Letters 4/21/05

Recently I read an article in the Wall Street Journal regarding the situation in Darfur, a region in the African country of Sudan.
I was sitting in an airport terminal, very comfortable and safe, waiting for my plane. As I read the article my contentment quickly faded as tears ran down my face and I felt sick as the article described the horrors and genocide going on in Darfur right now. I felt uninformed and guilty for not knowing what has been going on for so long.
It has been estimated that upwards of 220,000 people have been the victims of genocide, although the U.N. has been blocked by the Sudanese government to enter the country and make an estimate.
The Sudanese-backed militia, the Janjaweed, is responsible. As stated by the archives of the African Union the goal is to “change the demography of Darfur and make it void of African tribes” ...” the Janjaweed encourages killing, torture, burning villages and confiscating property” to force the Darfurians from their homes and land in an attempt to rid the area of non-Arabs. They are also attacking members of the Fur, Massaleit and Zaghawa ethnic groups.
Amnesty International reports “the violence against civilians breached not only international human rights standards but also appears to be an intentional attempt to humiliate and destroy the social fabric of communities.”
Although one-sixth of the Darfur people have fled the country, many more are in death camps with insufficient water, shelter, food, medical care or sanitation.
The reporter obtained four photographs from the African Union in hopes that by publishing them that “Americans would be moved from their complacency.”
The first photo showed the corpse of a child with his five-year-old brother next to him who had been so badly beaten that his face was unrecognizable. People are found shot, tortured and raped. One picture showed the skeleton of a man or woman with bound wrists and clothes down around their knees so they could be sexually abused before they were killed. Men are usually castrated and woman raped.
The archives contain thousands of photos. Young girls are gang raped and mutilated or killed. Some are buried alive. The Journal reporter didn’t publish some pictures of children as they were too horrific.
President Bush, Congress and the European Parliament have declared genocide to be going on. How can this be stopped? There can be political leverage by the U.S. and U.N. as well as other countries. The Wall Street Journal reporter believes that indignation by the American people may truly help but our response has been practically non-existent.
We can all be guilty of doing nothing because we feel so overwhelmed by what we see or read that we feel powerless and think that our one small action won’t mean anything. But I believe that if some of you who read this, pass this information on, write a check, write to your Congressman or woman or President Bush that as a whole we can make a difference.
Mother Theresa’s famous statement of “We can do no great things, but we can do small things with great love” is a way for one single human to help save the world. You absolutely can make a difference by doing one thing.
What made me realize that maybe I could do something is a quote from the late Senator Paul Simon in the same Wall Street Journal regarding the Rwandan crises a few years ago which seems so similar to what is happening in Darfur. He said, “If every member of the House and Senate had received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, when the crises was first developing, then I think the response would have been different.”
What we as individuals can do is to logon to www. savedarfur. org or www.darfurgenocide.org. I’m sure that these websites will move you to do some thing, one thing. These websites contain sample letters to send to our President as well as our Congressmen and women along with other ways to help. If you would like to make a donation write a check to CFNCR/Save Darfur Fund and send it to Save Darfur Coalition, 1000 Connecticut Ave.N.W., Suite 802, Washington, D.C. 20036.

Sherry Passeno • Cheboygan

Truly ignorant
Bob Downes‘ Random Thoughts April 7, “Where’s a congressman when you need one?” is riddled with name-calling and the worst of what journalism has to offer. I take issue with many things in this article but in particular the idea that the religious right was pulling the strings of our Congress in the Terri Schiavo case. He didn’t even spell her name correctly.
Never before have human rights or civil liberties been so blatantly trampled on in such a public way in America. Terri Schiavo never had a chance to speak for herself to defend her life. She was presumed to want to starve to death because of a passing comment she made with her husband. He was speaking for her. Clearly he had conflicting interests.
Before you go accusing the religious right of anything on this issue you may want to consider their company. I would hardly call Ralph Nader a member of the religious right. He recently stated that, “The court is imposing process over justice,” In a recent report with Wesley Smith (attorney and author) they state, “The courts .. . have [also] ordered that no attempts be made to provide her water or food by mouth. Terri swallows her own saliva. Spoon feeding is not medical treatment. This outrageous order proves that the courts are not merely permitting medical treatment to be withheld, they have ordered her to be made dead.”
And you may want to consider the droves of disabled Americans who are very concerned about this. In fact I read a quote from a disabled, agnostic, lesbian who said that she would much rather have a religious Republican speak for her than the ACLU. That brings me to the Village Voice, a publication that no doubt has inspired you to some degree and perhaps the most widely known alternative weekly magazine. I read one of the most compelling articles from them by Nat Hentoff dated March 29th 2005 titled “Terri Schiavo: Judicial Murder: Her crime was being disabled, voiceless, and at the disposal of our media.“
Mr. Hentoff makes the case for outrage at how this woman was sentenced to death for committing no crime and in fact a death row prisoner would have been given greater justice than Terri Schiavo. Mr. Hentoff writes as an atheist and no one has ever accused the Village Voice for being right leaning.
I often find that people with no understanding of an issue will resort to name-calling and other distraction methods so their readers won’t know that they are truly ignorant.

Brian M. Ursu • Cedar

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