A Conciliatory Text

A "conciliatory text." That's what Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry appears to think will be enough to save Darfur.

From the AP:

UNITED NATIONS - Britain and France dropped a threat of sanctions against Sudan in a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution that would authorize an expanded peacekeeping force in Darfur, according to a revised draft circulated Tuesday ...

... "We've been listening, we've had discussions ... with the African members of the council," Parry told reporters. "We changed the text quite considerably. The tonality has changed, certain provisions have been altered considerably, there's less threatening language in there. It's more of a conciliatory text."

How the United Nations expects to be seen as a legitimate, effective organization when all it can muster to combat a brutal, large-scale and ongoing genocide is a "conciliatory text," we're all in trouble.

I realize these Security Council deliberations can be complex, but sheesh; people are dying here.

Biden Calls for UN Action

From the Save Darfur Coalition:

"Last week, Senators Joe Biden and Dick Lugar introduced a new congressional resolution calling for the UN Security Council to authorize the immediate deployment of a strong UN/AU peacekeeping mission to Darfur with a tough mandate to protect civilians.

But so far only 13 senators have signed on to this critical resolution!

The UN Security Council is debating the deployment of a peacekeeping force this week. We need much broader Senate support by this Friday in order to send a firm message to the UN.

Click here now to send a message to your senators asking them to sign on today.

By passing this resolution, the United States can increase pressure on other members of the UN Security Council to get serious on peacekeeping in Darfur.

The Senate resolution calls not just for a UN-authorized mission with a full mandate to protect civilians in Darfur, but also the rapid formation and deployment of that force. It also calls on international leaders to enact stronger sanctions on the Sudanese regime if it continues to obstruct a peacekeeping force.

We need as many senators as possible to show their support for the congressional resolution by Friday in order to send the UN a strong message that the United States wants action on Darfur.

Help us DOUBLE the number of Senate co-sponsors by this Friday, July 27th. Click here now to urge your senators to co-sponsor the Biden/Lugar peacekeeping resolution.

Once you’ve contacted your senators, please forward this message to your friends and family and ask them to join you in taking action.

Thank you again for your commitment to ensuring that the people of Darfur get the peace and protection they need.

Colleen Connors
Save Darfur Coalition"

So far, neither Sens. Brown or Voinovich have sponsored this yet. Let's make sure that they do.

STAND Information

Hey everyone,

I found some resources we'll be able to use as a slideshow. We can put these on fullscreen on some mobile campus laptops and it can be a good part of a presentation - at the very least, something that will catch people's eyes as they walk by.

(Open this URL in a media player: Just clicking on it might not work (it didn't on my computer))http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/imagerepository/video/PeaceUnderFire-Medium.wmv (Direct link, allows us to open in a media player and fullscreen it. Found on http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/108504954881.htm. Great resource, we should definitely use this)

http://phrusa2.streamguys.net/sudan/flash/sudan.swf (Which is the direct link for the flash movie found at http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/sudan/darfur.html ... using the direct link lets us make it bigger when it's on fullscreen.)

http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/sudan/images/destruction_in_darfur/photo13_highres.html Just one picture of the devastation (high res). Taken from the site: http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/sudan/images/ Which is a really nice site because it has low-res and high-res versions of pictures.

This picture gives you a glimpse of the scale of one of the refugee camps: http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/appeals.nsf/stable/darfur_panoramic

Here's another picture of the refugee camps: http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/appeals.nsf/stable/chad_slide4_06302004

(If you'd like to look at the stuff I found on your own, you can find it at
http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/appeals.nsf/stable/chad_photos_index?Open&lid=chad_photos&lpos=footer_buttons_3 (Photo galleries)
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=2793&l=1 (Slide shows and movies)
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/sdn-index-eng


> I've been watching the 15 minute video (I'm going to go finish it now) and it looks really good. Put together well - lots of facts and good imagery. I think we can make a difference, guys. We're off to a good start. Hope to hear from you soon.

Save Darfur Coalition's New Ad

This new ad out by the Save Darfur Coalition will apparently be broadcast on television quite soon. To share this video with your friends and family, click here, or use the "envelope" icon at the bottom of this post.

Don't Stand By : STAND Up!

Welcome to the CSU chapter of STAND.

This organization's primary goal is to help bring an end to the genocide raging in the Darfur region of Sudan, where over 400,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million more have been displaced since 2003.

A lofty goal? Sure. But we're not alone. Thousands of ordinary people just like you are taking action across the globe to end this atrocity. By joining STAND here at CSU, you'll be plugged into a network made up of hundreds of college STAND chapters across the U.S.

To learn more about genocide and what you can do about it, click one of the links to the right under "Anti-Genocide Affiliates." To contact your congressional representatives regarding the genocide in Darfur, simply click the congressman's name on the right.

If you're interested in joining CSU STAND, please click here. No dues are required to join this group, and meetings will be infrequent (once a month).

Please check back often or subscribe to our feed by clicking here, as events and information will be posted regularly once fall semester begins (August 27th, 2007).

Thank you.