It’s no secret that high school students are busy. Classes, friends, sports, applying to college – it’s enough to occupy anyone. What is extraordinary is that all across the country, students are dedicating their time to bring peace to Darfur.

The Dollars for Darfur program is proof of how generous and effective young people can be, and how importantly they view the crisis in Darfur. The students who devote their time to this cause remind us of what each person can achieve, and recently, several have been acknowledged for their hard work.

This month Ana Slavin and Nick Anderson, aged 18 and 19 respectively, were honored with a Global Action Award by Mercy Corps for founding the program as juniors in high school. Their enthusiasm and commitment kindled a nationwide effort that has engaged thousands of students and inspired them to speak out for the Darfuri people.

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Because 9 Team Darfur athletes were listed as such by the Chinese government in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics. Yesterday, USA Today broke the story that:

China’s government was so concerned about the possibility of athlete demonstrations in the Beijing Olympics that it created a list of nine U.S. athletes and one assistant coach it thought might cause trouble at the Games, according to an internal U.S. Olympic Committee e-mail obtained by USA TODAY…

The list was given to USOC officials in a July 8 meeting by Shu Xiao, minister counselor for cultural affairs at the Chinese embassy in Washington, according to the e-mail.

You can read the whole e-mail here, but apparently:

“The subject matter had to do with information the Chinese have received regarding the intention of certain members of the U.S. Olympic team to stage some sort of demonstration at the Games, perhaps displaying banners or wearing apparel or wrist bands bearing political slogans,” the e-mail stated. It added that Shu said “many of them” were “apparently associated with Team Darfur,” an international coalition of athletes committed to raising awareness about the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

It’s scary to know you’re on a target list, but instead of being scared, Team Darfur athletes were flattered:

“This may be the biggest compliment of my life,” Wambach, a member of Team Darfur, said in a phone interview when informed of the list. “If they’re worried about us, maybe we do have more strength as athletes and as people to speak out. This just gives me more empowerment.”

“It doesn’t surprise me but it makes me laugh,” said Mendoza, who also is president-elect of the Women’s Sports Foundation. “We’re not burning our shirts and ranting and raving. We’re just trying to help thousands of people from dying.”

Cheri Blauwett, a Paralympic gold medalist who was also on the list, told me:

“As Olympic and Paralympic athletes, we understand that we have a voice, and as members of Team Darfur, we have chosen to utilize this voice to support a global movement to bring about peace in Sudan. Through bringing us together in action, we can provide support for negotiations and multilateral government intervention that promote the end of fighting in the Darfur region and surrounding conflict zones. Our support of peace should not be subject to censorship, but rather, be applauded as an example of athletes acting to promote peace and international cooperation.”

Unfortunately, American athletes weren’t the only ones targeted. Athletes from 5 other countries reported to Team Darfur that Chinese government officials approached their Olympic committees asking them to “encourage” the athletes to leave Team Darfur before attending the Games. The USOC was one of the only Olympic Committees, however, to so forcefully stand up for their athletes.

In addition, Team Darfur’s President - Joey Cheek - and two other Team Darfur members had their visas revoked right before they were supposed to attend the Games in non-competing capacities. The world-wide pattern of the Chinese Government targeting athletes who had no plans to break IOC rules or openly protest, simply because the Government was so scared their connection to the Sudanese government would come out, should encourage us all to ask: what was the Chinese government so afraid of? Some world-class athletes talking about foreign policy? Or, that their support for ongoing genocide would be revealed?

Photo: Joey Cheek in front of the Chinese Embassy.

I’m often caught off guard by the number of people I meet who aren’t aware of the crisis in Darfur. These interactions — however surprising — serve as a great reminder that there’s much we can all do to spread awareness and build a movement that brings peace to Darfur and all Sudan.

I’ve recently spread the word using the video below. A quick email, blog posting, or note on Facebook with a link to the video encourages friends and family to “Be a Voice for Darfur” - as part of Save Darfur Coalition’s campaign to collect and deliver 1 million signed postcards to the next president.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTSaD-XLuBk

In less than two weeks, Americans will select the next president who is responsible for taking strong actions on Darfur.

We’ve set a goal of collecting 20,000 new postcards for the next president before Election Day.

A stack of urgent messages from Darfur activists will be waiting for him when he sits down in the Oval Office in January. Make sure yours is among them. Send your postcard, and be one of 20,000 new voices for peace.

We’ve come such a long way with your help. People are alive today in Darfur because we raised our voices together. And your consistent work has sparked strong words on Darfur from our nation’s leaders. Look at what we’ve accomplished just this year:

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Through the Tents of Hope project, communities across the United States and abroad have transformed simulated refugee tents into unique works of art to express their compassion and desire for peace in Darfur. The tents are decorated with a variety of images and scenes conceived and painted on the tents by individuals from all walks of life and backgrounds. More than 300 tents will be erected on the National Mall on November 7-9, 2008. Weekend activities will include a rally on Sunday, November 9, music, children’s activities, panels and workshops.

For information, contact Amber Neuroth –  tentsofhopedarfur@gmail.com, 202-470-3226

Human Rights Watch today labeled the Sudanese government’s probe on Darfur crimes as “window dressing” and a clear attempt to halt the proceedings of the International Criminal Court.

“The Sudanese government is putting up more window dressing as part of its ongoing effort to block the investigations of the International Criminal Court,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“No one should be fooled by these moves,” she added.

[...]

“Even if the government were serious about prosecuting Kosheib, limitations in Sudanese law mean that he could not be tried for the full range of crimes… that have been committed in Darfur,” said Gagnon.

The full Agence France-Presse story is available here.

Professor Gary J. Bass of Princeton University, author of the critically-acclaimed Freedom’s Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention, will be our special guest salon discussant at the upcoming Darfur Activist Leaders Conference in Washington, DC from November 7-9. Bass is associate professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University. He is also the author of Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals. A former reporter for The Economist, he has written for The New York Times, as well as The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and Foreign Affairs.

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In response to yesterday’s launch of President al-Bashir’s “People’s Initiative for Sudan” conference, Save Darfur released the following policy statement:

The Save Darfur Coalition views President Omar al-Bashir’s “People’s Initiative for Sudan” as yet another attempt to distract Sudanese and international attention from real solutions to the violence and suffering in Darfur.  These “fig leaf” efforts clearly are designed to build support in the international community to oppose the issuance of an arrest warrant for President Bashir by the International Criminal Court and have no connection to stopping the killing in Darfur.

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Halima Bashir, a physician from Darfur and recent author of the memoir Tears of the Desert, was a guest this morning on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show. During the interview, she described her life in Darfur, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, and the challenges she has faced since fleeing her homeland for England. You can listen to the interview here.

The Post-Gazette yesterday covered the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition’s involvement in the Tents of Hope campaign, along with the myriad other initiatives in which they have been involved. The mission of the Tents of Hope project is to support a one-year process in which people respond as communities to the crisis in Darfur by creating tents that are both unique works of art and ongoing focal points within communities for learning about, assisting and establishing relationships with the people of Sudan. An excerpt of the article appears below.

Pittsburgh residents’ efforts to focus international attention on the genocide in Darfur might seem relatively simple — a painted tent, a signed postcard, a protest bus trip to Washington, D.C. — but they mean everything to the war’s victims, according to a Darfuri activist with the national Save Darfur Coalition.

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