The Passion of the Present is an independent, non-partisan, all-volunteer community initiative to stop the genocide in Sudan. It provides background, news and suggestions of what the public at large can do to help. It's not a topic I've touched on before through ignorance and laziness, resources like Robert Corr's Time for Action, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and Christian Aid furnish a cure for ignorance. Passion of the Present seeks to motivate us to action.
In Darfur, a region in western Sudan approximately the size of Texas, over a million people are threatened with torture and death at the hands of marauding militia and a complicit government. Genocide evokes not only the moral, but also, the legal responsibility of the world community. Under international agreement, a nation must intervene to stop a genocide when it is officially acknowledged."Officially" is the key word here. So far, no nation in the international community has "officially" acknowledged the truth: Sudan is a bleeding ground of genocide. In this void, the Sudanese government continues to act with brutal impunity.
Perpetrators of genocide do not want anyone watching. This includes the government of Sudan. Thankfully, there are individuals working in human rights organizations who are watching - and witness - and courageously support the victims in Darfur. These individuals represent, for all of us, a personal capacity to bear witness to the passion of the present; one candle lit against the darkness.
However, before one can light a candle, someone has to strike a match: a donation to any of the human rights organizations active in Sudan will help enable the candlepower of witness to overcome and extinguish the firepower of genocide.
This world has long endured wars that take lives. Let us be part of one that saves them.
Posted by Paul in Sudan Politics at August 3, 2004 03:06 AM
