The Genocide Intervention Network has released a poll indicating that the genocide in Darfur has climbed to the top of Americans' priority lists. More than half of the people surveyed indicated that, even in light of U.S. relations abroad (Iraq, North Korea, Iran...), America should make humanitarian crises a top priority. Almost 60% said they had heard a fair amount about the genocide in Darfur, and about half of those surveyed support sanctions and moderate military strategies to be implemented against the Sudanese government.
These statistics, which can be found here, indicate that Darfur activists have finally been successful at putting Darfur on the map of the average American. Yet, it took us four years and 400,000 lives to make this progress. Now it is our duty to use these newly discovered, "widespread" opinions and translate them into effective legislative action. For additional blogging on the new poll, see the GI-Net's MySpace blog.
Still, it is important to consider the larger picture. GI-Net's poll also found that approximately 80% of Americans believe that genocide education should be mandatory in public schools. Meanwhile, student activists are mobilizing to strengthen their position.
What does it all mean? Our generation is learning. We are witnessing the slow response of a complacent international community to a genocide. We are learning not just to take action, but we are beginning to discover the kind of action we need to take. GI-Net, for example, was created by two college graduates of Swarthmore College in 2005. Our generation is learning to stay actively engaged with global events, and we are learning to take action. Let the lesson of Darfur guide us in the future as we actively pursue "never again."
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2 comments:
Thanks for your support!
I think you're right to be skeptical, and certainly on questions like this there is a level of over-reporting (people don't want to say they don't care about genocide). But I think if nothing else it can be a useful political tool -- we can show that various solutions have tangible political support. Translating that into effective legislation is, as you note, still a challenge -- but I think this helps.
Just wanted to note that the links to GI-Net and Swarthmore don't work -- I think you forgot the "http://"
--Ivan, for the Genocide Intervention Network
P.S. Have you seen our MySpace page?
Thanks for letting me know, Ivan! And you're right - we can definitely use these new statistics as a tool. Just the fact that they exist, I think, is important - and I was pleasantly surprised.
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