My name is Malcolm Harris and I am the founder of Designers for Darfur (DFD). DFD is an organization I co-founded approximately four years ago in order to bring awareness to the ongoing genocide taking place in Darfur. As you can imagine, my frustration with trying to keep this crisis on the minds and in the hearts of others during these very difficult times has often been overwhelming and daunting to say the least… Somehow, today your blog post showed up on our “Google Alert” and after reading the above, I will admit I was moved in such a magical and powerful way and therefore I felt compelled to reach out to you….

Tavi, during this upcoming NY Fashion Week we will be commemorating our third anniversary of Designers for Darfur and I would love to find a way to get you as well as POP involved.

Please feel free to check out our initiatives to date via our YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/designersfordarfur) as well as our website (http://www.designersfordarfur.org).

I really hope to hear from you (or one of your colleagues) at your earliest possible convenience.

Best regards,

Malcolm Harris
Designers for Darfur
mharris@designersfordarfur.com

Just this past fall, President Obama announced a multilateral plan to help combat the genocide in Darfur. And, yes, he used the ‘G’ word. Politicians no longer are as afraid as they once were of incurring al-Bashir’s wrath by insulting his regime. Moreover, another aspect of the plan is a different kind of economic sanction which, as mentioned in the Council on Foreign Relations in September, would freeze the Sudanese elites’ access to their bank accounts. This in turn would put pressure on the elite to insist on a government overhaul in order to get access to their bank accounts again. This can be done, and this IS going to help the situation in Darfur. We can’t change the situation in Sudan; it’s up to the Sudanese to do the work for us. If we do it, it will just become another colony as others have mentioned in their comments. The change has to be INTERNAL; we can only help it happen.

Furthermore, you mention the deplorable conditions in the region. This was mainly true a couple years ago, or even just one year ago. Now the situation has calmed down tremendously and international aid agencies and other NGO’s are getting more access to help with the displaced refugees in Darfur and the neighboring Chad.

Another thing is the ICC warrant for al-Bashir’s arrest. The reason this has been such a failure is through no fault of the international community. It’s a flaw of the court itself. By definition, courts can only try things retroactively and once the law enforcement brings the criminals to them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like al-Bashir is going to come waltzing into the ICC of his own accord anytime soon.

Additionally, the main problem in Sudan is not Darfur anymore- it’s southern Sudan. Souther Sudan is another Darfur waiting to happen. But this time, we have the potential to stop it before it happens. The conflict in the southern area stems from the South’s desire to break away from the North and form their own country, much like during the American Civil War. Unfortunately, the North doesn’t seem amenable to the South breaking away given that the South is oil-rich. This has led to a slew of riots accross the region, and things are only going to get worse as the referendum scheduled draws closer and closer.

The problem is exactly what you mentioned yourself- people don’t know about what is going on in Sudan right now. Hopefully, the readers you inspire will understand the current situation and act to not only aid Darfur but also stave off another potential crisis. The situation in Darfur is getting better. Now we just have to make sure the atrocity is repeated in the South.

Granted, not everyone has the luxury or time to travel to these places and help out in person, it is interesting for me to note from personal experience how easy it is to distance oneself in such issues. I used to live in Johannesburg and just doing community service for our high school in impoverished neighborhoods was an eye opener. Then I would find it laughable how the media would portray the same area to its viewers sitting somewhere in the U.S or Europe.

When I moved to Canada for university and then to London, I realized how easy it was for me to become disconnected as well. Having worked with Aids orphans, built houses for people living in shacks, it was easy to forget all that when I moved to countries where the most pressing issue for an individual was getting to the line at “X” store on time to be one of the first to get the latest shoe or phone.

We can only hope as well that politicians come to their senses and stop avoiding certain issues because it does not benefit their policies or they are afraid to say the “G” word.

With regard to China – Sudan is not the only poor nation that China has targeted in recent years. It is my earnest wish that more people can talk less about the severity of poverty and take more action against global poverty and the threat of climate change. I commend Tavi for this article and hope that it inspires others.

The same thing is also happening in Haiti, out of sight and out of mind. As long as the public doesn’t see it, nor hear about it they don’t care because they have been conditioned to believe it’s not their problem. When humanity suffers because of our indifference, we all suffer in some way, so it is our problem!

Our wonderful media should project these images into our homes to remind us of our duties as our brothers keepers, but instead they’d rather broadcast half-truths, celebrity garbage and their own sense of political hate and call it news. I for one will not watch the news because of this.

I look at the suffering that this continent has had to endure for centuries and always questioned why? Why treat other’s the way that you would not want to be treated? Why exclude them from the worlds stage of opportunities? Is Africa only good to pilfer for it’s natural wealth and only enrich the West while they starve, too poor to buy gas and die while taking it?

Many people are blinded by their hatred of other people that they don’t have the sense to see that their being used by the wealthy elite, who use terms as dictator, communism, socialism and liberalism to rob the rest of the world because of their greed. When something needs to be justified in favor of the wealthy elite all they have to do is deceive the people and they fall for it every time… not me.

It’s sad that the majority of people have no idea of the actual power they possess, but are too afraid to use it to help others and change lives. China is now in Sudan, will they become the new colonizers as the rest have? Will they use their new position as a global leader to exploit the Sudanese people? America is now placing bases in Africa, something they haven’t had for years, why the military presence now? Russia is now in business with Nigeria for oil, where will this leave the people of Nigeria? Will their search for oil destroy the nation? Deforestation creates floods and arid conditions and no one can grow food in these conditions.

Africa is one of those continents that the rest of the world likes to use as a dumping ground for what they don’t want and can’t use. I could go on about what I see what is done to the poor in the world, but I won’t. No one is that blind to see that Africa is often isolated, excluded and ignored by the rest of the world.

Do you actually think those Somalian pirates are robbing and holding those ships hostages to impress women as the media has told the masses? If you had no way to make a living, you’d take up survival techniques also. This is what people do when they are desperate and are shut out. If you’ve never witnessed these conditions, you’d never know about them, so people often take the media as the expert and believe every lie told to them.

I’ve got to give it to younger Africans for now self-defining to the world about Africans and about Africa because the WEST has been lying about the continent since they stepped foot on the continent.

Stay involved and use your platform to get others involved, nothing happens until people take action and mean it. I could go on about what is done to the poor in the world, but everyone already knows this, but live in the 51st State called Denial, USA.

Merry Christmas everybody.