With Susan Rice on board as UN Ambassador and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, we may see the first real, sustained effort to actually end this thing. 

Team America needs to stop playing World Police.

Be a voice for Darfur at www.addyourvoice.org. You and one million other Americans will remind the President-elect Obama of a promise he has already made: "unstinting resolve" to end the Darfur genocide.

I BELIEVE THAT ONE VOICE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, BUT WHEN MORE THAN ONE VOICE COME TOGETHER A CHANGE CAN OCCUR!!! I BELIEVE AND HAVE FAITH FOR A CHANGE IN THE WORLD WITH GOD BY OUR SIDES ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!!! WERE ALL HERE FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER AND LETS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!

I will support any effort to help Darfur with my own money.

But tax payer dollars are not to be used.  If you do that, where do you stop? 

It's our foreign policy of intervention that has created terror.
Terrorists don't hate us because were free, they hate us because we interfere in their countries, most times for oil.

If Darfur was rich in oil, we would have saved them years ago.
But that would still be the wrong use of tax payer dollars.

Our government should abide by the constitution not run around the world fighting the worlds fights.

Maybe make a charity, that supplies a group that fights against genocide, and then donate to that charity.

"But tax payer dollars are not to be used.  If you do that, where do you stop?"

The US already gives out billions of our tax dollars a year already for foreign aid.  The US is going broke while billions of dollars are going elsewhere.  I think Sudan in 2007 was supposed to receive 450 million from the US in aid.  I'd say that's a pretty good slice.  For some reason we wonder why we go further and further in debt as a country.

Yes, it's important for these people to stop being slaughtered.  Where did that money go if it did go to Sudan?  That's something the US is very good at.  Giving people money but never finding out what happens to it. 

Link to 2008 foreign aid. 

http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance/docs/2007/0625house.htm

President Bill Clinton just said a few days ago that he regreted sitting by & doing nothing while he was President during the genocide in Rwanda. Don't let us say the same about Darfur.

How many of the gay communist vegans on this board are going to sign up to patrol sub-saharan Africa with a rifle on their shoulder?

Yeah, I thought so. It's real easy to climb up on a moral high horse when it's somebody else's kid that gets to die for your cause, ain't it?

Today, it's Darfur...tomorrow, another sub-African hell-hole full of corrupt tin-pot warlords or whacky dictators. We got our asses in trouble with Somalia...we went it as the "saviors" but wound up being more hated by the people we were trying to save!

Just stop it with the "we need to be the world's police and save everyone" attitude.

Don't make this another excuse for military occupation & control of the world's oil production.  It is working so well in Iraq & Afghanistan.

I want this change. NOW

When we reflect on the Holocaust, how can we stand by and see the same thing happen again in our lifetime?  I thought the world said "Never Again".

More people have died by our hand in Iraq than in Darfur.

Why don't we worry about the ending the Iraqi genocide and preventing the impending Pakistani/Iranian genocide (both of which Obama has called for), before we worry about Darfur?

Before you get on board with this look deeper into the issue. Don't be conned.
"...there is a growing demand to probe the accounts of "Save Darfur" to find out how the tens of millions collected are being spent due to allegations of arms-deals and bribery, and the SAVE DARFUR movement has become the false flag action of the West, supported by most everyone, people who know little or nothing about what it is they are supporting."... Journalist Kieth Harmon Snow (allthingspass.com/journalism.php?catid=24)

"Sudan is a country with a per capita GDP of less that $2500 per year whose people have already been hurt by US sanctions and boycotts. The US has starved Sudan with sanctions, instigated the civil wars in Sudan, armed the rebels, and then blamed the Sudanese government for all the deaths (whether by violence or famine or disease) and called it genocide." (rule19.org/resources/sudan.htm )

People scream about saving animals on other boards, why are we putting resources into helping a group of coyotes when hundreds of thousands are dying in sudan? we stopped genocide in Germany and Iraq, lets stop it in Darfur... worry about human beings first and we'll worry about a rare water buffalo once these attrocities quit. 

We should go to Sudan because we CAN. I am ashamed of my government when it ignores the UN law of the 1940's which promises to intervene when a genocide is occurring. Even without the law, ignoring such behavior is just wrong.

For every American killed in Iraq there have been 100 killed in Darfur. Almost half-a-million! Imagine mass-murder of all who attended Woodstock in 1969 - would we be outraged then? Are the lives of those in Darfur any less precious than those in America?

When we say, "Never again", let's mean it.

Mike_the_doctor

Racism in Application of Refugee Rights

While I absolutely applaud Obama in his response to supporting refugee rights for those in Darfur, I am troubled that with regard to Palestinian refugees, he says that those exact same laws (e.g. the Law of Return) don't apply (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1201523779464)

I think it is a really bad precedent for the first African-American president to take the position that a universal law (International Law of Return) should be applied differently based purely on which ethnic group is being victimized.  Nothing in the UN law allows for making that differentiation (i.e., it is a justice is blind legislation).

What is ironic, is Israel actually accepts the International Law of Return and has it codified in their legislation. Granted it is a "for Jews only" law but if we can leverage the aid we give them to encourage them to remove that clause and become more democratic (there about 20 other pieces of legislation that have that same qualifier in it), this issue can be solved without any bloodshed. And the Darfur question can also be pursued without accusations of racial disparity in terms of implementation.

It should be noted that the rationale Obama gives for the disparity in applying the UN legislation is the need to preserve Israel as a Jewish state. Bull Connor could have told MLK Jr. the same thing in that the Jim Crow laws were made in order to preserve Alabama as a White State. Both statements are to me unacceptable.

Democracy and human rights (of all people) should not be something to fear or usurp. Refugee rights should not be compromised in order to preserve ethnic supremacy of ANY group. This is a very familiar and very bad ideology!

We as a nation repeatedly say "never again" when genocide occurs, and yet again we are standing by while it happens in Darfur. Our nation has a history of only getting involved to stop genocide when it is in our political interest (see Samantha Power's "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide"). I understand when others do not want to commit troops or resources to helping another country, particularly given all of the potential pitfalls and mistakes that have been made in the past. However, those in the global community who have been lucky enough to be born in countries that are war-free and hold a disproportionate amount of the world's wealth have an obligation to end these kinds of atrocities. 

Let's keep this discussion going and make our voice loud and clear until long after January 20th.

Mike_the_doctor.

Joshua Levy...how do you propose the USA "ends this thing"?

Send troops?

No - remember Somalia. We sent troops...we tried to "do the right thing" and those troops got slaughtered because Slick Willie didn't want to give them the equipment they needed because he was afraid of how we'd look to the world.

No more "helping" other nations...we only get screwed in the long run, and more hated by those we are trying to help.

With all due respect, we do it right this time and everytime. A half-___ed response is no resonse at all.

We made a promise in the 1940's; genocide means our involvement. But even that reason pales when it stands next to the understated fact that genocide is a horrible crime against humanity, and we must go there because we CAN go there. NEVER for oil, but for our human neighbors, in whatever country they live. Understand that I am a pacifist, and yet I still make these comments.

Once we show our intention to NOT tolerate genocide in even one location, those who up to now have acted without fear of reprisal may need to think twice; the 'sleepiing giant' has awakened.

Mike_the_doctor

Everybody calls it genocide but the UN because they don't want to take action.  I know some say that military action like what Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton are proposing is what we should do.  Others are saying that would have worked a few years ago but a more political solution is needed.  I don't know the answer but it shouldn't take years to figure out some action is required.
It seems like we could agree on that. 

So can we say get the best people and do something IMMEDIATELY?   And let's pressure the new administration and to follow through and take action.  And let's pressure the UN to take action by beginning to call it genocide.  How can we shame the UN into action?  I don't know if it's possible since they did nothing about Rwanda and are doing nothing about the Sudan. 

But let's not tolerate inaction and let's not tolerate the UN getting away literally with murder by their inaction.

(New administration's position on it -  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/12/07/ST2008120702921.html)

If such words as Karen's above, stated over and over in numerous ways by countless people cannot shame them in to action, then they have no conscience. Even if they have no conscience, public opinion DOES make a difference. Continued restatement of this point will touch SOMETHING that causes action. A strange situation: a peaceful revolution to bring on military action. Let's all keep the word a comin', over and over again.

The crisis in the Sudan has been ignored far too long - action is needed NOW to stop the barbariic violence in Darfur. Take action now!

We should not turn our backs to such attrocities.

Air Embargo, close the main port --use Navy.

Do it right away.

America needs to again act in accordance with the principles our nation was founded on.  To ignore human suffering,--and aid only those people from which we can gain--is entirely contradictory,--in opposition to what the REAL American Dream is all about.  Fulfillment of that dream requires recognition it has no borders,--no geographic location,--but lives in the heart of people everywhere.  Is it not our responsibility to expand recognition of personal worth,---and use our strength to defend this worth through the United Nations?

To those writing with concerns over the efforst of the Save Darfur Coalition...I whole heartidly agree that their efforst may not be the best. It's also absurd to view the United States as the "hero" of the Darfur people.

However, I believe that the actions of the Darfur government should not go ignored. I feel that Divestment is the best way of obtaining a US goal of not supporting action in Darfur, while not sending in troops. The best way of dealing with Darfur is to hurt the wallets of those that profit most from such actions. It is foolish to promote rebel groups and the people I am most concerned for are the 3 millions displaced civilians of the Darfur region.

Just because I don't think we should invade does not mean that we should sit by and watch these actions happen.

I supported your idea, please support this one.

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/pass_the_dream_act_now

Thank you

I am glad that we are going to try and stop this. I did a project on it when I was in school a couple years ago and it is some really screwed up stuff.

Darfur must end now!

Hi.

My name is Rachel Coleman and I am concerned about what is happening in Darfur.  As my Jewish tradition has taught me, I shall not stand by idly by the blood of my fellow human being.  It has also taught me that when we save one human life, it is as if we have saved a million and that the same goes for when we destroy one life.

I believe that people in power have a responsibility to use their power to make changes and to serve as an example to the rest of the world.  I hope that I as an American, as a Jew, and as a human being can count on Barack Obama to use his power for good and thus help bring this conflict and the suffering in Darfur to an end.

I am appalled at the lack of serious understanding that people have displayed in their remarks that Darfur is a problem caused by our government.  First the people of South Sudan became the victims of what the Sudanese government always chooses to call a Civil War.  This gives them an excuse to murder and rape and take no responsibility for human lived.

I was in Sudan in 1987, and was told by their Vice President that the thousands of black children that crowded Khartoum streets were children abandoned by their parents who did not want them.  This is a fanciful depiction of the horror that they had experienced.  Indeed, their villages had been attacked by government helicopters using machine guns and dropping bombs, and their wells were poisoned... by people who represented themselves as the military from Sudan.  The agrarian people did not know why, and surmised that it was because they were Christian, and many were able to escape into the bush where they fled from the attacks.  These children I saw were not "rejected" but had been separated from parents when the villages were destroyed and everyone scattered and just kept running to escape the violence.  This went on for some 40 years, and because it was not in the main city there was little reporting.  Only as UN and NGO folks went to the refugee camps in neighboring Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda to offer aid was the full horror revealed. 

Our government eventually exerted sufficient pressure on the International Community to obtain a cease fire.  Within days of the South Sudan peace treaty being signed in 2005, Khartoum attacked a new front...muslim Darfur.  Now it became clearer that the purpose of the vicious attacks was not simply religious...it was likely based on the color of their African skin.  Khartoum has participated in terrorism for decades...and since on Al Jazeer admitted that what they want is for the blacks to be eliminated from Africa...their desire is for it to be Arabic.  That is why what is going on in Darfur is called genocide.  When you instill in people that premeditated murder is justified when it is based on race it becomes genocide.  The US foreign policy does not promote that kind of thinking. They figured it out all by themselves.  Those who sincerely believe it was caused by our government are part of the problem, and certainly not helping to stop the insanity in Darfur.   

Genocide, in Dafur and everywhere, has to be (and can be!) stopped by determined action - whether or not some immediate selfish benefit can be seen in helping the country.  As it is written in the Bible, justice should roll on like a river, not a hose that we stop and start at whim.   The idea was written very well - other wording might have implied some bad "Team America" fiasco, but this could certainly work well.

Why oh why are we still talking about this. We are getting more and more billionaires in this World. Use your money to help these poor people. Not just giving money run the projects to make it a better world. World leaders condem evil peole such as Magabe. Talk,talk,and more talk.
 I have an idea and that is if people with say a million pounds to spare, start a Bank Account with say someone like Oprah Winfrey and other prominent good people in charge, and just spend the interest. So what if the account holders do not make any interest on their donation they will at least be helping those less fortunate.
 I was listening in 2003 about one child dying each second, and yet I am still hearing this.
 We need progress, not talk,talk,talk.

Is there a way to embed this code in a wordpress.com blog?

 I personally really want to help the people in Sudan and i feel like we barely do anything to help and i am ashamed of the millions of people who dont care, but that does not mean we should ONLY help human beings first and nothing else. No. I feel the exact same about animals and humans. Animals have rights and should be treated the same as humans. There are so many other things too like the environment...and i dont want people to just focus on one thing. Sorry i just needed to say this.

You just need to click on "more" underneath the widget to the right of the comments on this page, and wordpress is one of the options.

Genocide, in Darfur and anywhere it exists, has to be stopped by determined action. We should not consider possible actions by China as a reason to not take action. China has committed genocide and for some reason we have overlooked it and became financially dependent on them. As it is written in the Bible, 1 Peter 5:2 & 5:4 "Be shepards of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers-not because you must, but because you are willing as God wants you to be; not greedy for money but eager to serve...." And when the Chief Shepard appears you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade."

Fellow Humanitarians-

Unfortunately, with less than 1,000 votes, it doesn't appear as if this idea will make it into the top 10 issues that will be presented to the Obama administration. The closest idea that has a chance of making it is the Secretary of Peace, which will be responsible for proactively addressing issues of violence and humanitarian crisis domestically and internationally. If you have any votes left, please vote for the Department of Peace at:
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/appoint_secretary_of_peace_in_department_of_peace_and_non-violence

Genocide, in Darfur and anywhere it exists, has to be stopped by determined action. The crisis in the Sudan has been ignored far too long - action is needed NOW to stop the barbariic violence in Darfur. Take action now.

we need to change this or it can end up to be a holocaust for them... we need to change now!!

My nephew David ANTHONY Martinez passed away on January 1 2009 in Campden County NY.  It's under investigation.  David contributed to this foundation, and because of David, I want you to have all my support, and in return I need you to do a follow up on the investigation of David's death.  Please let me know what I need to do.  With all Due Respect.  J. Martinez AKA AUNT JANICE.

Thank You

I would like to recommend Halima Bashir's book Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur. It's a beautiful & heartwrenching story of tribal life in Darfur both before the genocide began and after the Janjaweed started their reign of terror.  Halima is a trained medical doctor, the first from her village.  Her story is haunting and her courage and stamina inspiring. She spoke out against the systematic rape and murder of the tribal black Africans and became a target. She managed to escape Sudan and sought asylum in England. She is now committed to sharing her story to help the world learn the truth about events in Darfur.

What is happening in Dafur and in other parts of the world is inhumane.   No human being could do to other humans what the world witness every day in this part of the world.  What I would like to see is that these so-called leaders in these countries be removed.  I believe the effort and aid starts here.  The world aid comes, but it is the corrupt leadership that is preventing improvement in these people's lives.  Its painful to watch or hear about.  If we can't change it with our hands, change it with our voice.  If that fails, change it in our hearts.

President Obama: I implore you to keep Darfur near the top of your first year's agenda.

I did not vote for Obama but I hope he stands true to his promise to make Darfur an issue he deals with once he is our President.

Darfur must be one of your highest priorities. We must not allow this to go on.

There is no reason not to aid the people of Darfur,