Never Again, Again: Global Days for Darfur

Cross-posted on Oy-Bay
On the heals of Passover and Yom HaShoah, where as Jews we celebrate freedom and pledge Never Again, comes the Global Days for Darfur. It’s one year after the Day of Conscience for Darfur and things haven’t gotten better in Sudan. It’s unfortunate we need catchy titles and sounds bite to motivate us to take action, not just read news pieces.

On a personal level, I feel that while I went through the actions of celebrating Passover and Yom HaShoah, that my actions don’t demonstrate that I’ve learned much from it. I get up each morning and go about my day to day grind. My peers and I grip about their work week and I can afford to have the picky eating habits I have, and still eat very well. I walk around in a blissful bubble, with the biggest threat to my life being getting hit by a car or a pending earthquake. While across the ocean, their are people who face rape, disease, and starvation. These people need our help to put an end to the genocide and they need it NOW.

Year after year, we pledge Never Again, and yet, Again is happening. This time it’s not the Jews, but it’s still human being who should be treated as such. Google Earth satellite mapping service, now let’s you zoom in on the 1,600 Sudanese villages destroyed as part of the genocide. The images are not in real time, but are real. Let’s be part of the solution, not the Final Solution!

As the Save Darfur website sums it up:

Time is running out for the people of Darfur. Four years of genocidal violence has left over 400,000 dead, 2.5 million innocent civilians displaced, and 4 million men, women, and children completely reliant on international aid for survival. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter.

To call attention to the escalating violence and the continued failure of the international community to adequately respond to this crisis, activists across the world have come together to plan “Global Days for Darfur”. This week of rallies, marches and vigils will highlight that “time is running out” for the people of Darfur.

Please support your fellow activists in speaking out for the people of Darfur by joining an event in your area.

As a people who went through a horror we need to be part of the international response. Events in the Bay Area start today and last over a week. You’re sure to find me at one of these.

• Save Darfur Lecture, April 20, Saratoga
• Art for Darfur, April 21, UC Berkeley Campus
• God Grew Tired of Us, April 22, San Jose
• The Continuing Crisis and What You Can Do, April 22, Danville
• A Cup Of Coffee For Darfur, April 23
• Sand and Sorrow Film Screening, April 24, Davis
• Darfur Diaries Screening, April 24, Chico
• Dining for Darfur, April 27, Davis
• Darfur Dinner, April 28, Laytonville
• Rally for Darfur, April 29, Sacramento, State Capitol
• Concert and Rally with Camp Darfur, San Francisco, April 29
• Link Up with Darfur, May 3, Cupertino
• Camp Darfur, May 30, Sacramento, State Capitol