist Tendencies do not come to bear, and that we Rescue, AND Restore Darfur.
STAGE #2. THE MASSES OF NONVIOLENT WARRIORS BECOME ENGAGED, ORGANIZED AND DEPLOYED IN THE FIGHTING.
For every one of the initial "Marines" (just one riding alone across the battlefield in "Dances with Wolves"/100's walking into swinging clubs in Gandhi's India/100's facing the fire hoses down South - APPENDIX) the numbers multiply: 1,000, 10,000, 100,000. The masses become warriors too. National organizations (Africa Action, Save Darfur Coalition, STAND, Genocide Intervention) and other vehicles exist to register this 2nd tier of 100,000's, 1,000,000's of nonviolent fighters and to effectively utilize and deploy them; radically for the Save Darfur Coalition 9/17 event at the United Nations for example.
HOW TO ORGANIZE THE INITIAL STAND? Some thoughts:
Let's not care whose idea or what idea we implement. Instead, let us care that it is the best possible shot at raising the mass army THAT FIGHTS TO WIN, immediately. We must "be" the Truth Force that Gandhi so powerfully weilded. We must be the Truth of Darfur’s desperate need at the White House, at the United Nations, and wherever we go.
Got any ideas you think are good? Better? AWESOME! Contact me or tell me how to contact YOU! Want me to come and talk with you or your group? Want me to join and follow your group? Let's do it. Contact your friends, associates, acquaintances who might be interested.
Let's make this happen. We're killing time. Lets stop the Genocide This Summer, while there is life in Darfur to save.
Sincerely, Jay McGinley
email: jymcginley@cs.com
phone: 484 356 6243
………………………………….
Appendix: ADDITIONAL RATIONALE AND PERSPECTIVE
EXAMPLE: Do you remember the scene from "Gandhi" when for days, man after man after man walked headlong into swinging British clubs? Well, so did the millions of India, and the entire civilized world watch and remember, and ACT.
EXAMPLE: Do you remember the beginning scene from the movie "Dances With Wolves," when, impossibly, the hero rode across a Civil War field raging with gunfire, both sides behind stone walls, totally in stalemate? His insane ride miraculously shocked his side out of passivity and denial to follow him across the field and rout the opposition. (Yes, this was a violent war but it still illustrates the dynamic that radically committed leaders cause the masses to fight; no other way does it as well. Ever.)
EXAMPLE: Do you remember the TV images of the Civil Rights marchers getting fire-hosed, beaten, and attacked by Police Dogs then doing it all again? And how only then did the MILLIONS of US Citizens go to war? And, on, and on....
Harvard’s Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize winning Genocide study of the last 100 years presents a clear conclusion: “the battle to stop genocide has thus been repeatedly lost… [because] Americans outside the executive branch were largely mute….” From "Problem from Hell."
Isn't God/Goodness/Justice/Humanity/History asking us: "WHY DON’T YOU GO TO ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WAR FOR YOUR FAMILY IN DARFUR?" We must start BEING THE ANSWER to this question by July’s end.
I am open to any appropriate way to go to nonviolent war as long as it equates to fighting to win and doing the very best that we can do.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Win Darfur Fast day 5; Vigil day #56; 12 WEEKS TILL AU PULLOUT
No Protection for Darfur from 30 September - AU to Pull Out Aegis Trust (Retford, UK) PRESS RELEASEJuly 7, 2006 Posted to the web July 7, 2006
Because World leaders cannot make a decision on Darfur, the little protection there is for civilians in this western region of Sudan will be gone in three months.
Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, Head of the African Union Mission in Darfur, confirmed yesterday that contrary to widespread media reports, the AU will pull its troops out of Darfur on 30 September unless Sudan gives its consent for a transition to a UN force.
"The African Union Peace and Security Council did take a decision that the mandate of the African Union forces would be ended on the 30th of September," he stated in a speech at the Royal United Services Institute, London. "There is no change to that date."
Addressing mistaken reports that the AU had now decided to stay on to 31 December, he added, "What could have been misunderstood as a change of that date to the end of the year is the address given by Kofi Annan, in which he requested that the African Union should consider extending its mandate to 31st December. But at the end of the day, 30th of September was retained."
Speaking to the Aegis Trust, Ambassador Kingibe stated, "If the Government of the Sudan gives its consent for a UN deployment, we will be willing to hold the fort until such time as the UN is ready and able to come in." (Aegis' interview with the Ambassador can be viewed online at www.aegistrust.org)
Aegis calls for UN intervention with or without Sudan's consent
In the wake of Ambassador Kingibe's comments and recent developments, the Aegis Trust is calling for a UN force to be sent to Darfur under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, with or without Sudan's consent, comprising troops from middle powers.
Aegis is calling for the objectives of this UN force to include securing humanitarian access to the three million people dependent on international aid; providing protection for the women, who are daily attacked and raped; and securing the safe return of the 2.5 million displaced people back to their land across Darfur.
To meet these objectives, Aegis recommends that the force be authorised to neutralise the Janjaweed militia, facilitate implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, and arrest anyone indicted by the ICC.
"We said that the situation in Darfur is going from bad to worse, and the AU pull-out scheduled for 30 September is the worst news possible," says Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust.
"It will be better if the Sudanese Government agrees to an orderly transition to a UN force, but provision of international protection for Darfur's civilians cannot be left at the mercy of Khartoum. Far from protecting its citizens, Khartoum has already demonstrated its readiness to systematically destroy them.
"Whether or not the nations of the UN Security Council move beyond reliance on Khartoum's consent will show quite clearly whether or not the international commitment to the "responsibility to protect" - made at the World Summit in September 2005 - is worth more than the paper it's written on. Twelve weeks are left. It's decision-time - today."
Copyright © 2006 Aegis Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
Because World leaders cannot make a decision on Darfur, the little protection there is for civilians in this western region of Sudan will be gone in three months.
Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, Head of the African Union Mission in Darfur, confirmed yesterday that contrary to widespread media reports, the AU will pull its troops out of Darfur on 30 September unless Sudan gives its consent for a transition to a UN force.
"The African Union Peace and Security Council did take a decision that the mandate of the African Union forces would be ended on the 30th of September," he stated in a speech at the Royal United Services Institute, London. "There is no change to that date."
Addressing mistaken reports that the AU had now decided to stay on to 31 December, he added, "What could have been misunderstood as a change of that date to the end of the year is the address given by Kofi Annan, in which he requested that the African Union should consider extending its mandate to 31st December. But at the end of the day, 30th of September was retained."
Speaking to the Aegis Trust, Ambassador Kingibe stated, "If the Government of the Sudan gives its consent for a UN deployment, we will be willing to hold the fort until such time as the UN is ready and able to come in." (Aegis' interview with the Ambassador can be viewed online at www.aegistrust.org)
Aegis calls for UN intervention with or without Sudan's consent
In the wake of Ambassador Kingibe's comments and recent developments, the Aegis Trust is calling for a UN force to be sent to Darfur under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, with or without Sudan's consent, comprising troops from middle powers.
Aegis is calling for the objectives of this UN force to include securing humanitarian access to the three million people dependent on international aid; providing protection for the women, who are daily attacked and raped; and securing the safe return of the 2.5 million displaced people back to their land across Darfur.
To meet these objectives, Aegis recommends that the force be authorised to neutralise the Janjaweed militia, facilitate implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, and arrest anyone indicted by the ICC.
"We said that the situation in Darfur is going from bad to worse, and the AU pull-out scheduled for 30 September is the worst news possible," says Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust.
"It will be better if the Sudanese Government agrees to an orderly transition to a UN force, but provision of international protection for Darfur's civilians cannot be left at the mercy of Khartoum. Far from protecting its citizens, Khartoum has already demonstrated its readiness to systematically destroy them.
"Whether or not the nations of the UN Security Council move beyond reliance on Khartoum's consent will show quite clearly whether or not the international commitment to the "responsibility to protect" - made at the World Summit in September 2005 - is worth more than the paper it's written on. Twelve weeks are left. It's decision-time - today."
Copyright © 2006 Aegis Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Day #2, July 5: WIN DARFUR FAST / HUNGER STRIKE
I must, I want to Hunger Strike until:
A. I see indications that on top of ALL THE WONDERFUL ACTIVITIES OF THE COALITION, WE ARE STARTING TO PLAN AND FIGHT TO WIN, just like I would want us to fight if they were white Americans, or as I've always believed we should have fought for the German Jews;
... OR ...
B. It becomes clear to me that the Coalition is not going to PLAN AND FIGHT TO WIN.
I BELIEVE THAT THE TIMING AND STRATEGY OF A MASSIVE NYC/UN 9/17 EVENT IS BRILLIANT! BUT UNLESS IT IS COMPLEMENTED WITH HIGH IMPACT/HIGH STAKES/HIGH COMMITMENT NONVIOLENT ACTIONS it will be just fighting to fight, not FIGHTING TO WIN.
By the way, I have no illusion that I have the corner on ideas, let alone GOOD ideas. However, my entire career has been dedicated to turning situations around, and I am certain that unless and until the Coalition starts fighting to win, or a sufficient component does so in cooperation and support, the battle is already lost.
Sincerely, and with prayers for Rescue and Restore Darfur,
Jay McGinley
White House
A. I see indications that on top of ALL THE WONDERFUL ACTIVITIES OF THE COALITION, WE ARE STARTING TO PLAN AND FIGHT TO WIN, just like I would want us to fight if they were white Americans, or as I've always believed we should have fought for the German Jews;
... OR ...
B. It becomes clear to me that the Coalition is not going to PLAN AND FIGHT TO WIN.
I BELIEVE THAT THE TIMING AND STRATEGY OF A MASSIVE NYC/UN 9/17 EVENT IS BRILLIANT! BUT UNLESS IT IS COMPLEMENTED WITH HIGH IMPACT/HIGH STAKES/HIGH COMMITMENT NONVIOLENT ACTIONS it will be just fighting to fight, not FIGHTING TO WIN.
By the way, I have no illusion that I have the corner on ideas, let alone GOOD ideas. However, my entire career has been dedicated to turning situations around, and I am certain that unless and until the Coalition starts fighting to win, or a sufficient component does so in cooperation and support, the battle is already lost.
Sincerely, and with prayers for Rescue and Restore Darfur,
Jay McGinley
White House