I was down at the San Francisco Olympic protests yesterday, and while Tibet was the biggest draw, the green-shirted Save Darfur folks were a strong presence. Mix in Burma, the Vietnamese fishermen and it's pretty clear that the next U.S. president will have to take some serious leadership in addressing the human rights abuses fueled by run-away Chinese capitalism.

Here actor/activist Don Cheadle discusses the deteriorating situation in the Darfur region of Sudan at the launch event for the ENOUGH! Project in Washington DC with John Prendergast

The Save Darfur coalition has produced a 20 min. video: A Call to Action. The film provides background on the genocide in Darfur and explores what the major religions tell us about our responsibility to our brothers and sisters there.

It features interviews with Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, President Elect of the National Council of Churches USA; Bishop John Ricard, chairman of the ad-hoc committee for the Church of Africa of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth; Dr. Ingrid Mattson, President of the Islamic Society of North America; Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, M.D., Co-Pastor of Bethel AME Church in Boston and founder of a humanitarian women’s group in Sudan, and Darfuri survivors of the genocide, the film implores viewers to take action and join the Save Darfur community.

On Monday, Nicholas Kristof, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, spoke as part of the Dream for Darfur: A Two-Day Academic Symposium on the World’s Darkest Olympics, an event sponsored by Ithaca College.

The Ithacan reports:

The event emphasized the role that China, Sudan’s chief diplomatic sponsor and major weapon’s provider, could play in the ending of the genocide. The speakers told of international pressure on China and the possibility of boycotting the 2008 Summer Olympics in China.

Kristof said though China would feel pressure if many nations boycott the opening and closing ceremonies, it may also lead to more problems. Kristof said his suggestion is to wait until closer to the start of the games to make a decision about boycotting.

“People … not going to the opening and closing ceremonies would be a huge embarrassment to China,” Kristof said. “My fear will be that a boycott of the opening and closing ceremonies will tend to boost Chinese nationalism, push China into a corner and create less cooperation.”

A question for the presidential candidates is: If diplomatic pressure on Sudan and China does not succeed in ending the genocide, do you think the US military has a role to play in stopping it? If so, what role, and what criteria would have to be met before you would seek to deploy US forces in response?

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 01:36 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (2)

Actor Don Cheadle and ENOUGH! activist John Prendergast talk about their visit to Darfur and how people can make "never again" mean something.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 03:07 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

"Sand and Sorrow," a new film about Darfur narrated by George Clooney, is on the verge of public screenings nationwide. The documentary highlights the historical events in Sudan that led to genocide as well as the logistical reasons for the United States' weak and delayed response.

There are few issues that have brought together a broader coalition of religious leaders, human rights activists, political pundits, and journalists than Darfur. In the film, Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Barack Obama (D-IL) sit side by side pleading for action in Darfur -- Brownback, an icon of the religious right, motivated by his views on respect for life, and Obama, an icon of the religious left, motivated by a grotesque violation of human rights.

The genocide in Darfur brought a coalition of religious groups together across ideological lines in an effort to convince the White House that more action is needed. The Save Darfur Coalition consists of over 170 faith based organizations speaking out against the genocide. This coalition includes leaders active within Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Evangelical, Baptist, Humanist, and Buddhist (among other) religious groups and there is no shortage of religious activism around the issue.

Sand and Sorrow is a documentary worth watching, it clearly illustrates that the pressure placed on the government about Darfur comes from both pro-life conservatives on the right and religious human rights activists on the left.

This film is a prime example of how people of faith can work together for the common good, ending genocide, and that certain issues have the potential to make strange bedfellows who can have a unique impact on public debates.

Posted by Adrian Shanker at 12:04 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)