2008 Woodie Awards
Divest
Barbara Macholz and Jacy Good
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Op/Ed
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It has been about 60 years since the Holocaust, 28 since the end of the genocide in Cambodia, 13 since the end of the genocide in Bosnia, 12 since the end of the genocide in Rwanda and four since the beginning of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan that has killed and continues to kill upwards of 300,000 people. It has been three years since the President officially labeled the situation in Darfur genocide. It has been about a year since more than 50 prestigious universities and four states decided to divest from Sudan. It has been three months since the United States Congress passed bill HR-180 to protect Americans in the process of divestment. What are we waiting for?
Muhlenberg College has the potential divest from companies involved in Sudan's economy. We have the potential to stop funding this genocide. After a delay by the Muhlenberg College Board of Trustees on a decision to divest, we present this simple, important question: what are we waiting for? Have we not learned a single thing from history? Genocide is part of our past and present, but it does not have to be part of our future. The numbers are in, and there is no gray area. It has been too long already. Divest now.
Are we waiting to make sure that we do not lose financial stability while millions of people live in refugee camps and risk their lives daily just to get firewood? Are we waiting because we are afraid to lose money while entire villages are burned to nothing? Are we waiting because we are unsure if the potential to help stop genocide is a good thing? Is it that more than 300,000 is not a high enough number for how many have been killed? Are we waiting for more to die?
Cornell, American, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Smith, Stanford, Yale. Are these, and the other universities that have divested, not good enough examples for us to follow?
We sit in our homes and offices, watch our televisions, read our newspapers and listen to our radios. All of these sources tell us that a catastrophe is occurring and that peace keepers are being killed. And yet, we sleep at night in our towns that have not been raided, on our college campus which have not been ransacked and burned and we talk to our mothers, sisters and daughters who have not been raped by the Janjaweed. We have the luxury to sit back and do nothing, to ignore that which is going on half a world away from us. Are we really consciously able to live with taking advantage of that luxury?
In deciding to divest, we not only take responsibility for our place in the global community, but also set a standard for other colleges, organizations and personal investors in the Lehigh Valley. We can stand up in the face of this genocide and teach those in our local community to do the same.
Provide one good reason why we have to be worried about money when the potential to help save lives and stop this mass murder is at our fingertips. Decide to divest now, or learn to live knowing we did not fulfill our responsibility as leaders in this community and members of the global community to help stop this travesty.
Muhlenberg College has the potential divest from companies involved in Sudan's economy. We have the potential to stop funding this genocide. After a delay by the Muhlenberg College Board of Trustees on a decision to divest, we present this simple, important question: what are we waiting for? Have we not learned a single thing from history? Genocide is part of our past and present, but it does not have to be part of our future. The numbers are in, and there is no gray area. It has been too long already. Divest now.
Are we waiting to make sure that we do not lose financial stability while millions of people live in refugee camps and risk their lives daily just to get firewood? Are we waiting because we are afraid to lose money while entire villages are burned to nothing? Are we waiting because we are unsure if the potential to help stop genocide is a good thing? Is it that more than 300,000 is not a high enough number for how many have been killed? Are we waiting for more to die?
Cornell, American, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Smith, Stanford, Yale. Are these, and the other universities that have divested, not good enough examples for us to follow?
We sit in our homes and offices, watch our televisions, read our newspapers and listen to our radios. All of these sources tell us that a catastrophe is occurring and that peace keepers are being killed. And yet, we sleep at night in our towns that have not been raided, on our college campus which have not been ransacked and burned and we talk to our mothers, sisters and daughters who have not been raped by the Janjaweed. We have the luxury to sit back and do nothing, to ignore that which is going on half a world away from us. Are we really consciously able to live with taking advantage of that luxury?
In deciding to divest, we not only take responsibility for our place in the global community, but also set a standard for other colleges, organizations and personal investors in the Lehigh Valley. We can stand up in the face of this genocide and teach those in our local community to do the same.
Provide one good reason why we have to be worried about money when the potential to help save lives and stop this mass murder is at our fingertips. Decide to divest now, or learn to live knowing we did not fulfill our responsibility as leaders in this community and members of the global community to help stop this travesty.