Here are a couple of practical ideas for anyone looking for ways to help stop the genocide in Darfur:
–If you live in the US, urge your represenatives in Congress to support the Darfur Accountability Act (S 495), which calls for a new UN Security Council resolution with sanctions, accelerated assistance to the African Union mission and a military no-fly zone in Darfur.
If you live in another country, see about supporting similar legislation in that country or in the EU.
–Support divestment from Sudan at whatever level you can. As I posted last December, China is putting billions of dollars into investment, oil revenue and weapons which help sustain the Sudanese government’s genocidal policies. I don’t expect everyone to stop buying Chinese-made goods (the earnings from which provide those billions), but companies in China and elsewhere are strengthening the Sudanese government’s ability to support the Darfur massacres.
Thanks to petitions and protests by students, Harvard University agreed to sell $4.4 million worth of shares in PetroChina– a subsidiary of state-owned China National Petroleum– which has invested more than $1 billion in the Sudanese government to secure oil outputs. According to Divestsudan.org, PetroChina is one of 83 publicly-traded companies doing business in Sudan.
