Rallying For Darfur
Jews once again lead call to end the crisis in Sudan.
Photos by
by Jacob Berkman/JTA
Jacob Berkman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
T
New York
he Jewish presence
was again large, as an
estimated 30,000 dem-
onstrators gathered in New York's
Central Park on Sept. 17, calling
on the international commu-
nity to help end the crisis in the
Darfur region of Sudan.
"All the sides in the Darfur con-
flict are predominantly Muslim.
But this is not about politics,
this is about people," former U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright told the crowd. "We need
to tell the United Nations that
this is what it is here for. And
President Bush has to make it
clear to the United Nations that
the United Nations has to get in
there."
Albright was among 30 speak-
ers issuing similar statements
at the park on Save Darfur Day.
Protests took place in more
than 80 cities around the world,
including Cairo, Jerusalem and
Khartoum, Sudan. The rallies
were aimed at persuading the
United Nations to deploy to the
Sudan the peacekeeping forces it
promised this summer.
An estimated 200,000 to
400,000 people have been killed
in the western region of the
Sudan since 2003, when the
Sudanese government enlisted
janjaweed militias to rout out
government dissenters. The
situation has turned into a tribal
64
September 21 b 2006
war between Arab and African
Labor Committee, an organiza-
Muslims in which some 2.5 mil-
tion that acts as a liaison between
lion people have been driven from the Jewish community and orga-
their homes.
nized labor, brought a handful of
In August, the United Nations
people to the rally. The commit-
authorized the deployment to
tee, which was founded in 1934 in
the region of 22,600 peacekeep-
response to the rise to power of
ing troops, but they have not yet
the Nazis in Germany, has histori-
been sent to Sudan because of an
cally taken up social action causes
inability to recruit the soldiers
that are both Jewish and non-
from U.N. nations and Sudanese
Jewish because it sees the Jewish
President Omar al-Bashir's
cause and the human cause as the
reluctance to allow them into his
same.
country.
"I don't think this is a Jewish
The New York protest,
issue. It is a human issue:'
organized by the Save Darfur
Liebowitz said of the situation in
Coalition, a 2-year-old group
Darfur. "Just as when the Nazis
of more than 170 faith-based
came to power, it was not a Jewish
and social action organizations,
issue. It was a human issue."
was heavily attended by Jews,
Shula and Rachel Smith, sisters
much like the April protest in
from Philadelphia who are 14 and
Washington that drew between
19, came as members of Habonim
60,000 and 75,000 people. In
Dror, a labor Zionist youth move-
Washington, some 20 percent
ment."It seems like a lot of kids
were Jewish, according to some
just don't care about what is
estimates.
happening in Darfur because it
Among a sea of New York
doesn't affect them': Rachel said.
protesters wearing blue hats and
That disaffection applies to every-
berets — which organizers sug-
one, she said, not just kids.
gested people wear to symbolize
"But there are so many Jewish
the blue helmets worn by U.N.
.groups here, it's awesome," Shula
peacekeepers — were many Jews
added.
wearing yarmulkes. Jewish groups
Students at Colgate University
from all over the country came to
traveled four hours from upstate
hear speakers such as Albright;
New York to the rally on a bus
Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive
chaperoned by Rabbi David Levy,
director of the Jewish Council for
the Jewish chaplain at Colgate.
Public Affairs; Tony Kireopoulos,
The group of 55 students from
director of the National Council
the university's interfaith commu-
of Churches; and actress Mira
nity — 12 of whom were Jewish,
Sorvino.
according to Rabbi Levy — were
Arieh Lebowitz, the commu-
accompanied on their trip by
nications director of the Jewish
a Sudanese refugee who found
out about the protest because he
worked in the silkscreen shop
that made the T-shirts the group
printed for the rally.
"In the Jewish community, we
should be playing up the need to
help," said Ruth Messinger, the
president of the American Jewish
World Service, which co-founded
the Save Darfur Coalition along
with the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum. "We learned
from the Holocaust about what
happens when people are not
willing to stand up for you. Now
we are willing to stand up for
people who are victims."
Messinger said she is proud
that the Jewish community
has taken up the Darfur cause,
especially since it is one that
involves mostly Muslim victims
and aggressors — a fact that she
acknowledges is often down-
played.
But while Jews were well
represented at the rally, some
wondered about the relatively
small turnout of another group
that would seemingly have a
natural connection with the
plight of those suffering in Darfur
— African Americans.
Though several black churches
brought groups to the event,
Albert Nzamukwereka was
disappointed that there was
not a heavier black turnout.
Nzamukwereka, a Tutsi survivor
of the 1994 Rwandan genocide in
which members of the Hutu tribe
killed hundreds of thousands of
Tutsis and moderate Hutu, is the
Left and middle: Tens of thou-
sands of demonstrators gath-
ered in New York on Sept. 17.
Above: Albert Nzamukwereka,
center, a survivor of the
Rwandan genocide, and Taylor
Krauss, left, of Voices of
Rwanda attended the Darfur
rally in New York.
director of peace-building efforts
for Never Again International.
With his organization, he and
other native Africans regularly
speak at schools — including
Jewish schools in the U.S. and in
Europe, teaching children about
what happened in Rwanda and
what is happening in Darfur.
He said he has some optimism
about the situation in Darfur
because, while most people did
not know about what was going
on in Rwanda, many of the stu-
dents with whom he speaks seem
to have a general 'understanding
that something bad is happening
in the Sudan.
Flanked by three African
members of his speakers bureau
and by the executive director
of another, Voices of Rwanda,
Nzamukwereka said he was
impressed by the Jewish turnout
and by the efforts of Jews involved
in the movement to save Darfur.
But he wondered," Why is it
that the African American com-
munity is less represented here? Is
it because they are not aware of it
or they don't want to be part of it?
They should be part of this?' El