I Dropped The Ball On Dafur...
Upon reading the on the webzine, which pointed to me. I feel quite ashamed at my level ignorance with respect to the Dafur conflict. I have always had a passing interest in the Dafur conflict. It's a shame that an African like moi, who had the the oppourtunity to walk the scorching sunlight of Khartoum Talata. I have rocked a banner or two or even made a post on this blog to push the save-Dafur-message. But beyond that I have been so uninformed about this conflict.
I assumed the Dafur conflict was one and the same as the North-South civil war of the '90's. I learned today that the Dafur conflict is not the same as the Sudanese civil war that I read about as a youngster. This is different and much more venomous.
I nearly lost my claim to Duduness(blackness) due to this blunder, so as a form of penance. I will dedicate the next 5 post (border-ine spamming) on this blog to Dafur.
Sokari also dropped some useful links.
5Comment(s):
Join the Dafur face book group.
I agree. We need to write more on the Darfur crisis!
Darfur is nothing but genocide, even though the world refuses to address it as such. Arab Africans killing off Black Africans. Arab countries do not publicly intervene, African (Black) countries fear getting involved because of the money involved. War, or in this case, genocide, is big business for some. Those profiting from this war are bed buddies with African countries and so those of us that should really do something stand by watching.
You wrote recently about whether the world is tired about Darfur. I think they are. I think people feel hopeless and if you consider the various factors and factions, there might be some relevancy to that emotion. However, there are many who do what they can and manage to have a huge impact. Recently on NBC Nightly News there was a spotlight on an American lady who raised over $10,000 that was and is being used to pay for medical care for women and their children.
I hope that stories like hers will reawaken people to the possibility of helping those that are suffering. I also hope that writings by bloggers and others will keep the genocide in our minds so that we can someday get the balls to ignore those that benefit from the status quo and do the right thing - bring an end to the suffering and killings in Darfur.
The Pambazuka article is right on point. I remember watching a documentary on channel four in 2005 and wondered why the media had not made a big ho-ha about the oil angle. There was also a related article in the Guardian and the Independent.
Check out the following links
(this bugger could be your neighbour if you live in West London)
http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=245
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2004/0807-Darfur.html
http://dissidentnews.wordpress.com/info/focus-on-iran/485/
Stumbled on this post during a “late nite blog hopping session”. The story of Darfur is too long to be told in one post/article and much to complex to be understood from one angle. Just try researching on it and you’ll be amazed what you come up with. Sadly popular media highlights only the juicy parts that will get donor money out and for the most part, heap additional negativity and ignorance to the actual situation. There’s much more to the situation Darfur, Sudan…it’s long spread out beyond borders to Chad and CAR. The singsong of Darfur that keeps popping up doesn’t do justice to the actual situation in Sudan.