A chilling mood strikes the campus as a mass of students lay “dying” on the bricks of Red Square at the University of Washington. A voice repeatedly echoes through the air, “We are the 400,000 dead in Darfur…Stop the Genocide, Rape and Torture Now…” Speaking for those who have no voice, the UW chapter of the Save Darfur Coalition offered this unsettling scene as only a mere glimpse into the realities of human devastation in Darfur. This protest was only one of the 500 organized demonstrations held to raise awareness this April as part of the Global Days for Darfur.

To the average Seattleite, mention the genocide in Darfur and it instantly conjures images of troubles in a distant world accompanied by vague statements of condemnation or sympathy. Most would simply say, “It’s just fucked-up”, but what the hell is actually happening in Darfur?

There is a veritable flood of human rights violations, but to give a few little examples: by UN estimates there have been over 450,000 murders, 2.1 million refugees and 3.5 million people wholly relying on foreign aid for survival since 2003. The massive bombing and burning of civilian villages has not only displaced millions, it has in effect created a forced starvation of the remote region. However, the most damaging crimes are found in the widespread campaigns of rape and torture of both women and children.

“They were raped, then they put cotton in their mouths…then they lit the cotton and burned them to death.”-Darfur Victim

These crimes are sponsored by the Sudanese Government, which supplies helicopters, rockets and bombs to the Arab militia, known as the Janjaweed. The root of the conflict is often miscategorized as a racial or religious conflict between Arabs and African Sudanese. However, the majority of Darfur is Muslim just like the Sudanese government and racial identity is not the historical root of the problem. The Sudanese government uses race, like the anti-Semitic propaganda in Nazi Germany, to fuel the ideology of an entirely politically motivated cause.

The country is run by Omar al-Bashir, a tyrannical Kim Jong-il style leader and was embroiled in a long war between the Sudanese Khartoum government in the north and southern Sudan from 1983 to 2005. The South finally gained a degree of political autonomy from the repressive government; meanwhile, the region of Darfur remained highly marginalized throughout that conflict. When political groups of Darfur requested basic social services like running water, electricity, schools or roads, they were met with only hostility from the Khartoum government. To keep the region pacified and avoid a situation like that with the South, the government chose, instead of aiding its own people, to kill off the inhabitants of Darfur and redistribute the land.

The international response to this crisis has been feeble at best. The bureaucracy involved in any multinational action and the lack of strategic political interests in Darfur has retarded any efforts at restoring peace. Political leaders had long refrained from any involvement because they were unsure if the conflict was technically genocide or a “domestic issue” within the jurisdiction of the Sudanese government. However, when the state actively sponsors, supplies and funds a massive campaign of extermination against a specific unarmed civilian population, perhaps we could place it under the damn umbrella of “genocide”.

The few efforts at confronting this conflict have been minimally effective and often delayed. At first, the UN would not send in a comprehensive peacekeeping mission and instead primarily replied on the poorly trained, under-equipped troops of the African Union Mission in Sudan. A major obstacle to comprehensive UN involvement in Sudan is in China and Russia’s protection of the Sudanese government. Russia is known to have supplied arms to Sudan and China and remains a major investor in Sudanese oil.

A faint glimmer of hope appeared to arrive in the May 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement between the Sudanese Government and the Sudanese Liberation Movement of Darfur. However, a major escalation of violence occurred only days after its ratification and lasted throughout the summer. That August, the UN Security Council finally acted and passed Resolution 1706 that authorized 17,000 UN peacekeepers to aid the worn 7,000 troop African Union force. Yet again, few forces ever hit the ground as Sudanese government objected to the UN’s involvement in their so called “domestic conflict”. Omar al-Bashir both denies what is happening and has played a deadly game of cat and mouse with the international community. The government has repeatedly agreed to cooperate with the UN, while at the same time covertly ordering their military to resume their campaign of destruction.

Although it appears to be an irreparable situation, the documentation of the issue has grown to such a degree that the international community can not stand by as passive observers of genocide. Surprisingly, in May, President Bush boldly stated, “For too long, the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder, and rape of innocent civilians”. He then announced heightened economic sanctions, an expanded Sudanese arms embargo, as well as financial and political support of UN and African Union troops. Although this obviously will not end the genocide, it is a step in the right direction.

Economic sanctioning, political muscling and humanitarian aid to the region are crucial. Yet these steps are impotent if we cannot stop the killing. Military intervention, whether as a multinational coalition or a unilateral engagement is the first step in bringing any stability to Darfur. Ironically, the U.S. is so engaged in saving people who didn’t ask for it, that we are now unable to devote a peacekeeping force that could disarm the true weapons of mass destruction, torture, rape and genocide.

For our part, by this I mean the rightful cause of any bleeding-heart liberal, we can provide grassroots efforts to provide relief in Darfur. 1) Raise awareness of the issue at your next cocktail/swinger/dinner party. 2) Sign petitions to state and federal government advocating increased aid and heightened priority of Darfur within American foreign policy. 3) Donate to any of the numerous Darfur advocate foundations and organizations. You can even buy a great “Stop the Genocide” T-shirt and appear to be really politically conscious. Just like the student activists who chose to Die-In and stand up for their belief in human rights, anyone can have an effect on ending the atrocities in Darfur by simply saying “This is wrong”. Social dialogue creates our shared history and inspires real action.

“When all the Bodies have been Burned in Darfur…How will history Judge us?”-Save Darfur Coalition