Please come to Darfur Planning Meeting: Thursday, June 23rd

Please come to our next Darfur Coalition Meeting on Thursday, June 23rd at 5 pm at the Talking Drum Cafe on 413 Main St. in Holyoke, MA. We need to continue our focus on ending the murders and rapes in Darfur.

We are open to any suggestions to what actions to take next. Please bring them to the meeting. We shall discuss how colleges and cities can divest of investments in Darfur. We also want to encourage towns to pass the following Darfur Resolution:

Darfur Resolution

The Town of ______ is committed to the defense of the rule of law, including basic standards of international law and international human rights which are contained in treaties signed by the United States such as the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CERD), the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and the American Convention of Human Rights, which are part of the “supreme law of the land” according to the U.S. Constitution, and hereby resolves:

1. The Town’s racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity, including the presence of residents of varied national origins from throughout the world is one of our community’s greatest strengths;
2. An increasing number of these residents are of African immigrant origin, and include many from the Sudan;
3. The Sudanese presence here, and throughout the United States in increasing numbers during the last few years reflects the longstanding armed conflicts and authoritarian rule which have prevailed in that country over the last 50 years. Authoritarian rule has produced the forced displacement of millions of people from southern Sudan and from the Darfur region;
4. The Town of _____ took note of the United Nation report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, which resulted in the United Nation’s Security Council Resolution No. 1593, in which the Security Council decided to refer the situation prevailing in Darfur since 1 July 2002 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Therefore, our community stand with the victims of the atrocities in Darfur in affirming their basic human rights and struggle for democracy in their homeland, and urge the residents of this community and of other communities in the United States and around the world to join the call for:

a) International action to end killing and provide security for millions of internally displaced people of Darfur and to facilitate the voluntary return to their land and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of their homes.

b) Urgent humanitarian relief to address the current serious situation.

c) Full accountability and the end of impunity for these systematic human rights violations will create the road to an overall peace negotiation and process of democratic transition.

d) The need to promote healing and reconciliation that includes redress for the victims and their families. In this respect the creation of healing institutions such as Truth and Reconciliation Commissions with involvement of all sectors of Sudanese society is essential. These healing mechanisms are to complement judicial processes and thereby reinforce the efforts to restore long-lasting peace, with African Union and international support.

e) US Government and the other countries to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigations and proceedings. Sudanese Human rights activists in our community are concerned that recent anti-terrorism cooperation policy between the US and the Sudan might let key perpetrators of the Darfur crimes get impunity.

The Town of _______ stands with the global community and condemns the atrocities occurring in Darfur region of Sudan. We recognize our moral obligation to stop this genocide. We are committed to alerting our community to the urgency of the situation in Darfur and working together to end this human tragedy now.

PLEASE COME NEXT THURSDAY, JUNE 23RD AND BRAINSTORM ON WHAT ACTIONS WE CAN TAKE TO STOP THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR. THANK YOU.

2nd Darfur Action Day at PAHMUSA

We hosted our 2nd Darfur Action Day at the Pan African Historical Museum U.S.A. in Springfield and despite the scorching heat, the room was packed (must have been at least 100 people) to share in the power point presentation on Darfur, speeches by Mohamed Ibrahim (who returned to Western Mass from AFSC in Philadelphia for this event), Joe Wronka from Springfield College who provided valuable background and suggestions on what we can do now, and art therapist Simone Alter-Muri, also from Springfield College who discussed the role of children's artwork during wartime. Again, we were moved by the beautiful dancing from Tamador Gibreel's Bride of the Nile Dance Group and the gorgeous singing by Sarah Ibrahim and her friends. Thank you Magda Amhed for organizing this powerful day and the museum's amazing director LuJuana Hood for hosting the exhibit and events. The Sudanese food again was wonderful, thanks again to Magda, her mother, and family. Thank you all the Edgadis for your help in taking down the exhibit and cleaning up! And of course, thank you all for coming.

David Morse speaks on Darfur in Great Barrington

We want to thanks Bonner McAllester for inviting us to a meeting on Darfur at the South Berkshire Friends Meeting house at 280 State Rd. in Great Barrington, MA. on Wed. evening, June 8th. For more information on Darfur actions in Great Barrington, call 413-528-9385. David Morse, a Quaker Human Rights Activist from Storrs, CN, was their guest speaker who covered the following agenda:

• Darfur Accountabilitiy Act - will probably return to Congress
• Plans for an Interfaith Delegation to Darfur
• College divestment campaigns
  
• The Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of 100 faith-based humanitarian and human rights organizations.

We are very pleased that Bonner McAllester and other reps from Great Barrington as well as David Morse will attend our next Darfur Coalition Meeting on Thursday, June 23rd at 5 pm at the Talking Drum Cafe on 413 Main St. in Holyoke, MA.

Darfur Exhibit Opened at PAHMUSA!

The exhibit Children of Darfur: Surviving Genocide is now open at the Pan African Historical Museum USA in Tower Square on 1500 Main St. in Springfield (on 2nd floor around corner from Food Court).

Please stop by Friday June 10th, noon to 4 pm and come to our final day of the exhibit, our 2nd DARFUR ACTION DAY, this Saturday, June 11th from 3 to 7 pm. Again, we'll have Sudanese dance, speakers, and delicious food. A special thanks to the Director of PAHMUSA, LuJuana Hood, for all her work of outreach to the Springfield community.

Again, we want to continue our work to end genocide in Darfur by holding another meeting of the Western Mass Darfur Coalition on Thursday, June 23rd at 5 pm at the Talking Drum Cafe, 413 Main St. in Holyoke. Please come to brainstorm how we can put pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the killing and raping.

DARFUR ACTION DAY, SAT. JUNE 4TH WAS INSPIRING!

Our first DARFUR ACTION DAY on Sat., June 4th at the Talking Drum Cafe in Holyoke, MA was inspiring with dance, speakers, and inquisitive participants. We want to thank Nathan, Chris and all those at The Talking Drum Cafe for sponsoring and hosting this event.

Also thanks to Tamador and the dancers of The Bride of the Nile Dance Group (yes, they are Magda's daughters) for the beautiful dancing. Look for them next Sat. June 11th at our 2nd DARFUR ACTION DAY --- SEE BELOW.

Thanks to our inspiring speakers Magda Ahmed, Mohamed Good, Joel Rosen, and Joseph Wronka for their informative talks and question and answer periods.

And thanks to Magda and her mom for the delicious falefels and other Sudanese food.

We are looking forward to the opening of the exhibit of children's drawings at the Pan African Museum at Tower Square in Springfield, MA this Tues., June 7th from 5:30 to 8 pm AND to our next DARFUR ACTION DAY next Sat, June 11th from 3 to 7 pm.

ALSO PLEASE COME TO OUR NEXT WESTERN MASS. DARFUR COALITION MEETING ON THURS., JUNE 23RD AT THE TALKING DRUM CAFE, HOLYOKE AT 5 PM.

We want to continue our letter writing, urgent actions, and event planning to stop genocide in Darfur. PLEASE COME!

Welcome to Western Mass Darfur Coalition

Welcome to the Western Mass Darfur Coalition Group.

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE ALL WELCOME TO COME TO OUR NEXT PLANNING MEETING ON THURSDAY, JUNE 23RD AT 5:00 pm AT THE TALKING DRUM CAFE at 413 Main St., Holyoke, MA. Please come and discuss what next steps we in Western Mass can take to end the genocide in Darfur.

CURRENT DARFUR EVENTS FOR WEEK OF JUNE 4TH THROUGH JUNE 11TH:

The exhibit of children's drawings from Darfur, THE CHILDREN OF DARFUR: SURVIVING GENOCIDE, has returned to this area. Please come and share in these overwhelming images of the violence that is still plaguing Darfur. See this world through children's eyes: families are not safe in the refugee camps ... the genocide is not over. We want to gather around these drawings to reflect on the loss and take action to stop the murders and rapes in Darfur.

The exhibit is in two parts:

The first is at The Talking Drum Cafe at 413 Main St. in Holyoke. The exhibit is on display at the cafe through Saturday, June 4th from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Please join us for DARFUR ACTION DAY this SAT, JUNE 4TH FROM 3 - 7 p.m. with speakers and Sudanese music, dance, and cuisine.

The second part is at the Pan African Historical Museum at 1500 Main St. in Springfield (Tower Square Building, 2nd floor-- around the corner from Food Court). This exhibit includes an opening reception next
Tues., June 7th from 5:30 - 8 p.m; museum hours are Tuesday to Friday, 12 - 4 pm. Then we shall close the exhibit in Springfield with a 2nd DARFUR ACTION DAY on SAT, JUNE 11TH FROM 3 - 7 p.m., again with speakers and Sudanese music, dance, and cuisine.

For more information, call Magda Ahmed at 413-586-7525, Ext. 1141, The Talking Drum Cafe at 413-315-6161 or PAHMUSA at 413-733-1823.

Regards,

Western Mass. Darfur Coalition, Amnesty International, American Friends Service Committee, Talking Drum Cafe, Nueva Esperanza, PAHMUSA, Bride of the Nile Dance Group, The Amherst Human Rights Commission, and UnityFirst.com

Magda Ahmed & Fanny Rothschild
Blog maintainers