‘Never Again’?
By: Ali Zafar, One80 Contributor
Published: MAY/7/06
An elderly Darfurian woman sobs, holding her head in despair. Next to her, a sign reads: ‘speak out and stop genocide in Darfur’. This was just one of the many posters held high at Queen’s Park last Sunday, where more than 700 people came together to scream for Darfur. The scream was echoed across the continent with similar rallies held in Vancouver, Washington DC, and San Francisco. The message at the Toronto rally was clear: scream for the 400,000 voiceless people suffering in Darfur.
“We see what’s happening in Darfur and can’t comprehend why this is happening,” said Ben Singer, Financial Director of Project Equity – one of the groups that organized the rally. “We want to scream to show how much pain and suffering we go through when we see our fellow humans suffer.”
Darfur is a region in western Sudan, roughly the size of California. In the past three years, over 400,000 people have died due to the conflict in the region and about 3 million people have been displaced from their homes. The Sudanese government – headquartered in Khartoum, the capital – backed by its Arab militia or “Janjaweed” are attacking and killing “African” people.
“The continuing mass killings, gang rapes of girls as young as eight, village burnings and starvation across Darfur and recently also in Chad, along with the burning of ‘African’ mosques, are motivated by capital ‘R’ racism in Khartoum,” said David Kilgour, former Member of Parliament for Edmonton and Secretary of State for Africa, as he addressed the audience at the rally.
Kilgour was part of a contingent that included NDP Leader Jack Layton, his wife, MP Olivia Chow, and Mohamed Haroun, president of the Darfur Association of Canada.
In his speech, Kilgour outlined a three-point intervention proposal developed by an international group of concerned individuals to deal with the conflict: establish a no-fly zone over Darfur, since many attacks on villagers are done through air raids; Darfur should have its own government; and invite international peacekeepers to protect the civilians.
He added that the conflict is fueled by ethnic and racial tensions – with the “Arabs” attacking the “Africans” – and not religious tensions, since both the warring parties are Muslim. Kilgour said he’s also upset with foreign countries not “willing to stop the slaughter if it involves any risk or burden.” And he isn’t alone.
Dr. Norman Epstein, a medical doctor by trade, is founder and co-chair of Canadians Against Slavery and Torture in Sudan (CASTS). His interest in Sudan was sparked by a presentation he saw on slavery. “Children were being abducted into slavery,” he said during a recent interview. “I couldn’t believe it was occurring, so I decided to do something about it.” And he did by co-chairing CASTS, a grassroots coalition working to raise public awareness of slavery and conflict in Sudan.
Dr. Epstein said countries don’t have a strategic interest in Sudan, so they don’t care for the conflict. He wants Canada to have a greater role in solving the conflict. “We’re asking Stephen Harper to take greater leadership. We’re asking Canada to take up the international lead on Darfur, like it did 20 years ago with apartheid in South Africa.”
He added that the only way politicians will put emphasis on Darfur is if Canadians put pressure on their MPs. “Write to your MP, because when they hear [your concerns], the more likely the prime minister will do what is necessary. This is how democracy works, when we the constituents care, when we the constituents are apathetic, the leaders will be apathetic.”
Recently, there have been talks held in Abuja, Nigeria on finding a peace deal for the conflict between the warring parties – with the African Union, the United Kingdom, and United States acting as mediators. But Dr. Epstein is not satisfied with the lack of Canadian and international intervention in the conflict.
“What’s going on in Darfur is genocide,” he said, adding that “we step up with the natural disasters like the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.
“Doesn’t Africa matter? I think it does.”
