Category: Darfur

I broke down and got a Flickr account. Here are all the pix from the March 29 Darfur civil disobedience.

My interview on Flipside about Darfur ran this week, about 5 weeks after it was taped. A lot of what I said is already outdated. Feels like there was actually some progress in the past month.

Just got a call from DC; Scott Schaeffer-Duffy says that US Reps Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jim Moran (D-VA), John Olver (D-MA), Tom Lantos (D-CA), and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) were just arrested for blocking the steps of the Sudanese embassy to protest the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

Also arrested, according to Scott, were “four or five religious leaders” and one of the leaders of a student group.

“Tremendous media almost blocking the whole sidewalk.”

40-50 supporters were also there.

Scott described the arrests thus: “Three warnings, stood on the stairs, handcuffed and arrested.”

In Osama bin Laden’s latest tape, he calls on “mujahedeen and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula, to prepare for long war again the crusader plunderers in Western Sudan.” Apparently he’s concerned about UN peacekeepers moving in to try to stop the genocide in Darfur. “Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but to defend Islam, its land and its people.” Maybe he didn’t get the memo that the violence in Darfur is Muslim-on-Muslim. Or maybe black Muslims are less Muslim than Arab Muslims in bin Laden’s world. Or maybe he’s just a bloodthirsty maniac who figures that if Muslims are killing people, that must be a good thing.

Hey, hasn’t it been like 4 and a half years now since the U.S. pledged to find this guy?

I think this means divestment is working!

On the divestsudan Yahoo Group, Ben Elberger wrote:

I think we hit a nerve:
[Sudanese press release against divestment]

Emily Gayong Setton wrote:

yes, indeed. actually, i think we have CNN international to thank, because they interviewed this same guy when doing the divestment story a few weeks ago. i hope you guys had a chance to see it, they cut straight from this guy from the sudanese mission saying “what we need is investment not divestment” to joseph stiglitz saying “all of the oil profits are going straight to the military and not to the people.” it was priceless.

Got in a little trouble at the county seat
Lord they put me in the jailhouse, for loafing on the street
When the judge heard the verdict, I was a guilty man
He said forty-five dollars, or thirty days in the can

Said that’ll be cash on the barrelhead, son
You can take your choice if you’re twenty-one
No money down, no credit plan
No time to chase you, ’cause I’m a busy man
— “Cash on the Barrelhead,” Ira and Charlie Louvin

Why get arrested over the Darfur genocide?

Last week, nine of us took a couple days off work, protested the Darfur genocide at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC, blocked the entrance, got arrested, paid $50, and went home.

None of my friends asked me “Why?”, but my fellow protesters were asked this by their friends.

Here’s my answer: because the Sudanese government bought a $1 million ad last month in the New York Times. (PDF of ad, via Jeroen.)
Continue reading “Cash on the barrelhead”

Nine people were arrested in a protest against the Darfur genocide yesterday at the Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC.

Yesterday morning, several dozen people gathered at the statue of Gandhi at the nearby Indian Embassy, holding signs depicting the victims and survivors of the ethnic violence in Darfur.

They marched to the Sudanese Embassy, where they handed out leaflets to passersby. Several demonstrators spoke, including Holocaust survivor Helen Goldkind. Mrs. Goldkind said:

My name is Helen Goldkind. I am a survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. The reason why I came here today is because when I was a little girl nobody spoke out for us. I want to speak up for others. Nobody should have to be punished or killed because they’re of any color or religion. Please, the world should hear us now. There was nothing done fifty, sixty years ago when Hitler did to the Jews what they [motions towards Sudanese embassy] are doing now.

Then three demonstrators stood blocking the bottom of the stairs. A uniformed Secret Service agent warned them that by blocking the stairs, they were breaking the law. Demonstrator Brenna Cussen invited him to join them on the stairs, and he replied, “I don’t wanna get arrested! I respect what y’all are doing. If I get arrested, I’ll lose my clearance.”

After two more warnings, the three were arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly. Six more demonstrators came forward to block the stairs, and they, too, were arrested.

The demonstrators had warned the Secret Service about the civil disobedience beforehand, and representatives of the two groups had informally discussed how things would play out. Plasticuffed in the police van, Ms. Cussen commented on the gentleness with which the police treated the demonstrators. “It feels weird. I guess it’s good. It takes the ego out of it. This is about making a statement about Darfur, not being heroes.”

Those arrested were Brenna Cussen, of the Catholic Worker in South Bend, Indiana; Al Guilmette, of Leominster, Massachusetts; David Maher, of West Brookfield, Massachusetts; Mike Benedetti, Ken Hannaford-Ricardi, and Scott Schaeffer-Duffy of Saints Francis & Therese Catholic Worker in Worcester, Massachusetts; and Clark University students Philip Loomis, Ryan Smith, and Lia Volat of Worcester, Massachusetts.

Several of the demonstrators were college students unable to miss more than one day of studies, so the demonstrators had decided beforehand to pay a $50 fine (without an admission of guilt) in exchange for a quick release. After a few hours in holding cells, they were free.

As the men exited the police station, one cop said to them, “You people are doing this for a good cause.”

Afterwards, Al Guilmette, a retiree from Leominster committing civil disobedience for the first time, said it was “quite an experience.” When asked if he’d recommend it to others, he said, “For this cause, yes.”
Continue reading “Nine arrested, released in Darfur protest”

Update: “Nine arrested in Darfur protest”

At least ten people will risk arrest by blocking the entrance to the Sudanese Embassy at a demonstration this week.

At 11:15 AM, Wednesday, March 29, 2006, we will meet at the statue of Gandhi outside the Indian Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, DC (map).

We will march to the nearby Sudanese Embassy (2210 Massachusetts Avenue, map), to hold a protest against genocide in the west Sudanese region of Darfur. This protest will continue until 1:30 PM.

Participants will carry enlarged photos of some of the more than 400,000 people killed in the genocide, as well as photos of some of the 2 million people who have been displaced there. Leaflets will be distributed.

Brenna Cussen and Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, who visited Darfur in December 2004, will speak. Seth Shames, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, will also speak.

Group spokesperson Brenna Cussen said:

Getting arrested is a small sacrifice to make to stop the enormous evil I witnessed in Darfur.

The event also involves many demonstrators who will not risk arrest.

For more information, contact Scott Schaeffer-Duffy: 508.753.3588 or theresecw@gmail.com.

If you can’t make this demonstration, don’t miss the big April 30 rally.
Continue reading “March 29 Darfur demo: update”

Felix Salmon reports that there was an 8-page advertising supplement in Tuesday’s NY Times extolling the virtues of the genocidal Sudanese government.

Some commentary here:

The supplement lauds Sudan for facing a “peaceful, prosperous and democratic future”…

Instapundit notes, against their defense that they keep the advertising, news, and editorial content independent of each other,

Well, if you only take ads from organizations that share your opinions, then people will accuse you of being bought off. That’s a good argument for taking a wide range of ads, but there ought to be some limits. My blogads policy has been pretty much anything but Nazis. But Sudan looks pretty close to that line.