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GENOCIDE IN SUDAN BEGS FOR ATTENTION
Tim Nonn
San Francisco Chronicle
April 16 2006
Darfur death toll will be spotlighted by Sunday of vigils.
I used to be a dedicated bystander. Whenever I caught a glimpse in
the media of the genocide in Sudan, I turned away.
One night, I stopped -- and heard the story of a young Sudanese
mother who had walked for days through the desert with her children
until they reached the safety of a refugee camp. Her village had been
destroyed and her husband killed by government-sponsored militia. She
saved her children, and changed my life.
I asked my church to contribute funds for the refugees in Darfur. A few
months later, my tranquil existence as a husband, father and editor of
technical journals was turned upside-down when I was asked by national
church leaders to form a grassroots interfaith campaign called Dear
Sudan. Our goal, as part of a larger movement, is to stop the genocide.
How do we persuade others not to turn away?
A bystander rarely allows himself or herself to confront genocide.
The risk of making a moral choice is too great. A bystander refuses
to think about genocide. It's just another issue, the refrain goes,
and it doesn't involve me. Thinking about genocide is dangerous
because one must make a conscious moral decision about being a
bystander. Could we live with ourselves knowing we made the choice
to ignore mass murder? It's better to convince oneself that it is
not happening or cannot be prevented. What could one person do?
Today, the official U.S. position is supportive of international
intervention to protect innocent civilians in Darfur. President Bush
said recently, "The genocide needs to be stopped." But some foreign
governments argue intervention is premature or inconvenient. "Wait,"
they say, as 500 Darfurians die each day. In years to come, they also
may say, "We never knew," or, "We apologize." We apologize to the
Armenians. We apologize for Nanking. We apologize for the Holocaust.
We apologize for Cambodia. We apologize for Bosnia. We apologize for
Rwanda. We apologize for Darfur.
Since early 2003, more than 400,000 people have died in Darfur and
2.5 million have been uprooted. Jan Egeland, head of U.N.
humanitarian operations in Sudan, said security has collapsed, and
today, humanitarian operations and the lives of more than 300,000
people are immediately endangered.
In an age of genocide, the moral choice to be a bystander damages the
human bonds that make society possible. Martin Luther King Jr. called
these bonds an "inescapable network of mutuality." A bystander may
refuse to make a choice about genocide in Darfur because he or she
claims the truth is unclear. Maybe it is time to start thinking with
our hearts. Our hearts might not be entirely clear about all of the
facts, but somehow they connect us to the suffering people of Darfur.
There is a certain truth in compassion. Maybe it is this truth --
the recognition of mutuality -- that will help us get through the
violence tearing apart our world.
The voices of many Americans are being raised in a national movement
to end the genocide in Darfur. From high school and college campuses
to places of worship to the steps of government buildings, people
are making hope visible by refusing to be bystanders.
On Sunday, April 30, in vigils from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco,
we will stand together against the genocide in Darfur.
Please join our vigil on the Golden Gate Bridge. Don't turn away.
Yehuda Bauer, a prominent scholar on the Holocaust, said: "You shall
never be a perpetrator. You shall never be a victim. You shall never
be a bystander."
Tim Nonn lives in Petaluma and is national coordinator of Dear Sudan.
(Vigil registration is at www.ourpledge.org). Contact us at
[email protected].
Tim Nonn
San Francisco Chronicle
April 16 2006
Darfur death toll will be spotlighted by Sunday of vigils.
I used to be a dedicated bystander. Whenever I caught a glimpse in
the media of the genocide in Sudan, I turned away.
One night, I stopped -- and heard the story of a young Sudanese
mother who had walked for days through the desert with her children
until they reached the safety of a refugee camp. Her village had been
destroyed and her husband killed by government-sponsored militia. She
saved her children, and changed my life.
I asked my church to contribute funds for the refugees in Darfur. A few
months later, my tranquil existence as a husband, father and editor of
technical journals was turned upside-down when I was asked by national
church leaders to form a grassroots interfaith campaign called Dear
Sudan. Our goal, as part of a larger movement, is to stop the genocide.
How do we persuade others not to turn away?
A bystander rarely allows himself or herself to confront genocide.
The risk of making a moral choice is too great. A bystander refuses
to think about genocide. It's just another issue, the refrain goes,
and it doesn't involve me. Thinking about genocide is dangerous
because one must make a conscious moral decision about being a
bystander. Could we live with ourselves knowing we made the choice
to ignore mass murder? It's better to convince oneself that it is
not happening or cannot be prevented. What could one person do?
Today, the official U.S. position is supportive of international
intervention to protect innocent civilians in Darfur. President Bush
said recently, "The genocide needs to be stopped." But some foreign
governments argue intervention is premature or inconvenient. "Wait,"
they say, as 500 Darfurians die each day. In years to come, they also
may say, "We never knew," or, "We apologize." We apologize to the
Armenians. We apologize for Nanking. We apologize for the Holocaust.
We apologize for Cambodia. We apologize for Bosnia. We apologize for
Rwanda. We apologize for Darfur.
Since early 2003, more than 400,000 people have died in Darfur and
2.5 million have been uprooted. Jan Egeland, head of U.N.
humanitarian operations in Sudan, said security has collapsed, and
today, humanitarian operations and the lives of more than 300,000
people are immediately endangered.
In an age of genocide, the moral choice to be a bystander damages the
human bonds that make society possible. Martin Luther King Jr. called
these bonds an "inescapable network of mutuality." A bystander may
refuse to make a choice about genocide in Darfur because he or she
claims the truth is unclear. Maybe it is time to start thinking with
our hearts. Our hearts might not be entirely clear about all of the
facts, but somehow they connect us to the suffering people of Darfur.
There is a certain truth in compassion. Maybe it is this truth --
the recognition of mutuality -- that will help us get through the
violence tearing apart our world.
The voices of many Americans are being raised in a national movement
to end the genocide in Darfur. From high school and college campuses
to places of worship to the steps of government buildings, people
are making hope visible by refusing to be bystanders.
On Sunday, April 30, in vigils from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco,
we will stand together against the genocide in Darfur.
Please join our vigil on the Golden Gate Bridge. Don't turn away.
Yehuda Bauer, a prominent scholar on the Holocaust, said: "You shall
never be a perpetrator. You shall never be a victim. You shall never
be a bystander."
Tim Nonn lives in Petaluma and is national coordinator of Dear Sudan.
(Vigil registration is at www.ourpledge.org). Contact us at
[email protected].