Last December, during UUSC's D.C. Days of Action, Rev. Bill Schulz, UUSC's board chair, gave a talk on a trip he made to Kalma camp in Darfur. I was particularly touched by a story he told about seeing a woman in tattered rags wearing a beautiful piece of glass around her neck as a piece of jewelry. When Schulz asked her what it was, she replied, "It is me." It is me....

The story shows that no matter what squalor and degradation people are subjected to, they find ways to overcome their circumstances and bring some form of hope and beauty into their lives. This is what makes us human. This woman in Darfur, no doubt having been subjected to violence and destruction that most of us cannot imagine, still holds onto what is beautiful, her sense of identity, herself.

As the Olympics came to a close and we saw the athletes standing on pedestals wearing gold, silver, and bronze medals, I thought of this woman wearing the glass around her neck and all the other women who are struggling in Darfur.

Although the situation in Darfur is dangerous for all, women and girls are especially vulnerable to violence. In some camps, women make up 80 percent of the population. They show pure determination to survive in conditions of dignity. They work together to protect themselves, leaving their camps together, trying to find safety in numbers. They share their food and water with each other. They work together to form women centers and to speak to leaders about their needs.

Women and girls in Darfur are heroes without medals. Their stories may not be broadcast on NBC, but they can be shared in line at the grocery store, at your next town hall meeting, or over dinner with a friend.

As UUSC works with partners to weave a web of protection for women and girls in Darfur, we need concerned citizens to raise awareness and build solidarity in cities and town around the United States. One way to do this is to order free UUSC Drumbeat for Darfur materials to use in your community.

Click here to order free UUSC tent cards that your community can use to urge the Senate human rights subcommittee to oversee the UNAMID mandate to protect Darfurian women and girls from violence.

We need to demand that our legislators take action to protect women and girls in Darfur. We need to make their struggle as visible as the gold medals around the necks of the athletes at the Bejing Olympics. We need to remember the woman with the glass around her neck who is determined to survive, and do our part to bring hope and beauty back into their lives.

There was no lack of symbolism in the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, least of all Lopez Lomong, a former Lost Boy of Sudan adopted by a family in Tully, N.Y., being the bearer of the American flag. He was just six years old when his family was attacked by the Janjaweed and he was forced to become a child solider.

Lomong is a long-distance runner. He acquired the stamina for this skill by running the 30-kilometer stretch around his refugee camp every day.

The track-and-field events of the Olympics are always one of the favorites. During the last few weeks, they have been a staple of NBC's prime time schedule.

There are many reasons why people run, but few of them can land you on prime time television. In Darfur, as we watch these events, there are women running for their lives from armed attackers. They are breathing hard and sweating, unable to speak, but we do not hear or see them.

Gadija and her two young sons are running. Before the Janjeweed came to destroy their village and kill her husband, they were very well off. They owned 120 sheep and 3 horses. Now they are living under a collection of rags, held up by four sticks. After the attacks, they ran to the hills, but there was no food or water, so they were forced to enter a camp in South Darfur.

Each day Gadija leaves her small sons to work in the fields near her camp, so that she can earn enough money to buy food. She has been in her camp only a short time. So far, she has not received any food aid. As a result, she is forced to face the hurdles of danger as she leaves her camp to earn money. She is forced to sprint to a safe destination. She has acquired the stamina to survive, although there are no cameras or reporters to capture this feat.

Just as Lomong's determination to compete in the Olympic Games came from seeing the 2000 Summer Games on a black-and-white television in Kenya, I hope that Gadija's story will inspire you to reach out across the world and do what you can to help protect women and girls in Darfur.

One of the crowning glories of the Beijing skyline is the new National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube. Not only is it a sight to behold, it is also an environmental marvel. Its outer "membrane" captures and recycles thousands of gallons of rainwater. Given Beijing's record of drought, this is critical. In fact, over the last 50 years, annual rainfall in Beijing has decreased by 50 percent.

Where there is a will there is a way...

Inside the Water Cube we see athletes "going for the gold" in a deep pool of blue. The average Olympic-sized swimming pool holds 660,625 gallons of water, but the Water Cube's holds over 792,000 gallons. The collection of this water — this precious resource — in one building, for this purpose, is truly a marvel.

Where there is a will there is a way...

Thousands of miles away, in Darfur, many people living in camps must survive on as little as half a gallon of water per day. This is happening even though the World Health Organization has declared that a minimum of 6.6 gallons per person per day is needed to meet basic human needs.

Where there is a will there is a way...

Not only is the amount of water available inside many camps astonishingly low, but the process of collecting the resource is extraordinarily dangerous.

Amina's story is not unlike stories of other women in Darfur. She lives in a camp in north Darfur where water collection is always a dangerous process. There is water in the camp; but of the ten water pumps, only four work with any regularity. This means that many women must go outside their camps to get water for their families, sometimes walking up to two miles.

This is a very dangerous task because women are subject to attack by armed men each time that they leave their camp.

Amina tries to make the water last, but she still needs to leave her camp three times a week to collect it. Because Amina is pregnant, she is worried about losing her baby from the stress and physical toll of making the trek for water. She has a 12-year-old daughter who has offered to go in her place, but Amina is worried about her daughter being attacked and raped when she leaves the camp. Who should go? How should they decide?

Where there is a will there is a way...

Recently, the "discovery" of one of the largest freshwater resources in the world — the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer — in the Darfur region was announced, even though scientists have known about it for years. According to some experts, it encompasses 53 percent of Darfur. It would cost roughly $40,000 per borehole, and well, to connect 20,000 Darfurians to water from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer.

Where there is a will there is a way...

The amount of water in the National Aquatics Center pool where Michael Phelps won his eight gold medals is equivalent to the minimum amount of water needed for 7,500 women and girls in Darfur for the duration of the Olympic Games.

China spent $200 million to build the Water Cube.

It would cost approximately $4.2 million to provide a reliable source of water for all 2.1 million internally displaced people in Darfur by tapping into the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer.

Where is the will to ensure that those living in camps have access to the water they need to survive?

Horses are noble creatures, relied on for work and transportation for millennia. Equestrian events were first introduced to the Olympic Games in 1900, with competitions such as jumping and dressage. This summer, we will see the power and beauty of horses, as Olympic riders guide them though courses to demonstrate their grace and agility.

But in Darfur, riders and their horses often represent different qualities, bringing death and destruction to untold numbers of civilians. These riders are called the Janjaweed, or "The devil on horseback."

Backed by the Sudanese government, the Janjaweed militia has but one directive: to drive the people of Darfur from their villages and secure as much land and resources as they can before the end of the five-year conflict. Women and girls in Darfur are especially vulnerable to violence by these "devils on horseback." Armed groups of militiamen attack women and girls when they leave their camps to search for firewood, water, and grass for fodder.

Amara is one of these young women. She lives in a camp in South Darfur. Because armed groups attack and hijack many of the trucks bound for the camp, there are no consistent humanitarian-aid deliveries to the camp.

Amara has learned to make and sell baskets at the women's skills training center to supplement her income and provide for her family, particularly when rations are low or unavailable. But to make her baskets, Amara must leave her camp to collect grass.

Even though Amara should be protected by African Union patrols whenever she and other women and girls leave the camp, there are not enough patrols to ensure their safety.

Once, when Amara and two other women were out collecting grass to make baskets, a group of armed men on horseback attacked, beat, and raped them.

How can we help protect Amara and her friends from Janjaweed and other militia attacks? The answer is that the international community must make the protection of women and girls a priority and fully fund and staff patrols for IDP camps, like Amara's, in Darfur.

As UUSC President Charlie Clements wrote in his August 10, 2008, letter to the editor of The New York Times, "Darfur civilians, women and girls in particular, can ill afford a second year of a still understaffed peacekeeping force that is handicapped by political delays. Despite the politics, we must figure out the best ways to protect the civilian population, especially women and girls, struggling to survive at camps for internally displaced people."

Photo by Pierre Holtz for UNICEF

On August 8, 2008, at 8:08 a.m. (CST), the world will watch the most spectacular Olympics opening ceremony ever orchestrated. The Olympic torch will reach its final destination, and for the first time in history, fireworks will form the image of the Olympic rings in the sky. As we gaze on in wonder, we will see the power and beauty of fire.

But for many others in the world, fire has a very different meaning.

Twelve-year-old Hadija has lived in a camp in south Darfur, with her mother and six brothers and sisters since her village was set ablaze by Janjaweed militia. The Janjaweed, backed by the Sudanese government, have waged a "scorched-earth campaign" against the people of Darfur, clearing the region of millions of Darfurians, many of whom now live in temporary camps in Darfur and Chad.

To ensure that her family has enough money to buy food, Hadija must leave her camp each day to collect firewood, which she sells or trades at the market.

But for women and girls in Darfur, fire and the need for firewood is a source of both destruction and survival.

Because there are too few peacekeepers to protect her, when Hadija leaves her camp, she risks being captured, raped, and beaten by militiamen.

As we watch the opening ceremony in Beijing, who will be watching to make sure Hadija arrives home safely? Who will be putting out the fires of scorched villages?

While television might not bring the heroic struggles of Darfurian women and girls to your living room, their spirit, as they overcome all odds, truly deserves our attention.

 

For many of us the culpability of China in the genocide in Darfur has never been a question. We know that, through its purchase of Sudanese oil, China is responsible for providing 70 percent of Sudan's GDP. Despite the pressure put on China by the international community, it has used its prerogative as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to provide cover for the Sudanese government's inaction and recalcitrance. All along, the Chinese government has claimed that the sovereignty of a nation state takes precedence over accusations of human-rights violations.

Although it is clear to the average person that China's support and protection is linked to the conflict in Darfur, China has been able to hide behind a veil of politics, diplomacy, and denial.

No more. Evidence by way of a July 13 article published by the BBC came to light last week, revealing that China had provided weapons -- actual material weapons -- to the government of Sudan since the 2005 arms embargo. China responded that the evidence the BBC uncovered did not amount to proof that it had violated the embargo, still it did not deny having provided weapons.

Why would China violate the embargo? The country is busy preparing for "One World, One Dream," its Olympian entrance onto the world stage.

One world, one dream. What does that mean to the people who were attacked in February by two Chinese Fantan fighter jets flying missions out of Nyala airport in south Darfur? The BBC confirmed that these planes unleashed two bombs.

One world: Kaltam, a mother of seven, watched her 5-year-old daughter die in the attack, dismembered from the chest up. Since the bombing, another survivor, Kaltam's 13-year-old daughter, Hawa, rarely speaks.

I wonder what she is dreaming of...

On February 12, 2008, Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg resigned as artistic adviser to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games over China's failure to act against the genocide in Darfur. In a statement, he said, "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual."

In April 2007, Spielberg wrote a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao to protest China's involvement with the Sudanese government over the crisis in Darfur. Spielberg asked to meet with Hu, but the president failed to respond, and Spielberg continued “business as usual.” He continued his work on the Olympics as China blocked the U.N. Security Council from making any real inroads to protecting the people of Darfur. He even continued business as usual as China took the “teeth” out of Security Council resolution 1769 of July 31, 2007, which created a hybrid U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. [China voted for the resolution, but only after stripping it of a mandate to disarm combatants. China also refused to approve any sanctions measure in the inevitable event of Khartoum’s noncompliance with its terms.]

Some have asked why he waited so long to resign from the post, while others have questioned his motivation. Still others believe that his action will be completely ineffectual in ending the genocide in Darfur. Many even question if pressuring China will work at all.

His detractors may be right: resigning his post may not make a difference. BUT it is a step, and an important step.

The Chinese need to understand that unless they take necessary steps to end their complicity in the genocide in Darfur, they will suffer consequences. They need to stop supplying the Janjaweed with weapons; buying 70 percent of Sudanese exports, including oil; and protecting the Sudanese government on the world stage. They need to understand that unless they cease and desist in their collusion, their moment of glory during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be marred. Those of us who are people of conscience need to demand this!

Yesterday, the Chinese government released a statement saying that “linking the Olympics with the Darfur issue is against the Olympic Spirit.” I would ask them, is it in the Olympic spirit to fund and support genocide?

Spielberg took an important step this week to end his complicity with the Chinese government and, in effect, the genocide in Darfur. His conscience called on him to act, as it should for all of us.

The next step is for us to pressure corporate sponsors to make similar statements so that it's not "business as usual" at the Olympic Games. Corporations can use the leverage they have to pressure the Chinese government to help end this genocide! Those of us who care about this issue need to make sure that they know the power they have.

 

The world lost a real human-rights defender yesterday when U.S. Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA) passed away. While I didn't agree with every vote he cast, I knew that, unlike many lawmakers, he always had a principled position. His ideals were forged in the fires of the Holocaust, when he was a teenager in Hungary, escaping Nazi forced-labor camps and working in the resistance.

In The Last Days, a film by Steven Spielberg and Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, Lantos reflected on the way his world began to change:

"My Christian classmates reacted to Hitler's invasion in different ways. Some remained good friends. Some made me feel that they continued to be my friends, but they didn't want to be seen in public with me, particularly not after we had to wear the yellow Star of David, which was one of the Hungarian government's edicts after Hitler came into the country. Some turned against Jews in general and me in particular....While a handful of Hungarian Christians were helpful, a vast number were bystanders -- some with regret and sorrow, some with very different feelings....Most people did not participate actively, but they allowed it to happen."

Tom Lantos did not stand by when he saw injustice. In 1983, he cofounded the bipartisan Congressional Human Rights Caucus. As the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in the U.S. Congress, he used his moral authority to lift up the plight of the oppressed around the globe. In April 2006, I was there when he and a handful of other members were arrested outside of the Sudanese embassy while protesting the genocide in Darfur.

When UUSC founders Martha and Waitstill Sharp were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Memorial in Israel, Rep. Lantos introduced a resolution with Rep. McGovern (D-MA) to honor them. He told his staff that it was especially important to recognize the Sharps' bravery because their actions were purely motivated by their religious beliefs. He noted that they were not European bureaucrats who happened to be in a position of power to fix passports or provide safe haven. They chose to put themselves in harm's way because they could not in good conscience stand by and let Nazi terror go unchallenged.

I will miss seeing Rep. Lantos walking around Capitol Hill with Annette, his childhood sweetheart and wife of 50-plus years, and their little dog almost always at his side. I hope that others in Congress will be inspired to become human-rights defenders because our work is far from done.

 

First it was Fidelity, now it’s Berkshire Hathaway. Two of the world’s largest financial investment firms have sold off huge chunks of stock in a major Chinese oil company, although neither is admitting that it took these actions in order to help end the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. However, the financial media is abuzz this week with news of multibillionaire Warren Buffett’s decision to sell $140 million worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock in PetroChina Co.

 

Clearly the momentum for divestment is building and the Drumbeat for Darfur is getting louder. The sale by Berkshire Hathaway was its second of PetroChina shares. The corporation is the second largest oil company by market value, and is the major purchaser of oil from Sudan.

The announcement came one week after coalitions of anti-genocide activists, including UUSC, launched expanded divestment campaigns to target more investment companies whose holdings include corporations that are helping to fuel the four-year-old genocide in Darfur. UUSC’s Drumbeat for Darfur campaign has already been pressuring Fidelity Investments, which also sold large chunks of stock while denying it was responding to pressure from anti-genocide activists. On September 5, 2007, UUSC joined colleague organizations Investors Against Genocide and Fidelity Out of Sudan in delivering petitions representing 150,000 signatures to Fidelity’s Boston headquarters.

While the divestment campaign continues to pick up steam, you can help keep the momentum building. A bill that would protect states from lawsuits when they enact divestment legislation is stalled in the U.S. Senate. Call or e-mail your U.S. senators today and urge them to act swiftly on this proposed law that will help ramp up the divestment drumbeat until it becomes deafening.

 

Did you know that the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing will begin at exactly 8:08 p.m. on 08/08/08? Evidently, eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture. As the hosts of the Summer Olympics, they are hedging their bets in the hope that their moment in the world spotlight will be a good one.

Today, at exactly 2:08 p.m., I walked up to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., hoping that I would also have good luck. Today is the day, one year out from the Olympics, when I delivered copies of the 600 letters we collected at General Assembly. At our booth and at every event we sponsored at GA, we encouraged concerned UUs to sign letters to the International Olympic Committee. We asked the Olympic officials to use their leverage with the Chinese government to help bring peace to Darfur.

Since the first wave of grassroots activism began to raise the Olympic theme, we have seen China take some small but very important steps. Today, I was proud to be UUSC's Washington, D.C., representative and let the Chinese government know that our 47,000 members and supporters urge them to do even more.

At first, the embassy doorkeeper made me wait outside for a long time in 100 degree heat. I felt a bit like Dorothy at the gates of Oz as the man told me to go away by speaker phone and then opened the door just enough to get my business card before slamming it shut again. That happened three times before I managed to slip in when some other folks arrived for a different meeting. I sat politely on a couch in the air-conditioned lobby waiting to see what would happen next.

After a while, Liao Dong, counselor of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the USA came to meet with me. His assistant took notes as I explained why I was there, who we are, and what we want. He said it was an honor to accept the letters. He doesn't agree that what's happening in Darfur is genocide. He thinks it is mostly a struggle over scarce resources.

He recounted the steps China has recently taken and asked that we not link China's hosting of the Olympics to the situation in Darfur. I said we simply want China to use its considerable economic and diplomatic leverage to move the Sudanese government to negotiate peace in good faith and to stop the violence against women, children, and all civilians. I said we hoped that when the Olympic torch is lit one year from today that the conditions in the Darfur region will be greatly improved.

He wanted to know if Unitarians were like Quakers. I explained about the Sharps and the work that founded our human rights organization. His face seemed to sag at the realization I represented a human rights group rather than a religious denomination. Perhaps I would have been forcibly removed or left to melt in the heat if they had know that from the start! The counselor asked if my mission was now complete with the delivery of the letters. I told him that I was going back to work because there was much more to be done. I gave him a UUSC Drumbeat for Darfur campaign sticker and brochure before heading back out into the heat.

Here is a photo of me and Counselor Liao Dong. The original signed letters arrived at the International Olympic Committee offices in Switzerland today with a cover letter from UUSC President Charlie Clements. We will continue to follow up and encourage more actions over the coming year. Thanks to everyone who signed and helped collect the letters at GA. Know that you are helping keep the Drumbeat for Darfur loud and clear!