Messinger brings message of need from Darfur genocide

By Deborah Moon Seldner

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After taking three rabbis and a Jewish federation executive to tour camps housing refugees from the genocide in Darfur, Ruth Messinger came to Portland for the second time in 12 months to "bear further witness" to that ongoing genocide which continues to kill about 500 people a day.
Messinger, the president and executive director of the American Jewish World Service, was in Portland last May 13 to bear witness to the Darfur, Sudan, genocide after visiting refugee camps there in August 2004. She returned to Portland March 15 to speak at a Genocide Awareness Week event at Portland State University.
In any genocide, there are a small number of perpetrators, another group of victims and a very large group who are bystanders, Messinger explained, quoting the book "America in the Age of Genocide." The challenge, she said, is to stop being bystanders and to be "up"standers.
She mentioned a Save Darfur rally planned for April 30 in Washington, D.C., as an example of "standing up and being counted." Phoning, writing and e-mailing congressional representatives and the president are other ways she mentioned to stand up against the genocide.
Congress declared the situation in Darfur a genocide in July 2004 and in September of 2004, then Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed that declaration on behalf of the Bush administration. The administration then failed to mention the genocide or Darfur for nearly five months, said Messinger.

"In the 21st century, we need to come to grips with the fact that this is not an African issue, this is not a once-in-history issue," said Messinger, noting that since the Holocaust, there have been declared genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and now Darfur, Sudan.
She said that people need to understand the human capacity of people to turn on their brothers and how propaganda can be used to turn people against each other.
Messinger said some of the most articulate supporters of the Darfur victims are survivors of the Holocaust. She said she has attended many meetings where people have questioned whether or not this is a Jewish issue and heard Holocaust survivors loudly and clearly declare the need for Jews to stand up to prevent any genocide.
The genocide in Sudan is "perpetrated by the government of Sudan against a segment of its own citizens," she said, noting it is a Muslim on Muslim genocide. "For three years, (Arab) militias supported by the government have attacked farming communities in Darfur."
Nearly 2 million of the 6 million residents of the region have been displaced and 400,000 to 450,000 killed by the militias or starvation, said Messinger.
"As human beings, after a hundred years of history of genocide, we have a problem believing it is really happening," she said in explaining why she thinks there has not been more attention paid to the crisis.
"Darfur is the first time the U.S. has identified a genocide while it is going on," she said.
"Our responsibility individually and collectively is to make this a more public issue," said Messinger.
For information on the April 30 rally, the "Million Voices for Darfur" postcard campaign, and other ideas on how to increase awareness about the genocide, visit www.savedarfur.org.