Adventures and Thoughts of Team Cross

The Dream for Darfur Campaign launched its Olympic Torch Relay on August 9, 2007 (with Mia Farrow), one year before the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The Dream for Darfur effort will coordinate events in the United States and around the world to urge China to use its unique influence on Sudan to protect civilians in Darfur.

The U.S. torch relay launched in New York on September
9, 2007. It will then travel through more than 20 states, ending in December at the Chinese Embassy in Washington. The U.S. relay is co-sponsored by Dream for Darfur, the Save Darfur Coalition, and STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition. The message is simple.

The goal for the Indianapolis Torch Relay is to create a community event that joins diverse citizens together for Darfur and to garner significant press attention. We hope to elevate awareness of the important role that China can play in ending the genocide in Darfur.

The Indianapolis Relay will take place on Sunday, October 14th at IUPUI’s campus. This event is a torch lighting and relay ceremony. The relay will be comprised of students, people who represent groups who have been affected by oppression, and others who want to carry the torch for Darfur. During the relay, there will be a torch lighting ceremony and program.

The program will provide an opportunity for impassioned speeches by local community leaders and a Darfurian refugee. The program will also feature performers, African musicians, and Young Ballet Troupe performing “The Cleansing” a self-written ballet, and there will be opportunities for those attending to take action at our social justice information tables. While the event will provide an opportunity to bring members of the Darfur movement together, the focus will be on generating significant media attention on China’s ability to help Darfur.

Those taking part in this torch event will be joining with many others from our country and countries abroad.

The Indianapolis event is between Wood Plaza and the ES and BS buildings on this map. Parking is available at the Natatorium (PE).

Visit the official event website.  Please help spread the word by posting and passing out flyers.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Many actions can be taken to end the brutal genocide that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and as displaced millions, for no simple or apparent cause.  One of these many actions is called divestment.

Simply, divestment is the opposite of investment! Divestment means to sell off, commonly used in the business world, it often refers to selling off part of a company that isn’t doing well. In the social/political realm it has a different meaning. It refers more to a boycott mentality, boycotting certain investments and selling off stocks in a company to pressure a government to change a policy or to force regime change.

It was first used in the 1980’s to end apartheid in South Africa. Since then it has been used in conjunction with campaigns targeting North Ireland, Myanmar, Cuba, and Israel.

Most recently this tactic has been one part of the campaign to end the genocide in Darfur.

The best resource for divestment related to Sudan is aptly the Sudan Divestment Taskforce. The website also gives you specific instructions to make sure your investments aren’t supporting the genocide. They are also behind the rally earlier this year to get Indiana to divest public funds from supporting the genocide.

Divestment needs to be done very strategically and with precision described as similar to that of a surgeon. This is important so that ordinary citizens of Sudan aren’t impacted, as is common in full-force economic boycotts. The model being used by SDT engages companies that are directly or indirectly helping the Sudanese government perpetuate genocide. Only if a company refuses to make changes through shareholder interaction does the divestment occur.

Thirty-nine states within the US already have a campaign for divestment started and nineteen states have already divested. This includes the great state of Indiana! Mitch Daniels signed the divestment into law on May 3, 2007. This divests state pension plans from related organizations. Many private universities have done the same thing. Also, I believe all of the presidential candidates have made sure their portfolios were divested.

One more important item of note is the Fidelity Out of Sudan Campaign. Investment company, Fidelity was specifically targeted because Fidelity is one of the largest investment firms in the country and they had a significant investment in related genocide-related businesses. Earlier this year Fidelity did divest 91% of its US holdings in PetroChina, one of the biggest divestment targets. We need to continue to pressure Fidelity and other business to ensure 100% divestment from genocide-related business.

If you are fortunate to have investments whether personally or through your place of work, you should talk to someone about divestment. You can begin doing research and use the Taskforce’s SCREENING TOOL which can be used to screen your portfolio.

On a final note: Divestment is working. A Reuters news service article written Sunday indicated that investment in Sudan has significantly decreased in the years since the Divestment campaign started.

This was taken from my presentation about divestment from last night’s meeting of the Indianapolis Save Darfur.

The deadly genocide in Darfur has continued pretty much unabated, despite growing pressure from the world community.  Sudanese President al-Bashir continues to encourage the violence despite repeated promises for peace and security.  He continues to stonewall and prevent UN troops from entering the region and expects the 7,000 African Union troops to provide security for an area the size of Texas! Already about 400,000 men, women, and children have been killed while over 2 million have been forced to leave their homes. This is sad and ridiculous.

Here are a few videos you can watch and then a few links to actions that you can take to try and help stop this horrific atrocity.

Genocide Intervention Network

Save Darfur

Sudan Divestment Task Force

24 Hours for Darfur

World Vision

Fort Wayne’s Darfur Peace & Development Org

There are so many more resources.  Please take a moment and take an action that has the chance of saving so many lives.

How many more need to die before we take action?

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: David Rubenstein, Save Darfur Coalition;
Date: Jan 10, 2007 6:46 PM
Subject: Breaking News: Cease-Fire Agreement in Darfur
To: me

Dear Nick,

I want to share some important news from Khartoum. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson just released a joint statement with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir that, if implemented, would bring some immediate security and relief to the people of Darfur as well as provide a clear path forward to long-term peace in the region.

We asked Governor Richardson to travel to Sudan to discuss ways to secure peace in Darfur and to end the genocide. The Governor was accompanied by Save Darfur Senior International Coordinator Ambassador (ret.) Lawrence Rossin, Refugees International Executive Director Kenneth Bacon, and Public and International Law and Policy Group senior attorney Amjad Atallah. Since Sunday, when they arrived in Khartoum, Governor Richardson and the delegation have visited Darfur and participated in a variety of meetings with government officials, rebel leaders, humanitarian officials, AU commanders and UN officials.

The promises from President Bashir in this agreement are encouraging. They include commitments to:

• A 60-day ceasefire with an international peace summit to be held before March 15, 2007.
• Sudan’s cooperation to work with the African Union and United Nations on the deployment of a hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur.
• Ensuring “zero tolerance” policies for gender-based violence in Darfur.
• Free access for humanitarian aid workers and journalists.

Click here to read the full joint statement and the press release.

Your concerns for the people of Darfur were voiced directly to President Bashir by Governor Richardson and Ambassador Rossin. We believe that today’s agreement offers a promising step forward to end this four-year nightmare for the people of Darfur. By no means, however, has the genocide ended.

We call urgently upon Sudan, the United Nations, the African Union, and the Bush Administration to make these promises become a reality for the long-suffering people of Darfur.

We must demand that the international community take advantage of this dramatic progress. Your help in this effort will be vital in the months ahead.

Thank you for your contribution to these new developments.

Best regards,

David Rubenstein
Save Darfur Coalition

The Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of over 175 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations whose mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of more than two million people in the Darfur region. To learn more, please visit http://www.SaveDarfur.org.

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http://www.savedarfur.org

—
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has his foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

– Archbishop Desmond Tutu