Images of burning villages and human remains, inter-cut with the tearful interviews of Sudanese refugees, were displayed to a sold out 200-seat theater at the MUB on Tuesday night.
The images were a part of the film "The Devil Came on Horseback," which is a firsthand account by former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle of the Darfur genocide. The film was shown by the newly formed UNH chapter of STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition as a way to educate and promote awareness, and it was sponsored by Global Grassroots, an organization that works to empower women genocide survivors. The film drew strong reactions from some students. "I was blown away," said student Tobi Afolayan. "You know genocide is bad, but you don't feel it until you see the images and hear the stories." Student Jessica Mayer called the graphic photographs in the film "eye opening." "I knew the world was cruel, but I didn't know it was that cruel," she said.
Steidle volunteered to go to Sudan as a military observer to monitor a cease-fire. While there, he took photographs and recorded interviews, which he then brought back to the United States in order to raise awareness when his term was completed. The film centers on his experiences and his testimony.
Tensions between Darfur and the Sudanese government reached a critical point when Darfur was not included in a peace agreement signed between north and south Sudan to end decades of conflict. Rebel tribes in Darfur accused the government of marginalization, and acted by attacking a government air force base in El Fasher, North Darfur, in 2003. In response, Arab militias known as Janjaweed ("Devils on Horse"), who are supplied and trained by the Sudanese government, began attacking and destroying villages using a scorched earth campaign. The United States declared it genocide in 2004. According to the film, 400,000 have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced. Many fleeing from Darfur go to neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic.
Victoria Smith of Global Grassroots went to Chad last summer.
"There really is a sense of helplessness," she said. "They've lost everything."
A question and answer session followed the film. Questions were answered by Colin Christensen of Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net), Jessica Anderson of GI-Net, and Smith.
The Genocide Intervention Network's mission, as stated on its website (genocideintervention.net), is "to empower individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide." Christensen said that the international community is "broken" when it comes to dealing with the Darfur genocide and said there is no "good mechanism" in place.
"For whatever reason, there's no political cost for doing nothing," he said. "We can impose a political cost." He said that cost could be imposed through votes, especially with New Hampshire having the first primary.
"You're in a unique position to impact the policy of this country," he said.
Currently, the UNH chapter of STAND is participating in the Ask the Candidates campaign, which provides people with "Policy Asks," or questions about specific Darfur policy actions, that they can pose to presidential candidates. Elissa Souris, the Awareness Head of the UNH chapter of STAND, said Ask the Candidates is a national campaign that has a special focus on New Hampshire and Iowa.
Representatives from presidential campaigns for Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, and Tom Tancredo were at the event to present the candidates' positions on Darfur and to answer people's questions.
Afolayan said he won't vote for a candidate without specific information about the candidate's stance on Darfur.
"I'm tired of vague sentiments," he said. "It needs to be really detailed."
Afolayan asked the GI-Net and Global Grassroots panel how to solve the problem of the Sudanese government funding and supplying the Janjaweed. Anderson said GI-Net promotes targeted divestment, which means withdrawing money from stock in companies that have investments and business ventures that profit the Sudanese government.
The main example of this is oil, which is one of Sudan's major resources. Sudan does not have the technology to drill and refine the oil, so it relies on foreign companies and partners. Christensen said 80 percent of oil revenues go to the Sudanese military. As a result, he said, divestment has a direct impact on Janjaweed funding.
Anderson said there are about 23 to 26 companies that are generating profits for the government of Sudan; many of them are oil companies or companies from China. Targeted divestment also focuses on mutual funds that have holdings in these companies. Anderson named JP Morgan, Fidelity Investments, and Vanguard as examples, but said a full list of mutual funds and companies can be found at www.sudandivestment.org.
Student Zack Leeser said the issue of divestment was something he learned more about at the event.
"I need to get out of that and tell my family and friends too," he said. "Money is the fuel for the genocide."
Currently, the UNH chapter of STAND has a petition calling for UNH to divest.
Jackie Lewis, divestment head of STAND, said having UNH divest could generate momentum for the New Hampshire state divestment bill that was recently introduced.
One student asked if on-site volunteer opportunities were available at refugee camps. Smith said many volunteer groups are not willing to send people on-site due to security reasons.
"Don't underestimate what you can do here," Christensen said.
"There's small things you can do, it's not out of your reach," said Souris. She gave an example of the upcoming DarfurFast on Dec. 5. She said STAND plans on tabling in the MUB to ask people to give up one luxury purchase for the day, such as a cup of coffee, and donate the saved money to Darfur.
"In the past, it has raised so much money just through little things," she said.
She also talked about Desserts for Darfur, which will be held Nov. 13 in the Mills Hall first floor lounge. She said members from STAND will talk about the Darfur genocide and help people write letters to New Hampshire Senator John Sununu in support of the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act (SADA). SADA would put economic pressure on Sudan by authorizing state and local governments to divest from companies generating profit for the Sudanese government. It would also prohibit future contracts with these companies.
On the national level, Smith said the United States probably won't send troops into Sudan but it can send money. Christensen said that the option of sending in troops has not been available due to the involvement in Iraq. Currently, the United Nations is trying to send in a peace force.
Christensen said that at best, the UN will send in 10,000 troops by the end of the year-half of the original number planned.
"What's stopping us?" said Leeser. "Get out of Iraq, get into Darfur. We don't have to wait for the next president. Let's do it now."
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