Spring Break
Time to step in
Mary Dixon
Issue date: 11/4/08 Section: Opinion
When you hear people discuss genocide, odds are you envision the holocaust. But sadly, genocide is not a thing of the past. Case in point: Darfur.
Darfur has been completely neglected. The people in this region had very little food, and even less water. When these people saw they had nothing else to lose, they attempted to save themselves, and their fellow neighbors, by fighting back.
In February of 2003, two local rebel groups from the Darfur region of Sudan incited an uprising against the mainly Arab government in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. The government was accused of oppressing non-Arab people, as well as completely neglecting Darfur. When the uprising began to take hold, the government feared that other regions of Sudan would take a cue from them as well, so they hired the Janjaweed militia privately to erase the problem altogether. The government has denied ties to the Janjaweed militia; however, records show that on several occasions they provided them with large amounts of money. The militia is comprised of locally recruited Arab men, along with the Sudanese military. The militia members go from tribe to tribe, employing a scorched-earth campaign. Women and children are raped, tortured and killed on a daily basis. They steal anything of value, poison the water supply and burn villages to the ground. To date, approximately 400,000 people have been killed, and nearly 2 million people have been displaced from their homes.
Yet, how often do you hear about this? A few commercials here and there have been aired on TV, and a tribute CD has been produced. However, this small amount of attention is not enough to truly address this issue. I've sat through hours and hours of history classes that have expressed the dire need to always remember history so it does not repeat itself. So, why has nothing been done to help the millions of people who not only need, but WANT, our help? As a nation of educated people I feel it's our duty as human beings to do whatever we can to learn from past mistakes and help the nation of Sudan.
I am certainly not the first person to have thought of this idea. STAND is an umbrella organization made of over 600 colleges and high schools who hope to stamp out genocide, specifically in Darfur. They conduct various activities in order to raise money to donate to this cause, and are always doing what they can to spread awareness.
The crisis in Darfur is not going to correct itself. The groups conducting the genocide in the country are paid by the government, and literally have complete control over all the civilians. These people witness things that our sheltered eyes have never laid eyes upon. Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General, has called it "a little short of hell on earth." So instead of looking the other way, get active and help your fellow man!
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
Darfur has been completely neglected. The people in this region had very little food, and even less water. When these people saw they had nothing else to lose, they attempted to save themselves, and their fellow neighbors, by fighting back.
In February of 2003, two local rebel groups from the Darfur region of Sudan incited an uprising against the mainly Arab government in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. The government was accused of oppressing non-Arab people, as well as completely neglecting Darfur. When the uprising began to take hold, the government feared that other regions of Sudan would take a cue from them as well, so they hired the Janjaweed militia privately to erase the problem altogether. The government has denied ties to the Janjaweed militia; however, records show that on several occasions they provided them with large amounts of money. The militia is comprised of locally recruited Arab men, along with the Sudanese military. The militia members go from tribe to tribe, employing a scorched-earth campaign. Women and children are raped, tortured and killed on a daily basis. They steal anything of value, poison the water supply and burn villages to the ground. To date, approximately 400,000 people have been killed, and nearly 2 million people have been displaced from their homes.
Yet, how often do you hear about this? A few commercials here and there have been aired on TV, and a tribute CD has been produced. However, this small amount of attention is not enough to truly address this issue. I've sat through hours and hours of history classes that have expressed the dire need to always remember history so it does not repeat itself. So, why has nothing been done to help the millions of people who not only need, but WANT, our help? As a nation of educated people I feel it's our duty as human beings to do whatever we can to learn from past mistakes and help the nation of Sudan.
I am certainly not the first person to have thought of this idea. STAND is an umbrella organization made of over 600 colleges and high schools who hope to stamp out genocide, specifically in Darfur. They conduct various activities in order to raise money to donate to this cause, and are always doing what they can to spread awareness.
The crisis in Darfur is not going to correct itself. The groups conducting the genocide in the country are paid by the government, and literally have complete control over all the civilians. These people witness things that our sheltered eyes have never laid eyes upon. Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General, has called it "a little short of hell on earth." So instead of looking the other way, get active and help your fellow man!
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
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