Facing Prison for Darfur. Day #6 Hunger Strike in DC

It seems I face up to 6 months prison for fighting to stop the Darfur Genocide. Small price to pay.

In Januray I was on 23 hour/day vigil for Darfur at the White House. An old-school park police officer was on duty one night and decided he wanted me out of the park. After 60+ nights in the park vigiling for Darfur without arrest, he decided to chase me out. I would not leave my Darfur post. It was a nasty arrest. The next court date is March 21st.

The activists that have been demonstrating in the park for years agains war, nuclear weapons, etc. are kind of tired I think of my praising the professionalism and humanity of the police in the park. This gentlemen, this night, was a horrible exception.

"Working" Hunger Strike for Darfur Day #3

Thomas is in the hospital. Yesterday we were a bit worried we might lose him. He couldn't breathe and by the 2nd day in the hospital they didn't know why. By yesterday afternoon they had him diagnosed with a degenerative lung blockage disease that had flared up. They placed him on a regimen of inhalation of medicine and he, it seems, pulled out of the danger zone. We cannot afford to lose Tomas, saint Thomas. Be a prayer for him.

Having begun the Hunger Strike for Darfur, almost literally on my way to the White House the morning of March 1st I came upon Thomas who was returning from his 25 year vigil. He reached his operations base and was obviously in great distress. I was asked to stay and help watch things while he was taken to the hospital. "Of course," I replied. Later in the day Thomas's wife Ellen called and said, "Thomas is hoping you will take his place at the 25 year vigil tonight." "Of course," I responded. It looks like it will be some days before Thomas can return. I've been asked to stand in until he can return. It is my great honor and privelage to take his place (inadequately as I can) until he can return. Ellen said I was the answer to many, many prayers. I am devestatingly humbled.

What about Darfur? Darfur is dying for Heroes, for lack of global brotherhood / humanity / Love / Otherishness / Spirit. Our Darfur Family can only be saved by the "Ransom" of This in the hearts of people. That is the work of the 25 year Peace Vigil. By working there I will be working for Darfur, although not as directly as I had planned, for now.

"Working" Hunger Strike? It is about a mile to the White House which I cover four times per day at 5:45am, 10:30am, 4:45pm and 10:30pm. Also, as time and energy permit I continue at construction on Thomas's base of operation. I figure this is 3-500 calories per day of energy I'd not be spending if I were stationary at the White House. I expect to consume this many calories per day as an offset.

Why Hunger Strike? How long? A hunger strike, if done out of the Spirit of brotherhood/Solidarity/Love/Service is a way of turning that Spirit, that Flame, up to high - turning up the Heat, Light, and Firemaking potential to maximum. Can it Ignite a bunch of people? As soaking wet as most of us, the wood, are? Hardly. But it might ignite a twig or so that happens to come near enough and be ready enough, and together we might then ignite a third.... And it will begin drying some of the other wood. Or not. G d knows.

Burning that hot (Hunger Strike) burns up the candle, the body. I'm expecting to continue for 45 days on only water. I've done electrolytes previously and this is too high tech, to "material." I expect to consume only water this time. At 45 days (it will not be a "working" hunger strike by then) I expect to consume about 400 calories per day for another month or so. This will be tough, but I'll probably make it through without too much damage to my body. No matter. What matters is that a Fire (Life) starts, and we stop the Darfur Genocide. Now.

Will this Hunger Strike do any Good? Certainly. Enough? Almost certainly not. Almost, certainly not.

Think of something more hopeful that I could do. If you succeed, tell me.

Darfur Hunger Strike Resumes

My delay in returning to the White House is at an end. I have had a wonderful opportunity to contribute to some folks that have been waging a heroic war of brotherhood for all humanity for many decades. I hope I've been of some help to them. It is time to return to the Darfur side of my family.

Beyond that there is not much to say except what I've already written:

How does an outsider live in the face of Genocide?...

Darfur Hunger Strike March 1st; Ascent Begun

JESUS LED US TOWARD SUFFERING. Less we'll do for ...

Dave Dellinger Quotations Blog

I'm a bit worried about doing a Hunger Strike in what remains of winter. But, I'm even more worried about delaying any longer, just like what everyone else is doing. In killing time we are killing Darfur.

My Spirit is very good by the way. There has not been a second in as many months as I can remember now where the teaching's of Jesus (Tolstoy's "Gospel in Brief") have not demonstrated themselves to me as a better compass toward Joy / Life / Love / Peace / Truth / Heaven on Earth than everything I have ever known that says the contrary - that Stuff, Superiority and Systems/Institutions (even the worship of the "my" family Institution. ESPECIALLY "MY" FAMILY...) are the way. They are not. Waging TOTAL Love/Brotherhood is the way. As Ashley Montegue said, "The evils of the world are not due to the absence of love, but rather the presence of tribal love." (or something like that.)

Last night is the first time that the following has occurred to me, but in flashes such as what occurred this is how Jesus brilliance comes to me. I can see that once the System got a clear experience with Jesus, Jesus' days were numbered. They would dispose of him quickly. Not that it was a simple matter of plot or malevolence. There really is no malevolence in a pit bull. Killing life is simply what pit bulls do.

And, it is not quite that simple either. HEROES: Heaven on Earth (by whatever name you call it) is the Reign of Otherishness displacing Selfishness. Jesus was a Hero. Both Otherishness and Selfishness cannot reign. They are mutually exclusive. They literally kill/displace each other. Well, in Jesus day Selfishness reigned. The prevailing Systems/Institutions "sensed" Jesus as a mortal threat; He was. Their very being required that they be drawn toward killing Him before simply by His being and infecting others with Otherishness He killed them - the Systems/Institutions. Well, you say, but men killed Jesus. Men had in Truth enslaved themselves to the God of Mammon - Systems/Institutions. It is the same today, but much, much, much, much more so.

We may be laughing at j's delusionalism weeks or months ahead - his aggrandizement, and demonization of U.S. Systems/Institutions/Way of Life (Death). My guess is that we will not be laughing. Once I enter the system (the wrongful "Camping" at the White House on 23hr/day Darfur Vigil arrest has a court date of 3/21; Guantanamo arrest - April something; next; etc.) they will have to destroy me. They will want me to accept the inhuman treatment we Americans administer to millions of prisoners, and I suspect I will refuse to cooperate. As Gandhi said, "It is as much my moral obligation not to cooperate with evil as it is to cooperate with good." If they do not destroy me, my example will be a great threat to them. What would the other prisoners do?

No matter. What matters is that we Rescue and Restore Darfur. Now. Join the Heroes. Darfur is Dying for Heroes.

Darfur: SO RUDE! 4 yrs of emails but gang rape continues.

The Janjaweed are so rude! We nice, rich folks in the US have been sending emails to Congress for four years now. We blog, but the Darfur gang-rapes continue! We fast-from-luxuries, but Darfur murder continues! We occasionally march, but Darfur atrocities continue! Bashir is so inconsiderate of us!


Source: Trócaire
Date: 23 Feb 2007
The Darfur conflict: four years on


The 23rd of February 2007 marks four years of brutal conflict between the Government of Sudan and rebel groups in the western region of Darfur. Throughout this time hundreds of thousands of people have died, with estimates of the mortality rate ranging from 200,000 to 400,000. The violence has displaced over 2.5 million people from their homes. Those who have survived attacks on their villages have often sought refuge in the sprawling IDP camps that have multiplied in Darfur, or alternatively have tried to find shelter across the border in refugee camps in eastern Chad, also plagued by 'spillover' violence from Darfur.

Worsening Insecurity

Ongoing insecurity makes life for the people of Darfur extremely challenging with over 4 million out of a population of 7 million now affected by the conflict. Yet as needs rise in the context of such alarming insecurity, the ability of humanitarian agencies to meet these needs is also threatened. The targeting and killing of humanitarian workers and the hijacking of humanitarian vehicles and supplies have recently prompted several relief agencies to suspend operations and relocate staff away from the most insecure areas of Darfur, or to withdraw from Darfur altogether.

World's worst humanitarian crisis

... and the article continues: The Darfur conflict: four years on

To contact Trócaire's press team:

Republic of Ireland

Catherine Ginty,
Press Officer,
Trócaire.
T: +353 1 505 3270
M: 086 629 3994

Northern Ireland & UK

David O'Hare ,
Press Officer,
Trócaire.
T: 028 90 80 80 30
M: +44 7900053884

Source:Reliefweb

Darfur Genocide is Killing What's Left of the UN

Duh. Every day of clearly demonstrated impotence and lip-service regarding Darfur Genocide by the UN kills just a bit more of what is left of the Hope of the UN to be a constructive force in the world. Darfur is Dying. The UN is dying. Ban Ki-moon is dying.

UN's Ban Accuses Sudan of Blocking Human Rights MissionHULIQ, NC - 18 minutes agoThe UN chief also said he is awaiting a report from his special envoy to Darfur Jan Eliasson of Sweden on formation of a hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur. He told reporters he is concerned that conditions are worsening as President ...

Save Darfur? Save Darfur AND save ourselves while there is time

Here is why we do not Save Darfur. We in the US have so lost our humanity we will not save our children; we certainly will not Save Darfur! UN REPORT OF CHILD HEALTH

Time to do both - Save Darfur AND save our Humanity. We are out of time.


Full Article: Children left in the shadows
Full UN REPORT: An Overview of Child-Wellbeing in Rich Countries

...The United Nations report, published today, reveals that the richest countries in the world are conversely some of the poorest when it comes to their treatment of children.

Joining the UK with the worst child welfare record is the US, the world's only superpower and considered to be the beating heart of the world's economy.

Both Britain and the US found themselves in the bottom third of the rankings for five of six areas of child welfare.

Many social studies experts say the only way to reverse the trend is to solve the root of the problem - public attitudes in Britain to children. Some say the modern way of life leaves little time for children, who are often seen in the rat-race culture as a pest.

Genocide in Darfur? We are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."

Genocide in Darfur?
We Americans are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."

Apartheid/Genocide in Israel/Palestine?
We Americans are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."

Three million slaughtered in Congo to steal raw materials for western "stuff?"
We Americans are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."

etc...

etc...

etc....

Why the hell have I spent four of the last eight months in front of the White House regarding Darfur Genocide? Because I can't continue to be "all evidence to the contrary."

I've just watched "Rachel Corrie: An American Consicience." At youtube you can find snippets on Rachel (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, more Rachel). But this movie is devistatingly effective at showing the Genocide of the Palastinian people.

We Americans, the normal day-to-day lives (deaths) we live are "ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY."

REEVES OLYMPIC IDEA: SHAME CHINA ON DARFUR

On China and the 2008 Olympic Games: An open letter to Darfur activists and advocates (by Eric Reeves)

The full-scale launch of a large, organized campaign to highlight China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide appears likely to begin soon. But it’s past time to start thinking about how to tap the creative power of students and other Darfur advocates in this critical initiative. Enough of selling green bracelets and writing letters to those who are content with posturing or avoiding the central challenge of the moment: changing the international diplomatic dynamic in ways that will result in deployment of an international peace-support operation to Darfur, one that can provide adequate protection to civilians and humanitarians. Without such security, humanitarian organizations will continue to withdraw and hundreds of thousands of additional Darfuri lives will be lost.

It’s time, now, to begin shaming China---demanding that if the Beijing government is going to host the premier international event, the Summer Olympic Games of 2008, they must be responsible international partners. China’s slogan for these Olympic Games---“One world, one dream”---is a ghastly irony, given Beijing’s complicity in the Darfur genocide (see the website for China’s hosting of the Olympic Games at http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/beijing/index_uk.asp). The Chinese leadership must understand that if they refuse to use their unrivaled political, economic, and diplomatic leverage with Khartoum to secure access for the force authorized under UN Security Council Resolution 1706, then they will face an extremely vigorous, unrelenting, and omnipresent campaign to shame them over this refusal.

To succeed, such a campaign must be fully international in character. The first order of business, I believe, is to fashion creative means for translating key talking points and broader analyses into a variety of languages and exporting them to as many countries as possible. If people come to understand the connection between China as host of the Olympic Games and China as silent partner in the Darfur genocide, they may well be moved to object to this intensely dismaying double role. But they must understand the connection clearly.

How to proceed? With knowledge comes both power and responsibility; the key task is to transfer knowledge to those presently ignorant of China’s role in Sudan generally and Darfur specifically. Some possible bullet points are offered below. Further below is an analysis of Chinese President Hu’s recent business trip to Khartoum, as well as two opinion pieces on the “Genocide Olympics.”

It is important to remember that this should not, in my strongly held view, be a campaign to boycott the Olympics: a boycott would defeat the whole purpose of the campaign, and be deeply divisive. Moreover, if a boycott were successful (extremely unlikely) the political platform from which to challenge China would disappear. Further, a boycott in and of itself achieves nothing: the challenge is to shame China, to hold Beijing’s leaders accountable, to make them understand that without exerting all necessary pressure on Khartoum, the current campaign will only grow in strength and visibility right up to the Opening Ceremonies.

Nor are athletes the targets. Certainly they can be encouraged to wear a green stripe, of whatever prominence and size they dare, on their athletic attire as a symbol of their support for the people of Darfur. Certainly they should be encouraged to speak out publicly on Darfur. But the Olympic athletes are not the target: the Beijing regime is. The regime alone has the power to change the current diplomatic dynamic in ways that will force Khartoum to allow in the forces that can provide security to the victims of ongoing genocide. China, not the Olympic Games or its participants, is the target.

What are the key initial tasks?

There is tremendous scope for creative advocacy here, and for the deployment of diverse skills and energies: linguistic, [Internet], communications, graphic design, advocacy writing, and organizational. What happens, for example, if 1,000 students and advocates demonstrate before the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., declaring with banner, placards, and T-shirts that China will be held accountable for its complicity in the Darfur genocide? What happens if such demonstrations are continuous, and grow, and take place outside China’s embassies in other countries? [In] many other countries? What happens if everywhere---everywhere---Chinese diplomats and politicians travel they are confronted by those who insist on making this an occasion for highlighting China’s role in the Darfur genocide?

Aspiring or experienced documentarians can make full use of extensive and widely available photography and videography to make short films that highlight the tradition of the Olympic Games, the Darfur genocide, and China’s role. It would not be inappropriate to include footage of the 1936 Olympic Games, held in Nazi Germany, as an example of a precedent for current concerns about genocide in Darfur. The opportunities for graphic artists, using photography and other resources, are also innumerable. Everything from high-quality PDF files to screensavers, bumper-stickers, posters, T-shirts, and coffee mugs can send the key message.

Translation is a key task: this cannot be an American or even Western campaign. China must feel the shaming pressure from all quarters. Those with advanced language skills---French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Swahili, German, Italian, Russian, Hungarian, Czech, or others---should start putting those skills to use in translating key texts and advocacy suggestions from English. Those with contacts in other countries should start networking, creating an advocacy presence on as many international fronts as possible. Human Rights in China (http://www.hrichina.org/public/index) may be an organization with the potential to introduce the issue into China itself. Other such means of taking the campaign directly to Beijing are available.

Letter-writing and petition campaigns that alert the International Olympic Committee (http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp) to the terrible disgrace of China’s dual role---sustaining the Darfur genocide and hosting the Games---will certainly register. Similar campaigns to urge Olympic corporate sponsors to use their leverage with the Chinese might also be effective: this is the season for corporate sponsorship agreements to be finalized.

To succeed, this campaign must go “viral”: it must be potent, creative, focused, and uncontrollable. It must take every advantage of the various means offered by the era of electronic communication (I’ll offer links on my website, www.sudanreeves.org, to particularly useful or creative efforts). The Chinese must be forced to see that there is a stark choice before them: either they use their leverage effectively with Khartoum and secure the regime’s assent for deployment of the UN peace support operation---authorized by Security Council Resolution 1706---or they will be the target of the most powerful international shaming campaign in history. The Chinese must understand that there is no third option, no “third way.”

The general lack of effective advocacy actions and initiatives has not been lost on Khartoum’s ruthless génocidaires. Despite the very high profile and potent nature of the American Darfur advocacy movement, and despite the enormous and consequential successes of the American-led divestment campaign, the pressure must be ratcheted up a good deal higher. Other European companies may well follow the lead of Germany’s Siemens and Switzerland’s ABB Ltd: both recently suspended operations in Sudan, as demanded by the divestment campaign that is currently a powerful success nationally. Such ongoing loss of European commercial and capital investment certainly has the full attention of the National Islamic Front leadership. But these losses must be combined with concerted diplomatic pressure from the Chinese, Khartoum’s dominant economic partner and military enabler, and heretofore unwavering diplomatic protector.

The task is daunting but fully practicable, given the moral passion and creative energies of the Darfur advocacy community. Let the campaigns begin!

Some suggested bullet points on China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide:

CHINA, HOST OF THE 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES, IS COMPLICIT IN THE DARFUR GENOCIDE:

LEFT CIVILIANS IN DARFUR AT RISK
•China abstained from UN Security Council Resolution 1706 (August 2006), compromising international support for a critically needed peace support operation in Darfur

SUPPORTED THE KHARTOUM REGIME
•China has repeatedly and uncritically supported claims of national sovereignty by Khartoum, emboldening the regime in its defiance of the UN and international community

IGNORED ATROCITIES THROUGHOUT SUDAN
•In pursuit of Sudan’s oil riches, China has for many years ignored massive human rights abuses and atrocity crimes by the Khartoum regime throughout Sudan

SUPPLIED THE WEAPONS
•China has been Khartoum’s leading weapons supplier over the past decade and more; many of these weapons have been used in Darfur

GAVE THE NOD TO GENOCIDE
•China has sent the diplomatic signals which, in their tepid nature, convince Khartoum it can complete its genocidal counter-insurgency war in Darfur without serious consequences

TIME FOR CHINA TO PRESSURE KHARTOUM TO STOP THE GENOCIDE:

•It is time for China to recognize that it cannot be a legitimate host of the 2008 Olympic Games while remaining complicit in Darfur’s genocidal destruction. China must use its enormous leverage with Khartoum to secure consent for the deployment of international forces fully capable of protecting civilians and humanitarians in Darfur and eastern Chad.

•If China refuses, Beijing must face an unprecedented, unwavering, unstoppable campaign of shame---one that will attach an unbearable opprobrium to genocidal complicity.

“Understanding President Hu’s Business Trip to Khartoum” at http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article20115 [and]http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article151.html

Articles on the “Genocide Olympics” [essentially a pairing of a recent "Washington Post" editorial and Reeves' subsequent "Boston Globe" op-ed] at http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article19956 [and] http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article142.html

Eric Reeves
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063

413-585-3326
ereeves@email.smith.edu
www.sudanreeves.org

"This has to stop..."

Jan Grarup, Denmark, Politiken/Newsweek.
Darfur refugees, Sudan-Chad border, November

General News: 2nd prize singles

Darfur Hunger Strike Day 20, Sudan Embassy

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

Day 21 Darfur Hunger Strike at Sudan Embassy

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

Darfur: Necessary components for resolution by June 30

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

Darfur Hunger Strike Day 35: To The Death or Resolution by June 30

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

AS NEAR AS I CAN TELL, THIS SITE IS THE REASON I WAS BORN.

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

Darfur Hunger Strike Moves to Sudan Embassy 24 Hours Per Day

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

Darfur Hunger Strike Day 22: Final Goodby

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

Darfur Hunger Striker's Letter to President el-Bashir

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

Darfur: What Holocaust Rescuers Did

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

Darfur: US activism a COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE

Post moved to Stand With Darfur: Sudan Embassy

Darfur Genocide is a Fraud! A Hoax!

New blog: Darfur Genocide a Fraud

Returning, but not so fast

Hmm. Per the previous post - our job of world-saving is to spread the fire of brotherhood, of "blessed community" as Dave Dellinger says it. This is an art more than a science. I am convinced that we must be ever vigilant for opportunities, and take them regardless of what others may think. In dramatic and non-dramatic circumstances our rule must be like that of Gandhi - "I will admit but one tyrant in my life, the still, small voice within."

At each moment our job is to spend our seconds having the greatest impact we possibly can on building the community. One of the highest leverage, highest impact opportunities is to protect, value, encourage and build an existing community that has some significant goodness to it, and or significant future promise. It is also a sacred opportunity to extend kindness and support to those that have been fighting the war at extreme personal cost.

To my surprise I remain in DC but away from the White House Darfur Stand Vigil. A rough edged, but to my eyes, "Blessed Community" that has fought for humanity for decades at great personal sacrifice continues to offer me the opportunity to help them with a construction project that they need completed. It is totally unglamorous. Extremely menial. Yet, I find it a sacred opportunity. I don't suspect many others would see it the same. As a matter of fact, this opportunity could be known by hundreds of folks because the activists I am helping are internationally known. So, by definition others don't see the opportunity as I do. :-)

The project just expanded so I expect to be away from the White House for yet another week. In my imagination I "check in" with my Darfur family and I get an "OK" from them regarding this detour. Surprising, but true.

jay

ps: Oh yes, Jesus WAS a carpenter. Me too right now.
pps: The activists I am helping include members that vigil outside in this freezing weather 12 hours a day. I'm pretty sure that in some small part they are trying to keep me out of that same cold the 23hrs/day as otherwise I would be. I feel no reluctance to be in the cold and actually miss serving in that way right now. However, our Father's will, not mine, be done. God/Good works in mysterious ways. :-)

Returning to the White House

The objective of the "war" is for the victory of Love over Greed; Brotherhood over Selfishness; Health over Cancer.... I suspect that Always my call will be to serve in this war with my assignment/call on any particular day, in any particular hour, to be whatever best can help win this war.

For three years now Darfur Genocide has been the strategic focus I have been called to in this war. I suspect that this will continue.

However, from time to time I have been, and will continue to be called on temporary alternate assignments.

I am just now finishing up one such alternative assignment. For the last seven months the Washington Peace Center and the 25 Year Peace Vigil at the White House have been a Godsend to the Stand With Darfur - White House II (and I (one))vigil. Their contributions have been of God / Good. For the past week I've had an opportunity to make a contribution to them by helping in some construction they needed done on an office. It has been my honor and joy to do so.

I fully expect that by week's end I'll be back 23hrs/day at the White House.

Darfur: Our life is entirely to address such needs

Wow. Wish you were here! Where, DC? :-) No. Here closer to the Kingdom.

"[The Kingdom] consists in fulfillment of the Father's will and that fulfillment depends on each man's efforts and striving that people might understand that life is given not for oneself personally but only for the fulfillment of the Father's will, which alone saves us from death and gives life...." Gospel in Brief, Leo Tolstoy. The Father? The Father of us all. Real? I hope not. Indespensible as an imaginary construct - yes. To my shock and utter delight - yes.

WOW. My experience of these recent days is that I'm pretty close to conforming with the above. Oh my God, it is awesome. YES, this is absurd from the perspective of the religion of our society - greed; Life is given for my personal pleasure and for that of a few people around me. Oh my God, this is such an empty, joyless way to exist - death, emptiness. Oh I grieve for the 4 decades I've lived this lie. Oh I grieve for my loved ones that fully buy into this lie. They are so close, some of them, but so far. I wish I could save them. I wish I could save everyone. I'll try. I'll keep trying.

Jesus did not save the rich young man. He tried. I suspect He never gave up. But to the casual observer it probably looked like He abandoned the young man. He did not. No, he didn't go after the young man. Counter intuitively, to go after the young man would have diminished the creative tension that their encounter created - and only that creative tension was the young man's hope. Many are called, but few are chosen. Only God, Good can save. We must be Good/God, as much of the time, as intensely as possible. There is no other hope than this. There is nothing else to be done.

Imagine what the world would be like if this is how we lived the seconds of our lives. Now. Imagine it.

Darfur is maybe the greatest opportunity, gateway, for us to learn that Life is not given for our personal amusement, but for the extraordinary adventure of healing the world.

Re Darfur: Jesus was a fool

My goodness. What a fool Jesus was. He though he had to sacrifice himself to save the world.

If only He had lived today He, like Saint Jim Walis and the rest of the self proclaimed Christians would have realized that all He needed to do was sit back and blame Caesar! What an idiot! A freekin Martyr.

Jim Wallis: For God's Sake, Save Darfur

jay

Re: Darfur - Holocaust the height of Humanity

10,000-15,000 strangers risked their lives and that of their immediate family's to save Jews. I've always thought this was the height of inhumanity - that so few would risk everything in the face of Genocide.

Ha! What a joke! It was the height of Humanity! Today in the face of Genocide Eric Reeves and who else is sacrificing to save these folks? Oh yes, there were a few rallies and that heroic day when we sacrificed luxuries.

Your response and mine is a moral outrage.

God damn us. God damn us.

jay

ps: He is. He is.

Court Status

The charge related to the Dec 29th Pentagon leafletting for me was "Dismissed without Predjudice," meaning no penalty of any kind, but they can bring the case up again if I am charged in the future. I faced up to 6 mos in jail and a $5000 fine.

I'll be helping a friend work on their house for several days - then, back to the White House vigil.

jay

Darfur: Day 134 White House Vigil 23 Hr/Day

Quick update.

Note: 1/19/07 I have a court date in Alexandria Federal for my arrest at the Pentagon 12/29/06 for handing out the book, "Colateral Damage." I am not knowledgeable in the process regarding this - what may happen tomorrow. I think it is astonishing that none of the other activists involved with me, knowing of my inexperience, have coached me and advised me. Amazing. Oh well. My point? Can I be put in jail tomorrow? If so, I'll REALLY be out of communication for up to about 30 days! :-) Rejoice for me, don't grieve! Our job is to be a "sacrifice" as Jesus was. Why?!?!?!?! Because that is how it works! Progress toward humanity happens when people sacrifice, Period; When people allow the evil of systems or persons to become manifest on their own body; thereby protecting others, bringing the evil into view, that maybe it may become seen for what it is, intollerable, and removed. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. To be alive (instead of merely existing) is to Sacrifice for others. There is no other way to be ALive.

Arrested falsely/illegally for "Camping" in President's Park. Every other night the Officers have been professional and have acknowledged that by sitting up all night with my posters I was legally within my rights. 2 weeks ago an officer, old line, nasty - decided different and arrested me when I would not be intimidated and flee (I was fearful and felt abused). Mid March court date. Up to 180 days in prison faced. I'll go to court rather than pay $50 and dodging the jail time, trying to protect others from abuse by this officer, and to help him see the error of his ways.

Sub freezing nights now. With the help of an Angel I'm surviving fine. People have been providing food.

Much time to commune with our Father. Awesome.

One candle can ignite the entire world. Not, if it goes out.

Our Father in Heaven does not operate according to the interests of the flesh. He is Spirit. We have within us His Son. We can choose to let that Son rule, and thereby reside with Him in Heaven, at this moment. I'm in, or close.

My food is to do His will, to serve His family as best I can - in Darfur for now. I have much Food now, and in the future. A banquet.

My life is filled, every moment, with Love, Peace, Joy, Life and Persecution.

Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world. He showed us how to live. We are all called to follow him. He was the perfect sacrifice. We are to strive to be the same - to save others, to save ourselves. It works. It is the Truth. I recommend it highly - way above any other way of life (Death) I have tried. I regret those years I've lived away from Him. I grieve for those who choose to live away from Him / Love / Life / Sacrifice / Persecution.

Dr. King: "Nothing is so tempting as evil in the garb of Virtue." I am escaping Temptation regularly, unlike most of my life up until now. Join in! Live!

Love,

jay

Darfur: A Christain US would stop Genocide now

Darfur: A Christian US would stop Genocide now http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/#116696771684651341

Moving back toward Lafayette Park - Christmas Eve

Who could doubt that a US of Christ followers (as distinct from "admirers," "exploiters" or "abusers") would have stopped Genocide in its tracks?

Who could doubt that if Jesus were alive He would stand alone if necessary with his very life to stand with Darfur against Genocide? "The good shepherd lays down his Life for his flock...."

May the Joy, Love and Peace of Christmas emerge from the rubble of the Christ-Distortion/Abuse/Perversion/Exploitation that is piled in Everests smothering and obscuring what He taught, and how He Loved.

That Darfur may be saved. That we may be saved. This His "Kingdom come." There is no more time to wait.

jay

ps: The "religious" teachings for which I claim some knowledge and expertise are those of Jesus. Yet in my limited knowledge I suspect that were we a Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Humanist, Ethical or Buddhist US we too would have stopped the Genocide and "Saved" ourselves.

Darfur: Never Again... What? So few "rescuers!!!!"

For the first time in 2.5 years of being possessed by the Darfur Genocide I think I grasp what "Never Again" means. It means - "Never Again" so few rescuers! "Never Again" so few people that would risk their life, liberty and happiness to stop the atrocity of Genocide!

For 2.5 years now I've been possessed by the Darfur Genocide - by the call to stop it, to give it my all, to take my best shot. All that time, and I still do not fully grasp what "Never Again" means. I think I am not the only one that does not grasp the meaning.

I feel I am grasped by "Never Again" and I would like to grasp the meaning! I think that would be helpful to guide my future efforts. The following is a quick musing that just occurred to me, toward the goal of "grasping" that which has me in its grasp:

"Never Again," that phrase that has a casual residence in so many of us is ultimately a statement of price one must be willing to pay in order to be a fully functioning humane being. As I try to imagine what that continuum is I start at the easy, least costly end and work to the other end. What should I be willing to "pay," what "price" to be a full humane being. What would I want for others to risk, to "pay" if necessary to stop a Genocide being visited on my group?

OBVIOUSLY I SHOULD BE WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE OF:
* Awareness
* Postcards
* A phone call or two
* Attending a meeting or rally

DO I ALSO HAVE TO GO AS FAR AS, IF THE GENOCIDE DOES NOT STOP:
* Conveniences
* Luxuries
* Most or all leisure time

MUST I GO EVEN FURTHER AND OFFER/RISK AND EVEN PAY THE PRICE OF:
* Career
* Household
* Health
* Life
* The physical health and welfare of my immediate loved ones, indirectly through my resonsible efforts??!?!?!!

Hmmmm. Seems absurd. But risking or paying the ultimate price is what the Righteous Among Nations did - the 10,000 or so non-Jews that are recognized for heroically working to rescue Jews during the Holocaust.

Darfur: US must end constructive engagement policy...

Darfur: US must end constructive engagement policy... [and we-the-citizens must end our policy of talking and not acting. DARFUR: DyingForHeroes, jay] The following is an excerpt from: U.S. Must Crank Up the Heat on Khartoum (by John Prendergast and Colin Thomas-Jensen)

The Bush administration must end its policy of constructive engagement and push for multilateral measures -- either through the Security Council or a "coalition of the willing" -- that will finally change Khartoum's calculations. These include the following:
-- Apply asset freezes and travel bans to NCP leaders responsible for atrocities in Darfur, as determined by previous UN investigations.
-- Investigate the offshore accounts of the NCP and its affiliated businesses to facilitate economic sanctions against the regime's commercial entities, the main conduits for NCP revenue used to support the Janjaweed.
-- Explore possible sanctions against the petroleum sector, including bans on investment and the provision of technical expertise and equipment.
-- Share intelligence with the International Criminal Court to break the cycle of impunity.
Tigers don't change their stripes. History demonstrates that Khartoum bends when it faces strong pressure, and it's time to punish those who orchestrate atrocity crimes in Darfur to get a muscular, mobile, U.N. force on the ground. The world is three years into this crisis and we still have not confronted the criminal cabal in Khartoum. Shame on us.

DARFUR: Lazarus' Soup, are we obliged to spit in it? As brothers and sisters, are we morally obliged?

Lazarus (New Testament) was a person of means that stepped over those in need. Lazarus in the case of Darfur is we-the-citizens of the world. Why? We are the UN. We are the US Gov/Congress/White House. We are the EU, the AU, NATO, supporters/customers of China / India / Malasia / Russia.... No? We-the-citizens are not these governments? Gandhi's India proved that we-the-citizens are the government beyond any question, we are.

No we-the-citizens are not responsible for the Genocide in Darfur? We-the-citizens have the Power to Protect and we do not Protect Darfur. We do Starbucks, Outback, one-day-fast-from luxuries, postcards, 3 hour no-risk demonstrations… we protect our own normal life, instead.

Will History / God / Darfuries ask us, “When your other attempts failed, why didn’t you spit in our soup, we onlookers to Genocide? Why didn’t you make our murderous neglect unpleasant for us, in time? You might have saved the souls of we neglectful onlookers. You might have Saved Darfur."

Please write to me. Daily I draw on the wisdom of Gandhi, King, Jesus, Tolstoy, Deming, Dear, Zinn... as much as I can, but I am unaware that any of them directly provided answers to this question: Are we morally obligated to spit in the soup of our dear brother Lazarus?

For the first time in my life, the question posed here, "are we obliged..." pops into my head, confronts me, and I realize that prior movements did spit in the soup of the oppressors / neglecters / torturers.... The explicit goal of our activist forefathers was to antiviolently stand for their own human rights, but they did "spit in the soup" in the process as a byproduct of their actions. It became really uncomfortable to condone or practice racism against Black Americans. The activists did make normalcy ultimately unpalatable. Are we morally obliged to do the same? Why the question? Because neglect is a much more difficult opponent to fight than the lynch mob. Dr. King, Gandhi and others were explicit on this.

jay
mailto:jayjymcginley@cs.com
http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/

ps: Having had some time to think about this today the following updates my own thoughts -

1. What is needed is to make people dissatisfied with the status quo - permitting the Genocide to continue! This is an important new insight for me. IF WE ARE NOT UPSETTING THE STATUS QUO we are not achieving the impact we need to achieve. Preferably we will make radically HEROIC LOVE overpoweringly attractive to the alternatives.
2. NOT the ideal way is any direct attempt to "spit in the soup." Indirect YES, but rather living SO HEROICALLY OUT OF LOVE that it makes our current mass, killing neglect unpalatable, HIGHLY UNPALATABLE.
3. However, is there a necessary place and time for explicitly and directly "spitting in the soup?" Hmmmmm. When? What conditions? Is this necessary now? HELP!!!!!

Jay

OCTOBER 5TH START to RESCUE DARFUR FAST

From a really excelent blog:
Atlantic Review
A press digest on transatlantic affairs edited by three German Fulbright Alumni
... and this specific link.
Darfur: Finally some Transatlantic Cooperation to Discuss "the Next Steps"?

Dear brothers and sisters of Atlantic Review.

Some of you seem to share my desire for us to take action beyond writing. Make no mistake, writing, blogging, analyzing have a place IN EVERY STRUGGLE. BUT, SO DO FEET ON THE STREET! And, there is no chance so far that history will write that "people did not TALK / blog / write enough about Darfur." My hope now, ALL OF MY HOPE NOW at this stage is for feet on the street. Currently, history WILL WRITE that all we did was... TALK. Nero fiddled while Rome burned....

OCTOBER 5th STAND (Students Taking Action for Darfur) is organizing a 1 day. OK, LET'S TURN IT INTO THE START, T-H-E S-T-A-R-T of a worldwide FAST, that we stay on until the GENOCIDE IS ENDING, NOT BEFORE. Is this too radical!?!?!?!!? Does Genocide warrant less?!?!!!? Is this an OVERREACTION TO GENOCIDE? YES, we would almost certainly fail in the attempt. YES, if we got it off the ground and 1,000's participated the effort might fail. SO WHAT!?!?!? As your uniquely brilliant and helpful Alfred Adler said, "Courage is doing what needs to be done, whether or not you know you will succeed."

Some loose FUNCTIONAL AND OPERATIONAL patterning after the TroopsHomeFast.org effort could be executed.

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.
STUPID IDEA YOU SAY? Two responses. 1. "If at first the idea is not absurd, it has no hope," Albert Einstein; 2. GIVE ME A BETTER IDEA. I'll run with it, even if you don't. I'm going to do something, my best shot. This global Fast idea is my best so far.

OUR YARDSTICK FOR MEASUREING SUCH IDEAS MUST NOT BE "WILL IT WORK." THIS IS THE QUESTION OF BYSTANDERS. THE QUESTION OF THE COMMITTED HUMANE BEING IS, "WHAT IS MY BEST SHOT, MY BEST CHANCE IN THIS SITUATION, TO SAVE AS MUCH OF MY DARFUR FAMILY AS POSSIBLE."

For more on this idea: DARFUR Dying for Heroes
To join the FAST-TILL-IT STOPS with us: JOIN RESCUE-DARFUR-FAST-TILL-IT-STOPS

IT IS TIME TO OFFICIALLY ABANDON DARFUR

Why not. Because until we-the-people admit that we are failing to stop it, the game is over.

And unless we get on with finding enough LOCAL HEROES here to save them, DARFUR IS DEAD.

DARFUR is Dying for Heroes

DARFUR Dying for Heroes

Vital new blog: DARFUR Dying for Heroes.

Why is Darfur Dying?!?!?!?!?! DARFUR Dying for Heroes.

DARFUR: THERE IS ONLY ONE SUCCESS POSSIBLE

Tough day today. Hmm.

I want to see how to stop the genocide. Not a fantasy, I don't want to see a fantasy, but a real way forward. Am I frustrated? That's irrelevant. Am I confused? Yes. Am I unclear what I am called to do? How? When? Yes. Funny, I am finally clear what we-the-people are called to do - Rescue Darfur Fast. But me? :-)

A massive Rescue Darfur Fast! Yes, massive, that would do it; that would end the genocide. How massive? MASSIVE.

To about 1000 folks, all of the activist community, bloggers and College/Univ Newspaper folks I've now sent multiple teasers on the Rescue Darfur Fast idea. MULTIPLE in the recent 10 days. Less than 20 to 40 web hits or emails have resulted directly from this. This is a very bad indicator. Aggressive promotion of Rescue Darfur Fast by a team of one to four of us could be the spark, if there were dry kindling and logs around. The deafening silence to these teasers suggests to me that the wood is very, very wet, still.

Jan Pronk today, pretty much out of the blue, the lead UN Envoy to Sudan was extremely negative on the likelihood of UN Peacekeepers. An honest, informed voice, or cowardice, lack of vision, and fatigue speaking? A leader? A "father" of Darfur?

I am tempted to go the direction of Pronk. No. His is not realism, but defeatism. A fine line, but he crossed it. Prank's attitude is not the attitude that won Independence for America, Independence for India, Freedom from Apartheid for South Africa; that developed the microchip, that put man on the moon....

Am I discouraged? That is irrelevant. No, I am not. Confused? Yes, I am.

"Our Father calls us to be Faithful, not Successful" comes to mind.

"Full effort is full success," Gandhi, comes to mind.

There is only one success - "Do unto others ALL..." comes to mind. ONLY ONE SUCCESS is possible in life; is possible in being confronted with the Evil of Genocide. DO UNTO OTHERS ALL THAT YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. And, there is only ONE FAILURE POSSIBLE. To do less than "all."

"Hope is lost, only if and when we quit," comes to mind.

Is the ultimate goal to stop the genocide in Darfur? Our Father, History, will not ask you or me if we did. Our Father, History, will ask us how we behaved in the face of genocide; what we taught our brothers and sisters about how to live life in the face of such evil. Our Father, History will want to know if the model we fashioned and provided, was a moral beacon, a lantern, something promising for the future.

Darfur Genocide is the symptom, not the disease. Inhumanity is the disease. The only hope is that we spend our lives each day, every day, being humanity incarnate, overwhelming the inhumanity with our humanity. Being superior antiviolence, to the world's violence.

Hmmmm. There is only one success possible in life. Do unto others ALL.... Only one failure possible in Life, and in the face of genocide.

Jay

DARFUR/JAY: "APOLOGY ACCEPTED"

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

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

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

DARFUR, URGENT: What would Rachel Corrie or Steve Beko start THIS WEEK?

Note: Except for Corrie (left), photos are from the AfricaAction.org Civil Disobedience 9/9/06 at the White House.

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

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.

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

'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

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.