HUNGER STRIKE SUSPENDED. War over? War beginning?

We must avoid the tragedy of April 30, 2006 - the rally at the Capitol - where we had no plan for the next day/week/month/quarter...! All that mobilization, that glorious army, so brilliantly and valiantly constructed, only to be allowed to dissipate, disband, and fade away. Tragic. Deadly.

I intend to do what little I can to help us keep our focus and readiness so that no delay or gap again cripples us this time. If within the next few weeks we see that it is to be war (discussion below), we must IMMEDIATELY capitalize on, BUILD ON the momentum of September 9th & 17th.

We must harness the energies of the masses that are mobilized on these two days. The attendees on these two days should be presented with contingency plans while they are still at the events!!!!!!!!!! They must not be allowed to leave thinking that they are...done, that things are fine now, like happened April 30th. The energies must not be allowed to dwindle like last time - April 30th! We must be ready. We must have plans. We must be ready to escalate, not evaporate, dissipate, strangulate...!

These two dates are not about hosting successful events. They are about stopping genocide. The organizers of these events must no longer afford themselves the luxury of restricting their responsibility to "hosting successful events." They are cast by circumstances to be the leaders of our nonviolent anti-genocide effort. THE LEADERS OF THE MAJOR NONPROFITS ARE MORALLY BOUND BY THEIR DEFACTO LEADERSHIP POSITIONS AND WILL BE MEASURED BY HISTORY BY THE OUTCOME, NOT THEIR INDIVIDUAL EVENTS. No longer can any cast off this role. They must embrace it and act accordingly. Or, stand down and be replaced by those who will lead us to win; FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. They must lead as though their lives depended on it, because 3,000,000 lives do.

Bashir must not be allowed a victory in this round of his fight with the rest of the world. Stalemate at best is what he must be allowed. If to give Bush the mandate and support he needs, we need to mount mass hunger strikes, civil disobedience, campus sit ins, etc, late September, early October - let us be ready!!!!!!!!!!

In light of our current situation including the events of the last week the Hunger Strike is now fully suspended.

UN ambassador Bolton tonight says that the biggest problem may be implementing the UN resolution he expects passage of this week, quickly enough because Bashir may surprise all with a speedy approval of troops! War over.

But earlier this week Basher totally snubs the US in the form of Frazer as she goes to Sudan begging to meet with him. War about to begin?

It will be several weeks before we know whether it is victory or war and I can see no benefit to a continuation of the Hunger Strike during this period of unknown. I can serve better by staying on Vigil but regaining strength and body mass in case a renewal of the Hunger Strike is necessary.

My gratitude and thanks to Africa Action, Human Rights First, Save Darfur, Genocide Intervention, Stand, et al for effort regarding September 9th and 17th. I have been working every waking hour literally to boost traffic for these two all important events. I will continue to do so up until the last moment.

My body would desperately like to return to friends, a bed, roof and shower in Philadelphia to recover from the 45 days of no food and 102 days of round-the-clock Vigil, out in the elements, on the streets. But I want to maintain the Vigil at the White House and around Washington until it is clear whether it is victory, or war we are about to face. Not sure what I’ll decide.

Finally, we must not continue to fall in the trap of telling Washington - President and Congress what to do. That is their job. The last car that you bought, did you specify the design of seats and doors? No. You rightly expected that of the company. That is why organizations have executives. All that we must tell Bush and Congress is that we want a force of 20-30,000 with Ch. 7 equivalent mandate, fully funded and supported now, peace now, and repatriation to peaceful lands immediately for the people of Darfur. UN, AU, NATO, ultimately even US - that is their job to determine - not ours. And, no messing with China's oil - hands off!

Must we demand hands of Bashir, no regime change? Probably that is what we need to commit to him at the same time he is told privately – “gracefully let in the UN or we're taking you out.” But again, that is for Bush to decide. We need to be simple and clear to Bush - we want the genocide stopped and these people restored to their lives and land - now. Tell us what you need us to do to support you, and we'll move heaven and earth to do it.

This can be our finest hour. This MUST be our finest hour - we-the-people.