2008 Woodie Awards
We still want divestment NOW
Barbara Macholz '08 and Jacy Good '08
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Op/Ed
To the Editor:
It has been about a month since we first wrote to ask the Board of Trustees to divest from Darfur now. Since then the town of Haskanita, Sudan was raided and burned; one hundred civilians and ten African Union Peacekeepers were murdered (New York Times, 10/15/2007; Los Angeles Times, 10/15/2007). Twenty were murdered in refugee camps in Eastern Chad (Reuters, 10/16/07). Chad has since declared a state of emergency because of the ongoing violence in refugee camps; there are more than 250,000 refugees living in this region (Reuters, 10/17/2007; Agence France Presse, 10/16/2007). Three World Program Truck Drivers were killed as they tried to bring food into Southern Darfur (Reuters, 10/17/2007). Thirty civilians were killed, including children, as the government army raided a local mosque, slit throats, and shot a five year old boy in the back as he tried to flee (Reuters, 10/17/2007). Government troops were deployed to Kalma, Darfur (a refugee camp) in order to kill and rape the people and burn the camp (Agence France Presse, 10/19/2007). International workers were kidnapped at an oil plant in an effort by rebel groups to make a statement to China to stop funding the genocide via its investment in the oil region of Sudan (Associated Press, 10/25/2007). The UN failed to stop government armies from loading hundreds of refugees at gun point onto trucks and busing them out of a refugee camp in order to continue the genocide in secret (BBC, 10/29/2007). Peace talks were delayed until December because not enough of the important rebel groups were represented. Although these peace talks have been postponed for December, two of the largest rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army still say they will not attend later talks, making it probable that peace will not be reached (Reuters, 11/05/2007).
First of all, we would like to thank Kent Dyer and Jeffrey Porphy for their response to our article. Communication and conversation are vital to the progression of our campus community and we appreciate the time taken to respond. It is great to hear that social justice has been brought up alongside issues of investment, however, it is still taking too long and we cannot afford to wait until January to do our part in stopping the genocide in Darfur. Perhaps you need more time to consider an overall investment strategy that involves the idea of being socially aware, but why not take the first step and divest from Darfur now, while it is helpful, and then return to revamping the entire investment strategy. It may seem difficult to decide what other conflicts to divest from and what conflicts to stay invested in, but this one's a no-brainer, and we all know it. At least get your foot in the door to creating a socially aware institution with strong morals.
It has been about a month since we first wrote to ask the Board of Trustees to divest from Darfur now. Since then the town of Haskanita, Sudan was raided and burned; one hundred civilians and ten African Union Peacekeepers were murdered (New York Times, 10/15/2007; Los Angeles Times, 10/15/2007). Twenty were murdered in refugee camps in Eastern Chad (Reuters, 10/16/07). Chad has since declared a state of emergency because of the ongoing violence in refugee camps; there are more than 250,000 refugees living in this region (Reuters, 10/17/2007; Agence France Presse, 10/16/2007). Three World Program Truck Drivers were killed as they tried to bring food into Southern Darfur (Reuters, 10/17/2007). Thirty civilians were killed, including children, as the government army raided a local mosque, slit throats, and shot a five year old boy in the back as he tried to flee (Reuters, 10/17/2007). Government troops were deployed to Kalma, Darfur (a refugee camp) in order to kill and rape the people and burn the camp (Agence France Presse, 10/19/2007). International workers were kidnapped at an oil plant in an effort by rebel groups to make a statement to China to stop funding the genocide via its investment in the oil region of Sudan (Associated Press, 10/25/2007). The UN failed to stop government armies from loading hundreds of refugees at gun point onto trucks and busing them out of a refugee camp in order to continue the genocide in secret (BBC, 10/29/2007). Peace talks were delayed until December because not enough of the important rebel groups were represented. Although these peace talks have been postponed for December, two of the largest rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army still say they will not attend later talks, making it probable that peace will not be reached (Reuters, 11/05/2007).
First of all, we would like to thank Kent Dyer and Jeffrey Porphy for their response to our article. Communication and conversation are vital to the progression of our campus community and we appreciate the time taken to respond. It is great to hear that social justice has been brought up alongside issues of investment, however, it is still taking too long and we cannot afford to wait until January to do our part in stopping the genocide in Darfur. Perhaps you need more time to consider an overall investment strategy that involves the idea of being socially aware, but why not take the first step and divest from Darfur now, while it is helpful, and then return to revamping the entire investment strategy. It may seem difficult to decide what other conflicts to divest from and what conflicts to stay invested in, but this one's a no-brainer, and we all know it. At least get your foot in the door to creating a socially aware institution with strong morals.