DIVEST FOR DARFUR

Today (October 2nd) is the first International Day of Non Violence, commemorated on Gandhi’s birthday.

The UN resolution about this day reaffirms “the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence” and the desire “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence,” yet in Darfur, even the peacekeeping force has come under attack.

Tomorrow, the U.S. Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee (Chairman Dodd, D-Conn) will be holding a hearing on efforts to combat the genocide in Darfur, with a focus on divestment strategies and other policy tools.

Yenza was one of the signers on a letter from the Save Darfur coalition urging Congress to pass HR180 which protects individual state’s right to divest from companies doing business with the Sudanese regime, and which also bars U.S. contracts from going to these same companies. H.R. 180 passed the House by an overwhelming vote of 418 – 1 on July 31.

Please contact Senators who are on this committee and push for HR180 to go to the Senate floor for a vote:

Democrat	Republican
Christopher J. Dodd Chairman (D-CT)	Richard C. Shelby Ranking Member (R-AL)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)	Robert F. Bennett (R-UT)
Jack Reed (D-RI)	Wayne Allard (R-CO)
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)	Michael B. Enzi (R-WY)
Evan Bayh (D-IN)	Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Tom Carper (D-DE)	Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)	Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)	John E. Sununu (R-NH)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)	Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Robert P. Casey (D-PA)	Mel Martinez (R-FL)
Jon Tester (D-MT)

Once HR 180 makes it to the Senate, please contact your Senators and ask him or her to support the immediate passage of HR 180.

To contact your Senators, call the Capitol operator at (202) 224-3121 or go to www.senate.gov to find email information. Please also ask your Senators to provide adequate funding for peacekeeping and humanitarian aid efforts in Darfur in the appropriations process.

The South Africa he never knew…

Czerina Patel:

My friend Fabienne told me that her nephew Byron was coming to Cape Town and bringing someone who worked for his family with him. It was to be this man (Enoch)’s first time ever seeing the ocean. I told her I wanted to do a radio piece on it, recording the first time Enoch saw the ocean, but unfortunately for me, Enoch got to Natal and saw the ocean before he arrived in Cape Town. This past weekend, I joined Fabienne, her daughter, and her nephew Byron – all White South Africans, and Enoch – a Black South African – at a restaurant in Hout Bay. We sat right next to the ocean, and I learned that Enoch was still in shock about the amount of water he had already seen in Cape Town – how could there be so much? Enoch was born in Limpopo, and was working in Johannesburg. The whole natural landscape of Cape Town was entirely new to him, and very enticing. Enoch was experiencing much that was new and was traveling outside his comfort zone. He took his first plane trip that morning, and though we encouraged him to take a small boat trip from the dock in Hout Bay, he made it clear that he wasn’t ready for that. Seeing the water and putting his feet in the ocean was enough for him that day.

Enoch, Byron and Fabienne will be blogging here about this past weekend, about Enoch’s first time seeing the ocean, about why Byron wanted to take Enoch on this trip, and what they learned, experienced and encountered. They’ll post some photos and we’ll try to get deeper into what they learned about themselves and South Africa through spending the weekend in this way…

Byron will type for Enoch word for word so we can hear Enoch in his own voice. To get the conversation started, I’ll ask Byron to tell us about your relationship with Enoch – how long have you known him, describe your relationship, and what were the events that led you up to the trip this past weekend?