Daily Darfur: Debbie Downer on Human Rights Day

by Michelle . · 2008-12-10 03:04:00 UTC
Topics:

Human Rights Day

President Bush will mark Human Rights Day by meeting with a Darfur activist and bloggers from Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, and Myanmar. (Slightly offended that I wasn't invited, though citizenship in a repressive regime appears to be a prerequisite.)

"Bush...will also talk -- in person and by videoconference -- with the bloggers 'to discuss their use of blogs to push for democratic change and greater freedom.'

Strong recognition of the power of blogging, don't you think? I'll keep this in my arsenal for confrontations with those who scoff at the activity.

In line with my pessimism yesterday, Kevin Levine and Robert Leikind write with a similar tone in the Boston Globe of today's anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

"Yet, there are reasons to doubt that this wave will continue to spread. Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we have witnessed genocidal murder in Cambodia, Bosnia, Liberia, Rwanda, and Darfur. In each of these cases, the international community did too little too late to bring an end to these tragedies. This has raised doubt as to our capacity and commitment to protect human rights."

Check out Stop Genocide Now for a list of actions you can take to support Darfuris on Human Rights Day.

More cause for pessimism

The Save Darfur blog reports on alarming developments at the Hassa Hissa IDP camp in West Darfur, following less-than-friendly interactions between residents and Janjaweed militias earlier this month:

"Over the last several days, we received reports from contacts on the ground in Darfur that janjaweed militiamen have been massing around Hassa Hissa, an internally displaced persons camp near Zalengei, West Darfur. The Sudan Tribune reported that the tension in Hassa Hissa stemmed from a scuffle between camp residents and two janjaweed after several camp residents found the janjaweed attempting to rape a woman working on the outskirts of the camp. One militiaman was killed in the confrontation."

The massing of Janjaweed is never a good thing, anywhere or for any reason.

Michelle . has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns.
PREVIOUS STORY:
How to Plan a Trip to Somalia
NEXT STORY:
Campaign about Apple Factories in China Gains Wide and Diverse Support

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.