Defend Darfur Dallas

January 16

Wilkens Fellowship

Director Laura McCarthy has won the Genocide Intervention Network's Carl Wilkens Fellowship!
Out of hundreds of applicants only 20 were selected across the nation.

From GI-NET:

Fellowship Summary Overview

Our vision of a world without genocide begins with the creation of a permanent anti-genocide constituency: a group of educated and empowered Americans who will hold elected officials responsible for their actions to prevent and stop genocide.

Recognizing that conflicts like the ones in Sudan, Burma, and the Congo are symptoms of a larger problem - a world in which genocide is allowed to continue unchecked by world leaders - GI-NET is launching a program designed to foster sustained political will for the prevention and cessation of genocide.

The Carl Wilkens Fellowship Program trains emerging leaders to build lasting networks of citizens who believe that protecting men, women and children from genocide is everyone's responsibility.

Fellowship Details

The Carl Wilkens Fellowship is a selective year-long, part-time program that aims to give a diverse set of individuals at every level of experience the tools and resources to build sustained political will to end genocide. This program is designed to accommodate the schedules of busy people with full-time personal and professional commitments.

Named in honor of Carl Wilkens, the only American to remain in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, the Carl Wilkens Fellowship gives emerging leaders the skills and networks they need to build in their communities sustained political will to end genocide. Over the course of one year, Wilkens Fellows receive:

Leadership training
Conflict and legislative education
Organizing tools and resources
One-on-one and group advising.
The Wilkens Fellowship is designed to fit the schedules of working professionals through five main components:

The Wilkens Fellowship is a year-long program with five main components:

2 weekend retreats in Washington, DC (February and May)
Monthly training calls
One-on-one, peer, and group advising
Participation in GI-NET campaigns
Political and social networking

With the help of international experts, guest trainers and GI-NET staff, the Wilkens Fellowship focuses on training around the following core topics:

Anti-genocide philosophy, vision and values
Legislation and advocacy training
Ongoing conflict education
Grassroots organizing and campaign planning
Fundraising
Communications and messaging

In addition, Wilkens Fellows receive:

$1,500 stipend for the year to use towards organizing events in their communities
Connections to experts, elected officials, and GI-NET staff: Fellows receive the chance to meet , correspond and work regularly with experts, guests, elected officials and GI-NET staff through the retreats, events, and program curriculum over the course of the year.
A social network with other fellows and prominent anti-genocide advocates
Unique opportunities to serve as GI-NET ambassadors to local events.
Ongoing leadership development and networking opportunities including joining the Alumni Program and serving as Peer Advisors to future Wilkens Fellows.




3:59 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

Save Darfur Conference and Tents of Hope Gathering, November 7th - 9th, 2008
Hi Friends,
Here is an article I wrote for the Dallas Peace Times about my trip to the D.C. Save Darfur Conference:

"Tents of Hope: The Gathering of the Tents"
by Laura McCarthy

My trip to Washington, D.C., from November 6th - 9th, 2008, for the Tents of Hope “Gathering of the Tents” and Save Darfur National Conference was an unforgettable experience and an introduction to the world of high-level human rights activism.  As director of the Save Darfur Coalition chapter Defend Darfur Dallas, I was attending the national conference as a representative of our group, and to take advantage of the lectures and activism workshops.  I was also attending to go the the Tents of Hope “Gathering of the Tents” on the National Mall in front of the Capitol Building. 
    For months my group and others collaborated on painting canvas tents with messages of hope as part of a national campaign, called Tents of Hope, to end the violence in Darfur.  The campaign culminated in the creation of a “tent city” on the National Mall, where hundreds of tents were set up to symbolize a refugee camp.  I brought our Defend Darfur Dallas and Dallas Holocaust Museum tent, and I also brought the tent for a Dallas fundraising group that we work with regularly, Art for Darfur.  I traveled with my friend Ashley Epes, director of D.allas A.rtists R.ally F.or U.rgent R.elief (D.A.R.F.U.R.) in Darfur.  She brought two professionally painted tents, both done by artists at Brenda Taylor Productions. 
    I arrived on Wednesday the 6th, in the afternoon and immediately visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum near the National Mall.  While there I viewed the permanent Darfur exhibit, and had the opportunity to meet Helen Goldkind, a Holocaust survivor.  Ms. Goldkind was preparing to leave the museum, but she took the time to tell me her story.  When she was thirteen she was sent from her native Czechoslovakia to Auschwitz.  From Auschwitz she and her sister were sent to a munitions factory near the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to load poisonous gunpowder into ammunition.  Factory conditions were deplorable, with many girls fainting and becoming very ill from poor ventilation.  After working at the munitions factory Ms. Goldkind and her sister were sent to Bergen-Belsen.  She and her sister hid in barrels when the British arrived to liberate the camps on April 15th, 1945.  Ms. Goldkind only remembers a British soldier lifting her from the barrel, and then waking up in a sanatorium.  She spent several months there recovering, and was later reunited with her sister.  Ms. Goldkind volunteers at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum as a survivor speaker.  I mentioned I had come to specifically see the Darfur exhibit, and she told me it was the most important room in the museum.  I also told her about the Save Darfur conference and the Tents of Hope event and she was very pleased, and wished the best for us, and said people like us do a great deal of good in the world. 
    On Friday, Ashley Epes and I attended a protest rally on the sidewalk in front of the Sudanese Embassy.  We listened to Darfuri refugees tell stories of their survival, and also the words of various protesters who talked about their efforts at home to end the genocide.   Ashley and I signed a large scale copy of the ICC indictment of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, along with leaders of other organizations.  The protest leaders and members of the audience read the indictment aloud over the loud speaker.  The lead protesters then attempted to deliver the indictment to the embassy door, but were stopped by guards who had orders to keep protesters off the embassy property.
    Around this time a large number of STAND students arrived, raising everyone’s spirits.  STAND is a national student anti-genocide coalition, and they held a student conference in conjunction with the Save Darfur adult conference.  They marched and cheered and chanted anti-genocide slogans all the way down the street.  Student leaders spoke about student efforts to aid Darfur, and how we had to help the world take notice of the atrocities being committed in Sudan.  They also sang inspirational songs with the crowd.  I spoke to the crowd about the promises of genocide convention of 1948 and the idea of “never again,” and Ashley informed the protesters of Save Darfur and Genocide Intervention Network’s efforts to deliver one million postcards to President Obama on his election day asking him to make Darfur a priority from day one.  She distributed postcards throughout the crowd.  After that Ashley and I departed the rally to register for the Save Darfur conference. 
    Friday evening after registering for the conference, my sister Lisa Allen and I attended the salon discussion featuring Dr. Gary Bass, author of “Freedom’s Battle” and Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, and Jerry Fowler, President of the Save Darfur Coalition.  Dr. Bass gave us some interesting background on the history of humanitarian intervention, that the British intervened in the Ottoman slaughter of the Greeks around 1820, and sunk the Ottoman fleet in 1827.  Dr. Bass had also recently returned from China on a trip to understand the Chinese view of the genocide in Darfur and the human rights violations there.
    Once the discussion ended my sister and I left to join Ashley Epes at the Civilian Art Projects gallery to listen to Brian Steidle and his sister Gretchen Steidle Wallace discuss their current work for Darfur.  Ms. Wallace is the Founder and President of Global Grassroots, an organization that assists women victims of genocide to rebuild their lives.  Brian Steidle is most well-known for his term as an African Union military observer in Darfur at the early stages of the genocide.  The photographs and his eyewitness account of the events in Darfur ran in the New York Times and helped bring the conflict to the forefront of international consciousness.  “The Devil Came on Horseback” is both a book and a documentary about Mr. Steidle’s experiences.  We were lucky enough to meet Mr. Steidle and Ms. Wallace, and spoke briefly about the Tents of Hope Gathering.  It turned out the Steidles and some friends had painted a tent and were going to the event as well.  They were both very personable people with an obvious commitment to human rights work, and I was very happy to have had the opportunity to meet them.
    On Saturday morning Ashley and I went to the Save Darfur conference to listen to John Prendergast speak about the ongoing crisis in Darfur.  One thing that Mr. Prendergast stated became a common refrain during the weekend.  He said the political climate in Washington D.C. is more favorable than ever to make progress on ending the genocide in Darfur and passing new legislation, but without the public’s interest, the politicians can’t do anything.  I attended two lectures after that, the first one about in-district lobbying, and the second about grass roots public relations.  Both were very interesting and informative, especially for someone who doesn’t have any background on this kind of work.  The most important thing I learned was that there was a lot I didn’t know, and that this kind of education at the conference is invaluable for an activist!
    After lunch I left for the Tents of Hope Gathering on the National Mall.  On the way I made the acquaintance of Roger Winter, anti-genocide activist and former state department Special Representative to Sudan.  He had just addressed the students of STAND, and was on the way to the metro as well.  I was reminded once again of how blessed I was just to attend this conference with so many knowledgeable experts and leaders.
    I volunteered back in September to be in charge of the children’s art activities for Tents of Hope.  Before the weekend, numerous family members and friends helped me cut out cardboard shields and paper masks for children to decorate with markers and rafia.  My son’s elementary school art teacher, Brenda Fee, taught me about these techniques she used in class to make African Wind Spirit masks.   My sister Lisa, a resident of D.C. and a state department employee, kindly volunteered to run the art activities so I could attend the first part of the Save Darfur conference.  By the time I arrived to assist the National Mall was filled with hundreds of people there to take advantage of the Tents of Hope event and the beautiful weather.  Musicians played on a stage set up at the front of the Mall, new tents were painted, and various booths were set up to distribute information, including Amnesty International and Darfur Peace and Development.  Many children stopped by to make masks and shields throughout the day, and we ran out of supplies just as the event ended at dusk.  My sister and I were worn out but exhilarated at the success of the event.
    Sunday morning I had the opportunity to listen to a large group of Darfuri refugee men speak in a small private setting with other Save Darfur conference attendees.  Their accounts of the atrocities and their gratefulness for our work and presence at the conference were humbling for me.  Would I have been so strong if I lost everything and I knew my family was dead or didn’t know what had happened to many of them?  Their faith in our ability to help them greatly increased my determination to continue our work here in Dallas.
    Later I attended a meeting of all Southwest activist groups.  I met a number of STAND students and Save Darfur groups from San Antonio and Phoenix.  Our Texas crowd decided to put together a “Lobby Day” in Austin to go meet with Senator John Cornyn, who is on the Armed Services Committee, and has a say in military policies and funding, such as whether or not we give helicopters to UNAMID for use in Darfur.   That meeting is currently in the works and is scheduled for sometime in late February to early March.
    I ended the day at the Tents of Hope closing ceremonies, the most important part of the Gathering.  Attendees held lights and sang hymns in a message of solidarity, and we said goodbye to our tents before they traveled to Darfur to be used as classrooms for refugees.  As I rode the metro to the airport, I realized I had experienced something very special that weekend.  The things I learned and the people I met will help Defend Darfur Dallas improve even more as an activist group, and hopefully that will translate into greater Dallas-area awareness of the genocide in Darfur.  As John Prendergast said, our politicians will not do anything without our demand for change.  We are the ones who have to make a difference.

Laura McCarthy
Director
Defend Darfur Dallas
   


3:45 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

November 05

Save Darfur's Darfur Daily News
Daily News: Wednesday, November 5, 2008
 
Bloomberg: Obama's Win Raises Expectations of Poor, Minorities (Update1). Barack Obama's election as the first black U.S. president was feted worldwide as the ultimate breakthrough for minorities, the poor and the dispossessed, buttressing faith in American democracy and upward mobility. Abdellatif El-Boni, a political science professor at Omdurman University in Sudan , said "Obamism" could inspire a mood of reconciliation in places like Sudan 's strife-torn Darfur region, where as many as 300,000 people have been killed and close to 3 million forced from their homes.

Daily Press Briefing

UNITED NATIONS
The noon briefing included the following report:

UNAMID DELIVERS MORE EQUIPMENT TO DARFUR
-The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) reports that UNAMID police undertook yesterday their ninth convoy from the UN Logistics Base in El Obeid to Darfur to bring much needed equipment and vehicles to the mission area.
 
-The convoy comprised 39 vehicles, including seven trucks of contingent-owned equipment and three trucks of humanitarian relief.
 
-The 900-kilometer journey took place over some of the worst terrain in the region, particularly during the rainy season.
 
-The mission says these convoys are also an opportunity for UNAMID police to make contact with the local population along the route, as well as develop better working relations with the local police.
 


1:26 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

Save Darfur's Darfur Daily News
Daily News: Tuesday, November 04, 2008
 
Associated Press: US may airlift African peacekeepers to Darfur. The U.S. envoy for Africa said Monday that Washington was ready to airlift as many as 4,000 peacekeepers, including Ethiopians and Egyptians, for the joint U.N.-African Union mission to Darfur . The mission started deploying in Darfur in January but remains at less than half of its 26,000 authorized capacity, and has complained of Sudanese government stonewalling and transport problems.
 
Reuters: US praises Sudan for speeding Darfur peacekeeper roll-out. A senior U.S. official on Monday praised Sudan for speeding up the deployment of peacekeepers in Darfur but stopped short of saying it had done enough to win support over a war crimes probe. The top U.S. diplomat for African, Jendayi Frazer, struck a rare positive note saying Khartoum had shown "energy" and more flexibility in getting international troops into Sudan 's violent west. But the United States still needed to see more action on the ground to resolve the five-year conflict, Frazer told reporters at the end of a two-day trip to Sudan .
 
Reuters: Sudan Journalists In Hunger Strike Over Censorship. More than 150 Sudanese journalists and support staff Tuesday started a 24-hour hunger strike to protest against censorship by state security services, media executives said. They added three opposition newspapers would shut down for three days, and writers from other publications would withdraw their columns to highlight a growing crackdown on media. "We are being censored every day," said Ajras al-Huriya newspaper's general manager Saleh Ahmed Mohammed Elhag at the protest launch. The daily Ajras al-Huriya is closely linked to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the main political party in the south and part of a national coalition government set up after the peace deal.

Daily Press Briefing: Monday, November 3, 2008

STATE DEPARTMENT
The daily press briefing conducted by Robert Wood, Deputy State Department Spokesman, mentioned the following about Darfur :
 
QUESTION: Jendayi Frazer is at – apparently in Khartoum today? What is she doing there?
MR. WOOD: That’s correct. She is in Khartoum . She’s meeting with Sudanese Government officials, talking about the Comprehensive Peace Agreement as well as Darfur .
QUESTION: Why?
MR. WOOD: Why? Because they’re important issues and we want to see the situation improve on the ground.
QUESTION: And is there, you know, some hope or there are some discussions right now or –
MR. WOOD: Well, she’s going to have discussions with officials –
QUESTION: Was there something scheduled or –
MR. WOOD: This was an update in the schedule. I just found out about it this morning that that’s where she is, so once we get a little bit more detail, we’ll be happy to provide that.
QUESTION: Okay.
 
UN
The highlights of the noon briefing conducted by Michelle Montas, Spokesperson for Secretary Ban Ki-moon, did not mention Darfur .
 
UN News released the following story:
 
Worsening violence deepens humanitarian crisis in Chad , UN relief wing warns
 
3 November 2008 – Volatile security conditions and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the area around Dogdor in eastern Chad threaten the lives of 26,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), United Nations humanitarian officials warned today.
 
“Humanitarian operations remain suspended in Dogdor, with the exception of urgent activities such as responses to medical emergencies and the provision of drinking water,” said Philippe Verstraeten of the Office of the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Chad .
 
A number of aid agencies suspended almost all operations last month, affecting the provision of health services, the supply of clean water, and the delivery of nutritional supplements among other activities aimed at assisting the most vulnerable.
 
Eastern Chad currently shelters 315,000 refugees – the majority being Sudanese escaping from the conflict in Darfur – and 180,000 IDPs, all of whom depend on aid to survive.
 
The humanitarian agencies have pleaded with the Government to provide security to their staff and assets while asking the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad , known as MINURCAT, to reinforce its presence in those areas closest to Chad ’s eastern border with the Sudan , including Dogdor.
 
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes also urged the Government to “step up its efforts to improve security conditions in those areas, in the interest of the protection of civilians, so that full-scale humanitarian operations may soon resume.”
 
“I call on the Government of Chad to work closely with humanitarians on these issues, and I furthermore call on all belligerent parties to allow humanitarian activities to continue without hindrance,” added Mr. Holmes, who is also Emergency Relief Coordinator.
 
Mr. Holmes is slated to travel to Chad later this year amid a humanitarian crisis that is affecting over half a million refugees and IDPs and shows no sign of receding.
 


5:03 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

Dallas Morning News Blog
From Jeff Weiss's Religion Blog:

'Tents of hope' for Darfur -- after the election, the genocide will still be going on
8:57 AM Mon, Nov 03, 2008
Jeffrey Weiss 

From my e-box:
A number of groups, including the Dallas Peace Center , the Holocaust Museum , Art for Darfur , and Defend Darfur Dallas have been participating in a year-long national project called Tents of Hope. People from all over Dallas , church youth groups, high school students, etc., have been painting our two refugee-style canvas tents to send a message of hope to the people of Darfur . The tents will travel to Washington , D.C. for a "Gathering" on November 7th-9th. The tents will be set up on the National Mall in front of the Capitol Building to raise awareness of the crisis. At the same time the Save Darfur Activist Leadership Conference and the STAND Student Leadership Conference will take place nearby. The tents will then travel to Darfur to be used as classrooms.
The outfit that's quarterbacking the local effort is Defend Darfur Dallas. The national Tents of Hope project itself is here. Tents of Hope is asking for individual congregations to participate in an "Interfaith Weekend of Prayer and Action for Sudan" on November 7-9. Read about it here, including an explanation of how to join in.

Nothing else seems to have worked. Maybe tents and prayers will help.


4:58 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)