Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel asked, "How can a citizen of a free country not pay attention? How can anyone, anywhere not feel outraged? How can a person, whether religious or secular, not be moved by compassion? And above all, how can anyone who remembers remain silent?"
Members of the UCSF community have resolved not to remain silent on the severity of the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. They are finding ways to educate others and work to end the genocide reportedly being waged by the Sudanese government against the black population of the Darfur region of Sudan, Africa.
"This first genocide of the millennium is unique, for we have called it genocide while it is still happening," said Rohan Radhakrishna, a first-year student in the UCSF-UC Berkeley Joint Medical Program, at the UC Board of Regents at its meeting on Sept. 22 at UCSF Laurel Heights. "Nothing can be done for the 400,000 people who've been slaughtered, burned and starved, but we can make a tangible difference for those who will otherwise die in the coming months. Now is the time to exercise moral leadership and follow the heroic footsteps of previous Regents that divested from South Africa during apartheid."
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| Actor Don Cheadle of "Hotel Rwanda," joined hundreds of students on Nov. 14, 2005, at three UC locations (San Diego, Los Angeles, and Oakland) to encourage the UC Regent's Committee on Investments to approve development of a Sudan divestment strategy. |
The devastation in Darfur includes estimates of more than 400,000 dead, 2.5 million displaced and 50 percent of Darfur's population now reliant on humanitarian aid. The international community's response to what the United Nations calls the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today has been mournfully feeble on the whole, although certain nongovernmental organizations, states and universities have admirably acted on the issue. Among them Harvard, Stanford, and Dartmouth Universities, as well as the states of Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon, have divested their funds from companies doing business in Sudan. These divestments are the first of a growing national movement calling for institutional investors to use their power as shareholders to influence the outcomes in Darfur.
Students Speak Up
At UCSF, students have been actively raising awareness of the atrocities that continue to devastate the Darfur region of Sudan. The UCSF Darfur Working Group, part of Student Health Professionals for Social Responsibility (SHPSR), was founded by Janet Tsui, a fourth-year medical student. Tsui, along with Jason Miller, an MD-PhD student, and Danielle Carlin, fourth-year medical student, collected hundreds of UCSF signatures and presented them to US Representatives Tom Lantos and Nancy Pelosi to lobby for US and NATO financial support of African Union peacekeeping troops in the region.
The UCSF Darfur Working Group also has held events on the UCSF Parnassus campus, including a screening of "Hotel Rwanda" with guest speaker Mario Makol of "Lost Boys of Sudan" and a lunchtime showing of Nicholas Kristof's New York Times video story, "The Century's First Genocide," followed by a presentation by independent war photographer and filmmaker Mark Brecke.
Along with campuswide events, Miller also has been involved with the UC Sudan Divestment Taskforce (UCSDT), a group of students from several UC schools, including UCLA, UC Hastings law school, UC Berkeley and UCSF. The taskforce is lobbying to encourage the University of California to follow Harvard, Stanford, and most recently Dartmouth universities' leads by divesting the more than $100 million investments in several companies doing business with the Sudanese government. Given the historical record of UC divestment from South Africa and its decision not to invest in tobacco companies, the UCSDT believes that UC should use its investments to influence outcomes in Darfur.
Call for Divestment
At the Nov. 14 UC Regents' Committee on Investments meeting at UCLA, several hundred students, not only at UCLA, but also at the telecasts at UCSD and Oakland, came out in support of Sudan divestment. In addition, Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle from "Hotel Rwanda," spoke in support of UC divestment from Sudan.
In a major victory for the UCSDT, the UC Regents' Committee on Investments and the full Board of Regents unanimously approved in November a request for the UC Office of the President to develop a Sudan divestment plan. The Regents directed University staff to provide the board at their Jan. 18 and 19 meetings with background analysis and recommendations for a comprehensive plan to divest from foreign companies engaged in significant business relations with the government of Sudan, principally PetroChina, Sinopec, Tatnef and ABB, Ltd. The plan will be presented to the Regents at their January meetings in San Diego for an up-or-down vote.
The Regents' decision was a sign that students' voices are being heard.
Over the next month, the UCSDT will work closely with the President's Office to develop a prudent, comprehensive divestment plan. In the meantime, the UCSDT is asking for support. Faculty, staff and students are asked to please go to
www.ucdivestsudan.com and sign the petition in support of this effort.
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| The Darfur region of Sudan, Africa. |
To learn more about the genocide in Darfur and sign the petition for UC divestment, go to
UC Divestment Sudan. For more information, please email
Jason Miller or
Rohan Radhakrishna.
Sources: Allie Robbins and Rohan Radhakrishna
Links:
Darfur's Real Death Toll, Washington Post
