Stepping up protest at four years of killing
As day breaks on Thursday morning, three days ahead of the third ‘Global Day for Darfur’ – set to see rallies and demonstrations in over 300 cities worldwide calling for an end to the crisis – survivors from the Holocaust to Darfur will be joined by university students at Oakington on the outskirts of Cambridge to start a 75-mile march to Whitehall, timed to join the main UK rally at midday on Sunday.
The march – in memory of up to 400,000 Africans killed in the past four years of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, and in solidarity with more than 2.5 million displaced after the destruction of their homes – will launch ‘Walk4Darfur’.
“We’re walking to show world leaders we expect them to act on their promises,” says Grace Walker, Publicity Officer for Aegis Students. “By starting this march from Oakington, where Darfuri survivors are still held at the Immigration Removal Centre, we’re also protesting their shameful treatment by the British Government – which still wants to send them back to Sudan.”
“The concept of ‘Walk4Darfur’ is very simple,” says Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, responsible for launching the initiative. “Individuals everywhere can log onto Walk4Darfur.org and register their commitment to regularly walk a certain distance– at least a mile a week – to protest four years of inaction over Darfur, until the crisis is ended.
“Wearing campaign T-shirts to show why they’re walking, it creates all kinds of possibilities for people to shape street protest about the Darfur crisis, and to make protest a part of their daily or weekly routine. It also offers a platform for visible protest about mass atrocities in Darfur to spread organically and increase in scale until the crisis is brought to and end.”
"I have been to Sudan. I love the country and its people, and as a Holocaust survivor I am horrified that the world was inactive over the Rwandan genocide and is now virtually inactive over the genocide in Darfur,” says Dr Martin Stern. “That’s why I’m taking part in the march on London– and why I’ll be committing to walking five miles a week, every week, until the Darfur crisis is stopped. I urge anyone reading this, who cares about the people of Darfur, to join me."
“After my village was destroyed in 2004, I had to walk five days to find someone who could help me,” says Abdo Yahya, a Darfuri survivor taking part in the ‘walk4Darfur’ march. “I had lost my whole family. My father and sister were dead. My wife, seven months pregnant, was killed. My mother, brother and son, today I still don’t know where they are. I walked through village after village, deserted and burned to the ground. Today, I’m still walking that journey, and I’m still appealing for asylum in the UK. All I want is peace to return home. And then maybe, if God is willing, I will see my son again.”
Walk4Darfur is open to the partnership and participation of individuals and organizations anywhere in the world. Confirmed partners at time of release include Aegis Students, Darfur Union UK, the Union of Jewish Students, and People Against Injustice (PAIN) Gambia.
For more information and to buy 'walk4Darfur' t-shirts visit www.walk4darfur.org.
