An outSTANDing day on the Hill: STAND Camp Lobby Day

By Advocacy Coordinator Maria Thomson

STAND Camp 2011 kept its attendants busy this summer: every day was brimming with campaign strategy-building exercises, policy debate and analysis, educational sessions with top officials from organizations including United to End Genocide, Enough, the New Organizing Institute, Girifna, and more.  Nevertheless, after four full and exhausting days of devoting total energy and enthusiasm to STAND Camp activities, 32 students (about half of everyone who came to STAND Camp!) stayed one more day to take a bus into Washington, D.C. and meet with their representatives on the Hill on Monday.

The students, representing 19 states of the U.S., met with 31 senators or staffers on Monday.  They spoke on the situation in Sudan since South Sudan’s achievement of independence on July 9th, including topics such as recent violence in South Kordofan and Darfur, and continued indecision in Sudan regarding the future of Abyei.  The students urged their representatives to keep Sudan a priority in the coming months and years as the two countries continue to deal with post-independence issues.  Additionally, students spoke with their representatives about the need to replenish funds in critical accounts — such as the Complex Crises Fund, Conflict Stabilization Operations, and Migration and Refugee Assistance funds — that were significantly cut by Congress during the August budget debates.

Once again, Monday’s Lobby Day experience demonstrated the determination of STAND students to take action in changing the course of global mass atrocities and relevant US policy.  In the meantime, students continue to speak with their representatives on their own to build working relationships with Senate staffers and ensure that their voices are included in legislative decisions.  These relationships will be crucial in the coming months, which will see both the introduction of genocide prevention legislation in Congress, as well as developing situations in Sudan and South Sudan, Libya, Syria, the DRC, and many other regions of concern.  Please continue to lobby your representatives on these issues and stand up to voice your support for an end to genocide: it starts with you!

Help STAND win the Midwest Academy Video Contest!

STAND has entered a video in the Midwest Academy video contest and we’re counting on you to help us win! Winning this contest will allow us to send some of our student leaders to an advanced organizing training to make our fall genocide prevention campaign even more strategic and effective! Here’s what you can do:

• Click here to vote for STAND’s video before August 12th!
• Spread the word! Click here to tweet about the vote
• Post the following message on FB and tell your friends to vote!
  Vision? Check. A dedicated core of student activists? Passion and dougie-ing skills? Check. STAND is on the road to strengthening our genprev work with more strategy, and if we can win @Midwest Academy’s video competition, STAND will be awarded free participation in a strategy seminar. VOTE before August 12th at http://bit.ly/oGGvkf and spread the word! Have we got what it takes?

Last Day at STAND Camp!

By Regional Organizer Aaron Alberico

Everyone awoke, for their last day of training, to a hum of empowerment that had overtaken Pearlstone Retreat Center.

To start the morning session, Regional Organizer Zach Ackerman lead a workshop called “Story of Self.” Based on the simple premise that each and every one of us has a story to tell,  the workshop focused on helping upSTANDers learn to tell a story about themselves, the community they organize, and the strategy that motivates others to join them in creating change. After Zach shared the basics of Story of Self with the group, everyone broke out into teams to work on a smaller, more individual basis to both create and fine tune individual stories. Once we reassembled as a group, people were nominated to share their stories. Nominations were everywhere and one by one people began sharing their stories about why they became involved in the anti-genocide movement. They ranged from overcoming bullying to recognizing racial disparities on campus.

After the Story of Self workshop, Katie Flamand, former field director for Illinois Senate Democratic Victory Fund, lead a discussion about creating field plans and how to recruit, manage, and mobilize volunteers. Fortunately the discussion was moved outside, offering refuge from the sub-arctic temperatures inside and allowing for a more intimate group discussion.

Soon we broke for lunch during which chapters shared best practices about everything club-related. This included how to best organize leadership positions, what recruitment methods work best (besides free pizza), and what events were most successful. Following the week-long tradition, everyone intermingled at different tables so that no one would leave STANDCamp without having met everyone else at least once.

Throughout lunch (and basically the entire day) everyone was getting pumped up for STANDCamp’s final guest speaker, Omékongo Dibinga. But before Omékongo performed, STANDCamp’s very own upSTANDer Daniel Cowen of Syracuse University performed some original spoken word. To finish the weekend off strong, Omékongo took the stage delivering a passionate slam poetry performance. The energy and excitement could be felt throughout the room.

That excitement never dissipated, even as STANDCamp was officially ending. The Red Team would come to win the team challenge that had been going on all week. But the true winners are every single person that has ever taken a STAND against genocide and taken part in our nation-wide movement. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the next National Conference on October 21st in Washington, D.C!

Check out a clip of Omekongo’s STAND Song below, and see the full song here!

STAND Camp Day One!

By Advocacy Coordinator Maria Thomson

Yesterday was Day One of STAND’s second annual STAND Camp, marking the start of a highly anticipated four-day weekend filled with team-building, education, and advocacy training activities.  Awaiting the arrival of Core Chapter Leaders in the afternoon, the new STAND MC prepared a detailed plan of action for this fall and winter, with goals including maintaining Sudan as a priority issue and supporting upcoming genocide prevention legislation. 
   

After our campers had arrived and settled into their rooms, Tom Andrews, president of the newly merged United to End Genocide, kicked off the weekend with an introduction to his personal path to anti-genocide activism and an account of his recent experiences touring Africa and Sudan, in particular.  Then students broke out into small groups (go Team Purple!) to get to know each other, and shook off travel fatigue in ice-breakers ranging from tag to ninja to doing “the dougie.” 

Photo credit: Martha Bixby, GI-Net/SDC Coalition

After a discussion of STAND’s “theory of change” and a delectable dinner courtesy of the folks here at the Pearlstone Retreat Center, the night concluded with a terrific discussion on the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative.  Core chapter leaders currently organizing conflict-free campus campaigns offered great advice and insights on the challenges in working on these campaigns, such as the need to consider the complexities of the mining population in the Congo and how blanket boycotts on Congo mineral companies can negatively affect innocent civilians (props to Jenn, Daren, and Hannah on this one). 
   

In the end, the day was a great start to CCLs beginning to meet each other, learn about and practice team work, and collaborate on the issues at hand.  After such a successful first day, we’re all looking forward to spending the rest of the weekend in some amazing company!

Peace, Maria
 

July 19th, 2011 by Shannon Orcutt

Background of South Kordofan Crisis

Fighting in the border state of South Kordofan, which contains the Nuba Mountain region, began in the capital of Kadugli on June 5th when the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) demanded the disarmament of members of the Sudan People Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N).  The SAF and allied militias rapidly escalated the violence conducting house to house raids, supporting widespread looting, imposing roadblocks, and continuing to conduct aerial bombardments which have had disastrous consequences for the people of South Kordofan.  Violence has now spread to villages throughout the state forcing over 73,000 civilians to flee their homes, disrupting the crucial cultivation season, and creating a human rights and potential humanitarian disaster.

The Government of Sudan has cut off nearly all access and prevented humanitarian organizations and UN peacekeepers from providing desperately needed aid and security and gathering information of abuses being committed. Local humanitarian groups who continue to access the area say they can only access around 10 percent of some 250,000 people in need and estimate that over 1 million people could be affected if the situation is not addressed.

Ethnic Targeting and War Crimes

The SAF and allied militias have singled out Nuba civilians on the basis of their ethnic identity and political ties, going house to house targeting civilians accused of being affiliated or supporting the SPLA-North and subjecting them to arrest, torture, and extrajudicial killings.  The UN has cited reliable secondary sources reporting the existence of mass graves, adding to recently revealed images by the Satellite Sentinel Project, corroborated by eyewitness accounts on the ground, that appear to be consistent with mass graves. The Sudanese Red Crescent Society has also reported burying 70 people in Kadugli. A preliminary report by the UN has indicated that landmines and unexploded ordinance have contaminated more than a third of Kadugli and have killed civilians throughout South Kordofan. The use of landmines also prevents humanitarian organizations from accessing many of the towns most critically affected by fighting.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, the Sudanese Armed Forces attacked Kadugli Catholic Church where over 200 civilians had fled to for safety. While in Juba, GI-NET/SDC spoke with recently displaced Nubian religious leaders who reported that the church has now been transformed into a military compound by the government. Further charges of targeting and burning of churches and indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas by imprecise Antonov aircraft (a war crime) underscore the urgent need for access for independent investigations.

On June 28th, the Government of Sudan and the SPLA-North signed a framework agreement after weeks of negotiation in Addis Ababa, however it fell short of a ceasefire and within days Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir denounced the agreement and “ordered the Sudanese Armed Forces to continue their operations in South Kordofan until they clean the state of rebels”…“and not to stop until South Kordofan is purged as Abyei was purged before.”

Need to Protect Civilians

The government has also targeted peacekeepers in South Kordofan and has abducted at least eight UN personnel and killed an independent contractor working with the mission. On July 9th, the mandate of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) expired, and the Sudanese government has objected to a continued peacekeeping presence in the North. As the drawdown of UNMIS forces begins, the peacekeepers who are still present are no longer able to use force to protect civilians nor able to provide much reporting due to travel restrictions. The absence of UN peacekeepers poses a serious threat to civilians in South Kordofan since they are no longer able to provide security for civilians or humanitarian organizations to enable them to deliver desperately needed aid.

The Role of the United States

While the United States has issued a number of statements condemning the recent attacks in South Kordofan, the Government of Sudan continues their campaign of targeting the Nuba people and expects the United States to continue to use rhetoric rather than action.  On July 9th, Secretary Clinton actually commended the Sudanese government and stated that “by continuing on the path of peace, the Government of Sudan can redefine its relationship with the international community and secure a more prosperous future for its people.” Unfortunately, the Government of Sudan has abandoned the path of peace and instead continues to attack its own people in South Kordofan, Abyei, as well as Darfur; therefore, it is essential for U.S. action to reflect Khartoum’s offenses.

According to info from an app that lets you borrow money, it is critical for the Obama Administration to impose serious consequences for the Government of Sudan’s atrocities against civilians and to:

• Immediately suspend progress toward normalization with Sudan, including the review of its status as a state sponsor of terror, as well as any steps towards review of debt relief or the lifting of sanctions;
• Immediately impose targeted U.S. sanctions on officials and militia leaders implicated in orchestrating violence in Abyei and South Kordofan;
• Support expanding and strengthening the existing UN sanctions regime to hold accountable individuals responsible for instigating violence in Abyei and South Kordofan;
• Urge the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation in Abyei and South Kordofan to the International Criminal Court to ensure accountability for atrocities committed against civilians; and
• Ensure there is a UN civilian protection force with a human rights monitoring mechanism with access to South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

Timeline of attacks in South Kordofan

• June 5th– Fighting between SAF and SPLA-North begins in Kadugli and Um Durein in South Kordofan
• June 11th– Bombardments & artillery shelling reported in 11/19 localities in South Kordofan
• June 14th– Two jet fighters dropped 11 bombs in Kauda targeting an airfield near a UNMIS base
• June 17th– Heavy fighting reported in Heiban-Kauda-Um Dorein area. The SAF dropped two bombs within a kilometer of UNMIS headquarters in Kadugli, also reports of fighting and burning of houses
• June 19th– SAF dropped at least seven bombs about 500 metres from the UNMIS airstrip in Kauda
• June 22nd– 5 civilians were killed in aerial attack on Kauda. 6 UNMIS staff were arrested at Kadugli airport
• June 25th– Bombing in Talodi was reported. An UNMIS staff member was arrested by SAF in Kadugli
• June 26th– A train of Southern returnees was attacked by militia between Muglad and Meiram
• June 27th– Aerial bombardments reported in Kauda and Kadugli
• June 28th– Sporadic gunfire in Talodi and aerial bombardments in Umm Durein were reported
• June 30th– Aerial bombardments reported north of Julud
• June 30th-July 5th– Aerial bombardments reported south of Kadugli
• Early July– Sporadic gunfire reported near Kurungu and Talodi
• July 6th– Sporadic gunfire in addition to bombing to the northwest and west of Kadugli
• July 6th-9th– Kurchi was reportedly subjected to bombing by SAF forces
• July 7th– Heavy aerial bombardment reported near Delami which resulted in many civilian casualties and large displacement
• July 8th– Aerial bombardments 15km south of Delami and 15km west of Kadugli
• July 8th-10th– Aerial bombardments reported 10 km southwest of Dilling
• July 11th– Heavy bombing and gunfire reported around Kadugli town
• July 12th– Two UNMIS national staff members were detained inside Kadugli town.
• July 12th -13th– Reports of fighting in Salara and Al Tays
• July 16th– Reportedly aerial bombardment 10km west of Heiban town

* There have likely been many more attacks but due to widespread access restrictions reporting has been severely limited.

July 14th, 2011 by Rebecca Dennis

Hunger Strike for Darfur

At noon on July 22, Sudanese Diaspora members and activists around the globe will begin a 24-hour long fast for Darfur. During the global hunger strike, participants will be contacting their government officials, asking for:

• Immediate protection of civilians
• Unimpeded humanitarian access
• Accountability for the crimes against humanity committed by Khartoum’s regime
• Justice for the genocide victims and atrocities committed in Darfur and throughout Sudan.

To find out more and sign up to participate visit  www.fastdarfur.org or “Hunger Strike for Darfur” on facebook
                                                 

Rally at the White House

Date: Saturday, July 23, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20006

On July 23rd, the 7th anniversary of the United States Congress declaring the conflict in Darfur to be Genocide, Sudanese from all regions, including Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, Abyei, Nubia, Eastern Sudan and Central Sudan, will join together with American activists outside the White House, to protest the ongoing violence of Omar al-Bashir’s regime. They will call for action from the United States to protect civilians, hold al-Bashir accountable, and bring peace to all of Sudan.

Confirmed speakers at the White House Rally include:

Hon. Thomas Andrews

President of Genocide Intervention Network/ Save Darfur Coalition

John Prendergast

Co-Founder of the Enough Project

Other speakers will include prominent human rights activists, policy experts, and genocide survivors.

Separate events will also be held throughout the US (including Nebraska, Arizona and Texas) and Internationally in Canada, France, the UK, Egypt and Uganda.

For more information visit: Save Darfur Coalition – Events

In-district lobby days in August

The Senate will be on recess from August 8-September 2, giving you a great opportunity to meet with them at their local offices. With so much going on, we anticipate that August will be a crucial month to lobby on both Sudan and genocide prevention. You can sign up online and we’ll provide talking points and materials for your meeting. We will also be holding several training calls to help you prepare and can connect you with others in your area who might be interested in lobbying.

Sign up to lobby your Senators today. Meetings will need to be scheduled soon.
                                               
Make the Call: 1-800-GENOCIDE

As always, we’ll be making 1-800-GENOCIDE available to connect you directly with the White House and with talking points, so you can call TODAY.

July 11th, 2011 by Allen Combs

Save Darfur Coalition President Tom Andrews and Senior Policy Analyst Dan Sullivan just completed a two week trip to Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan. Here is a quick video they put together as they prepared to leave the new Republic of South Sudan:

July 9th, 2011 by Allen Combs

Save Darfur Coalition President Tom Andrews and Senior Policy Analyst Dan Sullivan were in Juba last night for the birth of the world’s newest nation: the Republic of South Sudan. They cut a short video to try and give you a feel of what the celebration was like in the new nation’s capital. Take a look:
 

July 9th, 2011 by Daniel Sullivan

Last night as the clock struck midnight in South Sudan, the newest nation in the world was born. I was in Juba to take in and be taken up in the moment.

Around 10pm people began pouting out into the streets, which gradually filled with waving flags, smiling faces, and the sounds of cheers and honking horns.  “Sudan Oyee!” they yelled in celebration.  By midnight, the streets were packed.  The mood was electric, the excitement palpable; so much positive energy pumping through the streets.  “Sudan oyee!”

From where I stood, elated Southern Sudanese found a tub of water and began to fill up water bottles and buckets to drench the slowly passing cars trying to move through the crowds jubilant bodies clinging to their sides.  I was drenched three times by the same smiling man.  Another man with a palm branch began shaking it over me and told me that in his culture water and palms are a sign of blessing.  He was blessing me, blessing everyone, blessing the new nation of South Sudan.

Even past 3am as I write this, I can still here the honking of horns in the distance and the shouts of “Sudan oyee!”  It is a memory that will live clearly with the many children still running through the streets well past their bedtimes.  It is a memory that, I have no doubt, will live with me for the rest of my life.

July 9th, 2011 by Martha Heinemann Bixby

This morning, President Barack Obama officially recognized the newly independent state of the Republic of South Sudan.
                                                           
The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
July 09, 2011

Statement of President Barack Obama Recognition of the Republic of South Sudan:

I am proud to declare that the United States formally recognizes the Republic of South Sudan as a sovereign and independent state upon this day, July 9, 2011.  After so much struggle by the people of South Sudan, the United States of America welcomes the birth of a new nation.

Today is a reminder that after the darkness of war, the light of a new dawn is possible. A proud flag flies over Juba and the map of the world has been redrawn. These symbols speak to the blood that has been spilled, the tears that have been shed, the ballots that have been cast, and the hopes that have been realized by so many millions of people. The eyes of the world are on the Republic of South Sudan. And we know that southern Sudanese have claimed their sovereignty, and shown that neither their dignity nor their dream of self-determination can be denied.

This historic achievement is a tribute, above all, to the generations of southern Sudanese who struggled for this day. It is also a tribute to the support that has been shown for Sudan and South Sudan by so many friends and partners around the world. Sudan’s African neighbors and the African Union played an essential part in making this day a reality.  And along with our many international and civil society partners, the United States has been proud to play a leadership role across two Administrations. Many Americans have been deeply moved by the aspirations of the Sudanese people, and support for South Sudan extends across different races, regions, and political persuasions in the United States.  I am confident that the bonds of friendship between South Sudan and the United States will only deepen in the years to come.  As Southern Sudanese undertake the hard work of building their new country, the United States pledges our partnership as they seek the security, development and responsive governance that can fulfill their aspirations and respect their human rights.

As today also marks the creation of two new neighbors, South Sudan and Sudan, both peoples must recognize that they will be more secure and prosperous if they move beyond a bitter past and resolve differences peacefully. Lasting peace will only be realized if all sides fulfill their responsibilities.  The Comprehensive Peace Agreement must be fully implemented, the status of Abyei must be resolved through negotiations, and violence and intimidation in Southern Kordofan, especially by the Government of Sudan, must end. The safety of all Sudanese, especially minorities, must be protected. Through courage and hard choices, this can be the beginning of a new chapter of greater peace and justice  for all of the Sudanese people.

Decades ago, Martin Luther King reflected on the first moment of independence on the African continent in Ghana, saying, “I knew about all of the struggles, and all of the pain, and all of the agony that these people had gone through for this moment.” Today, we are moved by the story of struggle that led to this time of hope in South Sudan, and we think of those who didn’t live to see their dream realized.  Now, the leaders and people of South Sudan have an opportunity to turn this moment of promise into lasting progress.  The United States will continue to support the aspirations of all Sudanese.  Together, we can ensure that today marks another step forward in Africa’s long journey toward opportunity, democracy and justice.