Previous News and Updates
Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur

Watch "This is Darfur: Guisma's Story" from Stop Genocide Now.
Host a screening of "The Last Survivor" - This powerful, engaging and positive experience is now available from the producers for a low screening rate. The producers will provide the dvd and supporting materials.  With the film as the draw, you can distribute action materials, have a follow up panel, give visibility to worthy charities, and/or include speakers connected with the film.  If interested, send an email to SaveDarfurMA@gmail.com.

Genocide is the culmination of a long and tragic process that begins with local prejudice and discrimination.  With that in mind, the film’s powerful and lasting message is that we each have an obligation not only to remember those who have perished, but to fight genocide wherever it exists and to take steps to prevent it by taking a stand and getting involved within our own communities.  This film offers a unique opportunity for education by surveying multiple mass atrocities through four individuals and reminding us of the universal lessons to be learned and the need to create a collective voice.
To see the trailer and for more info on the film, go to http://thelastsurvivor.com/

The Last Survivor is a character-based, feature-length documentary that explores the idea of genocide in the 21st century. Following the lives of survivors of four different genocides and mass atrocities - The Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur, and Congo - the film presents the stories of Survivors and their struggle to make sense of the tragedy by working to educate, motivate and promulgate a civic response to mass atrocity crimes. Offering real world examples of Survivors who have become powerful agents of change, The Last Survivor presents a unique opportunity to learn from the lessons and mistakes of our past in order to have lasting social impact on how we act collectively in the face of similar issues today.
April 1, 2011: Press release and open letter from Sudan activists asking Senate to block Gration's confirmation to Kenya post, citing "missteps" and "failures in diplomacy" in Sudan.
December 13: Dane Smith was announced as the new senior U.S. diplomat for Darfur.  This appointment has been a key "ask" of Sudan activists.  Read the press release from Sudan Now applauding the appointment.
December 10: Congratulations to Sarah Cleto Rial on receiving the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights to Boston-based Sarah Cleto Rial. A native of southern Sudan, Sarah Cleto Rial is the program director for My Sister's Keeper, a Boston-based Non Governmental Organization that works to advance political, social and economic justice for women and girls in Sudan.  Watch Sarah and Secretary Clinton at the presentation. Read the article in the Boston Globe. To learn more about My Sister's Keeper, visit mskeeper.org.
November 30: Investors Against Genocide testified at the House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade.  IAG proposed transparency and disclosure rules to empower investors to be able to choose to avoid connections, through their mutual funds, to the worst human rights abuses.  Read the testimony or watch the video here.
November 26: Read Eric Reeves' Compromising with Khartoum: Abyei and the Perils of Accommodation
November 24: Read Maggie Fick's Why a Free Southern Sudan Is Bad News for Darfur
November 19: Read Morton Abramovvitz's Focus on Sudan's political referendum obscures trouble in Darfur
November 11: Read Richard Williamson's How Obama Betrayed Sudan
October 19: Advocacy Groups Urge UNSC to Ensure Security and Protect Human Rights in Sudan
September 29: Rights Groups Laud Senate Architects of Legislation to Promote Peace and Stability in Sudan
September 29: Read Nick Kristof's Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold
September 28: The House of Representatives passed H. Res. 1588 calling on the Administration to carry out its U.S. Sudan policy announced a year ago with the goal of providing security to Darfur and fully implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005
September 24: Advocacy Groups Praise Obama Administration’s High-Level Engagement and Leadership on Sudan, Call for Intensified Diplomatic Efforts on Darfur, Justice, Human Rights
September 24: President Obama Attends Ministerial Meeting on Sudan, video and transcript
September 24: Read Eric Reeves' Khartoum’s Electoral Strategy (or How to 'Fix' a Referendum)
September 20: Read Bec Hamilton's Detained in Khartoum
September 14: State Department statement on Intensifying Diplomacy in the Lead up to the Referenda in Sudan
August 10: Read The End of a Peacekeeping Presence in Darfur? by Eric Reeves.
July 22: Activists sent an open letter to President Obama and leading members of his administration, saying the “administration appears to be AWOL on the U.S. Sudan policy, having abandoned it at a crucial time in Sudan’s history.” The groups ask that the administration fix the policy in four specific areas as outlined in the recent report by the Enough Project titled, “What’s Wrong with U.S. Policy Toward Sudan, and How to Fix It.”  Click here to see the letter and sign-ons.
June 10: Activists ask President Obama to unequivocally support the ICC's arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan. The Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur joined activist leaders around the country in signing the letter, delivered to President Obama, the Office of the Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, and the US Mission to the UN. Click here to see the letter and sign-ons.
May 26: Darfuris in US publish letter expressing "gravest concern regarding the suffering of our people back home in Darfur."

Unitarian Universalist Association's Board of Trustees announced their unanimous decision to end their 10 year relationship with Fidelity and move their $178 million retirement accounts to TIAA-CREF in order to be genocide-free. Read more here.

May 6: Click here to read Enough's report card showing the failing grades on benchmarks for progress for Sudan.
May 5: Rep. Frank Wolf calls for change of course on Sudan. Sudan activists around the country issue press release supporting Wolf.  “It is far past time for the Administration to implement the policy that was announced five months ago which stated that benchmarks would be applied to Sudan based on verifiable changes in conditions on the ground with disincentives applied for backsliding or lack of progress...Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Rice should directly oversee the implementation of that policy.”
Rights Activists Describe Sudanese Elections as Rigged, say U.S. Not Tough Enough, VoA, April 14, 2010.
Watch "Sudan elections - free and fair?"
Activists ask President Obama to replace Special Envoy Gration, February 17, 2010.  Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur joined activist organizations and Sudanese expatriates from across the country in an open letter to President Obama calling on him to relieve Special Envoy to Sudan, Major General Scott Gration, of his duties and assign the Sudan portfolio to experienced diplomats in the State Department with the active oversight of Secretary Clinton.  
Click here to see the letter, sign-ons, and press coverage.
American Funds divests PetroChina in victory for genocide-free investing, February 17, 2010. 
Click here to read more from Investors Against Genocide.

Three million Darfuris are displaced in camps, and time is running out to fulfill the terms of the CPA for South Sudan. The warning signs are clear:
- "Millions could miss Sudan elections" - Reuters, December 1, 2009
- "Abyei: Bashir wants it all" - Roger Winter, November 27, 2009
- "Sudan at the flash point" - Eric Reeves, November 24, 2009
- "What to do about Sudan now" - John Prendergast, November 20, 2009

Click here to read "President Obama's immediate Sudan challenge," by John Prendergast, John Norris, Jerry Fowler, from January 22.

Click here to read "Obama, Darfur, and ICC Justice, We must stand up to Sudan's shocking threats," by Eric Reeves from November 24.

Click here to read the latest policy papers from ENOUGH at EnoughProject.org.

Massachusetts had a large contingent at the Gathering of the Tents of Hope

Over 300 Tents of Hope were arrayed on the National Mall in Washington DC on November 7-9

• DPDO has facilitated the shipment of tents plus clothing, school supplies, computers to Darfur. The container departed the US in early January and will arrive in Darfur approximately mid-February for distribution. Keep updated on delivery and distribution at DPDO's blog.
• Visit TentsOfHope.org to see pictures and links to photo albums.