By Anna Gustafson
Queens College students organized a vigil in Manhattan’s Union Square last week to urge people to advocate for President Barack Obama to create a more well-defined policy on the Darfur region of Sudan, with the hope of ending the violence that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
About 25 people from throughout the city attended the Aug. 17 vigil, and attendees passed out pamphlets about the civil war and genocide in Sudan to the steady stream of passers-by who were curious about the event. The vigil was put together by members of Queens College’s chapter of Students Taking Action Now Darfur and there were similar events held the same day across the country.
“Almost everyone who passed by us wanted to get more information,” said Jenn Polish, a Queens College senior from Bayside who helped organize the event outside the Whole Foods in Union Square. “It felt really good. I came away with a lot of hope that people got it. I heard people say they were going to take action.”
Polish said those at the vigil wanted to encourage people to call 1-800-GENOCIDE, a hotline from the Genocide Intervention Network, that connects residents with their local elected officials to pressure them to take a more definitive stance on Darfur.
United Nations officials have said violence is escalating in the area, and Polish and other activists have said they were concerned the genocide could consume many more lives than it already has if the Obama administration does not take stronger action in Sudan.
United Nations officials cited the start of the genocide in Sudan as beginning in 2003, though northern and southern Sudan have been at war with each for decades, during which millions have died. In 2003, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice Equality Movement began attacking government troops, which the SLA and JEM said occurred because the government in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, had not protected villagers from being attacked by nomadic groups.
The government responded by unleashing militias known as Janjaweeds, who have attacked villages throughout Darfur, an area the size of France that is home to about 6 million people from more than 100 tribes, according to the United Human Rights Council.
Individuals at vigil held a “die-in,” during which they laid on the ground with tombstones that had such messages painted on them such as “what if these were your children” and “injustice.” Students also told stories of Sudanese citizens.
“How many of you fear being raped while going out to find water or firewood?” Queens College senior Deborah Lolai, also originally of Bayside, said at the event. “Anybody? Zaineb does. This is Zaineb. Every time she goes out for firewood, she has to fear being raped. So what’s the point of me telling you these stories? Sometimes we go to these kinds of actions and are really inspired, but then we go home and forget. What we’re trying to do this time is not forget.”
Polish said she and other STAND members, some of whom held a vigil outside Vice President Joseph Biden’s house that same day, want the Obama administration to send a diplomatic team to Darfur to help alleviate the situation as well as put economic pressure on Khartoum’s government to end the attacks.
Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
