Archive for May, 2007
Activists Hail Fidelity’s Divestment from Sudan-Linked Oil Company
by Haider Rizvi, OneWorld US
UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (OneWorld) – The news that a major investment firm has drastically reduced its business interests with those close to the Sudanese government has emboldened pressure groups involved in the global campaign to stop attacks in Darfur.
Last week, Fidelity Investments, the world’s leading mutual funds company, announced it had sold 91 percent of its American Depository Receipts in PetroChina, which amounts to nearly half the investment firm’s total holdings in the state-owned oil company that operates in Sudan.
Fidelity did not explain why it made the move to sell its PetroChina shares, but observers say it was clear the decision came amid increasing pressure from the Darfur campaign.
“The Fidelity divestment is a good first step,” Howard Salter of Washington, DC-based Citizens for Global Solutions, an advocacy group, told OneWorld. “It reflects how individual voices can come together and make a difference.”
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Curriculum for Educators
Darfur Diaries has produced curriculum guides and lesson plans for use by educators at no cost. Check back soon for downloadable resources you can use in your classroom!
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How You Can Help
Although Darfur Diaries is donating a portion of proceeds from the film and book to the Darfur Diaries Education Project, the continued operation of Muzbat School of Peace depends on donor support. If you would like to support the students of Muzbat, please make a donation today and mail it to:
Darfur Peace & Development Org.
P.O. Box 5743
Fort Wayne, IN 46895
*Be sure to include a note that indicates the donation is for the
“Darfur Diaries Education Project.”
To make a secure contribution online, please visit their website:
(In the “payment for” line, please indicate that your contribution is for the “Darfur Diaries Education Project”)
Resources
The Resource center at Darfur Diaries has downloadable posters, flyers, and factsheets
The posters, flyers, and factsheets below are available for download as print-ready .pdf files. If you are using one to promote a Darfur Diaries event, we recommend having it personalized with the information for your specific event.
More downloadable resources will be posted in the coming months, so please check back. If these do not fill your need, please contact us and let us know.
Handout Flyer with Map
This is an 8.5 X 11 one sheet handout. [Download .pdf, 1.3mb]
Darfur Diaries: Message From Home Full-Color Poster
This is an 11 X 17 full-color poster featuring the artwork from the DVD. There is room to add event details. For those with limited advertising budgets, we recommend converting it to a b&w image to lower printing costs. [Download .pdf, 427kb]
Endorsements
Emotional and challenging, the Darfur Diaries documentary and book have struck a deep cord within people who have seen or read them. Below are some statements of support from well known artists, social justice activists, and political leaders.
From Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple
“In these hard times we must accept help from wherever we can find it. The dignity of the Darfurian people is such a help. It reminds us of who we are and what inner stability we might aspire to as humans, no matter our circumstance. We must return this help to us by seeing Darfurians protected, safe, returned to their lands, their gardens, their animals, their wells and fields. Their schools! Do not resist seeing and reading their story, thinking it another violent assault on the heart. It is rather a gentle if persistent knock upon the door of every living human soul. Brother, sister, we are still here, holding this space for you, for humanity, are you still there? I left the book and the film feeling a great deal more hope for us all.”
Walk for Darfur fundraiser
| May 12, 2007 | ||
| 9:00 am | to | 1:00 pm |
Darfur Diaries Education Project fundraiser
Philadelphia, PA
Springside School
Carey Entrance of the Vare Field House
Cost: $5.00 per person. Donations welcome!
Walk: 2 1/4 mile loop on trails through the Wissahickon.
Home
Darfur Diaries: Message from Home
In October, 2004 three activists snuck across the Sudanese border into rebel-held territory to document the atrocities in Darfur. They returned with some of the first footage exposing the massive war crimes being perpetrated by the Sudanese government.
“Let us use [Darfur Diaries] as a wake-up call.” – Paul Rusesabagina
The Filmmakers
Aisha Bain is the Asia Program Associate at Global Rights: Partners for Justice, where she works on women’s rights in India and environmental rights in Mongolia. She completed her Masters degree in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program in the School of International Service with a concentration in Human Rights at American University. Before arriving at AU, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar and traveled throughout much of the Horn of Africa. She served as Deputy Director at the Center for the Prevention of Genocide where she worked extensively investigating and reporting the massacres in Darfur and Northern Uganda, and lobbying for international action. She has also conducted extensive field research in human trafficking in South East Asia in summer 2004.
The Education Project
The “Darfur Diaries” team is committed that a portion of funds raised through the film and book go directly back to the people of Darfur, especially those in the communities where they filmed.
Why education?
From meeting and talking to dozens of Darfurians, the filmmakers found that Darfurians hold education for their children as one of their highest priorities. In fact, refugees in the camps chose not to wait for the UN to establish schools; they started their own. For that reason Darfur Diaries is partnering with Darfur Peace & Development Organization (DPADO) to support education in the destroyed villages where the documentary was filmed, starting with Muzbat.
