Darfur is a region in Sudan (Africa) where genocide is currently occurring. What? A genocide happening now? Today? Yes. It seems that the Sudanese Arabs are trying to exterminate the black Africans through a civilian militia called the Janjaweed. Many Darfurians are in refugee camps in neighboring Chad. Until recently, the Sudanese government would only allow the Africa Union in as peacekeepers and the soldiers were overwhelmed and underfunded. However, this past Monday, the Sudanese government agreed to allow 3,000 UN peacekeeping troops into Sudan. YAY! - but we have a long, long way to go.
I have been teaching about genocide in my World History II classes lately and we have, obviously, been discussing the current situation in Sudan. In addition to learning about the Armenian genocide, the Cambodian genocide, the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide, and the Holocaust, the students are keeping a "Discrimination Journal" to record any acts or comments of discrimination that they witness or experience.
In an effort to raise awareness about Darfur (the region in Sudan where the genocide is occurring), I am putting this information on my blog. There are about a hundred million places you can go to become informed, donate money, and write to your senators, but these are my favorite:
- http://www.savedarfur.org - This is the go-to site for all of the other websites. This site has the most succint information and has a place to sign a petition to urge the American government to send more help through the appropriate channels, and helps people find events going on in their area. This week and next are "Global Awareness" days.
- http://www.amnesty.org/ - Amnesty International - an organization committed to protecting human rights
-http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/ - This organization is a part of the Holocaust Memorial Museum and they are committed to keeping the world informed about genocide. They have some incredible pictures of Darfur.
http://www.mtvu.com/on_mtvu/activism/take_action.jhtml - This website gives ideas on how we can feasibly become involved.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3496731.stm - As a teacher, BBC is my favorite website ever. There is LOTS of information about the current situation in Darfur and how it all got started.
3 comments:
The armenian "holocaust" is an invention, a milking industry based on hearsays, victimizing some Armenians who died of war, famine, epidemics like all other. Is it any wonder the armenians started crying "genocide" after the Jews received mass reperations from the Germans ?
The armenians spend a massive amount of energy spreading genolies proopaganda.but dont seem to have it in them to file a case at the ICC. i wonder why.
there are some things in the world that are just so heart-breakingly tragic...i think this whole thing in darfur is one of them. it's great that you are helping to keep your students informed of this and other world events. i think that the more we encourage and show compassion, the more upcoming generations will be able to prevent such tragedies. of course, horrible things have been happening since the beginning of time, so maybe it's just an inevitable part of existence?
i don't know how to get rid of the "anonymous" comment, but i couldn't disagree with it more (and neither could most of the world). at one point, when hitler was planning out his "Final Solution" - which came to be the Holocaust - he said, "after all, who remembers the armenians?" I wouldn't compare the Armenian genocide to the Jewish Holocaust, but a genocide absolutely happened. The end.
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