By Derek Lipkin
BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
dlipkin@media.ucla.edu
Since February 2003, rebel groups in the Darfur region of Sudan
have been in conflict with the Sudanese government over accusations
that the government favors Arabs over black Sudanese citizens.
The government mobilized its militias to respond to the rebel
uprising, and the conflict has left hundreds of thousands dead and
has forced millions more from their homes. As refugees, these
Sudanese people deal with extreme hunger, disease and constant fear
of attack by the janjaweed forces, who have been accused of ethnic
cleansing.
On July 21, the eve of the anniversary of Congress officially
deeming the situation in Darfur a “genocide,” several
groups joined together on the lawn in front of the Federal Building
on Wilshire Boulevard to rally in opposition to the Sudanese
government, calling for steps to end the genocide of people in the
Darfur region of Sudan.
As the sun set into the western horizon of Westwood halfway
around the world from the region, rally participants raised their
signs and hollered their chants to stop the genocide. The air of
Wilshire Boulevard, between the 405 and Veteran Avenue, was filled
with horns of passing cars, voicing their support of those on the
sidewalk.
One of the participants was seven-and-a-half year old Jaime
Monsher.
“I feel that we should save lives,” Jaime said.
His mother, 46-year old Karmi Monsher, brought him to the event.
She smiled as she looked at her son, who held his sign as high as
he could on the sidewalk.
“What we’re doing is making a difference …
It’s a terrible thing. It should never happen again,”
Monsher said.
The Darfur Freedom Summer Vigil was one of several taking place
across the globe. Other cities participating included Washington
D.C., Jerusalem, and San Francisco.
The event marked the beginning of a new push to publicize the
efforts of these groups, in order to further educate others on the
situation in Darfur, organizers said.
“Over the last several months, as we have been educating
the community about the genocide in Darfur people realize that
it’s time to take to the streets and make a grander point to
more people,” said Janice Kamenir-Reznik, chair of the Jewish
World Watch, one of the groups that helped organize the event.
The various groups, including the UCLA Darfur Action Committee,
distributed information and brought speakers to comment on the
rally and the situation in Darfur.
Several distributed envelopes filled with postcards and letters
to send to media representatives and political leaders, as well as
information on how to call President Bush.
Students from the Darfur Action Committee stood across the lawn
closer to the building, encouraging participants to paint one of
their hands light blue and put a handprint on a huge canvas,
“having a hand in stopping genocide,” said Christina
Chala, a UCLA alumna from the Class of 2005.
The canvases will be combined with others from across the nation
to be laid on the lawns in Washington D.C. in October, Chala
said.
Walking across the lawn were several men and women selling
plastic wristbands engraved with the words: “Do not stand by
idly ““ save Darfur.”
The sale of these bracelets has provided “hundreds of
thousands” of dollars in fundraising for Jewish World Watch,
said Rabbi Harold Schulweis, the founder of Jewish World Watch.
Schulweis said young people have an untapped idealism that has
sparked a great deal of interest in the situation in Darfur, and he
hopes to develop a Jewish interdenominational youth coral to
involve more young people.
Forty-five minutes into the event, several participants holding
signs made their way to the lawn, as speakers began to make their
way to the microphone to address the participants.
Standing in front of the Federal Building moniker, 81-year old
Renee Firestone spoke about her time in the Auschwitz concentration
camp during the Holocaust.
She said the leaders of the world then had said “never
again,” yet constantly have failed to bring this dogma to
fruition, and situations, such as those in Cambodia, Rwanda and now
Sudan, are the result.
Ted Hayes later took the microphone and chanted “never
again” while pumping his fist into the air. Everyone watching
joined in unison.
Throughout the speeches, several teenagers stood out by the
sidewalk continuing to holler at passing cars, jumping up and down
vigorously. With every honk, they screamed louder and jumped
higher.
“Genocide sucks,” yelled 14-year old Jonathan Weiss,
who found out about the event through his synagogue Temple Emmanuel
in Beverly Hills.
At this point, the light of hundreds of candles illuminated the
lawn of the Federal Building, in respect to those lost to the
genocide.
“All the great liberation movements in time have required
this kind of a public service. … Until we do make an impact and
the genocide stops, we have to continue,” Kamenir-Reznik
said.