Join fight against genocide

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

In its continuing effort to bring attention to – and action against – the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, Canadian Jewish Congress released the Canadian version of Darfur: A Jewish Response on Nov. 8.

Produced by the U.K.-based Pears Foundation (pearsfoundation.org.uk) and CJC, the intent of Darfur: A Jewish Response “is to give Jewish communities in Canada and elsewhere the tools not only to understand this grave situation, but to respond to it,” writes the foundation’s executive chair, Trevor Pears, in his introduction to the booklet. “In so doing, contributors are both drawing upon, and reinforcing, Jewish traditions of social responsibility, universal human rights and our desire to create a more just world for all its inhabitants regardless of race, religion or nationality.”

The opening chapter provides some background information about the crisis, while the following sections focus on relevant Jewish texts and prayers; possible questions to use in study or dialogue sessions; actions individuals can take in their own small groups, synagogues, schools, youth movements or camps; links to educational films, books, articles and legal documents; useful contacts; quotes from survivor testimonies; sample letters and excerpts from sermons, as well as other action-oriented tools.

“The current crisis in Darfur began in April 2003,” notes the booklet. “The indigenous farming population of Darfur has been at the centre of a brutal civil conflict between the Sudanese government and their proxy-forces, and rebel groups drawn from the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit ethnic groups.

“Claiming years of political, economic and social exclusion in Darfur, and frustrated by a lack of investment, underdevelopment, neglect, poverty and racial discrimination, two separate groups of Darfuris emerged and rose up against the Khartoum government of President [Omar] al-Bashir.... The government responded by launching air strikes and arming the Janjaweed.”

“Despite international calls to bring an end to the Sudanese genocide, a systematic program of expulsion, rape and murderous violence continues with impunity,” write CJC’s Bernie Farber, Mark Freiman and Amichai I. Wise in their comments. “Two and a half million people have been displaced in Darfur, some 400,000 are dead, thousands of small farming villages have been leveled and four million people are dependent on international food aid.

“To stand idly by and watch would be to deny Judaism’s core concept of tikkun olam – to repair the world.”

Darfur: A Jewish Response includes all the basic historical information of the ongoing conflict. It explains why, for example, the peace agreement signed in 2006 between the Sudanese government and the main faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army has not led to peace, including the fact that two other rebel movements refused to sign it. As well, according to the booklet, “The Sudanese government describes the conflict as ‘tribal clashes,’ accuses journalists and human rights groups of ‘fabricating’ the situation and denies having any control over the Janjaweed militias. This is despite considerable evidence collected by human rights organizations showing that militia continue to be paid, armed, organized and directed by the Sudanese military, with assistance from the Sudanese government.”

As its title implies, Darfur: A Jewish Response is filled with specifically Jewish social action material. It lays out some of the “many Jewish texts that teach of respect, compassion and sanctity of life. On Jewish holidays, Shabbat, over the dinner table at home and in our school and shuls, we draw upon and refer to these texts to remember one of the central values in Jewish tradition: kavod ha’briyot, ‘the dignity of created beings.’”

Darfur provides ways in which to connect not just with CJC, but with other groups doing work in this area, including Ve’ahavta (veahavta.org), a Canadian humanitarian and relief organization, and Save Darfur Canada (sdcanada.org). It offers concrete actions that Canadians can take, from writing letters to MPs and newspapers, to ethical investing, to hosting educational programming. It also gives suggestions for possible source material for programs: as examples, movies like Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold (1996), Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire (2004) and The Devil Came on Horseback (2007) and books such as Jean Hatzfeld’s Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak (Picador, 2006), Adam Lebor’s “Complicity with Evil”: The United Nations in the Age of Modern Genocide (Yale University Press, 2006) and three books by Fergal Keane, including Season of Blood: Rwandan Journey (Penguin Books 1999). There are links to important technical papers about the situation, such as documents from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the key provisions of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The timeline of Darfur: A Jewish Response goes to March 2009, when the ICC called for al-Bashir’s arrest on war crimes and the Sudanese government responded by kicking international aid agencies out of the country. At the time, the Canadian government expressed concern over the effect that the expulsion would have on millions of Sudanese and urged “the government of Sudan to reconsider its decision and to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law to facilitate full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to assist those in need.”

Copies of Darfur: A Jewish Response are available at cjc.ca or from CJC-Pacific Region (604-622-4240 or [email protected]).

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