Posted on March 29, 2007
Jana El Horr began Monday night’s lecture with tears in her eyes.
“I am of Iraqi-Lebanese background, and everywhere [where] I grew up there were bombs falling,” Horr said. “This was my reality.”
Her reality mirrors that of Darfur, engulfed in a deadly crisis that has continued for over three years. Still, millions are unaware of the genocide occurring in Sudan.
Amnesty International hosted El Horr, who is a member of the American Islamic Congress, a Fulbright Scholar and the founder of the Center for Conflict Resolution and Peace-building.
El Horr’s lecture was the first event of the weeklong “Make Some Noise for Darfur” National Week of Student Action.
According to SaveDarfur.org, the NGO alliance of more than 100 faith-based humanitarian and human rights organizations, 400,000 people have died in Darfur since the genocide began in 2003.
More than two million civilians have been forced to flee their homes, and more than 3.5 million Darfurians are completely reliant on international aid for survival.
“Not only are these people living in poverty, but they are constantly being attacked by their government,” sophomore Kelsey McNamara said. “It is hard for us to imagine, but it is a reality. It is genocide.”
Junior Michael Zanchelli, vice president of the Amnesty International club, is ready to act.
“The people in Darfur are brothers and sisters, they are mothers and fathers. They may be of another skin color, but they are people,” he said. “That alone is reason to care and to take action.”
El Horr also raised a lesser-known side to the Darfur crisis — China’s role in the conflict.
“Basically, China has been getting oil from Sudan in exchange for money and arms,” she said. “China is not willing to let go of the Sudanese oil.”
El Horr explained that China’s money and weapons have funded the Sudanese backed militia, the Janjaweed, who carry out the mass killings of civilians.
Another pressing issue, El Horr said, is the silence of the Arab world. In January she visited Lebanon and was shocked to find that people did not know what was going on in Darfur.
“It is an Arab government that is committing violence toward its own people and no one wants to talk about that,” El Horr said.
Much of the emphasis of the lecture was on what students can do to take action.
El Horr urged students to be active on campus.
“There is a saying in Arabic, that says, ‘to be silent is to accept the status quo,’” Horr said. “If you are going to learn what other people are going through and just be silent, you are accepting the fact that it is OK for these people to suffer.”
Other events this week include a t-shirt sale and viewing “Darfur Diaries” in HHS, room 1302 tonight at 8 p.m.
