San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition

Please visit www.ipledge2protect.org and join the growing community of people who support a stronger commitment to preventing genocide.

As part of the 16 Days of Activism, The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the U.S. National Committee for UNIFEM, in conjunction with Pangea Global AIDS Foundation, is co-hosting an event in honor of World AIDS Day this Tuesday, December 1st, from 7-8:30pm.

Women’s Rights And Women’s Lives: Linking approaches to gender based Violence and HIV/AIDS for effective prevention
Featuring Megan Dunbar, DrPH, Public Health Scientist at the Women’s Global Health Imperative-a program of RTI International, and HIV Prevention Consultant at the Pangea Global AIDS Foundation.

Free Admission

Location: UC Hastings, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
Alumni Reception Center, 200 McAllister Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA

Hosted By UNIFEM USNC SF Bay Area Chapter & Pangea Global AIDS Foundation
Co-Sponsored by UC Hastings Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and Survivor’s International

Think of the time you first heard of the Darfur genocide or another genocide ongoing during your lifetime. It was at first hard to believe, right? Now that you know, can you imagine a world without genocide and mass atrocities? A world in which steps are taken before a genocide starts to prevent it? You can help make that world a reality. Please visit www.ipledge2protect.org and pledge to join the antigenocide movement: scroll down and enter your name, email address, and zip code and click on “Add Your Name”.

Check out the website and learn how Genocide Intervention Network and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will collaborate to build the movement to end genocide and a different future! If you would like to do more and collect pledges, please either follow the steps on the website to create and enter your own pledge event or email martinaknee@gmail.com.

Jan. 9, 2010 is the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between North and South Sudan. Come hear a situation update, see a video of celebrities and activists drumming for peace, cautioning that there is one year to prevent war again in Sudan, and attend the San Francisco film premiere of Rebuilding Hope. Dave Eggers calls it a “wonderful tribute to [Sudanese] spirit and perseverance.”

Deng Jongkuch, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan living in San Jose, will speak. In 2001, after nearly fourteen years in refugee camps, Deng was selected with 3,800 other boys to come to the United States. SF Bay Area Darfur Coalition President Mohamed Suleiman, a Darfuri, will also speak.

More about worldwide participation: http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/sudan365-a-beat-for-peace

SF Campaign Sponsors: San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, American Jewish World Service, The Congregation Emanu-El, Health Alliance for Sudan

DATE & TIME:
Saturday, January 9
6:45 pm-9:00 pm

LOCATION:
Congregation Emanu-El
2 Lake Street (at Arguello)
San Francisco, CA 94118
Map

COST & REGISTRATION:
Free – donations welcomed

MORE INFO:
Contact: Martina Knee
Email: info@darfursf.org
Phone: 415-221-8400

A press conference will take place on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall, immediately followed by a 1-3 PM healing ceremony for survivors of violence with a multi-arts performance in the esplanade across the street, entitled “They Are All Our Daughters.”

What: They Are All Our Daughters! International Day for the Elimination of Violence Towards Women & Girls

When:  Wednesday, November 25, 2009,  12-3pm

Where: Steps of San Francisco’s City Hall and Esplanade

Cost:  Free to the Public

Join American Jewish World Service President Ruth Messinger for one of three exclusive Bay Area advance screenings of the new documentary featuring Nicholas Kristof, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist.

REPORTER is a feature documentary about Nicholas Kristof, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the New York Times, who almost single-handedly put the crisis in Darfur on the world map. By tracking a newsman, we track his news. In the summer of 2007, Kristof traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to shine his light into the darkest pockets of conflict and poverty.

View Film Trailer

November 30 – San Francisco or
December 1 – San Rafael or
December 2 – Los Altos

Space is limited. RSVP to Stephanie Tholand at stholand@ajws.org or 415.593.3298 with chosen location and number attending by November 25.

On October 19, the Obama Administration announced its long-awaited Sudan policy. The policy’s priorities include: an end to the Darfur genocide, implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 (CPA) that ended the North-South war, and ensuring that Sudan does not provide a safe haven for international terrorists.

Responses to the policy offer varying perspectives:

• The policy took too long to issue. Ten months is not acceptable when millions of lives hang in the balance, when an election will take place in 2010, and when the referendum determining whether South Sudan will separate is scheduled for 2011.
• The policy is only new rhetoric; proof will be in its execution.
• The policy’s “all-Sudan” approach is a reason for optimism. The Administration acknowledged the interdependence of peace in Darfur and realization of the CPA’s goals, as well as Sudan’s sharing of intelligence with the US in support of the “war on terror”. The policy takes a balanced approach. Decisions regarding incentives and disincentives for the Government of Sudan will be based on verifiable changes in conditions on the ground.
• The policy appears to settle the debate within the Obama Administration on whether genocide in Darfur is ongoing: it decided that the Government of Sudan’s genocidal campaign continues. Indeed it does, with fewer bombs and burned villages than in past years but absolutely by means of withheld and obstructed humanitarian aid. More Darfuris die from malnutrition, starvation, thirst, disease, and lack of hygiene than from direct attacks.

The relentless pressure from concerned citizens and Members of Congress resulted in the policy’s roll-out by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, along with the US Special Envoy to Sudan, Maj. Gen Scott Gration (Ret.). The White House and State Department held an informational teleconference for activists. The press received a background briefing.

Let’s hope the policy is neither too little too late nor merely an attempt to silence critics.

In part, this remains in the hands of the American people. The policy is an opportunity to hold the Obama Administration accountable for leading the international community in facilitating and supporting peace in Sudan.

Individuals who care about Sudan and the stability of the Horn of Africa need to continue to monitor developments both in Sudan and in the US response. They must make their voices heard if implementation of the policy does not expeditiously achieve its goals.

How?  Send emails and make calls to The White House, call and text the Secretary of State, and respond to the Special Envoy’s blog. Use Facebook and Twitter. Fax a letter to your Congressperson and Senator.

The policy alone is not enough. It is a step forward.

Looking optimistically into the future, let it be a small step for all of mankind. In that future, humanity will not tolerate the intentional slaughter of “others”.

Let us start today in helping to create a world free from genocide – make sure the first one of the 21st century ends.

March 19-21, 2010
Pittsburgh, PA

Featured Speaker: Scott Gration, Maj Gen, USAF (Ret), U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan

Over the course of the past year, nearly 100 southern Sudanese and Darfuri leaders living in the U.S. have expressed interest in coming together to discuss the future of their country and how they can lead for peace from the U.S. While Pittsburgh-based southern Sudanese had attended local rallies before last year, their strong turnout at the Save Darfur Coalition’s April 2009 event in Washington D.C. indicated a serious convergence of interests and aims between their community and the Darfuri Diaspora. The collaboration between Darfuris, southern Sudanese and other U.S. activists was strengthened in common G-20 advocacy efforts and a pre-conference planning meeting on Oct. 17 – 18, 2009. More Information

More than 1,000 leaders of the worldwide movement to end genocide will convene in Washington, D.C.

The GI-NET student-led division, STAND, will bring together a powerful network of 1,000 students, community leaders, and activists from across the country to Capitol Hill for Pledge2Protect: a conference designed to educate, empower, and highlight the work of activists who are driving the movement to prevent and stop genocide and mass atrocities. Pledge2Protect seeks to create a forum of rigorous dialogue and exchange that cover broad yet carefully selected topics. More