I heard back from colleagues and friends who attended the “Save Darfur” rally in DC this past weekend. Thanks to everyone who was able to make the trip. They tell me they heard Barack Obama, Elie Wiesel, Samantha Powers and Rev Al Sharpton speak on the issue. I hope that the African Union can continue to mediate between the Sudanese government, rebels and tribal leaders for resolve in Darfur as the deadline for talks was extended yesterday.

The Washington Post had the article “Divisions Cast Aside” on the rally in Monday’s paper.  While more people need to know more about the issues and more voices need to be heard, it was great that so many different groups, beliefs and ethnicities came together to support this cause.

“…the Rally to Stop Genocide appeared to be distinctive for being one of the more diverse rallies the capital has seen in years. Most demonstrations attract fairly homogenous crowds, who often share political, religious and ethnic makeup, as was the case when Latinos dominated immigration protests last month. But yesterday’s rally brought together people from dozens of backgrounds and affiliations, many of whom strongly disagree politically and ideologically on many issues.” 

I’m not so sure about many strongly disagreeing politically.  From what I’ve been told the crowd was progressive and shared the same concern–stopping genocide. Yet, I wonder how many people have thought about—the many times when peace talks were in place and the government or militias continued to carry out atrocities against civilians.  It’s happened many times in Africa….Rwanda, DR Congo, Angola, West Africa and Somalia.  Mass protests are not always enough. We have to consider pressuring governments to carry out a military intervention if these peace talks fail in Sudan.

Read the rest of this entry »