Activists “Pledge 2 Protect” in Washington DC

Originally posted on Blog for Darfur.

This weekend the Save Darfur Coalition joined the Pledge2Protect conference here in Washington, DC.  Hosted by STAND: The Sudent Anti-Genocide Coalition, Save Darfur and the Enough Project, the conference sought to create an experience for participants that will empower them to become stronger leaders on their campuses and in their communities while demonstrating the strength of the movement to end genocide to policymakers on Capitol Hill.

Save Darfur hosted the Sudan Plenary, which featured NSC Senior Director for African Affairs Michelle Gavin, author Bec Hamilton, physician and professor at al-Fasher University and former Director at Amel Center for torture victims in Darfur Dr. Mohammed Abdallah, Representative Mike Capuano (MA-08) and Save Darfur Coalition President Jerry Fowler.

During the plenary, Representative McGovern told the conference attendees,  “Everyone in this hall is essential to peace… To ending genocide. You are the engine, the energy” and instructed them: “you need to make sure your representative knows this matters to you!”

Michelle Gavin said she was “energized by this gathering” and told the audience:  “you have one of the most important roles in this important time period we’re in now” for Sudan.  Gavin also noted that “history shows us when activists come together on key issues we become closer to the America we want to be” and asked that activists “help [the government] keep focused on the fact that what needs to change is the situation on the ground in Sudan.”

The Internet + Genocide: The Good, The Bad, The Questionable

Originally posted at Stop Genocide.

The internet.  One of the best things about it is that anyone with a connection and a computer can use it to spread ideas, learn and connect with other people.  One of the scariest things?  Anyone with a connection and a computer can use it to spread ideas, learn and connect with other people.

Michelle recently highlighted some of the innovative ways that people are harnassing the internet to map conflict to better study and prevent it.  (That’s the good).

On the other end of the spectrum, the “Balloon Boy” national fascination late last week took a particularly odd and nasty turn when it revealed that instead of floating away with his father’s experiment, the boy had instead been hiding in the attic.  Thousands upon thousands of Twitter users repeated a short “joke” turning the other recent national fascination, Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift, into variations on:

“Yo, Balloon Boy. I’m really happy for you and Imma let you finish, but Anne Frank had the best hiding place of ALL TIME!”

That one person wrote this — let alone that so many people decided that something like this was worth repeating — is clearly the bad.

And the questionable?  Last week the Polish authority that manages Auschwitz created a Facebook page for the memorial. A spokesman said:

Sudan Policy Review

Washington Post

“The new U.S. policy, which will be formally unveiled Monday, calls for a campaign of “pressure and incentives” to cajole the government in Khartoum into pursuing peace in the troubled Darfur region, settling disputes with the autonomous government in southern Sudan and providing the United States greater cooperation in stemming international terrorism, according to administration officials briefed on the plan. It also provides Khartoum with a path to improved relations with the United States if it begins to address long-standing U.S. concerns.” “From now on, the United States will maintain that genocide “is taking place” in Darfur, officials said.”

New York Times

““To advance peace and security in Sudan, we must engage with allies and with those with whom we disagree,” said a statement of the policy that was obtained by The New York Times.”

AP

“The announcement is planned to show unity within the Obama administration.”
“the new policy is designed to bring Khartoum into the fold by offering incentives for improved relations for improvements in the situation in Darfur as well as in southern Sudan, which will hold a referendum on succession scheduled to take place in 2011″

Reuters

“The U.S. official said he did not expect direct talks with Bashir, but that “my understanding is that the administration is not planning any immediate lifting of sanctions.” The intent was to test Khartoum’s willingness to take steps to end the conflict in Darfur and implement a 2005 North-South peace agreement on a specific timeline before there is any move toward dropping sanctions, the official said.”

Save Darfur will be monitoring the release and advocacy opportunities and posting regularly on our blog.  To see our past posts on this, including a “what we’re looking for” series from over the summer, please visit www.blogfordarfur.org

We’ll also be comparing the policy review to our checklist for an effective Sudan strategy, which you can find at http://savedarfur.org/pages/checklist

Axioms for Organizers

“Don’t waste time fighting the competition; use that time to fight the issues and win and that will take care of the competition.”

“We educate people in order to organize them.  We don’t organize people in order to educate them.”

“Good organizers never give up – they get the opposition to do that.”

“Usually those who can spare a little time for the cause are actually ready to give it all if only someone would ask them.”

“A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire.”

Axioms for Organizers, by Fred Ross Sr.

Organizers

“Every effective organizer I’ve ever known has had this talent: the ability to listen to people, rather than spin them or demonize them. Organizers don’t seek personal glory, they help other people lead and be recognized for that leadership.” – DEEPAK BHARGAVA

The Worst Insult

Originally posted at Stop Genocide

Calling someone a Nazi is one of the worst insults out there.  Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most pervasive in our culture.  From the famous (satirical) Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” to recent political protests, calling someone a Nazi is the go-to way to convey how mean or unfair or overbearing someone is.

Now, the insult has returned – this time resurfacing in the healthcare debate.

Rush Limbaugh recently laid out all the reasons why Democrats are just like Nazis (via the LA Times):

Well, the Nazis were against big business — they hated big business. And of course we all know that they were opposed to Jewish capitalism. They were insanely, irrationally against pollution. They were for two years mandatory voluntary service to Germany. They had a whole bunch of make-work projects to keep people working [...] They were for abortion and euthanasia of the undesirables, as we all know, and they were for cradle-to-grave nationalized healthcare.

Now I understand that it feels like calling someone a Nazi – or line by line “comparing” their policies with those of the Nazis – makes a powerful point.  Except that it doesn’t.  Really, it only does it minimize the horrific suffering inflicted on the millions the Nazis terrorized and killed.  And it’s not a particularly effective rhetorical device.

As Fox News notes (while discussing how some Democrats have described protesters’ as using “brownshirt tactics”):

But an axiom in political strategy states that whoever uses the Hitler comparison generally doesn’t win the debate — unless he’s participating in a debate about Nazis.

And Mike Godwin made clear in Wired over a decade ago:

once a discussion reaches a comparison to Nazis or Hitler, its usefulness is over[.]

I say let’s keep it that way.

Photo from the Sam Stein on the Huffington Post.