‘Never again, again,’ say Jews at Darfur rallyFOCUS ON ISSUES/JTA.org
Never again, again: Jewish groups
and individuals fuel Darfur protests
By Rachel Silverman and David Silverman

     WASHINGTON, April 30 (JTA) — Some, like Seattle resident Julie Margulies, 50, flew thousands of
miles to the nation’s capital to attend. Others, like high-school student Adam Zuckerman, 18, from Portland, Maine,
raised money to help bring friends — both Darfuri and Jewish — to Washington for the big day.
     Toting signs of “Never again, again” and “Not on our watch,” Jews representing Hillel groups and day
schools, synagogues and youth groups, community centers, Hadassah chapters and all denominations came from
around the country to the National Mall in Washington for Sunday’s Save Darfur rally.
     With the genocide in Darfur topping the Jewish community’s national agenda, an unmistakable Jewish
presence ran through Sunday’s rally. Organized by the Save Darfur Coalition, a collection of 150 faith-based
advocacy and humanitarian aid organizations initiated by two Jewish agencies, the roster of speakers included
Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel; Ruth Messinger, president of the American Jewish World Service; and Rabbi David
Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Read more

A glorious spring day in Washington, D.C. met tens of thousands–maybe more–in front of the U.S. Capitol.  It was a quintessential Jewishly-framed event, based on the values expressed, the tone, and the demonstrators.  A success of Jewish community organizing means that Darfur finally made its way into enough mainstream Jewish organizations as a key public policy issue.  Yet the fact that I would guess half the audience was not Jewish also means that there is much work to be done to have the constituencies of the various speakers from the stage come forward and mobilize as well.

But perhaps the mix is the right mix. 

Today the Sudanese government, racing against the African Union deadline, accepted the framework of the proposed peace process for Darfur.  This was announced by Def Jam records CEO Russel Simmons, who followed Rabbi Schneir, who rekindled the black-Jewish coalition publicly. 

My teacher Elie Wiesel was one of the first speakers and his on-going support for the Darfur issue and actions is noteworthy and legitimized for many Jews Darfur as a Jewish issue.  (He was nice to come over and say hello to my daughter, Aliza, 13 and pose for a picture). 

Rabbi David Saperstein’s speech got the crowd going with his haunting, “I have a nightmare…” mantra, beautifully and powerfully evoking King’s speech.  When Susan and I arrived this morning in DC, we took the kids (went with the oldest three) and our Ethiopian babysitter from Israel to the Lincoln Memorial, had them each stand on the spot where King spoke and gave their own short rendition of “I have a dream…” 

The kids were eagerly star-struck by George Clooney being there and were thrilled when at the end they snuck into the press area under the BabagaNewz and Jvibe press cover to say hello and pause for a picture.  Clooney, just back with his journalist dad from visiting Darfur, spoke powerfully and also helps legitimize an issue like Darfur in the public imagination.  The role of celebrity in moblization is a development that is positive and especially when it is non-Jewish celebrities for non-Jewish causes that advance a Jewishly inspired social justice agenda. 

Let’s see if the media bounce comes; there were plenty of cameras set up opposite the podium with Congress in the background.

Nice to see the Yeshiva University delegation with signs, as well as the Reform movement t-shirts and the Young Judaeans and others. The T shirts were great, both Jewish and human rights one. 

The Chinese human rights protestors were also leafleting and pointed out that Sudan’s government–one of the worst in the world–were buying Chinese weapons and there was some sort of oil connection.  The globalization of human rights concerns must be met with globalization of strategies to influence world events, especially to put a stop to genocide.

More later; let’s see how the press plays it.

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