Darfur ‘Easy to Ignore’

Panelists at a forum on the Darfur genocide urged audience members yesterday to become activists for the peaceful resolution of the on-going conflict.

The forum, “Advocating for Darfur,” held at the Institute of Politics (IOP), was moderated by Rebecca Hamilton, co-founder of the Harvard Darfur Action Group and a third-year student at Harvard Law School.

Hamilton opened the discussion by asking the panelists to explore the effects of the lesser-known conflict in South Sudan on the current crisis in Darfur.

Rev. Gloria White Hammond, a pediatrician in Boston who has visited the region eight times, said that the active involvement of Christian conservatives in humanitarian efforts in South Sudan was “helpful in having a ready-made constituency for advocacy” when the situation in Darfur worsened.

Congressman Michael E. Capuano, a Democrat whose district includes Cambridge, emphasized the importance of keeping advocacy efforts alive.

He said that the crisis in Darfur was “an easy issue to ignore. The entire population could be wiped out tomorrow, and it’s not going to change the economy, the life of the average American.”

On multiple occasions, Capuano strongly urged the audience to become educated and to educate others. He also implored the audience to contact politicians with their concerns. “It doesn’t score a touchdown, but it moves the ball down the field,” Capuano said.

“I don’t think there’s a country in the history of mankind that has a better record on pushing human rights,” Capuano added. “Stopping genocide drives people to do the right thing. It drives this country to try to do the right thing.”

But America’s credibility in the human rights arena was questioned by Hamilton, the moderator.

The Darfur genocide is increasingly seen internationally as an “America-centric” cause, she said, even as America’s “credibility on human rights is going, if not gone down, the chute right now.”

Both Hamilton and others still pushed the audience to advocate on behalf of the Sudanese people.

“Even if the genocides stopped tomorrow, our work is not done. I challenge people to buy into this over the long haul,” Hammond said.

Yesterday’s event was the first in a series of three forums to be held at the IOP on Darfur. The second panel will focus on achieving long-term success and the third session will be on military action in the region.