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Carl Wilkens Fellowship Network in Motion in Connecticut

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

Carl Wilkens and Cynthia Davis

Yesterday the Westport News published a feature article about 2011 Carl Wilkens Fellow Cynthia Davis and her Sudan Canvas Project. A decorative artist and seasoned community organizer, Cynthia founded the Sudan Canvas Project as an effort to raise awareness about and funds for women in South Sudan. In her work as a Carl Wilkens Fellow, Cynthia also continues to bridge the gap between educating and activating her community to advocate for peace in all of Sudan. “Each individual voice does make a difference in the decisions made by our Members of Congress,” she said.

It is with this mandate in mind that Cynthia is partnering with STAND chapters from Amity and Trumbull High Schools and the Jewish Federation of Fairfield County in hosting Carl Wilkens, the namesake of the Fellowship program, on Monday evening in Connecticut.

Carl Wilkens believes strongly that “one person can make a difference” and that popular groundswells for change are born when individuals “look outside of “themselves” and reach out” to one another. “We need to live for each other,” he has said. Together with Cynthia, Carl will share his story of how one “ordinary” person can affect extraordinary change.

The event with Carl Wilkens will be held at the Jewish Community Center of Eastern Fairfield County at 4200 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, CT on Monday, May 23 at 7:30pm. The event is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Cynthia Davis at Cynthia@Cynthiadesigns.com.

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Ryan Gosling and John Prendergast blog for the Congo

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

Actor Ryan Gosling and John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project, recently returned from a trip to the Congo where they spoke with survivors living in refugee and IDP camps.

The war in the Congo is the deadliest war in the world. Throughout the conflict, civilians have been the targets of killings, torture, and rape. It is estimated that over 5 million people have been killed in this war and over 1 million have been displaced.  Many believe that this conflict has been driven, in large part, by illegal exploitation of Congo’s natural resources: tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. These minerals are used in products we use daily,  such as our cell phones and laptops.

Gosling and Prendergast are raising awareness about conflict minerals with the Raise Hope for Congo Campaign. The campaign is asking people to demand conflict-free products from electronic companies. It also encourages students to lead efforts to create conflict free campuses.

To help out, read the blog post Gosling and Prendergast have written for the Huffington Post and spread the word about their efforts on Twitter by tweeting @ryangosling, it’s time to “Raise Hope for Congo” – http://vimeo.com/22243103.

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University of South Florida Premieres “What the Heart Remembers: The Women and Children of Darfur”

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Tonight, the University of South Florida will premiere an original theatre piece, by USF Professors Jeanne Travers and  Fanni Green,  entitled What the Heart Remembers: The Women and Children of Darfur. Travers and Green found inspiration in the stories and drawings of Darfuri refugees, which had been collected by the human rights group Waging Peace on a fact finding mission in Chad in 2007.   This piece attempts to communicate the experiences of these women and children living in refugee camps to American audiences through not only the script but  music and dance.

Following each performances will be a symposium featuring various speakers.  Click Here for more information about the What the Heart Remembers and the schedule of speakers.

What the Heart Remembers: The Women and Children of Darfur will perform Nov. 16-20 at 8pm, and Nov. 20 and 21 at 3pm, in Theatre 2.  Advance tickets are $8 for students and seniors and $12 general admission; day-of-show tickets are $10 for students/seniors and $15 for general admission.  For information, call the College of The Arts box office at 813-974-2323, or visit online at http://www.arts.usf.edu/.

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Rebecca Tinsley, founder of Waging Peace and Network for Africa, appeared as the USF Libraries Holocaust & Genocide Studies Center’s 2009 Lecture Series inaugural speaker, a visit that inspired the creation of What the Heart Remembers: The Women and Children of Darfur.

Posted in Activism, Books, Art, Music & Film, Students | No Comments »

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ACJPS: Sudan Human Rights Monitor

Friday, June 25th, 2010

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies recently released their Sudan Human Rights Monitor report for December 2009 through May 2010. The report contains numerous accounts of human right violations against protesters, opposition’s leaders, and all kinds of freedom of expression. One example:

“On 24 May, an unknown armed group broke up an engagement party in the female dormitories at the request of a dormitory supervisor, beating the women with iron sticks… A third year student in the faculty of Science, Halima Musa, was seriously injured and later died after being denied medical care by the Students Support Fund and the dormitory administration. … The following day, Dalnaj University students, calling themselves the “Support the Students Fund” gathered to demonstrate in solidarity with their colleagues and to protest the Students Support Fund’s actions. Police forces from Dalnaj city broke up the demonstration by firing into the crowd and using tear gas. Two students were killed.”

You can read the full report on their website.

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Celebrating International Women’s Day

Monday, March 8th, 2010

If I told you that I am a sophomore at George Washington University and a graduate of an all-girls high school, you would think I was celebrating International Women’s Day, right? And I am. However, this has not always been the case. Before interning at Save Darfur, I tried to distance myself from women’s or feminist causes, as I felt the issue was not at the forefront of the human rights struggle. I had attended countless lectures on the suffrage movement and the three waves of feminism, and came to believe that continuing to discuss these issues in the present day was not very productive.

Certainly, my logic was flawed and my time at Save Darfur has proven how incredibly skewed my thinking was. The issue of women’s rights is a grave concern for all and is often indicative of other ingrained illnesses within a society. The endemic violence against women in Darfur makes it increasingly apparent that the maltreatment of women reveals other conflicts at play – struggles for land, political power and recognition. As nations with poor political infrastructure are the countries most culpable of victimizing females, guaranteeing women’s rights are imperative to achieving the peaceful world we all seek.

The mission of International Women’s Day is to promote a world in which women are no longer victim to rape, incest, battery and sexual slavery. All of the world’s inhabitants must recognize that International Women’s Day is, truly, about defending basic human rights. The fight for women’s rights is not only a distinct movement, but one that encompasses all those who wish to redefine our modern world.

Marissa Glauberman is a Campaign Advocacy Intern with the Save Darfur Coalition.

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Basketball for Darfur

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Darfur Dream Team VideoOn Saturday afternoon President Obama, Vice President Biden and Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady watched on as the Georgetown Hoyas played (and beat) the Duke Blue Devils at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC*.

Unusual content for this blog? Perhaps, except for the video that played during a timeout early in the game. In the video longtime rivals Duke and Georgetown announced a partnership in support of the Darfur Dream Team, a fundraising project for the Sister Schools Program, an initiative to connect American middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities with sister schools in 12 refugee camps in Chad.

(more…)

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Posted in Activism, Students | 2 Comments »

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STAND at the G-20 Summit

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Cross posted from STAND’s blog

With the G-20 summit in our backyard last week, we, members of the University of Pittsburgh’s STAND chapter, knew that we had a unique opportunity to deliver our message to the world’s most powerful leaders. This message was that we, as members of developed economies, hold links to all genocides that make us complicit in their implementation and maintenance. These links also provide us with crucial opportunities to debilitate these genocidal regimes

We kicked-off our campaign on Thursday by joining with PDEC, the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition, to put up an art installation directly in front of the delegates’ Thursday night dinner. The installation, which represented villages destroyed by genocide, caught the attention of many local news sources and was featured the next day on the cover of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It certainly caught the gaze of delegates Thursday night as well.

On Wednesday, we participated in the United Steelworkers Conference on Human Rights along with the Save Darfur Coalition. There, we had the opportunity to rekindled discussions that had begun with Sudan Divestment campaign years ago about the capacity for unions and other institutions to draw on their economic investments to leverage their influence on the governments of genocidal regimes. We found the Steelworkers to be very receptive, and some attendees expressed a serious interest in starting up socially responsible investment campaigns.

Later that day, we attended Save Darfur Coalition’s press conference. There, we had the opportunity to pass out press packets to attending members of the press. These press packets detailed how the countries of the G20 are connected the conflicts in Sudan, Burma, and the D.R.C.

On Thursday, we passed our message off to a most impressive ear—that of President Obama. With hands filled with flyers and signs and dressed in neon yellow Save Darfur shirts, the University of Pittsburgh’s STAND members crowded every possible entrance to the venue of the delegates’ dinner. At these entrances we paced backed and forth, awaiting the delegates’ arrival. As we traversed the sidewalks, we passed out flyers and spoke to onlookers and officials about our conflicts and how they relate to the G20. Around 6:00 pm, the delegates passed through the Boulevard of the Allies, a contingent of STAND students waved and cheered. There, they were undoubtedly seen and heard. Obama looked directly at one STAND member holding a sign and waved and passed of a firm nod of affirmation! Hopefully, equally firm policies will affirm our asks in the days to come.

Anna Siegel is STAND’s National Programming Coordinator and a student at the University of Pittsburgh.

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Students Deliever Gold Stars To Sudan

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Not wanting to take any time away from the busy schedule of Special Envoy Major General Scott Gration, members of STAND, the student-led division of Genocide Intervention Network, heeded his call for ending genocide by presenting the Sudanese Embassy with a giant smiley face and gold star yesterday afternoon. According to General Gration, the best way to get the Bashir Regime to end genocide, not use rape as a weapon, and not force millions of people to live in overflowing camps, is to present them with kindergarten-like rewards.

Mickey Jackson, National High School Outreach Coordinator for STAND and freshman at American University, had this say about the event:

I have to admit that until this week, I never dreamed that anything could possess me to trudge through the rain with a bunch of other DC-area students and lay a hastily-made cardboard-and-paper gold star against the door of the Sudanese embassy. But then again, I never dreamed that Scott Gration, the Obama Administration’s special envoy to Sudan, would tell the Washington Post that we should try to end a genocide by “giving out cookies…gold stars, [and] smiley faces” to an indicted war criminal.

Daniel Teweles, STAND’s National Student Coordinator, said STAND felt impelled to highlight General Gration’s comments because he is reportedly leading the White House’s approach to Sudan. Teweles said:

Stunts aren’t going to stop the genocide, and Gration’s ‘gold stars’ approach won’t either. We want the president himself to step in here and make sure his administration’s approach is up to snuff.

Check out the Save Darfur Coalition’s checklist for the Sudan policy review laying out a balanced list of approaches for Sudan.

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First Hand Account of Attack on Darfuri Women

Monday, June 29th, 2009

The BBC’s Mike Thompson has interviewed a female student who suffered a violent attack at her university at the hands of the Sudanese government. This first hand account of the violent attack on female students at Khartoum University is an opportunity to hear about the violence facing Darfuris today in Sudan.

Click here to listen to her account of the attack.

She concludes, “We are hoping that the international community will help protect us by telling President al-Bashir that this violence against young women is wrong; it’s against both the law and our religion. He should stop this and allow us to continue our education.”

Posted in Darfuri Stories, ICC / Justice, Students, Uncategorized, Violence Against Women | 1 Comment »

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Darfur on ESPN

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

By Stella Kojo Kenyi of Enough Project

ESPN recently featured the Darfur Dream Team’s Sister Schools Program in a special segment that aired on SportsCenter. Basketball star Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets and Enough’s Omer Ismail and John Prendergast were shown in footage from their trip together to eastern Chad.

The Darfur Dream Team is a dynamic partnership of organizations and professional basketball players working together on the Sister Schools Program, an initiative to connect American middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities with sister schools in the 12 refugee camps in Chad. As part of the Sister Schools Program, U.S. sister schools are raising funds to improve the education of their Darfuri peers through the construction and rehabilitation of school buildings as well as by providing teacher training, sports equipment, and other school supplies. The program also aims to foster cross-cultural relationships and mutual understanding between American students and Darfuri refugee students through letter exchanges and video blogging.

Visit darfurdreamteam.org today to sign up your school, become a sister school, or learn more about the Darfur Dream Team.

Posted in Activist Stories, IDP Camps, Students | No Comments »

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