DUers who have been posting about Darfur for some time......THANK YOU!

[FrenchieCat]

It looks like the issue is starting to take root, and that maybe, maybe.....something will be done to halt the tragic murders of so many innocents.

This is a very important issue that has been too late in grabbing national attention. I fault the media with its pre-occupation on the Blonde Girl missing in Aruba and whatever the story was that was most important before that!

The Darfur tragedy is now being buoyed by a larger and larger number of American activists towards the rest of our nation....and the attention payed to Darfur is starting to have a positive effect toward us "Doing Something".

People are starting to wake up to the fact that as much as we want to concentrate on other issues, Darfur is a very important issue that needed addressing YESTERDAY.

To those who have posted on this Genocide before it became the "Cause Celebre" that it is quickly becoming, because they cared that thousands were being slaughtered, I just want to thank you for being steadfast in making sure that this issue didn't drop off the face of America's blogs! :patriot:

You all know who you are......

I hope we all wake up and smell the deaths of hundreds of thousands......

I also give Kudos to General Wes Clark......who has been talking about this issue for a long time. He also has made sure that headlines on Darfur didn't disappear from our pages, and from our conversation.

So it is with great pleasure that I thank General Wes Clark as well......

As Clark did about Rwanda and Kosovo, he has been advocating that we should intervene in Darfur, but for a long time, his cries landed on deaf ears. I will say that Kosovo was acted upon BEFORE a Genocide could actually take place, and that's the same swiftness that we should have tried to make things better in Darfur. Hundreds of thousands have already died there, and that is what is so tragic. We are waking up finally, but for many, it will be too late. :cry:

Martin Luther King said, "Man's inhumanity to man is not only perpetuated by the vitriolic action of those who are bad, it is also perpetuated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=53 ...
Interviews
Wesley Clark: Why We Should Care About Darfur
April 20,2006

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped ... /
US plan for Darfur
By Wesley Clark and John Prendergast | April 10, 2006

http://www.dems.us/clark_wes /
November 07, 2005
Clark Steps Up For Darfur, Sudan

http://savedarfur.org/index.php?q=news/newsarchives/200 ...
Deja vu in Darfur - 9/01/2005
Sudan Tribune
Former NATO Commander Wesley Clark is urging the U.N. Security Council to dispatch about 12,000 NATO troops to Darfur to protect civilians and humanitarian operations until a large contingent of African troops is deployed there next year.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=48 ...
Commentary
Wesley Clark: NATO Forces Needed in Darfur
August 22, 2005

http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/USATODAY/2004/07/06/501055?extID=10026
Out of time in Darfur
By Wesley Clark and John Prendergast | Jul 06 '04

For the past year, the international community has shamefully acquiesced to the crimes against humanity occurring daily in the Sudanese province of Darfur.

"Janjaweed" militias, Arabs backed by the Sudanese government, are continuing to conduct mop-up operations against non-Arab villagers in a massive ethnic-cleansing campaign in the region. The current conflict flared early last year when two rebel groups in Darfur attacked government forces. The swelling crisis could leave hundreds of thousands dead in the coming months.

Also, Clark is a board member of this group here:
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3060&l=1
as a Vice Chair -- of which George Soros is a chairman...
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=1139&l=1

And here's some information on the Rwanda-Time line, and some comments about Wes Clark's involvement in attempting to get something done about it.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/4018.html

[Sydnie]

1. You can join those at the rally today by

Sending an electronic postcard to blivet**. Support this effort please.

http://www.savedarfur.org/

[FrenchieCat]

2. Certainly!

I will.....

[FrenchieCat]

3. Guess I'll kick my own thread......

Guess that most DUers who give a shit are not here today!

[Totally Committed]

4. It's about freakin' time this subject got some traction!

Recommended, Frenchie!

TC

[FrenchieCat]

10. I'm just glad that people are starting to find out about this.....

because it has been happening for soooooo long. :cry:

It is so shameful - this issue should be raised everytime there is talk about Iraq and Iran....because it shows the true hypocracy that we all show when everything seems to matter more than the human lives of the innocent that aren't Americans......

I feel badly for Natalee (missing blonde)....but really, why should we care so much more about her than hundreds of thousands? That's what I want to know!

[globalvillage]

5. Nice work by Gen Clark

Bringing much needed attention to this horrific tragedy.

Kudos to all who are speaking out.

[barb162]

6. why this has been on the backburner for so long, I don't know

[FrenchieCat]

16. Cause we've been too "Busy"......

with a President who likes to talks shit about Iraq and the victims of Saddam Hussein.....based on what happened years ago...and uses the incident to invade a country....

But yet, as we have genocide happening AS WE SPEAK day in, day out, Bush and Co. are nowhere to be found with their "bravado" talk and their Rethoric about Freedom and how God wants us all free.

[barb162]

18. And generally Africa tends not to get publicity, I think

[FrenchieCat]

20. Correct....

it ain't got nothing in it for us.....so "they" have determined!

[blm]

24. Kerry made it an issue during the campaign - media decided it WASN'T an

important issue and ignored Kerry's words....yet again. The more the MEDIA ignored his opponent on the issue, the easier for Bush to NOT ACT.

Statement by Senator Kerry on the Crisis in Darfur
6/7/2004 2:29:00 PM
To: National Desk


WASHINGTON, June 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Senator John Kerry released the following statement
today on the crisis in Darfur:

"The world did not act in Rwanda, to our eternal shame. Now we are at another crisis point
this time in Sudan. The Sudan's western Darfur region demands the world's immediate
attention and action. Rampages against defenseless civilians by government- sponsored
militia have caused the deaths of an estimated 30,000 people, and more than one million
have been made homeless. The Administrator of the US Agency for International Development
estimated last week that at least 300,000 more will die and up to one million could die if
the Sudanese government continues to terrorize civilians and impede humanitarian access.
The United Nations and human rights experts agree that the government of Sudan is
committing crimes against humanity and that the risk of genocide is real.

"I believe that the United States and the international community must act immediately to
apply effective pressure on the Government of Sudan to rein in its militia proxies and to
immediately provide unrestricted access for humanitarian aid and aid workers. We must also
act swiftly to initiate negotiations aimed at securing a political settlement to the
conflict. And because there is no guarantee that the Sudanese government will relent, we
must also start planning now for the possibility that the international community, acting
through the United Nations, will be forced to intervene urgently to save the lives of the
innocent.

"The United States, working with the governments of the region and our allies in the
United Kingdom and Norway has recently made significant progress towards a final peace
agreement between the Sudanese government and its southern opposition. While this is a
welcome development, the peace agreement will be fundamentally compromised if the world
stands by while the government threatens the lives and livelihoods of other citizens of
Sudan."

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=31601

[barb162]

7. kick

[Donna Zen]

8. Has this been on CSpan?

I've been checking CNN for coverage in hope of hearing some speeches. But there has been nothing but one quick picture with an over-voiced mention.

[globalvillage]

9. It's live on c-span now

Clooney is speaking
:loveya:

[FrenchieCat]

11. It is amazing how it takes a Movie Star to have the cameras

follow him into a region of the world that cameras should have been camped at long ago.

If we want to know what we have really become...all we have to do is count the dead bodies........

[globalvillage]

21. Better to have him, though, than not.

It shouldn't take a movie star, but I'm glad he's with us. Biden proposed legislation a year ago and it's sitting in committee. People have been speaking out. Kerry, Clark, many others, even repubs (Brownback), but the legislation has gone nowhere. If Clooney can help, more power to him.

[applegrove]

12. To you FrenchieCat. You were on it most often.

[FrenchieCat]

13. I'm so glad you came into the thread......as this thread was for you...

......I was not the instrumental one, at all......but just one little ity bit!

But, without a doubt, you were certainly one of the biggest, if not "the" Duer who's work was catalyst to this issue as far as Democratic Underground, By keeping it in the minds of Duers.....over and over, day in, day out, including helping me focus on it every now and then.


So, as far as DUers are concerned.....I thank you the most of all, AppleGrove!


Truly and Sincerely,
FrenchieCat

Here is some of Applegrove's work.....which was done "DAILY" for a long while.....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3786376#

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3780933

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3773778

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3786376#

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3766193

[applegrove]

28. Frenchie Cat. - wow - I only lasted a few weeks on the job. Ad hoc after

that. But hey - there are quite a few others seriously out there working their butts off on this. The people behind it now mean BUSINESS. This will not be allowed to be put back on the back burner.

Look at Nick Kristoff, Sam Powers & people like Dr. Martin in Canada and a whole host of people working through churches and synagogs. :applause:

[Adelante]

14. I don't care if it took a movie star

Whatever it takes. I saw the dedicated and brilliant Samantha Power with George Clooney on CNN today.

[FrenchieCat]

15. And another of those DUers that I was talking about and wanting to thank..

is on the scene!

Thank you so much WesDem for keeping this issue alive, here at DU.....and everywhere!

Without folks like you.....we wouldn't be talking about this tragedy until 8 years from now.

So I humbly THANK YOU, as well....

for all that you have done and that you do!

I'm crying as I write this because I know that these people cannot wait much longer. How many more lives before the ones who could really make a difference "do"? How much longer????? and how many more lives????

[barb162]

17. kick

[FrenchieCat]

19. Here's a thread showing "Bush" underwhelmed reaction

in reference to Darfur...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3773230

Bush Says More Funding for Africa "Doesn't Fit Our Budget Process"
snip from Washington Post article:

Bush rebuffed British Prime Minister Tony Blair's efforts to persuade the world's wealthiest nations to double aid to Africa. Blair, who is scheduled to meet with Bush in Washington next week, wants to raise an additional $50 billion per year to help African nations.

"It doesn't fit our budgetary process," Bush said.

Entire article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

What an a*s Bush is! More funding for Africa doesn't fit his "budget process?" I think instead of process, he should have said priority. Because that's what he meant--more funding for Africa is not his priority (or interest).

[wyldwolf]

22. I can remember about this time last year watching Darfur threads sink fast

Wes Clark and the DLC have been speaking out on Darfur for a few years now.

I believe the reasons many on DU have shied away from the issue are that it would require at least some use of the US military and there has always been a hint of distrust on the left when it comes to the military - amplified by the Iraq fiasco. Secondly, the DLC has had the issue on the frontburner, which makes any issue poison to many on the left.

[FrenchieCat]

23. Could you post some of those DLC links from yesteryear

where they are discussing the issue?

I think that your point is important.

[wyldwolf]

25. sure. going back to 2004...

http://www.ppionline.org/ndol/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=450004&subid=900021&contentid=253835 April 26, 2006

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=253263&kaid=131&subid=207 April 1, 2005

http://www.ppionline.org/ndol/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=450004&subid=900020&contentid=253355 May 31, 2005

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=131&subid=207&contentid=253137 January, 2005

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=253022&kaid=131&subid=192 November 16, 2004

[Gregorian]

26. Without media coverage, Darfur is just a word.

I've seen the crying babies. To see the look of despair in a mother's eyes is enough to drain the soul right out of a person. The loss of all optimism. The hunger. The fear.

If someone mistreats their dog, we get very upset. Why then should a human being not have at least the same care that we provide a dog? This is very bothering to me. It's even harder for a human being. We have a brain. We know. They know, and are in pain and suffering at this moment. And they have been for years now. YEARS! This is criminal neglect. There is no other way to put it. The bastards who are building bombs should cower with shame.

There. Enough of me and my rant. I don't take ignoring pain very well.

[ismnotwasm]

27. Kick

I just woke up (I work nights) and I'm just cruising DU, and there are 2 Darfur threads that I've seen so far, both with more posts than I've seen in a while on Darfur. Very cool and awesome work!!!
:kick:

[Tom Rinaldo]

29. Thank God some help may yet arrive

I don't understand how the world could stand back this long.

[applegrove]

30. Not there yet. Seems * wants to wait til it turns into a neo vs. caliphate

thinngy. What else could he be waiting for?

[FrenchieCat]

31. OMFG!!! U.N. Cutting food Rations in Darfur? How so, so tragic!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/un_darfur;_ylt=Amv_N0zixvCoM2G5rBC0xyes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

U.N. Food Agency Reduces Rations in Darfur By SAM CAGE, Associated Press Writer
Fri Apr 28, 10:21 PM ET

GENEVA - The U.N. food agency said Friday it is cutting rations in half for about 3 million refugees in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region because of a shortage of money, calling it "scandalous" that it has to stretch out supplies while it pleads for funds.

The World Food Program said it would reduce food handouts to 1,050 calories a person starting Monday — down from the 2,100 calories that is considered the daily minimum requirement, meaning some of those being helped could eventually face starvation.

"This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Haven't the people of Darfur suffered enough?" James Morris, the U.N. program's chief, said

[incapsulated]

32. Thank you General Clark and....

And also these fine United States Representatives, who demonstrated in front of the Sudanese Embassy and got arrested:

Tom Lantos
James McGovern
John Olver
James Moran
Sheila Jackson Lee


And yes, thank you George Clooney, for using your celebrity to do good and not for evil. :)

[NVMojo]

33. it's amazing how the posts on Darfur used to die quick deaths ...

glad to see people are waking up, thanks to George Clooney.

[incapsulated]

34. The power of celebrity

In this country is unreal. Well, thank god Clooney is fighting the good fight. And making excellent films, too.

[Time for change]

35. Very nice rally in DC yesterday

They said they've collected over 600,000 signatures.

[FrenchieCat]

36. Yeah! That is so encouraging......

I pray that something comes of it! :headbang: