OPINION & EDITORIAL
Students can help bring change in Darfur
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Also by Jason Ebin:
- Students must protest military policy (March 6, 2006)
- Sensenbrenner wrong on immigration (March 27, 2006)
- Remember Reagan as school year comes to close (April 11, 2006)
- Media paint flowery picture (April 17, 2006)
- Students can help bring change in Darfur (May 1, 2006)
Related Stories:
- Anything short of a riot (April 27, 2006)
- Right for a week (May 2, 2002)
- Why don't we do it in the road? (March 30, 2005)
- Rock around the block (September 8, 2005)
- Let the good times roll (May 4, 2007)
by Jason Ebin
Monday, May 1, 2006
This article is a must-read for everyone who was at the Mifflin Street Block Party.
First, I want to be upfront and tell you that I have no idea if that random cup you drank from gave you the mumps. Sorry, it might have. Second, if something seems a little off today, it might be because you are still hung over — or because today is the national "Day Without Immigrants" and no immigrant is supposed to show up for work. So, if all hell breaks loose, you'll know why. But in case it doesn't, it's the hangover.
Last, and most importantly, while you might have been perpetuating the Playboy image of Madison with keg stands and beer bongs, followed by seeing how close you could get to the edge of your friend's roof without falling off, you probably missed a few things. So here's your chance to let me feel like my time on this column wasn't a total waste.
On Saturday, New Yorkers were holding their own block party. Theirs filled 10 city blocks and called for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Crazy pansies, those New Yorkers. They know that we can't pull our troops out without first making sure our puppet government will last long enough for us to get all the oil out of Iraq. Besides, we are going to need the troops in Iraq for the invasion of Iran, and there is no sense in bringing our men and women home first.
Back in Madison, while most were sleeping off their hangovers, a few students boarded a bus to our nation's capital to show their support at yesterday's "Rally To Stop Genocide."
Good thing, too. The first genocide of the 21st century is taking place in the Darfur region of Africa. More than 180,000 people have already been killed, 3 million have been displaced after their homes and villages were destroyed, and all President Bush wants to do is send in the United Nations. Silly, silly Mr. President — you can't change your mind now after you made it clear that we had to go into Iraq because the U.N. is incompetent.
Those who are alive in the Darfur region — mainly women and children — live in constant danger of further attacks, attacks that include the killing of young children followed by mutilating the bodies so as to shove them into the village wells to poison the water supply. Rape, another form of ethnic cleansing, is also widespread.
So isn't it about time to get some ground troops over there and show the Sudanese what happens when they try to kill an entire generation of people?
If it were only that easy.
The consensus seems to be — rightfully — that putting American troops on the ground in the Darfur region would be a mistake. Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times agrees. He told the Darfur Action Coalition of Wisconsin last week that American ground troops would only make the situation more unstable because Osama bin Laden has told the world that America is fighting a war against Islam, and since the Sudanese government is run by Muslims, American ground troops would inflame the situation.
Ironically, Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Afghanistan under the Taliban both pale in comparison to the genocide in Darfur.
That's why some Madison students weren't going to be left out of yesterday's rally.
"I'm going because what else is there to do when hundreds of thousands of people are being slaughtered and not enough is being done," 21-year-old junior and geography major Branton Kunz told me.
Twenty-year-old sophomore Meredith Bourne, majoring in international studies with a focus on African politics and development, made the trip as well. Why? She told me: "I'm going to show my support and solidarity for the people of Darfur and to remind our government that this is an issue that needs to be addressed now."
Luthien Niland, a junior majoring in geography and environmental studies, had similar reasons for going.
"One of the biggest problems right now when it comes to helping the victims in Sudan is that not enough people know about the genocide and therefore are not pressuring our government and other officials to do anything about it," Niland said.
Heather Zucker, a 2005 graduate of UW, also went to the rally.
"After the Holocaust, we all said never again would genocide happen. Sadly, it has happened many times since then. It is time that we take a stand and put an end to the genocide in Darfur," Zucker said.
Nineteen-year-old human development and family studies major Shelly Lev-Er, a freshman from Milwaukee, added: "After World War II, many countries made a promise never to let genocide happen again, and this promise is not being fulfilled. I'm advocating for the United States, the strongest country in the world, to intervene and do their part to stop the genocide."
Others, like Lauren Nowak, an 18-year-old undeclared UW student from Hales Corners, Wis., just wanted to help out.
"I'm going to learn more about the crisis at hand and advocating stopping genocide in Sudan," Nowak said.
Meanwhile, history repeats itself.
Though it might be too late to save Darfur, we have to try. A good start can be found by filling out a postcard to President Bush at Savedarfur.org.
Jason Saltoun Ebin (jasonebin@aol.com) is a second-year law student.
Anonymous (May 1, 2006 @ 10:55am):
All this whining about the "Religion of Peace"(tm) in action in Sudan makes me wonder why it's up to the US to solve all the problems of the world. Maybe the world would be a better place if Saint Willy had dealt with Sudan (and their boarder OBL) earlier on. Oops, that's right he tried to do something about Somalia but did the cut and run thing instead.
It's all about the oil! The oil going to China from Sudan that is. Can't even get a toothless resolution out of the UN because China doesn't want to impeded the flow of oil.
BTW, the "get all the oil out of Iraq" canard is as false as it is tired - if it was "all about oil" the USA would have taken over Venezuela.
We should have just left Saddam in Kuwait and let him have Saudi Arabia too. He'd be pumping them both dry right now to fund a war with Iran. Hard cheese for the Middle East but my gas would be cheaper.
Anonymous (May 1, 2006 @ 11:23am):
Send In The Mercenaries
The "international community", specifically the UN, does prefer genocide to using mercenaries. I was not surprised to learn, for example, that Kofi Annan had specifically rejected using a private firm during what Weiner calls the "Rwandan refugee crisis". (I assume she is talking about the time after the genocide.)
Finally, it is worth noting that, though the situation in Darfur is horrendous, there are many other civil wars in Africa. As far as deaths go, the worst is probably the civil war in the Congo, where three million may have died, according to common estimates.
http://www.seanet.com/~jimxc/Politics/April2006_4.html#jrm4178
Anonymous (May 2, 2006 @ 12:43pm):
Every time the US tries to step up and stop the genocide of the month, we get a lot of grief from liberals here and abroad. It is no wonder that we choose to focus on areas of economic concern under the circumstances.
