Citizens join rally to Save Darfur

Author: Rachael Jennings

"When we wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night, there is a genocide going on," said Brian, one of the collegiate coordinators for the Dream for Darfur Torch Campaign, as a local band, Fall Line, hit a striking chord. His bright eyes reflected his astonishment as he added, "Genocide. Really? As a Jew, that word really resonates with me . . . I couldn't just be complacent."

Elie Wiesel, author and Holocaust survivor once wrote, "What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander." Taking these words to heart, a number of activists, Sudanese and Bosnian refugees, representatives from the New Sudan Education Initiative, community members, politicians, former Olympians, musicians and survivors of the Holocaust gathered on a grassy patch at City Hall Park in Burlington, Vt., the second stop in the Olympic Torch Campaign, on Sunday, Sept. 30. They had marched through the red-brick enchantment of Church Street and past a medley of colorful t-shirts and ardent signs reading "Shame China," "Peace is Priceless" and "Stand Up 4 Darfur." As the mass wove its way down from the Unitarian Universalist Church, Dawna Hammers, a drummer who leads the World Unity Choir, an international, intergenerational group striving to raise awareness through unified song, strode near the front, singing one beautiful and simple stanza - "We are all one spirit living on the earth."

Voices joined in. An elderly street musician paused over his battered violin case and sang along. Yet many faces did not look up from their cafÈ tables and restaurants but instead continued their conversations, ignoring the slowly swelling crowd of ralliers.

The seemingly chaotic crowd was actually assembled into the unity of one song, one message, one hope - the mentality that formed the structure of the rally - which was part of the Torch Relay Campaign. The idea is simple - China purchases 71 percent of Sudanese exports, has a strong hold on Sudan and provides arms for Darfur. People are excited to see this economic giant in the 2008 Olympics, and the world needs to pressure China, the only country with a realistic opportunity to help end genocide in Darfur, to use its power not only for more than Olympic glory, but also for change and relief.

In Sudan, an overwhelming 90 percent of women are illiterate, only five percent of children go on to secondary school and people die in fights to obtain water or arable land, all in the midst of a devastating war. In the Torch Campaign, a flame travels symbolically around the country and world to 25 states, 70 cities and seven countries, ending on Dec. 10th in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to spread awareness and encourage China to embrace the Olympic motto "One World, One Dream." The rally in Burlington was, in the words of one of the directors of University of Vermont Stand, "one step farther to 'One World, One Dream for Peace.'"

"It saddens and appalls me that, only six decades later, another genocide is unfolding," said Michael Bukcac, a rally attendee. Bukcac was a hidden child survivor of the Holocaust who was smuggled out of Lithuania after his mother was killed. Bukcac compared the crisis in Darfur to that of the Holocaust, "Jewish people vowed to never let it happen again. But we can't let it happen to anyone."

Madeline Kumin, ambassador to Switzerland and former Vermont governor, pleaded with the crowd at the rally to "keep the flame of outrage alive, and the flame of passion." Kumin pointed out that four years have passed since Colin Powell vocalized the truth of genocide in Sudan in 2003.

"The liberal, empathetic, peace-waging people we claim to be have taken a stance, but we need to take more," said Hillary Martin, who spoke on behalf of Peace and Justice Center official Serena Chaudry to the conglomeration of tie-dye sporting, peaceful protestors eagerly absorbing the words of each speaker. "We know that genocide is wrong. Now, we need to do more."

At the end of the rally, Brian called everyone to take out their cell phones and text the number 41411 with the message "VTD4D (your name)," which sent a copy of a petition to China's President Hu, urging him "to meet (his) responsibilities as a global power and to end genocide in Darfur."

Ralliers who went to Burlington on Sunday were encouraged to walk, protest, write letters and send that simple text message, because, as Kumin stated, "Not only do I believe you can make a difference, I believe you must."