From one of the very kind emails I have received, from someone I am not clear that I have met, or know (forgive my dreadful memory?):
Jay,
Your sincere apology should be enough to calm the most righteous indignation (reference the two posts this blog: DARFUR, URGENT: What would Rachel Corrie or Steve Beko start THIS WEEK? and then JAY WOUNDED. LEAVING DARFUR STRUGGLE. ) You used what you saw as a heroic act to motivate those of us wringing our hands in safety. Keep fighting, Jay. Your words and actions are needed now more than ever.
Sincerely, xxxxx xxxxxxx
Jay's reply today:
Dear Sister,
What a lovely, loving note.
Last night after watching an Academy Award winning documentary American Dream about a failed strike attempt at a midwest Hormel plant, we noticed an "added feature," "Children of the Night" it was called. It was a brief documentary of footage from among the 1,600,000 children exterminated in the Holocaust. I am so sad, distraught over our pitifully timid and cowardly response to Darfur. Oh my God, where is the outrage? Where is the intolerance of one day more, one hour more of genocide??!?!!?!?!?!? What type of creatures are we? I want to explode, not AT anyone, but I want/need to be a much louder scream than yet I have been, LET'S STOP THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The world should have stopped, EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE STOPPED THEIR NORMAL LIVES IN THEIR TRACKS TO STOP THE HOLOCAUST. Anything less is a heinous insult to human dignity and worth. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore."
My God, why don't we see this?
I'm quite sobbing uncontrollably right now. I'm so confused. I just do not understand us.
I think that we should begin, BEGIN a worldwide all out FAST on October 5th, the day that STAND is planning a one day abstinence from snacks. One day abstaining from snacks. Oh my God. What about those 1,600,000 children from the Holocaust? OCTOBER 5TH "START to RESCUE DARFUR FAST". Open ended. We eat when the Genocide is Stopping, NOT BEFORE! Would history say this was TOO RADICAL? TOO MUCH? AN OVERREACTION TO 4,000,000 BEING EXTERMINATED? Full time activists like me - water only. People in school or holding "normal" jobs - 1,000 calories. Equal. COMMITTED. PROPORTIONAL RESPONSE. UNEQUIVOCAL MANDATE. JUST. SOLIDARITY. WORTHY.
I think I would pay any price to wake us up. But I am losing hope for us. I have no idea what to do, personally. Oh activities? We can get lost in those forever for Darfur. I mean, proportional response not to make ME feel better, but to STOP THE GENOCIDE NOW.
Brother Jay
ps: You've very much helped me at a difficult time. I'll post this on the blog in such a way as to remove your ID. Thank you. www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
WE ARE TALKING DARFUR TO DEATH
From a Washington Post online discussion: Our Question
Posted at 12:10 AM ET, 09/22/2006
Should regional solidarity be allowed to trump human rights needs? What could be done to pull away support from the Sudanese regime and enable UN troops to enter?
Jay's Response:
This question, the one you have posed above, and those like it (the only kind in the news) are central to why the genocide is not ending!!! YOU ARE CAUSING THE DEATH OF 4 million with such questions. Why? Because such questions are a profound distraction from the problem!!!! Don't blow me off yet. Hear me. Please.
Harvard's Samantha Power's "Problem from Hell," my reading of it anyway: THE BATTLE TO STOP GENOCIDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LOST ON THE FIELD OF US PUBLIC OPINION... THE US PEOPLE HAVE NEVER STOOD UP!!!! Duh!!! And questions like this (yours above) continue to distract attention from SOLVING THIS PROBLEM - getting us to stand up! We are not standing up! Instead, we are sitting around our computer screens, sipping our Starbuck's in smug complacency, enjoying playing "State Department," or "UN" in conversations like this.... Doesn't anyone else think of the M word in this context? What we need to do is get off of our butts, and get our bodies, get our "skin in the game!" No?
We the people, press, activist community have NO MORAL RIGHT TO BE TELLING ANYONE WHAT TO DO, UNTIL WE STEP UP TO THE PLATE! Sure, we have the legal right, the constitutional right. So what? MORAL RIGHT. Lipservice is what we are paying so far! Who currently is paying more than lip service? Who is fighting with the real commitment that we've seen before: Civil Rights movement, Suffrage, stopping Vietnam war.... Ok, Eric Reeve, Samantha did, maybe John Prendergast did, probably a dozen others are now, BUT NO ONE CAN SEE IT!
I am reminded, to my horror, of All Quiet on the Western Front - of the townspeople fanning the flame so that OTHERS could go get slaughtered in a hopeless WWI.
Make no mistake, I THINK WE-THE-PEOPLE, THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD SHOULD BE GIVING OUR LIVES if that is what it takes TO ESTABLISH OUR POLITICAL MANDATE LOUD ENOUGH, AND FAST ENOUGH to execute BOTH aspects posed by your question: Maximal political pressure (targeted sanctions, ICC, travel restrictions AND Troops on the ground now (with or WITHOUT Bashir's acceptance) AND solemn, explicit proclamation to the world, NOW, that THE WEST WILL NOT TOUCH CHINA'S PREFERENTIAL ACCESS TO SUDAN OIL. Duh. But BOTH will happen - Bashir's acquiesce AND troops on the ground - and they will happen instantly that we pay the price - we the people of the US and world. The policy options are NOT why Darfuries are dying. LACK OF WILL ON THE PART OF WE THE PEOPLE is why they are dying. It is so obvious.
In summary? We, including we in this dialog, are guys in bar Monday Morning Quarterbacking - at the expense of 4,000,000 being exterminated in Darfur. We are spectators, Monday Quarterbacks. WE NEED TO GET ON THE FIELD OF PLAY WITH OUR BODIES.
Gentlemen and ladies of the press, in the name of God, point the finger at we-the-people. PLEASE. Help us wake up and get us out of the stands as spectators, and onto the playing field. Please. We are headed toward extermination rates of 25,000 per week (six 911's per week.)
Jay McGinleyDARFUR VIGIL DAY 119 (currently in NYC); 56 DAYS HUNGER STRIKE since July 4, 2006 (water only) www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
Posted at 12:10 AM ET, 09/22/2006
Should regional solidarity be allowed to trump human rights needs? What could be done to pull away support from the Sudanese regime and enable UN troops to enter?
Jay's Response:
This question, the one you have posed above, and those like it (the only kind in the news) are central to why the genocide is not ending!!! YOU ARE CAUSING THE DEATH OF 4 million with such questions. Why? Because such questions are a profound distraction from the problem!!!! Don't blow me off yet. Hear me. Please.
Harvard's Samantha Power's "Problem from Hell," my reading of it anyway: THE BATTLE TO STOP GENOCIDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LOST ON THE FIELD OF US PUBLIC OPINION... THE US PEOPLE HAVE NEVER STOOD UP!!!! Duh!!! And questions like this (yours above) continue to distract attention from SOLVING THIS PROBLEM - getting us to stand up! We are not standing up! Instead, we are sitting around our computer screens, sipping our Starbuck's in smug complacency, enjoying playing "State Department," or "UN" in conversations like this.... Doesn't anyone else think of the M word in this context? What we need to do is get off of our butts, and get our bodies, get our "skin in the game!" No?
We the people, press, activist community have NO MORAL RIGHT TO BE TELLING ANYONE WHAT TO DO, UNTIL WE STEP UP TO THE PLATE! Sure, we have the legal right, the constitutional right. So what? MORAL RIGHT. Lipservice is what we are paying so far! Who currently is paying more than lip service? Who is fighting with the real commitment that we've seen before: Civil Rights movement, Suffrage, stopping Vietnam war.... Ok, Eric Reeve, Samantha did, maybe John Prendergast did, probably a dozen others are now, BUT NO ONE CAN SEE IT!
I am reminded, to my horror, of All Quiet on the Western Front - of the townspeople fanning the flame so that OTHERS could go get slaughtered in a hopeless WWI.
Make no mistake, I THINK WE-THE-PEOPLE, THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD SHOULD BE GIVING OUR LIVES if that is what it takes TO ESTABLISH OUR POLITICAL MANDATE LOUD ENOUGH, AND FAST ENOUGH to execute BOTH aspects posed by your question: Maximal political pressure (targeted sanctions, ICC, travel restrictions AND Troops on the ground now (with or WITHOUT Bashir's acceptance) AND solemn, explicit proclamation to the world, NOW, that THE WEST WILL NOT TOUCH CHINA'S PREFERENTIAL ACCESS TO SUDAN OIL. Duh. But BOTH will happen - Bashir's acquiesce AND troops on the ground - and they will happen instantly that we pay the price - we the people of the US and world. The policy options are NOT why Darfuries are dying. LACK OF WILL ON THE PART OF WE THE PEOPLE is why they are dying. It is so obvious.
In summary? We, including we in this dialog, are guys in bar Monday Morning Quarterbacking - at the expense of 4,000,000 being exterminated in Darfur. We are spectators, Monday Quarterbacks. WE NEED TO GET ON THE FIELD OF PLAY WITH OUR BODIES.
Gentlemen and ladies of the press, in the name of God, point the finger at we-the-people. PLEASE. Help us wake up and get us out of the stands as spectators, and onto the playing field. Please. We are headed toward extermination rates of 25,000 per week (six 911's per week.)
Jay McGinleyDARFUR VIGIL DAY 119 (currently in NYC); 56 DAYS HUNGER STRIKE since July 4, 2006 (water only) www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
JAY WOUNDED. LEAVING DARFUR STRUGGLE.
Self-inflicted wounds.
To many, Rachel Corrie is a profoundly controversial figure. I did not know that yesterday. I could have. Maybe I should have known. But I did not.
To me, for me, her Truth is Simple: everyone, EVERYONE IS FAMILY, IMMEDIATE FAMILY, PART OF OUR BODY, EXACTLY, TOTALLY. Everyone is to be treasured. Israelis, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, white, black.... EVERY VICTIM IS TO BE SHIELDED WITH YOUR OWN BODY. ANY VICTIM. ANYONE'S AGONY IS TO BE EVERYONE'S AGONY, UNTIL WE MAKE IT STOP FOR US ALL. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore." That is how it is with me.
But today I see what yesterday, Thursday, I did not. There has been a political firestorm around Rachel that people have created to help polarize and hate each other. In stepping into this I have unknowingly boobytrapped myself as an enormous potential distraction from whatever cowardly, minuscule efforts to Save Darfur that we might otherwise mount.
I expect that I will immediately withdraw from the activities and position I have been fulfilling to solitary fast and prayer, for as long as I am able.
I will continue to pray that we morbidly cowardly brothers and sisters here in the US and worldwide shake off our cowardice and enter the antiviolent WAR FOR DARFUR; that the cancer that has eaten away our humanity, eaten away our body of which Darfur is a part, is CURED. That we reclaim our body, all of it, treasure it, PROTECT IT, and heal it. THAT WE RESCUE AND RESTORE DARFUR, NOW.
Good by, Brother Jay
To many, Rachel Corrie is a profoundly controversial figure. I did not know that yesterday. I could have. Maybe I should have known. But I did not.
To me, for me, her Truth is Simple: everyone, EVERYONE IS FAMILY, IMMEDIATE FAMILY, PART OF OUR BODY, EXACTLY, TOTALLY. Everyone is to be treasured. Israelis, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, white, black.... EVERY VICTIM IS TO BE SHIELDED WITH YOUR OWN BODY. ANY VICTIM. ANYONE'S AGONY IS TO BE EVERYONE'S AGONY, UNTIL WE MAKE IT STOP FOR US ALL. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore." That is how it is with me.
But today I see what yesterday, Thursday, I did not. There has been a political firestorm around Rachel that people have created to help polarize and hate each other. In stepping into this I have unknowingly boobytrapped myself as an enormous potential distraction from whatever cowardly, minuscule efforts to Save Darfur that we might otherwise mount.
I expect that I will immediately withdraw from the activities and position I have been fulfilling to solitary fast and prayer, for as long as I am able.
I will continue to pray that we morbidly cowardly brothers and sisters here in the US and worldwide shake off our cowardice and enter the antiviolent WAR FOR DARFUR; that the cancer that has eaten away our humanity, eaten away our body of which Darfur is a part, is CURED. That we reclaim our body, all of it, treasure it, PROTECT IT, and heal it. THAT WE RESCUE AND RESTORE DARFUR, NOW.
Good by, Brother Jay
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
DARFUR, URGENT: What would Rachel Corrie or Steve Beko start THIS WEEK?
Young Rachel Corrie saw a bulldozer intentionally bearing down on the house of a family, a family she probably never knew. She got in front of that bulldozer, between the bulldozer and the house, between the threat, and the innocents. "This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore." DARFUR GENOCIDE. WE-CITIZENS SITTING IN COMFORT AND SAFETY IN THE FACE OF GENOCIDE, "THIS HAS TO STOP." (http://www.criticalconcern.com/rachelcorrie.html.)
We need to get between what is killing Darfur (Bashir's performance and the nonperformance of we-the-people, the world's citizens) - and our children, sisters and brothers in Darfur. Now. As of now we are not: SEPT 17TH ACTIVISM: AWESOME! BUT NOT STOPPING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR. How do we do that? How do we make it happen? What would a sufficient "wake up" look like? IF SOMEONE HAS THIS ALREADY STARTED, LET ME KNOW. I'll join you, or even back out if that is best.
I am deciding what I will do next, what I expect to be my final attempt to spark the Rescue of Darfur by waking up sufficient numbers of we humans in time, converting us from spectators, critics and activists-of-convenience into antiviolent warriors (think Civil Rights struggle) of profound courage, wisdom, tenacity and effectiveness; utilizing to the max the few weeks, days and seconds that our Darfur family has left.
What would Rachel Corrie start THIS WEEK? This question strikes me as the way to approach the task of deciding. The way to focus the mind to come up with the appropriate, proportional response of greatest chance - THE BEST AIMED "HAIL MARY" PASS.
Rachel Corrie stood in front of a bulldozer about to destroy the house of people she did not know. (http://www.criticalconcern.com/rachelcorrie.html). Would a different role model help you more? How about Steve Beko (South Africa, movie, Denzel), a young Gandhi, a young Nelson Mandella, an antivioloent Rambo, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, John Q (from the Denzel Washington movie)...? You get the idea. Think of your own role model APPROPRIATE to this situation.
LET’S JOIN TOGETHER IN THIS QUANDARY, before it is too late, please: Send me, or post, your ideas (http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/). Now. I expect to embark on whatever best plan by early next week at the latest, with anyone that wants to join together.
A CONSTRAINT: Suggestions must centrally embrace this notion of the problem from Samantha Power's inspired, Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Problem from Hell" (and I paraphrase AND take license): THE BATTLE TO STOP GENOCIDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LOST ON THE FIELD OF PUBLIC OPINION. THE PEOPLE [WE THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD]... HAVE NEVER STOOD UP SUFFICIENTLY TO STOP IT.HUNCH: The plan should involve leveraging STAND's Oct 5th Fast to make it into the END OF THE GENOCIDE, the START of a WORLDWIDE FAST UNTIL DARFUR GENOCIDE IS ENDING. One-day only by all participants is too-little-too-late. A one day fast is NOT what the world's response to the Holocaust, the extermination of 6,000,000 Jews lacked. Not by many orders of magnitude. Death rates are climbing toward 25,000 per week in Darfur, NOW. We must be REALISTIC. Code Pink's "Troops Home Fast" could be a model (www.troopshomefast.org). Make STAND's October 5th the START? THAT COULD DO IT.
But, WE NEED EVEN BETTER, MUCH BETTER SUGGESTIONS and specific ideas for approach and execution than I am hinting at.
RESPOND. PLEASE. Deadline: FRIDAY, 9/22/06, because THERE IS NO MORE T-I-M-E. (For those of you that just want to watch, and have a good laugh at my frantic gyrations, enjoy.)
What would Rachel Corrie start THIS WEEK?
Jay McGinley
DARFUR VIGIL DAY 118 (now in NYC); 56 DAYS HUNGER STRIKE since July 4, 2006; Jay McGinley (jymcginley@cs.com) 484-356-6243
Monday, September 18, 2006
SEPT 17TH ACTIVISM: AWESOME! BUT NOT STOPPING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR
It only took just one failed component, one failed component out of millions that painstaking effort had made right, to cause the searing tragedy of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. You'll remember that for Challenger it was a faulty "O ring."
The contributions of the many that led to a brilliantly executed September 17th series of worldwide events is something we all should humbly honor, praise, reverence and express our deep respect and gratitude for. I do. It was awesome. And a handful of truly heroic efforts took place - promoting/filling busses from Pittsburgh, Boston, Ohio, Washington...; logistics; PR.... Thank you and God bless your commitment. And your accomplishments including front page coverage in the New York Times, appointment of a special envoy to Darfur as desrcibed in Bush to Name Envoy for Darfur Washington Post, By Colum Lynch and Glenn Kessler Staff Writers Tuesday, September 19, 2006; and finally, a spotlight on China, for example The Genocide Test, Editorial, Washington Post.
What the September 17th teams worldwide did is absolutely necessary! But there is a faulty "O ring" in the Campaign to Save Darfur. SEPTEMBER 17TH, AND THE FOLLOW-ON EVENTS CONTEMPLATED AND PLANNED WILL NOT STOP THE GENOCIDE. And I have yet to have anyone prominently involved with the Darfur movement disagree. And I've asked them. And I've received responses.
A crucial component is missing; a component that has been essential for every previous social-change movement. Stopping Genocide requires Monumental Social-Change - NEVER has genocide been stopped. N-E-V-E-R. Never. Not Rwanda, Cambodia, Kurds, Serbrinka, not 6,000,000 Jews.... Kosovo was far too late addressed to some degree.
What is profoundly missing is a Core Group of Leaders that anyone, EVERYONE SEES is heroically putting their skin in the game, standing up for, getting in harms way for, SACRIFICING PERSONALLY for Darfur. Name major social change that has ever come without this. Civil Rights? Apartheid? Stopping Vietnam War? Suffrage? IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED.
Unmistakable-Sacrificial-Leadership-visible-to-the-masses is the spark plug; the inspiration; the moral clarity; THE PROOF OF IMPORTANCE THAT INSPIRES COMMITTED ACTION IN OTHERS. Leadership of this kind, in sufficient quantity is - the price to Save Darfur. Until the "price" is paid, the genocide will not stop, no matter what else we do.
We can do everything else right (and these are NECESSARY): advertising, PR, rallies, celebrity participation, strategy, Sudan Envoys... but without the ignition, without the spark-plug we've got our "O ring," our efforts will crash in defeat, and 4,000,000 family members in Darfur are exterminated.
I have been begging for two years for such effort:
9/23/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/09/radical_commitm.html
10/17/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/10/jay_mcginley_ai.html
8/11/05: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-6-pioneers-must-pay.html
8/14/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/08/the_latest_from_1.html
7/11/06: http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/2006/07/call-to-battle-launch-all-out.html
8/16/06: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-12-enough-radicals.html
8/22/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/07/jay_mcginley_hu.html
So Jay, does all this make you right? What matters is: 1. Might it be correct?; 2. That YOU decide, correctly, in time. As Reverend Gloria said in NYC on Sunday, “It’s about T-I-M-E.”
Rosa Parks was a seamstress. Steven Beko was from no organization. Ghandi was a young lawyer and the wave upon wave of fellow leaders were from all walks of life. Dr. King a brilliant minister and many co-leaders were uneducated laborers. King said, "Anyone can be great because anyone can serve." Gandhi said, 'The frailest, old crippled body can be just as powerful as any head of state."
BUT THE MOST LIKELY SOURCE FOR THE LEADERSHIP CORE IS STUDENTS. This has been true in every movement. And if the students of this country do not rise up for humanity and justice, NOW, there is no hope. THEY must form the core of our leadership. We adults in the NGOs, Churches, Synagogues, Mosques HAVE MADE OUR POSITION CLEAR. WE WILL NOT GET IN HARMS WAY FOR DARFUR.
Someone(s) cried out about the "O ring" long, long before the Challenger exploded. I'm sure of it. He/She/They were blown off as troublemaker, renegade, lone ranger, loner, outsider, not-a-team-player.... The Challenger exploded. All that is left are, regrets.
The contributions of the many that led to a brilliantly executed September 17th series of worldwide events is something we all should humbly honor, praise, reverence and express our deep respect and gratitude for. I do. It was awesome. And a handful of truly heroic efforts took place - promoting/filling busses from Pittsburgh, Boston, Ohio, Washington...; logistics; PR.... Thank you and God bless your commitment. And your accomplishments including front page coverage in the New York Times, appointment of a special envoy to Darfur as desrcibed in Bush to Name Envoy for Darfur Washington Post, By Colum Lynch and Glenn Kessler Staff Writers Tuesday, September 19, 2006; and finally, a spotlight on China, for example The Genocide Test, Editorial, Washington Post.
What the September 17th teams worldwide did is absolutely necessary! But there is a faulty "O ring" in the Campaign to Save Darfur. SEPTEMBER 17TH, AND THE FOLLOW-ON EVENTS CONTEMPLATED AND PLANNED WILL NOT STOP THE GENOCIDE. And I have yet to have anyone prominently involved with the Darfur movement disagree. And I've asked them. And I've received responses.
A crucial component is missing; a component that has been essential for every previous social-change movement. Stopping Genocide requires Monumental Social-Change - NEVER has genocide been stopped. N-E-V-E-R. Never. Not Rwanda, Cambodia, Kurds, Serbrinka, not 6,000,000 Jews.... Kosovo was far too late addressed to some degree.
What is profoundly missing is a Core Group of Leaders that anyone, EVERYONE SEES is heroically putting their skin in the game, standing up for, getting in harms way for, SACRIFICING PERSONALLY for Darfur. Name major social change that has ever come without this. Civil Rights? Apartheid? Stopping Vietnam War? Suffrage? IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED.
Unmistakable-Sacrificial-Leadership-visible-to-the-masses is the spark plug; the inspiration; the moral clarity; THE PROOF OF IMPORTANCE THAT INSPIRES COMMITTED ACTION IN OTHERS. Leadership of this kind, in sufficient quantity is - the price to Save Darfur. Until the "price" is paid, the genocide will not stop, no matter what else we do.
We can do everything else right (and these are NECESSARY): advertising, PR, rallies, celebrity participation, strategy, Sudan Envoys... but without the ignition, without the spark-plug we've got our "O ring," our efforts will crash in defeat, and 4,000,000 family members in Darfur are exterminated.
I have been begging for two years for such effort:
9/23/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/09/radical_commitm.html
10/17/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/10/jay_mcginley_ai.html
8/11/05: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-6-pioneers-must-pay.html
8/14/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/08/the_latest_from_1.html
7/11/06: http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/2006/07/call-to-battle-launch-all-out.html
8/16/06: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-12-enough-radicals.html
8/22/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/07/jay_mcginley_hu.html
So Jay, does all this make you right? What matters is: 1. Might it be correct?; 2. That YOU decide, correctly, in time. As Reverend Gloria said in NYC on Sunday, “It’s about T-I-M-E.”
Rosa Parks was a seamstress. Steven Beko was from no organization. Ghandi was a young lawyer and the wave upon wave of fellow leaders were from all walks of life. Dr. King a brilliant minister and many co-leaders were uneducated laborers. King said, "Anyone can be great because anyone can serve." Gandhi said, 'The frailest, old crippled body can be just as powerful as any head of state."
BUT THE MOST LIKELY SOURCE FOR THE LEADERSHIP CORE IS STUDENTS. This has been true in every movement. And if the students of this country do not rise up for humanity and justice, NOW, there is no hope. THEY must form the core of our leadership. We adults in the NGOs, Churches, Synagogues, Mosques HAVE MADE OUR POSITION CLEAR. WE WILL NOT GET IN HARMS WAY FOR DARFUR.
Someone(s) cried out about the "O ring" long, long before the Challenger exploded. I'm sure of it. He/She/They were blown off as troublemaker, renegade, lone ranger, loner, outsider, not-a-team-player.... The Challenger exploded. All that is left are, regrets.
APPOLOGY TO SAMANTHA POWER / WHYY WEDNESDAY CALL-IN FROM “JAY” AT THE WHITE HOUSE
September 18, 2006
To: Samantha Power
Fr: Jay “LEMKIN” McGinley
RE: APPOLOGY TO SAMANTHA POWER / WHYY WEDNESDAY CALL-IN FROM “JAY” AT THE WHITE HOUSE HOUSE (http://www.whyy.org/rameta/RT/2006/RT20060913_20.ram roughly at 38 minutes in.)
Dear Sister,
I am deeply sorry for any destructive, inappropriate or unnecessary pain I caused you. I am so sorry. You are a rare gift to us. I am profoundly grateful for you. I treasure you.
I swear to God who I love and serve that your pain is my pain. You are my sister. Darfur is my, and your family. And God bless you, I know that about you – that Darfur is YOUR family, in your heart. So rare. That is why you are the number one person I’ve wanted / needed to talk to about Darfur; why I have studied and studied and recommended and gifted your book, and why I have tried to contact you over the last four months. I am and remain distraught that you have never responded. Personally hurt by your ignoring me? God no. There is no “personal” with me anymore. THERE IS ONLY STOPPING THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, NOW, stopping the slaughter of my family, our family. That is my heart. That is my life. Your’s too, I believe you feel.
Why do I qualify my apology even a little? (the Pope qualified his MONSTROUSLY. Shamefully?)
1) “All hope lies with the unreasonable [person]….” I’ve been a “Lemkin” my whole adult life. We are perceived as obnoxious, insensitive, crude, brusk, heartless, rough, boorish, boring, nerdy…. It goes with the territory. He didn’t try to provoke those reactions. I try not to, however…. Don’t hate me for being a Lemkin. Help me be an effective one. Please.
2) I am, like you have been, an anitviolent (much better term than nonviolent) commando for Darfur. I’m in the war as best I can as totally as I can. I’m in a foxhole. You are too. If a fellow commando doesn’t by accident jam me in the ribs with their riffle butt as they are swinging around for an incoming enemy, we’re both/all dead. Sorry about my riffle butt in your ribs on Monday!
3) I’m only doing what you said. I’m following your conclusions. Through no intention of your own, tragically, correctably you appear to me to have forgotten some of your miraculous wisdom from “problem from hell!” This is why I called in, to tell you this!
a) ‘The battle… always…lost on the field of US public opinion… we-the-people have never stood up.” [Apology for misquotes. Col. Ann Wright, now of Code Pink has my copy of “Problem from Hell.”] This is the problem. BUT WE ARE NOT ACTING ON YOUR ADVICE! ALL FINGERS POINT AWAY FROM WE-THE-PEOPLE at strategy, Bush, China, Russia, UN, AU, Koffi…. We need the finger pointing at we-the-people. So we can rise to greatness.
b) The “Lemkin” factor. LEADERSHIP. SAMANTHA, YOUR, POTENTIAL GREAT CONTRIBUTION NOW IS LEADING US TO STOP THE GENOCIDE, TODAY. Visibly, courageously, passionately, unmistakably, committedly. George Washington-style. WE NEED YOU LEADING THE CHARGE, out where we can see you; more with your actions/ skin in the game, less with your words at this late stage. George Washington did. No one else (or not many) has your visibility, stature, credibility! [Do I claim infallible wisdom on this? No. Am I correct? You deicide.] If you spend your time now, at this critical juncture, writing a book about the UN, you’ve signaled that the battle for Darfur is lost. No? Even if you don’t believe it!
4) I didn’t know you were to be on the air until 10:20. We spoke at 10:35. I had not time to prepare, and no opportunity to explain.
Obviously, I would give any limb of mine for 20 minutes of your time to discuss this face to face.
Thank God for “Problem from Hell.” HOWEVER, more words, more theory, more strategy WILL NOT SAVE DARFUR at this juncture. Unmistakable leadership and sacrifice by the few is the only thing that can spark, or ever has sparked, those with less imagination to the level of committed action that will stop the Genocide now. Or, please tell me why this is not so, and what historical precedents would say otherwise than I have; because I can’t see any – Vietnam War, apartheid, India Liberation, Suffrage, Civil Rights….
LEADING US VISIBLY, ISN’T THIS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?
Your Brother,
Jay McGinley
115 Days of Vigil in DC for Darfur; 54 Days of Hunger Strike since July 4th.
484 356 6243
jymcginley@cs.com
To: Samantha Power
Fr: Jay “LEMKIN” McGinley
RE: APPOLOGY TO SAMANTHA POWER / WHYY WEDNESDAY CALL-IN FROM “JAY” AT THE WHITE HOUSE HOUSE (http://www.whyy.org/rameta/RT/2006/RT20060913_20.ram roughly at 38 minutes in.)
Dear Sister,
I am deeply sorry for any destructive, inappropriate or unnecessary pain I caused you. I am so sorry. You are a rare gift to us. I am profoundly grateful for you. I treasure you.
I swear to God who I love and serve that your pain is my pain. You are my sister. Darfur is my, and your family. And God bless you, I know that about you – that Darfur is YOUR family, in your heart. So rare. That is why you are the number one person I’ve wanted / needed to talk to about Darfur; why I have studied and studied and recommended and gifted your book, and why I have tried to contact you over the last four months. I am and remain distraught that you have never responded. Personally hurt by your ignoring me? God no. There is no “personal” with me anymore. THERE IS ONLY STOPPING THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, NOW, stopping the slaughter of my family, our family. That is my heart. That is my life. Your’s too, I believe you feel.
Why do I qualify my apology even a little? (the Pope qualified his MONSTROUSLY. Shamefully?)
1) “All hope lies with the unreasonable [person]….” I’ve been a “Lemkin” my whole adult life. We are perceived as obnoxious, insensitive, crude, brusk, heartless, rough, boorish, boring, nerdy…. It goes with the territory. He didn’t try to provoke those reactions. I try not to, however…. Don’t hate me for being a Lemkin. Help me be an effective one. Please.
2) I am, like you have been, an anitviolent (much better term than nonviolent) commando for Darfur. I’m in the war as best I can as totally as I can. I’m in a foxhole. You are too. If a fellow commando doesn’t by accident jam me in the ribs with their riffle butt as they are swinging around for an incoming enemy, we’re both/all dead. Sorry about my riffle butt in your ribs on Monday!
3) I’m only doing what you said. I’m following your conclusions. Through no intention of your own, tragically, correctably you appear to me to have forgotten some of your miraculous wisdom from “problem from hell!” This is why I called in, to tell you this!
a) ‘The battle… always…lost on the field of US public opinion… we-the-people have never stood up.” [Apology for misquotes. Col. Ann Wright, now of Code Pink has my copy of “Problem from Hell.”] This is the problem. BUT WE ARE NOT ACTING ON YOUR ADVICE! ALL FINGERS POINT AWAY FROM WE-THE-PEOPLE at strategy, Bush, China, Russia, UN, AU, Koffi…. We need the finger pointing at we-the-people. So we can rise to greatness.
b) The “Lemkin” factor. LEADERSHIP. SAMANTHA, YOUR, POTENTIAL GREAT CONTRIBUTION NOW IS LEADING US TO STOP THE GENOCIDE, TODAY. Visibly, courageously, passionately, unmistakably, committedly. George Washington-style. WE NEED YOU LEADING THE CHARGE, out where we can see you; more with your actions/ skin in the game, less with your words at this late stage. George Washington did. No one else (or not many) has your visibility, stature, credibility! [Do I claim infallible wisdom on this? No. Am I correct? You deicide.] If you spend your time now, at this critical juncture, writing a book about the UN, you’ve signaled that the battle for Darfur is lost. No? Even if you don’t believe it!
4) I didn’t know you were to be on the air until 10:20. We spoke at 10:35. I had not time to prepare, and no opportunity to explain.
Obviously, I would give any limb of mine for 20 minutes of your time to discuss this face to face.
Thank God for “Problem from Hell.” HOWEVER, more words, more theory, more strategy WILL NOT SAVE DARFUR at this juncture. Unmistakable leadership and sacrifice by the few is the only thing that can spark, or ever has sparked, those with less imagination to the level of committed action that will stop the Genocide now. Or, please tell me why this is not so, and what historical precedents would say otherwise than I have; because I can’t see any – Vietnam War, apartheid, India Liberation, Suffrage, Civil Rights….
LEADING US VISIBLY, ISN’T THIS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?
Your Brother,
Jay McGinley
115 Days of Vigil in DC for Darfur; 54 Days of Hunger Strike since July 4th.
484 356 6243
jymcginley@cs.com
Friday, September 15, 2006
'Never again'. But do they mean it?, GENOCIDE Survivors Talk to UK Independent
The Independent, UK: Day for Darfur inspires protests in 32 countries , By Paul Vallely, Published: 16 September 2006
Note: Will heroes emerge for Darfur? Maybe the folks pictured below, and dozens more HERE from Saturday's AfricaAction.org demonstation September 9, 2006? Maybe nobody?
Susan Pollack, SURVIVOR, THE HOLOCAUST IN EUROPE
I was 13 years old when German troops came to my village of Felsogod in Hungary and took my father. I never saw him again. Then they came for me and my family and sent us to Auschwitz. My mother was gassed to death as soon as we arrived. I survived Auschwitz, slave labour, selection at the hands of Doctor Josef Mengele and a death march to Belsen before I was 15. I can still see the mountains of corpses at Auschwitz. After the Holocaust, the world said "never again". Today they are still saying it, but when genocides like Darfur go on unchecked, I'm beginning to wonder if they mean it.
Beatha Uwazaninka, SURVIVOR, GENOCIDE IN RWANDA
When the genocide began, I was 14 years old and it was hard to make sense of it.
For three months, I was on the run, hiding in sugar cane fields and the houses of the dead. I narrowly avoided being raped and murdered but a million of my people, including my family and friends, were massacred in the space of a hundred days while the world looked on.
I have rebuilt my life and have a baby girl now. For her sake, and the sake of millions of others all over the world, I have to speak out about what is going on today in Darfur.
Kemal Pervanic, SURVIVOR, ETHNIC CLEANSING IN BOSNIA
Life in the Serb concentration camps was horrific. I witnessed atrocities daily. You live day-to-day, keeping your head down in case you catch a guard's eye; seeing men called out who never return; hearing their tortured screams. Despite the lessons of the failures in Rwanda and the Balkans hundreds of thousands of Muslims have been killed in Darfur and no one cares enough to stop it. Western governments dithered over Bosnia. This time, despite the fact that it's Muslims being killed, it is Arab governments whose silence is allowing the conflict to continue unabated.
And today from the Washington Post: For Darfur Women, Survival Means Leaving Camp, Risking Rape; By Craig Timberg Washington Post Foreign ServiceSaturday, September 16, 2006
The tall, light-skinned man reeking of sweat and cigarettes often gallops his horse right into the nightmares of Darelsalam Ahmed Eisa, 18. Each time, she said, he throws her to the ground, pushes up her skirt and forces himself inside her while muttering: " Abdah. Abdah. Abdah ."
Slave woman. Slave woman. Slave woman.
He was in her dreams just last night, she recalled, as real and horrifying in his green camouflage uniform as he was the day he raped her two months ago. But when Eisa awoke this morning, there was no time for terror, no time for tears. She covered herself in an orange and blue cloth, grabbed the family's ax and departed for the perilous Darfur countryside, out of the relative safety of a sprawling camp for people displaced by the violence in this region of western Sudan.
In the wilderness, Eisa can find grass for the donkeys and firewood for cooking. But it is also where government-backed militias known as the Janjaweed roam, terrorizing villagers. Violence and disease in Darfur have killed as many as 450,000 people since 2003, and an estimated 2 million have been forced to flee their homes....
'Never again,' But do they, do we mean it? Now history will know the answer. Jay
Note: Will heroes emerge for Darfur? Maybe the folks pictured below, and dozens more HERE from Saturday's AfricaAction.org demonstation September 9, 2006? Maybe nobody?Susan Pollack, SURVIVOR, THE HOLOCAUST IN EUROPE
I was 13 years old when German troops came to my village of Felsogod in Hungary and took my father. I never saw him again. Then they came for me and my family and sent us to Auschwitz. My mother was gassed to death as soon as we arrived. I survived Auschwitz, slave labour, selection at the hands of Doctor Josef Mengele and a death march to Belsen before I was 15. I can still see the mountains of corpses at Auschwitz. After the Holocaust, the world said "never again". Today they are still saying it, but when genocides like Darfur go on unchecked, I'm beginning to wonder if they mean it.
Beatha Uwazaninka, SURVIVOR, GENOCIDE IN RWANDA
When the genocide began, I was 14 years old and it was hard to make sense of it.
For three months, I was on the run, hiding in sugar cane fields and the houses of the dead. I narrowly avoided being raped and murdered but a million of my people, including my family and friends, were massacred in the space of a hundred days while the world looked on.
I have rebuilt my life and have a baby girl now. For her sake, and the sake of millions of others all over the world, I have to speak out about what is going on today in Darfur.Kemal Pervanic, SURVIVOR, ETHNIC CLEANSING IN BOSNIA
Life in the Serb concentration camps was horrific. I witnessed atrocities daily. You live day-to-day, keeping your head down in case you catch a guard's eye; seeing men called out who never return; hearing their tortured screams. Despite the lessons of the failures in Rwanda and the Balkans hundreds of thousands of Muslims have been killed in Darfur and no one cares enough to stop it. Western governments dithered over Bosnia. This time, despite the fact that it's Muslims being killed, it is Arab governments whose silence is allowing the conflict to continue unabated.
And today from the Washington Post: For Darfur Women, Survival Means Leaving Camp, Risking Rape; By Craig Timberg Washington Post Foreign ServiceSaturday, September 16, 2006
The tall, light-skinned man reeking of sweat and cigarettes often gallops his horse right into the nightmares of Darelsalam Ahmed Eisa, 18. Each time, she said, he throws her to the ground, pushes up her skirt and forces himself inside her while muttering: " Abdah. Abdah. Abdah ."
Slave woman. Slave woman. Slave woman.
He was in her dreams just last night, she recalled, as real and horrifying in his green camouflage uniform as he was the day he raped her two months ago. But when Eisa awoke this morning, there was no time for terror, no time for tears. She covered herself in an orange and blue cloth, grabbed the family's ax and departed for the perilous Darfur countryside, out of the relative safety of a sprawling camp for people displaced by the violence in this region of western Sudan.
In the wilderness, Eisa can find grass for the donkeys and firewood for cooking. But it is also where government-backed militias known as the Janjaweed roam, terrorizing villagers. Violence and disease in Darfur have killed as many as 450,000 people since 2003, and an estimated 2 million have been forced to flee their homes....
'Never again,' But do they, do we mean it? Now history will know the answer. Jay
Thursday, September 14, 2006
WASHINGTON POST: COUPLE WHO FOUGHT GENOCIDE; & OTHER NEWS
Note: Will heroes emerge for Darfur? Maybe the folks pictured below, and dozens more HERE from Saturday's AfricaAction.org demonstation September 9, 2006? Maybe nobody?
The Ithacan 9/14/06: Alumnus sacrifices family and food for Darfur cause; and also Assisting those in Darfur. Question: For we as individuals, what actions would be appropriate for us if those being exterminated at this very moment were: OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY? WHITE, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AMERICANS? 6,000,000 JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?
Washington Post 9/14/06: Rebels Say They May Abandon Darfur Pact, Faction Commanders Demand a Strong International Force. Note:Illusions of stability, and that we have time to discuss, delay, deny... the facts no longer support these illusions.
Washington Post 9/14/06 Couple Who Fought Genocide; same article without registering at MSNBC. By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 14, 2006; Some excerpts:
As the Nazis marched across Europe in 1939 and 1940, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and his wife rushed into the coming Holocaust to save Jews and other refugees, including dozens of children.
For their heroism, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will dedicate plaques today in memory of Waitstill and Martha Sharp. They are only the second and third U.S. citizens named to an honor roll of 21,000 "righteous" gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.
The Holocaust museum is honoring Martha and Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, for their rescue missions to Europe as the Nazis ravaged the Continent. (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee)
But the moral example of the Sharps is arguably much greater, and certainly more complex, than those bare facts suggest. When they made two lengthy trips to Europe to save the children of strangers, they left their own children with relatives and parishioners. Their 2-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were separated, and the daughter nearly died of pneumonia in her parents' absence.
Decades later, the Sharps' children and grandchildren are still working out the emotional consequences -- and thinking over the ethical questions -- created by the couple's wartime activity...
"The moral dilemma they pose for each of us is not just 'Am I willing to risk my own skin to save someone else's life?' It is 'Am I willing to impose risk and sacrifice on my children to save other people's lives?' " said their grandson, Artemis Joukowsky III of Boston...
Joukowsky, 45, is proud of them. He has done more than anyone to win them recognition by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that maintains the list of righteous gentiles. He is making a documentary film and writing a book in hopes that their story will inspire Americans to act boldly when genocides occur in such places as Darfur, Sudan.
Yet he said he could never do to his children what his grandparents did to his mother and uncle.
"I have to say, they crossed a certain line. One of them leaving was fine. But the fact that they both left, especially the second time, when they knew what they were getting into. . . . It was heroic, but it crossed a line..."
Looking back, Martha Sharp Joukowsky said, "The values I hold for myself may not be the same that I held my parents to. I think that sacrifice is something they felt they had to do. I don't make any value judgments. I can't. . . . Is home important? Yes, but it is more important that ideas are put into action. They felt the world was in a crisis, they had to rise to the occasion. Nobody else was."
Washington Post 9/15/06: Clooney, Wiesel tell UN time running out in Darfur
By Evelyn LeopoldReutersThursday, September 14, 2006; 7:59 PM. Note: It is like when you decide to push an enormous boulder to the top of a huge hill - once you get it going and toward the top, if you lose momentum you will probably NEVER get the boulder to the top of the hill; we would probably NEVER STOP THE GENOCIDE. NOW is the time.
The Ithacan 9/14/06: Alumnus sacrifices family and food for Darfur cause; and also Assisting those in Darfur. Question: For we as individuals, what actions would be appropriate for us if those being exterminated at this very moment were: OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY? WHITE, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AMERICANS? 6,000,000 JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?
Washington Post 9/14/06: Rebels Say They May Abandon Darfur Pact, Faction Commanders Demand a Strong International Force. Note:Illusions of stability, and that we have time to discuss, delay, deny... the facts no longer support these illusions.
Washington Post 9/14/06 Couple Who Fought Genocide; same article without registering at MSNBC. By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 14, 2006; Some excerpts:As the Nazis marched across Europe in 1939 and 1940, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and his wife rushed into the coming Holocaust to save Jews and other refugees, including dozens of children.
For their heroism, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will dedicate plaques today in memory of Waitstill and Martha Sharp. They are only the second and third U.S. citizens named to an honor roll of 21,000 "righteous" gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.
The Holocaust museum is honoring Martha and Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, for their rescue missions to Europe as the Nazis ravaged the Continent. (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee)
But the moral example of the Sharps is arguably much greater, and certainly more complex, than those bare facts suggest. When they made two lengthy trips to Europe to save the children of strangers, they left their own children with relatives and parishioners. Their 2-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were separated, and the daughter nearly died of pneumonia in her parents' absence.
Decades later, the Sharps' children and grandchildren are still working out the emotional consequences -- and thinking over the ethical questions -- created by the couple's wartime activity...
"The moral dilemma they pose for each of us is not just 'Am I willing to risk my own skin to save someone else's life?' It is 'Am I willing to impose risk and sacrifice on my children to save other people's lives?' " said their grandson, Artemis Joukowsky III of Boston...
Joukowsky, 45, is proud of them. He has done more than anyone to win them recognition by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that maintains the list of righteous gentiles. He is making a documentary film and writing a book in hopes that their story will inspire Americans to act boldly when genocides occur in such places as Darfur, Sudan.Yet he said he could never do to his children what his grandparents did to his mother and uncle.
"I have to say, they crossed a certain line. One of them leaving was fine. But the fact that they both left, especially the second time, when they knew what they were getting into. . . . It was heroic, but it crossed a line..."
Looking back, Martha Sharp Joukowsky said, "The values I hold for myself may not be the same that I held my parents to. I think that sacrifice is something they felt they had to do. I don't make any value judgments. I can't. . . . Is home important? Yes, but it is more important that ideas are put into action. They felt the world was in a crisis, they had to rise to the occasion. Nobody else was."
Washington Post 9/15/06: Clooney, Wiesel tell UN time running out in Darfur
By Evelyn LeopoldReutersThursday, September 14, 2006; 7:59 PM. Note: It is like when you decide to push an enormous boulder to the top of a huge hill - once you get it going and toward the top, if you lose momentum you will probably NEVER get the boulder to the top of the hill; we would probably NEVER STOP THE GENOCIDE. NOW is the time.
THE ONLY HOPE FOR DARFUR: WE-THE-PEOPLE. duh
Note: Click HERE for 100s o f photos and detials from Sunday's AfricaAction.org arrests at the White House 9/09/06.
It is said that the mark of truly being “crazy” is expecting different results to come despite repeating the same actions over and over and…
Ok, we've tried some new approaches, hoping we could find a new formula for mass social change (stopping Genocide has NEVER been done. N-E-V-E-R); looking for a way that would be comfortable, convenient, safe, executed from where we are, from our computer terminal / phone / office / home in some combination. The variations we’ve tried are:
* Blame - UN, EU, AU, Bush, Congress...
* Emails / Blogs / Letters / Phone calls / Post cards / 1-day-fasts (yawn; oh, excuse me) / an occasional 3 hour demonstration (with entertainment!)...
* Letting the Nonprofits do it - SaveDarfur.org, AfricaAction.org, GenocideIntervention.net, STANDnow.org...
* Divestment...
* Meetings, lectures, prayer services...
And the results are in! WE ARE NOT, N-O-T STOPPING THE GENOCIDE! Infact, all evidence to the contrary - things have gotten worse, much worse. We might have known it would not come this cheap.
The answer for Darfur is the same answer we found for…
* Ending the Vietnam War
* Gaining Civil Rights in the US
* Gaining Women the right to Vote in the US
* Ending apartheid in South Africa
* Throwing off oppression at the start of the US....
Yup. Soldiers, of the antiviolent variety, putting themselves in harms way to protect the innocent. King's way. Gandhi's way. Jesus' way. A mother's way.
Let the blame for the Genocide rest with us. WE-THE-PEOPLE. Let the END OF GENOCIDE BE BROUGHT BY US, we-the-people-of-the-world! No one else, nothing else can stop it, can save 4,000,000 in Concentration Camps in Sudan and Chad. The buck stops with WE-THE-PEOPLE.
Time for us to start - marching, demonstrating, sitting-in, hunger striking… UNTIL DARFUR GENOCIDE STOPS.
The next step is September 17th (SaveDarfur.org; DayForDarfur.org). We must make these worldwide events an earsplitting mandate to the “governing bodies” that we demand, we mandate, we support nothing less than the immediate end to the Genocide. Our message must be unmistakable, “Do what it takes. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. Do what we hired you to do, or make room for those who will.”
Then we need to be ready on SEPTEMBER 18th, 19th… AS LONG AS IT TAKES, WHATEVER IT TAKES FROM US TO END THIS GENOCIDE, NOW.
It is said that the mark of truly being “crazy” is expecting different results to come despite repeating the same actions over and over and…Ok, we've tried some new approaches, hoping we could find a new formula for mass social change (stopping Genocide has NEVER been done. N-E-V-E-R); looking for a way that would be comfortable, convenient, safe, executed from where we are, from our computer terminal / phone / office / home in some combination. The variations we’ve tried are:
* Blame - UN, EU, AU, Bush, Congress...
* Emails / Blogs / Letters / Phone calls / Post cards / 1-day-fasts (yawn; oh, excuse me) / an occasional 3 hour demonstration (with entertainment!)...
* Letting the Nonprofits do it - SaveDarfur.org, AfricaAction.org, GenocideIntervention.net, STANDnow.org...
* Divestment...
* Meetings, lectures, prayer services...
And the results are in! WE ARE NOT, N-O-T STOPPING THE GENOCIDE! Infact, all evidence to the contrary - things have gotten worse, much worse. We might have known it would not come this cheap.
The answer for Darfur is the same answer we found for…* Ending the Vietnam War
* Gaining Civil Rights in the US
* Gaining Women the right to Vote in the US
* Ending apartheid in South Africa
* Throwing off oppression at the start of the US....
Yup. Soldiers, of the antiviolent variety, putting themselves in harms way to protect the innocent. King's way. Gandhi's way. Jesus' way. A mother's way.
Let the blame for the Genocide rest with us. WE-THE-PEOPLE. Let the END OF GENOCIDE BE BROUGHT BY US, we-the-people-of-the-world! No one else, nothing else can stop it, can save 4,000,000 in Concentration Camps in Sudan and Chad. The buck stops with WE-THE-PEOPLE.
Time for us to start - marching, demonstrating, sitting-in, hunger striking… UNTIL DARFUR GENOCIDE STOPS.The next step is September 17th (SaveDarfur.org; DayForDarfur.org). We must make these worldwide events an earsplitting mandate to the “governing bodies” that we demand, we mandate, we support nothing less than the immediate end to the Genocide. Our message must be unmistakable, “Do what it takes. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. Do what we hired you to do, or make room for those who will.”
Then we need to be ready on SEPTEMBER 18th, 19th… AS LONG AS IT TAKES, WHATEVER IT TAKES FROM US TO END THIS GENOCIDE, NOW.
Important in the News
Note: Will heroes emerge for Darfur? Maybe the folks pictured below, and dozens more HERE from Saturday's AfricaAction.org demonstation September 9, 2006? Maybe nobody?
The Ithacan 9/14/06: Alumnus sacrifices family and food for Darfur cause; and also Assisting those in Darfur. Question: For we as individuals, what actions would be appropriate for us if those being exterminated, as we speak, were: OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY? WHITE, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AMERICANS? 6,000,000 JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?
Washington Post 9/14/06: Rebels Say They May Abandon Darfur Pact, Faction Commanders Demand a Strong International Force. Note:Illusions of stability, and that we have time to discuss, delay, deny... the facts no longer support these illusions.
Washington Post 9/14/06 Couple Who Fought Genocide; same article without registering at MSNBC. By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 14, 2006; Some excerpts:
As the Nazis marched across Europe in 1939 and 1940, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and his wife rushed into the coming Holocaust to save Jews and other refugees, including dozens of children.
For their heroism, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will dedicate plaques today in memory of Waitstill and Martha Sharp. They are only the second and third U.S. citizens named to an honor roll of 21,000 "righteous" gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.
The Holocaust museum is honoring Martha and Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, for their rescue missions to Europe as the Nazis ravaged the Continent. (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee)
But the moral example of the Sharps is arguably much greater, and certainly more complex, than those bare facts suggest. When they made two lengthy trips to Europe to save the children of strangers, they left their own children with relatives and parishioners. Their 2-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were separated, and the daughter nearly died of pneumonia in her parents' absence.
Decades later, the Sharps' children and grandchildren are still working out the emotional consequences -- and thinking over the ethical questions -- created by the couple's wartime activity...
"The moral dilemma they pose for each of us is not just 'Am I willing to risk my own skin to save someone else's life?' It is 'Am I willing to impose risk and sacrifice on my children to save other people's lives?' " said their grandson, Artemis Joukowsky III of Boston...
Joukowsky, 45, is proud of them. He has done more than anyone to win them recognition by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that maintains the list of righteous gentiles. He is making a documentary film and writing a book in hopes that their story will inspire Americans to act boldly when genocides occur in such places as Darfur, Sudan.
Yet he said he could never do to his children what his grandparents did to his mother and uncle.
"I have to say, they crossed a certain line. One of them leaving was fine. But the fact that they both left, especially the second time, when they knew what they were getting into. . . . It was heroic, but it crossed a line..."
Looking back, Martha Sharp Joukowsky said, "The values I hold for myself may not be the same that I held my parents to. I think that sacrifice is something they felt they had to do. I don't make any value judgments. I can't. . . . Is home important? Yes, but it is more important that ideas are put into action. They felt the world was in a crisis, they had to rise to the occasion. Nobody else was."
The Ithacan 9/14/06: Alumnus sacrifices family and food for Darfur cause; and also Assisting those in Darfur. Question: For we as individuals, what actions would be appropriate for us if those being exterminated, as we speak, were: OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY? WHITE, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AMERICANS? 6,000,000 JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?
Washington Post 9/14/06: Rebels Say They May Abandon Darfur Pact, Faction Commanders Demand a Strong International Force. Note:Illusions of stability, and that we have time to discuss, delay, deny... the facts no longer support these illusions.
Washington Post 9/14/06 Couple Who Fought Genocide; same article without registering at MSNBC. By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 14, 2006; Some excerpts:As the Nazis marched across Europe in 1939 and 1940, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and his wife rushed into the coming Holocaust to save Jews and other refugees, including dozens of children.
For their heroism, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will dedicate plaques today in memory of Waitstill and Martha Sharp. They are only the second and third U.S. citizens named to an honor roll of 21,000 "righteous" gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.
The Holocaust museum is honoring Martha and Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, for their rescue missions to Europe as the Nazis ravaged the Continent. (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee)
But the moral example of the Sharps is arguably much greater, and certainly more complex, than those bare facts suggest. When they made two lengthy trips to Europe to save the children of strangers, they left their own children with relatives and parishioners. Their 2-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were separated, and the daughter nearly died of pneumonia in her parents' absence.
Decades later, the Sharps' children and grandchildren are still working out the emotional consequences -- and thinking over the ethical questions -- created by the couple's wartime activity...
"The moral dilemma they pose for each of us is not just 'Am I willing to risk my own skin to save someone else's life?' It is 'Am I willing to impose risk and sacrifice on my children to save other people's lives?' " said their grandson, Artemis Joukowsky III of Boston...
Joukowsky, 45, is proud of them. He has done more than anyone to win them recognition by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that maintains the list of righteous gentiles. He is making a documentary film and writing a book in hopes that their story will inspire Americans to act boldly when genocides occur in such places as Darfur, Sudan.Yet he said he could never do to his children what his grandparents did to his mother and uncle.
"I have to say, they crossed a certain line. One of them leaving was fine. But the fact that they both left, especially the second time, when they knew what they were getting into. . . . It was heroic, but it crossed a line..."
Looking back, Martha Sharp Joukowsky said, "The values I hold for myself may not be the same that I held my parents to. I think that sacrifice is something they felt they had to do. I don't make any value judgments. I can't. . . . Is home important? Yes, but it is more important that ideas are put into action. They felt the world was in a crisis, they had to rise to the occasion. Nobody else was."
Sunday, September 10, 2006
SEPT 17: FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
September 9th Africa Action set the tone...
[Note: Many more photos thanks to GenocideIntervention.net a. HERE and b. HERE]
FOR... D DAY (Darfur Day) - SEPT 17 NYC Central Park 2:00 PM, !!See now also: California, District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington
WE MUST MAKE SUNDAY THE ABSOLUTE END OF GENOCIDE - ABSOLUTE VICTORY OVER EL BASHIR'S OBSTRUCTION OF UN.
FAILURE CANNOT BE AN OPTION. Your mandate, OUR TURNOUT must be MASSIVE and DEFINITIVE If you discover that CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE is necessary to make YOUR VOICE FINAL,
CLICK left for details
CLICK left for detials
...BUT IF WE MUST FIGHT SEPTEMBER 20TH, 21ST, 22ND, 23RD... WE MUST BE READY, WILLING AND ABLE! FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.
[Note: Many more photos thanks to GenocideIntervention.net a. HERE and b. HERE]
FOR... D DAY (Darfur Day) - SEPT 17 NYC Central Park 2:00 PM, !!See now also: California, District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington
WE MUST MAKE SUNDAY THE ABSOLUTE END OF GENOCIDE - ABSOLUTE VICTORY OVER EL BASHIR'S OBSTRUCTION OF UN.
FAILURE CANNOT BE AN OPTION. Your mandate, OUR TURNOUT must be MASSIVE and DEFINITIVE If you discover that CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE is necessary to make YOUR VOICE FINAL,
FOR GOD'S SAKE BE PREPARED, AND DO IT. (YOU DID FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, LIVING WAGES, ENDING APARTHEID...). THERE IS NO OCTOBER FOR DARFUR.
CLICK left for details
CLICK left for detials...BUT IF WE MUST FIGHT SEPTEMBER 20TH, 21ST, 22ND, 23RD... WE MUST BE READY, WILLING AND ABLE! FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.
30 ARRESTED AT WHITE HOUSE SATURDAY
Hunger Strike Day 35; DC Vigil Day 105
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: “When you are right you cannot be too radical….”
“… when a person is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed...... Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved...civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its sirens on full.”
[Note: Many more photos thanks to GenocideIntervention.net HERE]
A Cry for Intervention in Darfur
D.C. Demonstrators Call On Bush to Press for U.N. Peacekeepers By Henri E. Cauvin Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 10, 2006.
...30 protesters carrying signs marched from Lafayette Square across Pennsylvania Avenue, where they lay down on the sidewalk outside the White House fence and held up the signs.
The protesters were arrested by U.S. Park Police to the cheers of hundreds of fellow demonstrators who watched from across Pennsylvania Avenue, chanting for their cause.
"Stop the genocide! Break the deadlock! Protect the people!" the group called out as the 30 demonstrators lay, still holding up their signs…
"It's been two years, and Mr. Bush hasn't done anything about it," said Emily Funigiello, 17, who traveled from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington to join the demonstration.
Her friend Melissa Salvatore, 18, said the United States and the president cannot forget what happened not so many years ago. "We can't let what happened in Rwanda happen in Darfur."
Darfur Trembles as Peacekeepers’ Exit Looms By LYDIA POLGREEN Published: September 10, 2006
“What happened in Rwanda, it will happen here,” said Sheik Abdullah Muhammad Ali, who fled here from a nearby village seeking the safety that he hoped the presence of about 200 African Union peacekeepers would bring. But the Sudanese government has asked the African Union to quit Darfur… “If these soldiers leave,” Sheik Ali said, “we will all be slaughtered… “We beg the international community, somebody, come and save us….”
On Sunday [September 3, 2006 ] riot police broke up demonstrations in favor of the peacekeepers at a university in el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur province. Two students [were killed] and more than 10 were injured, the United Nations reported.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: “When you are right you cannot be too radical….”“… when a person is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed...... Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved...civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its sirens on full.”
[Note: Many more photos thanks to GenocideIntervention.net HERE]
A Cry for Intervention in DarfurD.C. Demonstrators Call On Bush to Press for U.N. Peacekeepers By Henri E. Cauvin Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 10, 2006.
...30 protesters carrying signs marched from Lafayette Square across Pennsylvania Avenue, where they lay down on the sidewalk outside the White House fence and held up the signs.
The protesters were arrested by U.S. Park Police to the cheers of hundreds of fellow demonstrators who watched from across Pennsylvania Avenue, chanting for their cause.
"Stop the genocide! Break the deadlock! Protect the people!" the group called out as the 30 demonstrators lay, still holding up their signs…
"It's been two years, and Mr. Bush hasn't done anything about it," said Emily Funigiello, 17, who traveled from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington to join the demonstration.
Her friend Melissa Salvatore, 18, said the United States and the president cannot forget what happened not so many years ago. "We can't let what happened in Rwanda happen in Darfur."
Darfur Trembles as Peacekeepers’ Exit Looms By LYDIA POLGREEN Published: September 10, 2006“What happened in Rwanda, it will happen here,” said Sheik Abdullah Muhammad Ali, who fled here from a nearby village seeking the safety that he hoped the presence of about 200 African Union peacekeepers would bring. But the Sudanese government has asked the African Union to quit Darfur… “If these soldiers leave,” Sheik Ali said, “we will all be slaughtered… “We beg the international community, somebody, come and save us….”
On Sunday [Tuesday, September 05, 2006
DARFUR: HUNGER STRIKE RESUMES IN DC
The Hunger Strike for Darfur at the White House / around DC resumes Friday, September 8th.
NOW, given the developments of this past week, September 9th at the White House (africaaction.org) and September 17th in NYC (savedarfur.org)/Around the World (dayfordarfur.org) MUST BE THE START OF OUR BATTLE FOR DARFUR. Or, we have finally and certainly abandoned Darfur to Genocide; and God help us.
The HUNGER STRIKE SUSPENDED (War over? War beginning?) Wednesday, August 30th after 45 days water only, in the midst of highly divergent accounts of the prospects for ending the Genocide. Bashir's behavior suggested a total disregard for International and US will. However, US Ambassador to the UN Bolton asserted that his only worry was responding fast enough to Bashir's acquiescence to troops. All of which suggested that it would take several weeks to see who knew what he was talking about, and who had the will to determine the outcome.
No need to wait any longer. If "will" were measured in words, the Hunger Strike would be suspended for good! My goodness, we in the US have been chanting in earnest "NEVER AGAIN" and "NOT ON OUR WATCH" for three years now. BUT WORDS ARE CHEAP, ACTION IS DEAR. And Bashir is the one determined to act on this stage, so far.
Our WORDS say: Never again!
Our ACTIONS say: Never again! if I can stop it with emails, postcards, a rally every 6 months and the telephone during commercials and between classes.
Our WORDS say: Not on my watch!
Our ACTIONS say: Not on my watch! if it is safe, convenient and does not disrupt my plans for me and mine or mess up my GPA.
Our WORDS say: GENOCIDE!
Our ACTIONS say: Darfur GENOCIDE is less important than whether there are to be Soda Machines at my little brother's middle school or not, or that date I have planned for this weekend.
Within the last week Bashir has called the UN resolution for immediate troops "illegal," restarted the war counter to the May 5th DPA, moved most of 10,000 troops into Darfur, restarted genocidal slaughter of civilians with bombs and guns, told the AU to leave unless they agree to NEVER accept UN Blue Hat, KILLED DARFUR STUDENTS STRIKING FOR UN INTERVENTION, killed more aid workers, destroyed what safety was left to allow aid workers to keep 4,000,000 alive.... He's been busy this past week!
The International and Activist community in the face of all this horror has... hmmmm... DONE NOTHING, except what we do... talk....blog.... write emails.... read news... basically watch ....pontificate, analyze ....whine, ....criticize... issue press releases.... But really ACT? PUT OUR SKIN IN THE GAME? Nah.
I know this can change. We Americans, we world citizens are better than this. We have more humanity and courage than this. Now, immediately - others must join in real action - civil disobedience, mass - protracted demonstrations, hunger strikes.... Until we are heard; until 24,000 peace keepers are on the ground in Darfur with Chapter 7 mandate. We must leave no room for the US Government, our fellow Americans, and the international community to continue to watch. The only option that OUR BEHAVIOR must leave is for the World to stop the genocide now. Period. End of discussion. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.
THE NGO / NONPROFIT LEADERS MUST BEGIN TO LEAD US, not to activity, but to victory. Nothing less is acceptable. AfricaAction.org is beginning to show signs of appropriate leadership. Others must follow. History, Darfur, Bashir are watching. Failure is not an option.
This can be our finest hour. This must be our finest hour. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MORE THAN DARFUR IS AT STAKE, as if 4,000,000 Darfur lives were not enough.
NOW, given the developments of this past week, September 9th at the White House (africaaction.org) and September 17th in NYC (savedarfur.org)/Around the World (dayfordarfur.org) MUST BE THE START OF OUR BATTLE FOR DARFUR. Or, we have finally and certainly abandoned Darfur to Genocide; and God help us.
The HUNGER STRIKE SUSPENDED (War over? War beginning?) Wednesday, August 30th after 45 days water only, in the midst of highly divergent accounts of the prospects for ending the Genocide. Bashir's behavior suggested a total disregard for International and US will. However, US Ambassador to the UN Bolton asserted that his only worry was responding fast enough to Bashir's acquiescence to troops. All of which suggested that it would take several weeks to see who knew what he was talking about, and who had the will to determine the outcome.
No need to wait any longer. If "will" were measured in words, the Hunger Strike would be suspended for good! My goodness, we in the US have been chanting in earnest "NEVER AGAIN" and "NOT ON OUR WATCH" for three years now. BUT WORDS ARE CHEAP, ACTION IS DEAR. And Bashir is the one determined to act on this stage, so far.
Our WORDS say: Never again!
Our ACTIONS say: Never again! if I can stop it with emails, postcards, a rally every 6 months and the telephone during commercials and between classes.
Our WORDS say: Not on my watch!
Our ACTIONS say: Not on my watch! if it is safe, convenient and does not disrupt my plans for me and mine or mess up my GPA.
Our WORDS say: GENOCIDE!
Our ACTIONS say: Darfur GENOCIDE is less important than whether there are to be Soda Machines at my little brother's middle school or not, or that date I have planned for this weekend.
Within the last week Bashir has called the UN resolution for immediate troops "illegal," restarted the war counter to the May 5th DPA, moved most of 10,000 troops into Darfur, restarted genocidal slaughter of civilians with bombs and guns, told the AU to leave unless they agree to NEVER accept UN Blue Hat, KILLED DARFUR STUDENTS STRIKING FOR UN INTERVENTION, killed more aid workers, destroyed what safety was left to allow aid workers to keep 4,000,000 alive.... He's been busy this past week!
The International and Activist community in the face of all this horror has... hmmmm... DONE NOTHING, except what we do... talk....blog.... write emails.... read news... basically watch ....pontificate, analyze ....whine, ....criticize... issue press releases.... But really ACT? PUT OUR SKIN IN THE GAME? Nah.
I know this can change. We Americans, we world citizens are better than this. We have more humanity and courage than this. Now, immediately - others must join in real action - civil disobedience, mass - protracted demonstrations, hunger strikes.... Until we are heard; until 24,000 peace keepers are on the ground in Darfur with Chapter 7 mandate. We must leave no room for the US Government, our fellow Americans, and the international community to continue to watch. The only option that OUR BEHAVIOR must leave is for the World to stop the genocide now. Period. End of discussion. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.
THE NGO / NONPROFIT LEADERS MUST BEGIN TO LEAD US, not to activity, but to victory. Nothing less is acceptable. AfricaAction.org is beginning to show signs of appropriate leadership. Others must follow. History, Darfur, Bashir are watching. Failure is not an option.
This can be our finest hour. This must be our finest hour. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MORE THAN DARFUR IS AT STAKE, as if 4,000,000 Darfur lives were not enough.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Recuperating with Family
While the dust settles on the activities by the State Dept / UN / Sept 9th / Sept 17th / Bashir obstruction... while the Hunger Strike is suspended my body demanded some recovery time that I am taking with friends / family. All I've done for several days is sleep. Apparantly I was more exhausted from the Strike and 100+ day Vigil than I realized; and my body was much more shut down than I realized. Eating, more particulary digesting, is an extremely difficult task for my body to accomplish.
I think this issue with digestion is why my legs are so extremely swolen - severe edema. My guess is that my kidneys have lost the ability to process my food properly - eliminate salt, and balince protiens, etc. In any case, my body is a bit messed up and so that I can serve better in a few weeks, I regretably will be away from the Vigil until mid to late this week.
I WILL be back for Saturday 9th for the Africa Action Civil Disobedience, God willing.
Jay
I think this issue with digestion is why my legs are so extremely swolen - severe edema. My guess is that my kidneys have lost the ability to process my food properly - eliminate salt, and balince protiens, etc. In any case, my body is a bit messed up and so that I can serve better in a few weeks, I regretably will be away from the Vigil until mid to late this week.
I WILL be back for Saturday 9th for the Africa Action Civil Disobedience, God willing.
Jay
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, August 28, 2006
DARFUR: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr... WILL WE HEAR HIM, IN TIME?
Washington Round-the-Clock Vigil Day 100; Hunger Strike on Hold at Day 45 (800 calories per day) to maintain strength for VOLUME BUILDING FOR SEPTEMBER 9th and 17th.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR:
“There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a fire is raging, the fire truck goes right through the red light......Or, when a person is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed...... Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved.......civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its sirens on full.”
I would bet my life [ I guess that I am betting my life on it :-) !!! ] that Civil Disobedience is ESSENTIAL as a COMPONENT of our efforts IF WE ARE TO STOP GENOCIDE. One of your fellow activists, from the Midwest emailed me inquiring as to my views. Our exchange follows (or it is on the web under 2 comments):
[email received by me tonight in response to an earlier email DARFUR: BASES LOADED. WE-THE-PEOPLE UP AT BAT ] --------------------
Dear Jay,
Thank you for the inspiring e-mail and the loud call to action during September. I look forward to seeing you out there. And thank you for the wealth of information and articles included in the email.
One note: You mentioned civil disobedience. I was just considering whether or not our objectives for the rally would be better advanced by this tactic. As you said Bush needs our help. We in Fort Wayne feel that above all the rally is intended to lay out our demands for action to be taken in Darfur AND to let Bush know that when he does take AGGRESSIVE action, he will have our support. I think that perhaps civil disobedience may be a counterintuitive measure in this instance.
[MY RESPONSE} 8:09 PM ------------------
Jay McGinley said... Dear Comrade,
How wonderful to hear from you. I believe I understand your concern. Is it that Civil Disobedience is generally considered PROTEST?
As you may know I have been in front of the White House or similar institutions in Washington on Vigil since May 14th, pretty much round the clock. Many times a day I am asked, "what are you PROTESTING?" I explain that I am "DEMONSTRATING" to SUPPORT and ENCOURAGE the president, and my fellow countrymen to higher levels of action! My point? That I believe that you and I see that SUPPORT and ENCOURAGEMENT is what the President needs. But the world community, our fellow countrymen, China, al BASHIR need to be our focus TOO!
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, and/or HUNGER STRIKE are ESSENTIAL at this point:
* THEY ARE THE LOUDEST WE CAN SHOUT OUR SUPPORT FOR TROOPS ON THE GROUND. Why are they loud? Because like any loud, widely heard ADVERTISING... THEY COST A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
* Yes, but what about Civil Disobedience? WE MUST PROTEST WORLD INACTION / U.N. INACTION / WE-THE-PEOPLE INACTION / CHINA OBSTRUCTION / BASHIR OBSTRUCTION!!! And IN TRUTH, THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE. If we do NOT use Civil Disobedience, but use ONLY less "costly" means (meetings, concerts, rallies, 4 hr demonstrations), THAT is the message - that Darfur requires ONLY CHEAP SOLUTIONS.
* SOME OF US MUST INSPIRE / ENCOURAGE / PROVIDE EXAMPLE to our brothers and sisters so that they "see," and step up in HUGE NUMBERS, MORE FORCEFULLY THAN OTHERWISE THEY WOULD. This has always been the way, no? Civil Rights, Suffrage, stopping the Vietnam War....
Please tell me if I understood your thoughts, and your reaction to the above. I grow through such thoughtful people as you.
Your Brother,
Jay
-------------------------------------------
IN CLOSING:
* For the noble cause (but arguably less so than stopping the GENOCIDE OF 3,000,000) Georgetown U and U Washington, and Harvard U students HUNGER STRUCK last year and WON LIVING WAGES FOR THEIR CUSTODIAL AND FOOD WORKER STAFFS. (ERROR: Washington and Harvard were SIT INS, not Hunger Strikes per my earlier email.)
* FEW IF ANY SOCIAL CAUSES HAVE BEEN WON... WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT ANTIVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Suffrage? Civil Rights? Stopping Apartheid? Ending Vietnam War? Etc? Etc?
Why would we take that chance with the lives of these 3,000,000??????? Why ARE we taking a chance with 3,000,000 lives?
AND, WHY WOULD WE DEPRIVE PEOPLE OF TODAY OF THEIR FINEST HOUR??!?!?!?! I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, AND STOPPING THE VIETNAM WAR. WILL WE DEPRIVE TODAY'S YOUTH OF STANDING UP FOR THEIR GREAT MOMENT IN HISTORY? WILL WE STAND IN THEIR WAY OF FINDING THEIR GREATNESS? Or, will we offer them the chance, and follow their lead?
Your brother,
Jay
ps: I'm in! Call me if I can help! In any way!
1. Antiviolent component of SEPT 17th in NYC; Elsewhere in US, and Abroad? THERE SHOULD BE!!!!!!!!
2. MASSIVE TURNOUT FOR SEPT 9th? THERE MUST BE!!!!!!!!
3. ESCALLATION ON SEPT. 10th AT THE WHITE HOUSE? CALL ME!!!!!!!!!!
pps: ANTIVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: IF NOT FOR GENOCIDE, FOR WHAT!?!?! IF NOT NOW, WHEN? IF NOT US, IF NOT YOU, WHO?
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR:
“There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a fire is raging, the fire truck goes right through the red light......Or, when a person is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed...... Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved.......civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its sirens on full.”
I would bet my life [ I guess that I am betting my life on it :-) !!! ] that Civil Disobedience is ESSENTIAL as a COMPONENT of our efforts IF WE ARE TO STOP GENOCIDE. One of your fellow activists, from the Midwest emailed me inquiring as to my views. Our exchange follows (or it is on the web under 2 comments):
[email received by me tonight in response to an earlier email DARFUR: BASES LOADED. WE-THE-PEOPLE UP AT BAT ] --------------------
Dear Jay,
Thank you for the inspiring e-mail and the loud call to action during September. I look forward to seeing you out there. And thank you for the wealth of information and articles included in the email.
One note: You mentioned civil disobedience. I was just considering whether or not our objectives for the rally would be better advanced by this tactic. As you said Bush needs our help. We in Fort Wayne feel that above all the rally is intended to lay out our demands for action to be taken in Darfur AND to let Bush know that when he does take AGGRESSIVE action, he will have our support. I think that perhaps civil disobedience may be a counterintuitive measure in this instance.
[MY RESPONSE} 8:09 PM ------------------
Jay McGinley said... Dear Comrade,
How wonderful to hear from you. I believe I understand your concern. Is it that Civil Disobedience is generally considered PROTEST?
As you may know I have been in front of the White House or similar institutions in Washington on Vigil since May 14th, pretty much round the clock. Many times a day I am asked, "what are you PROTESTING?" I explain that I am "DEMONSTRATING" to SUPPORT and ENCOURAGE the president, and my fellow countrymen to higher levels of action! My point? That I believe that you and I see that SUPPORT and ENCOURAGEMENT is what the President needs. But the world community, our fellow countrymen, China, al BASHIR need to be our focus TOO!
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, and/or HUNGER STRIKE are ESSENTIAL at this point:
* THEY ARE THE LOUDEST WE CAN SHOUT OUR SUPPORT FOR TROOPS ON THE GROUND. Why are they loud? Because like any loud, widely heard ADVERTISING... THEY COST A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
* Yes, but what about Civil Disobedience? WE MUST PROTEST WORLD INACTION / U.N. INACTION / WE-THE-PEOPLE INACTION / CHINA OBSTRUCTION / BASHIR OBSTRUCTION!!! And IN TRUTH, THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE. If we do NOT use Civil Disobedience, but use ONLY less "costly" means (meetings, concerts, rallies, 4 hr demonstrations), THAT is the message - that Darfur requires ONLY CHEAP SOLUTIONS.
* SOME OF US MUST INSPIRE / ENCOURAGE / PROVIDE EXAMPLE to our brothers and sisters so that they "see," and step up in HUGE NUMBERS, MORE FORCEFULLY THAN OTHERWISE THEY WOULD. This has always been the way, no? Civil Rights, Suffrage, stopping the Vietnam War....
Please tell me if I understood your thoughts, and your reaction to the above. I grow through such thoughtful people as you.
Your Brother,
Jay
-------------------------------------------
IN CLOSING:
* For the noble cause (but arguably less so than stopping the GENOCIDE OF 3,000,000) Georgetown U and U Washington, and Harvard U students HUNGER STRUCK last year and WON LIVING WAGES FOR THEIR CUSTODIAL AND FOOD WORKER STAFFS. (ERROR: Washington and Harvard were SIT INS, not Hunger Strikes per my earlier email.)
* FEW IF ANY SOCIAL CAUSES HAVE BEEN WON... WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT ANTIVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Suffrage? Civil Rights? Stopping Apartheid? Ending Vietnam War? Etc? Etc?
Why would we take that chance with the lives of these 3,000,000??????? Why ARE we taking a chance with 3,000,000 lives?
AND, WHY WOULD WE DEPRIVE PEOPLE OF TODAY OF THEIR FINEST HOUR??!?!?!?! I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, AND STOPPING THE VIETNAM WAR. WILL WE DEPRIVE TODAY'S YOUTH OF STANDING UP FOR THEIR GREAT MOMENT IN HISTORY? WILL WE STAND IN THEIR WAY OF FINDING THEIR GREATNESS? Or, will we offer them the chance, and follow their lead?
Your brother,
Jay
ps: I'm in! Call me if I can help! In any way!
1. Antiviolent component of SEPT 17th in NYC; Elsewhere in US, and Abroad? THERE SHOULD BE!!!!!!!!
2. MASSIVE TURNOUT FOR SEPT 9th? THERE MUST BE!!!!!!!!
3. ESCALLATION ON SEPT. 10th AT THE WHITE HOUSE? CALL ME!!!!!!!!!!
pps: ANTIVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: IF NOT FOR GENOCIDE, FOR WHAT!?!?! IF NOT NOW, WHEN? IF NOT US, IF NOT YOU, WHO?
DARFUR: BASES LOADED. WE-THE-PEOPLE UP AT BAT
Hunger Strike Day #45 and Holding - 700 calories / day so that I have the energy for a special round-the-clock project to marshal attendance for THE ALL IMPORTANT SEPT 9TH White House/AfricaAction.org and SEPT 17th SaveDarfur.org NYC. !!See now also: California, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Washington!!
Harvard’s Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize winning Genocide study of the last 100 years presents a clear conclusion: “the battle to stop genocide has thus been repeatedly lost… [because] Americans outside the executive branch were largely mute….” From "Problem from Hell."
I pray to God that we email, blog, write articles and DEVOUR THE NEWS for more than just its ENTERTAINMENT VALUE. Well, its crunch time now, FOR US.
Maybe not with the greatest skill or diplomacy in the world, but Bush and Bolton have gotten us up to bat - they are bringing the situation to a head at the UN. Per a number of really, really sobering articles recently, WE, THE US ARE IN A MUCH WEAKER POSITION THAN I HAD REALIZED (NY Times, Washington Institute for Near East Policy). Bases loaded, final inning, DARFUR IS BEHIND.
So, what are we the people, and what are we the US going to do? BUSH CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT OUR HELP - MASSIVE HELP. With it, he and we cannot fail.
1. Failure is not an option. We must do whatever it takes - we the people - to get the Peace Keeping troops on the ground. NOW. If we lose this round in the UN: Bashir is FURTHER EMPOWERED, WE are FURTHER WEAKENED, 10,000s more in DARFUR are tortured and die BEFORE WE CAN SAY, "we shuda...." (Are we all emulating SAVE DARFUR MASS. in some way? Thanks http://www.savedarfurma.org/).
2. THE 9TH AND 17TH MUST BE EVEN HUGER. Such a mandate that the other countries of the world QUAKE and realize that BUSH MUST ACT; THAT WE HAVE GIVEN HIM NO CHOICE.
3. IF CHINA OBSTRUCTS? What do we do? DON'T WE PROTEST SEVERELY AT THE CHINESE EMBASSY, presuming that they obstruct in the Security Council? Or SEVERE DEMONSTRATIONS at whatever Embassy obstructs?
4. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ON SEPTEMBER 17th?!?!?! IS ANYONE CONTEMPLATING THIS? YOU WOULD IF IT WERE YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY IN THE CAMPS.
Contact me if you need to plan and discuss this.
Jay McGinley
84 356 6243
Harvard’s Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize winning Genocide study of the last 100 years presents a clear conclusion: “the battle to stop genocide has thus been repeatedly lost… [because] Americans outside the executive branch were largely mute….” From "Problem from Hell."
I pray to God that we email, blog, write articles and DEVOUR THE NEWS for more than just its ENTERTAINMENT VALUE. Well, its crunch time now, FOR US.
Maybe not with the greatest skill or diplomacy in the world, but Bush and Bolton have gotten us up to bat - they are bringing the situation to a head at the UN. Per a number of really, really sobering articles recently, WE, THE US ARE IN A MUCH WEAKER POSITION THAN I HAD REALIZED (NY Times, Washington Institute for Near East Policy). Bases loaded, final inning, DARFUR IS BEHIND.
So, what are we the people, and what are we the US going to do? BUSH CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT OUR HELP - MASSIVE HELP. With it, he and we cannot fail.
1. Failure is not an option. We must do whatever it takes - we the people - to get the Peace Keeping troops on the ground. NOW. If we lose this round in the UN: Bashir is FURTHER EMPOWERED, WE are FURTHER WEAKENED, 10,000s more in DARFUR are tortured and die BEFORE WE CAN SAY, "we shuda...." (Are we all emulating SAVE DARFUR MASS. in some way? Thanks http://www.savedarfurma.org/).
2. THE 9TH AND 17TH MUST BE EVEN HUGER. Such a mandate that the other countries of the world QUAKE and realize that BUSH MUST ACT; THAT WE HAVE GIVEN HIM NO CHOICE.
3. IF CHINA OBSTRUCTS? What do we do? DON'T WE PROTEST SEVERELY AT THE CHINESE EMBASSY, presuming that they obstruct in the Security Council? Or SEVERE DEMONSTRATIONS at whatever Embassy obstructs?
4. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ON SEPTEMBER 17th?!?!?! IS ANYONE CONTEMPLATING THIS? YOU WOULD IF IT WERE YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY IN THE CAMPS.
Contact me if you need to plan and discuss this.
Jay McGinley
84 356 6243
Saturday, August 26, 2006
1ST REALLY BAD DAY; Hunger Strike Day 43, Day/Night Vigil Day 95
It is not that it is so uncomfortable, but my productivity is about 40%. The fact that I lugged my stuff literally 80 blocks on Vigil yesterday probably contributes. :-(
This is the first Saturday I've missed in the park. I continue on a massive communication campaign - building a fax database of about 5000 Places of Worship and sending them posters of the Sept 9th and Sept 17 events. REALLY HARD given the way my mind is on 40%. The fact that in about 5 days I've just survived on naps sitting up at the computer is probably a factor too. I am not taking any satisfaction that this is treading on our laws about faxing. I take responsibility that given the profoundly short time, compounded by the fact of school just getting in session, people just returning from holiday - URGENT MEASURES ARE REQUIRED TO GET THE WORD OUT. If it is to be prison, and huge fines over this - so be it. But, let's stop the Genocide - NOW.
During this intirrim period when I am working 3 major campaigns - Vigil, Hunger Strike, Media/Fax/Promotion campagn - I am taking up to 1000 calories per day to try to keep enought energy going. Also I take them to slow my discent - I need to last and I'm buring quite a few more calories than if I were just sittiing under a tree somewhere.
By the way, as I may have mentioned, for the last several weeks I've Vigiled at a variety of locations - Washington Post, NPR, the Methodist Building (accross the street from the Capitol onn the east) housing major faith groups. This feels VERY correct at this juncture. With as many Hunger Strike days as I have under my belt (sorry) it is an important injection of hope, commitment, and prayer - to go to these different places.
As to regular "diet" - water and the following every day - multivitimin, salt packet every 3 days, 2 packets emergenC every day, and a teaspoon or two of peanutbutter (a friend thinks it will protect my brain from being consumed).
Nights are now usually spent under the stars (on top of the ants) vigiling in the next park up from the White House because they have Power Outlets (cell phone and laptop), and so far none has been provided by George and Laura. :-)
Just got word of some new internet press. NewsBlaze - God bless them. Also, the Blog is getting important hits from around the world.
Spirits remain unchanged - GREAT.
Really good news in the press what with Bush sending Lendayi Frazer/REALLY commiting himself!!! - really bad news (see yesterday's post re NY Times) - big concern that the postive press will cause people to relax. Death that would be.
Hey, I still tell folks that I have no support. Relative to what a campaign like this should have, that is true. But you friends / heroes know who you are. We love you and are deeply grateful for you.
THE END OF GENOCIDE IS WITHIN OUR GRASP. WE MUST KEEP GOING WITH EVERY OUNCE OF STRENGTH. PLEASE.
Failure is not an option. THERE IS NO OCTOBER FOR DARFUR.
Jay
This is the first Saturday I've missed in the park. I continue on a massive communication campaign - building a fax database of about 5000 Places of Worship and sending them posters of the Sept 9th and Sept 17 events. REALLY HARD given the way my mind is on 40%. The fact that in about 5 days I've just survived on naps sitting up at the computer is probably a factor too. I am not taking any satisfaction that this is treading on our laws about faxing. I take responsibility that given the profoundly short time, compounded by the fact of school just getting in session, people just returning from holiday - URGENT MEASURES ARE REQUIRED TO GET THE WORD OUT. If it is to be prison, and huge fines over this - so be it. But, let's stop the Genocide - NOW.
During this intirrim period when I am working 3 major campaigns - Vigil, Hunger Strike, Media/Fax/Promotion campagn - I am taking up to 1000 calories per day to try to keep enought energy going. Also I take them to slow my discent - I need to last and I'm buring quite a few more calories than if I were just sittiing under a tree somewhere.
By the way, as I may have mentioned, for the last several weeks I've Vigiled at a variety of locations - Washington Post, NPR, the Methodist Building (accross the street from the Capitol onn the east) housing major faith groups. This feels VERY correct at this juncture. With as many Hunger Strike days as I have under my belt (sorry) it is an important injection of hope, commitment, and prayer - to go to these different places.
As to regular "diet" - water and the following every day - multivitimin, salt packet every 3 days, 2 packets emergenC every day, and a teaspoon or two of peanutbutter (a friend thinks it will protect my brain from being consumed).
Nights are now usually spent under the stars (on top of the ants) vigiling in the next park up from the White House because they have Power Outlets (cell phone and laptop), and so far none has been provided by George and Laura. :-)
Just got word of some new internet press. NewsBlaze - God bless them. Also, the Blog is getting important hits from around the world.
Spirits remain unchanged - GREAT.
Really good news in the press what with Bush sending Lendayi Frazer/REALLY commiting himself!!! - really bad news (see yesterday's post re NY Times) - big concern that the postive press will cause people to relax. Death that would be.
Hey, I still tell folks that I have no support. Relative to what a campaign like this should have, that is true. But you friends / heroes know who you are. We love you and are deeply grateful for you.
THE END OF GENOCIDE IS WITHIN OUR GRASP. WE MUST KEEP GOING WITH EVERY OUNCE OF STRENGTH. PLEASE.
Failure is not an option. THERE IS NO OCTOBER FOR DARFUR.
Jay
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