'Million Voices' campaign aims to save victims in Darfur
By <A href="mailto:staceydresner@jewishledger.com">Stacey Dresner</A>

Millions of people have been affected by the conflict in Darfur, Sudan since it began in 2003.
More than 400,000 people in Darfur - men, women and children -- have died, 3.5 million are suffering from starvation and another 2.5 million have been displaced by the violence in the region.
Now it is hoped that a million voices - including those of the Connecticut Jewish community -- will call out for more action against the genocide occurring in the Sudan.
Through "Million Voices for Darfur," coordinated by the national Save Darfur Coalition, organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Community Relations Councils, and synagogue social action committees, as well as other faith-based groups around the nation are participating in the campaign to send one million postcards to President George W. Bush and Congress demanding a stronger response to the situation in Darfur.
This effort will culminate in a rally to be held in Washington D.C. on April 30. The rally is set to begin with an interfaith service, followed by a march from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to a location near the White House.
The Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur, a group of 15 secular and non-secular organizations across the state, is already actively participating in the "Million Voices" campaign, and their members are planning to attend the April rally in Washington. 
The coalition includes the Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport and Western Connecticut Jewish Community Relations Councils, The Connecticut Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut, various synagogues, the Archdiocese of Hartford's Office of Black Catholic Ministries and the Waterbury NAACP. 
It has been reported that President Bush, when confronted with news of the atrocities being committed in Darfur during his first term, made the statement, "Not on MY watch."
Organizations like the Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur are trying to hold him to his word.
Laura Zimmerman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, said that U.S. involvement is critical if the brutality in Darfur is to end. 
"Congress is the voice of the people in America," Zimmerman said. "Sixty years ago, the world said it would never happen again. Ten years ago, President Clinton apologized for doing nothing about the genocide in Rwanda. During his first administration, President Bush said, 'Not on my watch.' Today, we come together so that these statements' meanings will not be empty."
Earlier this week, the United Nations Security Council ordered planning for a possible UN peace-keeping force to the Sudan. But experts said that such an effort would take several months and would face many obstacles, including probable opposition from the Sudanese government.

 'Multi-national force'

The Connecticut Jewish community has been at the forefront of the fight to raise awareness about the victims of Darfur.
The Connecticut Regional office of the ADL started a Sudan Task Force in 2003 to concentrate on the Darfur issue. Rabbi Robert Orkand of Temple Israel in Westport, and Rabbi Eric Polokoff of B'nai Israel of Southbury are members of the task force, and both Rabbi Daniel Cohen of Stamford and Rabbi Ron Fish of Norwalk have been involved in task force projects, such as last year's High Holiday appeal to raise funds for Darfur.
The task force helped create ads focusing on Darfur and helped draft a resolution condemning the atrocities in Darfur which was passed by the State legislature last spring.
Ruth Messinger, president of the American Jewish World Service Organization, spoke out on Darfur at an event co-sponsored by the Hartford JCRC, and at another event at Yale last month, while the New Haven JCRC held a rally for Darfur at New Haven City Hall in December and presented a petition against the violence in Darfur that was presented to Rep. Rosa DeLauro.
"This is an issue people will not think about everyday. That is why it is important for us to keep it out in the forefront," said Lauri Lowell, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New Haven. "We have to use every chance we can to bring attention to Darfur."
Now, Jewish organizations around Connecticut are hope that adding their voices to the "Million Voices" campaign will increase attention to the issue.
The goal of the "Million Voices" campaign is to send one million handwritten and electronic postcards to President Bush and Congress to show that Americans are concerned about what is happening in Darfur.
An email copy of the postcard is available at SaveDarfur.org. Addressed to President Bush, it urges him to use the "power of [his] office to support a stronger multi-national force to protect the civilians of Darfur."
Organizations around the country have received printed postcards to send out to their constituents. The CT ADL will receive 10,000 postcards that they will distribute and the Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur is also distributing them to organizations around the state. 
Zimmerman said that the plan is for all of the postcards to be delivered to one central location and then delivered to the President, en masse, at one time in an effort to increase their impact.
Even kids are getting in on the action. The Hartford JCRC worked with the students at the Solomon Schechter Day School in West Hartford during their "Chesed Carnival," held this fall. Using the postcards, the day school's fifth graders worked on their own letter-writing campaign in support of Darfur.
"We are trying to mobilize the kids," Zimmerman said, adding that groups of kids in Avon and West Hartford, as well as college students are trying to increase their fellow students' awareness of the situation in Darfur.  

 'A human tragedy'  

The Connecticut Coalition is also working to raise the awareness of state legislators. 
In the past couple of weeks, members of the coalition met with both Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. John B. Larson, who both pledged to help win the support of Congress on the issue of Darfur.
"The atrocities taking place in Darfur are a human tragedy - a world cause - that we cannot ignore," Larson said. "As the leader of the world, as the model for democracy and human rights, we must live up to our example...It will take only a small effort on our part to relieve the enormous suffering occurring there. The rest of the world will follow our lead. But leading means taking the first step."
The coalition is hoping to meet with Rep. Nancy Johnson in the next week.
"All of our legislators have been outspoken on this issue and we want that to continue," said David Waren, executive director of the Connecticut ADL. "With as much appreciation as we have for what they have done, we hope we can convince them to do even more."
The rally in the nation's capital in April is designed to convince legislators of the seriousness of the campaign. 
Robert Fishman, executive director of JFACT, said that his office is working to coordinate transportation to the rally - buses, trains - and will have a centralized meeting place for all Connecticut Coalition participants to gather once they get there.
"We really want this to be a coordinated, state-wide effort," Fishman said.
He added that they will ask Connecticut's Congressional members to join them.
Waren of the ADL said that rallies like the one planned in April, are "still one of the best tools for activism."
"It is not very often that rallies of the size we are talking about take place in Washington," Waren added. "This will be a major initiative and will send a very important message to our elected officials and diplomats that the Jewish community and other faith-based organizations and civil rights groups will not sit idly by this time with this genocide. Time is really running out, so it is important to galvanize and to send a strong message."

Comments? Email <A href="mailto:staceydresner@jewishledger.com">staceydresner@jewishledger.com</A>