Students today chose to come out to lay together in a somber show of solidarity designed to raise awareness on campus about the current situation in Darfur.
Rand Nashi, a member of MASSPIRG working on the Save Darfur campaign, explained that her group came up with the idea of staging yesterday's "die-in" collectively during one of their previous meetings.
Nashi, 18, is a freshman at UMass and organized the die-in, which she described as a symbolic gesture.
"We want to meet our goal of representing .01 percent of the 400,000 who have been killed so far; we want 400 people to come lay on the lawn today so we can demonstrate what a mere .01 percent looks like," she said.
"The word simply isn't getting out," Nashi explained. She went on to describe the strategy of the rather morbid "silent protest" as being primarily "to catch their [students'] eye, then to educate them, and finally, to fundraise."
Stephanie Aines, 21, is a senior at UMass and is the Massachusetts Outreach Coordinator for the national Student Anti-Genocide Coalition known as STAND. The local MASSPIRG Save Darfur campaign is coordinating their next fundraiser, DarfurFAST, with STAND.
The purpose of the fast event, scheduled for Dec. 5, is to encourage students to give up a small luxury they enjoy for only one day, and to donate the money they would have spent on that luxury to one of the collection centers that will be located on campus that day.
MASSPIRG member Robert Weed, 19, is a sophomore at UMass who participated in yesterday's die-in. He explained that what you give up for the day can be anything, but should be something you truly enjoy. When asked what he plans to give up on December 5th, Weed grimaced.
"I can easily give up meals," he explained. "But as a symbol, I'm going to have to give up my one true vice - cigarettes."
Aines said that the fast fundraising goal for UMass is $10,000 this year. According to Aines, the money raised will be donated to the Genocide Intervention Network (GIN), a global non-profit organization.
GIN will invest the proceeds in three things: more efficient woodstoves, fostering marketable income-generating activities such as raising livestock and funding firewood patrols, sometimes led by members of U.N. Peacekeeping Forces, to accompany women when leaving the camps.
Aines explained that all of these things can be provided at a relatively low cost, even for a college student.
"Just think," she said. "For the cost of a Starbucks latte or half a pack of cigarettes, a woman in Darfur can live free from the fear of being raped or murdered for one full year."
The conflict in the Sudan has been a protracted one, having begun in 2003. One of the groups to whom many violent acts against women have been attributed is the Janjaweed, a militia group whose name translates from Arabic to "devil on horseback." The Sudanese government, despite denying so publicly, is suspected by many in the international community to have provided money and assistance to the Janjaweed.
STAND's website claims that the violence in Darfur has been publicly recognized by the United States government as a genocide for over three years, and many present yesterday feel that we are not doing enough to stop the murders from continuing.
Students participating in yesterday's die-in evidently share this opinion. One held a sign she had made that read "400,000 dead, 2.5 million displaced, 10,000 dying every month."
This individual sense of urgency has also taken the form of increased visibility of the cause of helping Darfur among campus RSOs, some of which are beginning to coordinate and work together on events.
Yesterday at the table for the die in, members of the African Students Association were present to show their support. UMass sophomore and ASA Vice President Ngozi Mbawuike explained, "This is our first collaboration with MASSPIRG, but we are hoping to build a working relationship, and do bigger things together next semester."
Felix Okonkwo, Senior and President of the ASA elaborated, articulating the group's plans to host a panel discussion and a candlelight vigil next semester.
The Hillel House recently wrapped up its annual "Challah for a Dolla" sale, which its website describes as being intended to "raise money and awareness to end the genocide in Darfur."
Aines explained that even students who are too busy to join MASSPIRG or make a steady time commitment to events like those just described have the power to change things in the Sudan. "Talking to your Senators and Congressman, finding out who they are and actually writing to them about this. It's so powerful," Aines insisted.
The Save Darfur campaign is only one initiative of the University's MASSPIRG chapter, which has 134 members. Students interested in working to end the genocide in Darfur are encouraged to attend general MASSPIRG meetings, Tuesdays at 6 p.m. in Machmer W-22, and are also welcome at the Darfur Campaign meetings at 8 p.m., also on Tuesdays, in the Blue Wall.
Katrina Cessna can be reached at kcessna@student.umass.edu.
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