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Jewish World Review March 18, 2005 / 7 Adar I, 5765 We can't stand by and do nothing By Lenore Skenazy
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Usually I glance at reports about the Darfur genocide the way I glance at ads for "CSI: New York." "Ugh — mangled bodies," goes my mind. "This I don't need." So, in the case of "CSI," I boldly take action. I click off the TV.
In the case of Darfur, however, what is there to do, besides feel bad? And since it feels bad to feel bad, usually I just put it out of my mind. But then, I happened upon a picture of a 3-year-old Darfur boy dead in his bed. His brother, age 5, was too bloodied to show. And STILL I could have managed to ignore the whole thing, except that then my rabbi gave a sermon about a national four-day Darfur letter-writing campaign.
Writing letters sounded pretty lame, but it sounded pretty easy, too, so I called up the coalition behind the gig, Save Darfur. Here are the three things I learned from its coordinator, David Rubenstein:
First: Yes, there is a war going on in Darfur. The government is bombing its own villagers, by helicopter. The government's allies, a group called the Janjaweed, kill the villagers, too, in horrible ways.
Second: The ways. (Feel free to skim this just to get the gist.) The Janjaweed don't just murder. They also tie men to trees and make them watch as they — the Janjaweed — rape the men's wives and daughters. Then the Janjaweed brand everyone in the family, "usually with a machete," says Rubenstein. The Janjaweed also have been known to throw dead livestock — and children — into a village's wells. This poisons the water. The Janjaweed also toss infants into bonfires as their mothers watch. They also —
Third: Enough. You get the picture, so here's what you can do: Join Save Darfur's "100 Hours of Conscience." Through Sunday, you and I are asked to write letters to Congress and the President urging them to "Do something!"
Do what? "The President can solve this by calling the Chinese leadership," contends Rubenstein. China is Sudan's main oil purchaser, so if it demanded reform, Sudan would shape up.
I'm not convinced that's all it would take, but it couldn't hurt. So ask President Bush to ask China to use its influence. Then ask your representatives to press Bush to do so, too. (Names and addresses at savedarfur.org.)
The killing continues in large part because so little pressure is being put on Sudan. In part, that is, because so little pressure is being put on the free world's leaders. And in part that is because you — and I — have yet to pressure them.
To drop a lifesaving note is simple. Almost as simple as turning off "CSI."
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