STAND: Northeast Regional Conference

You are formally invited to attend
the Northeast Regional Conference

Dear Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur ,

Every year, STAND hosts 6 Regional Conferences across America to give student anti-genocide activists a concentrated time to train and network to build a stronger movement. This year, we are looking to empower and connect students and community members working to fight genocide, in the hope that this will be one more step in getting our movement to work more closely at every level.

Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur has been identified as a strong and student-friendly partner in the fight against genocide, and we are pleased to invite a representative from your organization to attend our Northeast Regional Conference. This representative would attend our conference as a STAND Community Ambassador . This means s/he would attend in two roles: first, representing your community group (its membership, actions, and missions) to the students at the Conference; second, bringing the connections, trainings, and knowledge gained from the conference back to your group.

The conference will be taking place from February 29-March 2 at Brandeis University in Waltham , Massachusetts . The conference will consist of two days of phenomenal speakers and educational opportunities, activist workshops and trainings, and networking sessions. Specifically for our Community Ambassadors, there will be discussions on the future of the movement, workshops on how to best collaborate with students, and networking sessions to allow you to link up with student chapters and their leaders in your area.

If your group is interested in attending, please RSVP to communities@standnow.org stating that your group wants to attend by January 18. You will then be sent an online registration and information packet that your group's representative must fill out in order to register with me.

Please find more information at http://www.standnow.org/conferences/northeast; a more defined schedule will be e-mailed out at a later date. If you have any further questions on logistics, specifics, content, etc. please feel free to e-mail Sabina Carlson, STAND's National Community Outreach Coordinator, at scarlson@standnow.org .

Sincerely,
Sabina Carlson
Community Outreach Coordinator:
STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition
Brandeis University STAND
Northeast Regional Conference Hosts

Layla Amjadi,
Regional Conference Coordinator:
The student division of the Genocide Intervention Network http://www.standnow.org/

scarlson@standnow.org

(609) 933-5945...

don't stand by... STAND up!

Appeal to China -- please send to President of China

AN APPEAL TO CHINA TO PRESSURE SUDAN TO END THE GENOCIDE

AND ALLOW THE UN/AU PEACEKEEPING FORCE INTO DARFUR

Please send to: His Excellency Hu Jintao, President, People's Republic of China

c/o His Excellency Zhon Wen Zhong, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Embassy of the People's Republic of China

2300 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20008

Since 2003, the Sudanese government has fought the guerilla insurgencies in Darfur by targeting innocent civilians. Hundreds of thousands have been killed and 2.5 million displaced into inadequate refugee camps. The US Congress, on July 23, 2004, declared that the atrocities unfolding in Darfur are genocide.

Despite a world-wide outcry against the Darfur Genocide, the killing continues. In August, 2006, United Nations Security Council resolution 1706 called for a robust UN peacekeeping force, but the Sudanese government had prevented its deployment in Darfur. On July 31, 2007, the UN Security Council Resolution 1769 passed unanimously, calling for a hybrid UN/AU (Organization of African Unity) force of 26,000 to be deployed by the end of the year. [The force is called UNAMID, UNAfricanMissionInDarfur.] The world community must exert maximum pressure on the Sudanese regime, and also on China to ensure that the peacekeepers do their job.

China, through its development of Sudanese oil resources and provision of loans, is the mainstay of the Sudanese economy and it continues to supply arms and has defended Sudan in the UN Security Council. Experts agree that if China applies maximum pressure, the Sudanese regime will be forced to allow in the UN/AU peacekeepers. Our task is to convince China to exert that pressure on Sudan.

A May 7, 2007 letter from 108 members of the US House of Representatives to Hu Jintao, President of China, says, in part:

……the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are going to be an important event for the image

of the PRC [People's Republic of China]…It would be a disaster for China if the games were marred

by protests from concerned individuals and groups who will undoubtedly link your government to

the continued atrocities in Darfur….Already there are calls to boycott what is increasingly being

described as the "2008 Genocide Olympics.".…we urge you to protect your country's image from being irredeemably tarnished, through association with a genocidal regime, for the purposes of economic gains.

Informed citizens around the globe are convinced that China has the power to force Sudan to stop the genocide and to permit UNAMID [the UN/AU peacekeepers] into Darfur. If China fails to act, millions are likely not only to protest and boycott the "Genocide Olympics" (the 2008 Summer Olympics will be hosted by China), but may well, in their extreme frustration, turn to boycotting other Chinese products and services.

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