Talk:Darfur
Population estimates?
Anybody got some? I hear about the numbers of people killed in the conflict and don't know how to relate it to the totals in the region. Even rough estimates would be good if hard numbers are not available.
external links
seriously, who put these in here? some of them are useful, some are ludicrous, but why the hell don't they just have the name of the site?
what it is
Wohoo! More black people killing each other! Perhaps natural selection will work this time!
Or perhaps you should just import them to los angeles where they would make nice additions to the gangs over there and detroit.
Umajilash 22:53, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
data removed 1
This was removed, why?
According to Ben Cohen, of truemajority.org (http://www.truemajority.org/darfur_webcast.cfm):
" Over the last several months, a government-backed Arab militia in Sudan called the Janjuweed has been attacking black Africans. The Janjuweed tactics are crude but effective. They enter a village and use terror to force everyone to leave their homes and crops. Entire populations have fled to distant camps in the middle of desolate areas. These desert camps are now surrounded and controlled by the Janjuweed, and anyone who tries to leave is raped or killed. Unarmed international aid workers are turned away. A total of 370,000 human beings are already dead or in the late stages of dying from starvation in these extermination camps. The death toll could reach 1 million within the next few months.
Time is our worst enemy. Every day 1,000 people are dying in these camps. Currently, starvation is taking the weakest—70% of the dead are children five and under. As time goes on, the death toll will rise more quickly. The United States needs to ensure that food aid is brought to the people of Darfur with protection from an international military force. Congress has already allocated tens of millions of dollars for this mission and seems willing to allocate millions more if needed. The problem is that the Bush administration is unwilling to take the decisive action needed to make sure the food aid is safely delivered to those who need it most. Instead, they are calling on the corrupt Sudanese government to disarm their allies, the Janjuweed, and allow the food aid in. To pressure the Sudanese government, the Bush administration is talking about using sanctions, a process that will take months—long enough to kill everyone currently starving in the camps. That is why it is crucial that Congress speaks out now." Ben Cohen (truemajority.org and Ben and Jerry's ice cream)
Because:
- Ben Cohen is not a primary source. He's never even been to Darfur. Human Right Watch have, and are.
- It's inappropriately POV (please read Wikipedia:Tutorial (Keep in mind)), especially the bits about Bush, which are in any case irrelevant to an international audience.
- Its statistics - in particular the 370,000 claim - disagree with everything else I've been able to find; does he know better than the aid organizations who are actually in Darfur?
And finally, I do not appreciate being accused of "censoring any substance regarding Janjuweed attacks on Blacks in the Sudan" after having written most of Darfur conflict myself. - Mustafaa 05:22, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
they are trying to silence us
Fatima Aisha Mohammad (Darfur refuge, former schoolteacher, age 46),
from a Washington Post article:
"Very frankly, they selected us ladies and had what they wanted with us, like you would a wife," said Mohammad, 46, who has five children. "I am humiliated. Always they said, 'You are nothing. You are abid (a racial epithet). You are too black.' It was disgusting."
During a recent visit, government minders warned people at the school to stop talking about the rapes or face beatings or death. Minders also were seen handing out bribes to keep women from speaking to foreign visitors. But those at the school spoke anyway. A group of people handed a journalist two letters in Arabic that listed 40 names of rape victims, and wanted the list to be sent to Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) of Kansas and Rep. Frank R. Wolf of Virginia, Republicans who were touring the region and pressing the government to disarm the Janjaweed.
"I was sad. I am now very angry. Now they are trying to silence us. And they can't," Mohammad said. "What will people think of all of us out here? That we did this to ourselves? People will know the truth about what is happening in Darfur."
"Black" and "African"
I would like to raise two points:
1) What is meant by the word "African" applied to the non-Arabic speaking tribes? Does it refer to the color of their skin, to their language, or what? The word originally meant people of north Africa, who were not black.
2) I have heard that the so-called "Arabs" of Darfur are actually "black" as well. So shouldn't the word "black" be deleted from the part about the conflict?
From what I have read, the people on the two sides are more or less the same color and have the same religion.
EricK 11:28, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)
A lot of it has to do with the terms people use to refer to each other. Many of the nomadic tribes call the Fur "blacks" (we won't go into the more derogatory terms) and themselves "Arabs." Although a few of the "Arabs" are slightly lighter-skinned, there is probably very little true Arab lineage involved (I think it's more a cultural thing). On the other hand, not all Arabs are janjaweed and some janjaweed are not Arab. I find it easier to just talk about men on camels and horses with big guns. Bold text
Good jumping off point for more info on Darfur. I thouht that the media's good/bad guy sloganeering was probably bull. I liked one comment " why are us Jews getting involved in this - black Muslim against black Muslim"( a paraphrase) - is wiki Jewish?( I don't have one of those huge dictionaries