Power of people shifts winds in Darfur
By Deborah Moon Seldner
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"The power of people coming together to take a stand should never be underestimated," said Jewish Portlander Daniel Smith who attended the Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C., April 30.
Speaking on May 5, shortly after the announcement that the government of Sudan and the main Darfur rebel faction had signed an agreement to end three years of fighting in Sudan's west, Smith said, "Today's news shows it (the rally) had an impact on our government to make sure a settlement was reached."
Two rebel groups refused to sign the partial accord which has been called just a step toward peace.
Smith was part of a five-member contingent attending the national rally from Portland—Marvin Kaiser, Dean of PSU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; PSU Professor Emeritus Nathan Cogan; Susan Abravanel from the American Jewish Committee; and PSU students Sarah Stark and Daniel Smith, who won an award from PSU and the AJC-Oregon to attend the rally.
Some 70,000 people attended the national rally while smaller rallies were held in about 16 other communities including Portland. The rallies were organized by the Save Darfur Coalition to draw attention to the genocide that has been ongoing in the Darfur region of Sudan for more than three years.
"This is the first time in the history of the United States that a genocide has been in the greater public's conscience while it was still happening, and it's the first time that such a large mass of people demanded it be stopped," said Sarah Stark, who decided to go to the D.C. rally after hearing American Jewish World Service President Ruth Messinger speak at Portland's Genocide Awareness Week, which Stark created and helped organize.
Portlander Susan Abravanel, who as chair of AJC's National Advocacy Task Force opened the AJC briefing before the rally, said more than 400 people gathered at the briefing "grounding our participation in the rally ? in our essential Jewish values."
"It is as Jews that we have a special obligation to speak out today," said Abravanel in prepared remarks at the briefing. "We promised, 60 years ago, to ever bear witness against genocide—Never Again, we vowed."
Abravanel said she considered it an exquisite coincidence that the rally took place the week Jews worldwide read Parshat Kedoshim which says, "Do not stand idly by while your neighbor's blood is shed."
"After the briefing, we walked together to the Mall," said Abravanel. "It was packed. Around us were groups of Sudanis, a large group of people from the Cleveland Jewish Federation, another large group of rabbinical students, a group of young students from a New Jersey Day School. Toddlers up on shoulders, babies in strollers, even people in wheelchairs—all coming together for the sake of saving lives."
Smith said he was overwhelmed by the variety of people attending the rally from all over the country. He said that at so many rallies he has attended he has seen factions with differing agendas, yet at this rally "everybody was there for the same purpose with the same message."
"Never again," Smith said was the message he heard loud and clear. "We know it's happening and we stand united to make sure it stops immediately."
Smith said that he had been well aware of the facts of the genocide, but he said he was surprised to learn that "the Jewish community has taken such a great lead on this."
Stark said she wants people to know and understand that the situation in Sudan is steeped in centuries of history that has included hatred, racism and other isms.
"I think we must stop the killing—absolutely," said Stark. "But we cannot stop there. That will never be enough. We must work to end hatred and isms in our own lives and the rest of the world."