“The first question is something immediate — and immediately, we need humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world...”
-Amal Alamuddin’s husband, George Clooney, before being arrested in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC, March 2012.
On August 1, 2024 famine was officially declared in the Darfur region of Sudan. In the Zamzam camp approximately 755,000 human beings are in the last stages of dying from lack of food.
Unlike the genocide in Darfur of 12 years ago, the current crisis is not the sole responsibility of a power-mad government and its armed forces. Nor is it even the shared responsibility of two separate factions who, in an attempt to claim control, have unleashed the very worst of demons upon the already wracked civilian population. Given the fact that little more than a mere decade ago the horrors befalling Sudan had managed to puncture even the hermetically self-involved bubble of Hollywood to such a degree that people were willing to (gasp!) educate themselves and (gasp! gasp!) act selflessly, and that in the last calendar year there have been more than enough very dire, very clear, very passionate warnings from a flotilla of INGOs, government officials, activists, and even the odd journalist, I would proffer that the ultimate responsibility lands squarely in the lap of all of us.
Every single person living in a country that has access to a free press, the free exchange of information and the free expression of the individual voice as a means to move its representative government is responsible for a degree of pain and suffering that is, as you read this, consuming the entire scope of momentary existence for hundreds of thousands of children: every ghastly labored breath, every tiny palpitated heartbeat, every rattled, aching moan and every moment of every mother’s seething heartbreak as she watches her baby slide from the world, her own body so ravaged and broken as to be unable to feed from herself.
We own this.
Since the start of the most recent atrocities in Sudan, the world has been willingly, willfully, gleefully distracted and uninterested in this nightmare. Why? How?
Is it as simple as a failure of journalism? Yes and no. A significant stroll through the soon to be defunct CNN Opinion section will reveal that there are far more pieces on the socio-political impact of the “Barbie” movie (and exactly none of them recognizing what actually makes the response to that film interesting; that the tediously uncreative business school drones that now run Hollywood’s take away was “let’s make more movies about toys!” rather than “let’s make more stories helmed by intelligent and talented women!”.), the psycho-emotional impact of Influencer Culture on the young (if a 15 minute doom scrolling session on your kid’s feed isn’t enough to tell you that it is catastrophically poisonous, no op-ed will save you), the daily exasperated parade of the R/D confederacy of dunces, and a plethora of hatchet-job dissections of what passes for American Culture than there is about the suffering of fellow humans in countries remote. The same is near universally true of every news site outside of echo-chamber NGO and policy trade publications.
But to that point, it isn’t as if the information isn’t out there. It very much is. And provided with extraordinary skill by any number of great activists, professionals and journalists. In the same amount of time it takes you to get to and digest the plate of retch heaved into your maw by at minimum 10 of the top 16 websites visited by US consumers (and I am being extremely generous here, only you, the NSA and 20 other alphabet agencies know what your search engine history looks like) you could very easily get and digest vitally important information.
But to what end, you might ask, should I expose myself to these stories of unhinged brutality, psychotic sexual violence and unblinking infanticide? Simply, because you must. We cannot claim any of the benefits of the enlightenment and remain barbarians. Not if we demand to be seen as evolved, courageous or possessed of a moral core. And should we be so callously willing to shrug these horrors off as somehow unattached to our business, nation, culture or humanity, then I submit that every erected monument to freedom, every Cross, Star of David, Crescent Moon and patch of consecrated earth be remanded to the control of the circus, specifically the clowns, who will make much better use of it.
Setting aside the moral and humanist imperative, you need to understand these realities because your attainment of this knowledge, by itself, has impact. Mass media follows traffic. If the numbers on these stories go up, they will be given more coverage. The more coverage, the more often politicians are asked questions, the more uncomfortable questions the more likely movement will happen. We have at our disposal, in the United States alone, everything necessary to alleviate the imminent death by starvation of hundreds of thousands and the looming fatal famine of tens of millions of Sudanese. We only lack — at every level, from individual to governmental — the care. How grotesque. How shameful.
According to the World Health Organization, 15 million Sudanese require urgent health assistance for their survival — this in a country with only 25% of its healthcare facilities operational. 25.6 million Sudanese (or, for reference, EVERY PERSON in the states of Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Idaho, Nevada, Iowa, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, Vermont, Delaware, Maine and Rhode Island) are suffering with crisis levels of hunger, a mere step removed from famine. The respected Dutch organization Clingendael Institute has estimated that at least 2.5 million human beings could die from starvation by September if immediate steps are not taken to provide serious aid.
Front line medical workers in Sudan are reporting that both the Sudanese Armed Forces and their rivals the Rapid Support Forces have raped women in front of their children and husbands, gang-raped girls as young as nine, with a significant proportion of victims being girls under the age of 18.
This is what we know nothing, care nothing, do nothing about.
The how and what to do is the work of governments; this is why we as free citizens entrust them with the power of the national purse, diplomatic muscle and in the worst and last case scenario the force of military might. But none of that, none, will be willingly mobilized if the vox populi is not loud and direct.
The UN currently has an operational plan to care for 15 million people. The cost: $2.7 billion dollars. The amount funded: 1/3.
Obviously it isn’t as simple as money in coffers. The excruciating work of diplomacy must be engaged immediately and by people of great talent. Humanitarian workers must be given free and safe access and the way that the funding is allocated MUST be prioritized to organizations like War Child Canada and USA that have localization already built into their operations. You cannot heal these wounds from outside the sovereign body of the Sudanese people. Like an antibiotic, the help must be provided but the self must do the work. There is no other sustainable solution.
But we can have a role in delivering the solution. This is the action and through it lies the hope: use your platform, no matter how “small” you may think it is, to highlight the crisis in Sudan.
Post any and all of these links below from reputable organizations to help spread information and support. I have included text you can use as well. Below those you will find information on how to contact your representatives and text that you can read should you choose to call or copy/paste to email or add to comment sections on your representative’s social media.
This requires some consistent effort on your part. Consistent donations on a monthly basis to organizations like War Child Canada and USA, no matter how “small” you fear they are, I guarantee you make a HUGE difference. Consistent mentions to your representatives, make a huge difference. Consistently talking about this to your colleagues and friends and family, makes a huge difference. You, YOU, make a huge difference when you give of your time, your heart and your mind.
Please.
Sudan.
Sudan.
SUDAN.
DONATIONS
“Please join me in offering War Child a donation to continue their work in helping women and children who are suffering famine and brutality in #Sudan. A $5/ month recurring donation can do so much! Hope is here!
INFORMATION
“Please take a moment to watch this to understand what is happening in #Sudan and why we need to get the global community to help.
https://youtu.be/8TnSybPgiQs?feature=shared”
“Please take a moment to read this to understand what is happening in #Sudan and why we need to get the global community to help.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59035053”
CONTACTING REPRESENTATIVES
Email:
“Hello, my name is (your name). I am a constituent of (representative’s name).
Over 25.6 million people in Sudan are suffering from severe food insecurity and over 11 million have been displaced due to the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting has caused immense humanitarian suffering, triggering one of the world’s largest displacement crises as well as the world’s worst hunger crisis according to aid agencies. Massive increases in humanitarian funding are urgently needed to address this catastrophic situation and save millions from starvation and deprivation. Please tell (representative’s name) their constituents expect them to take immediate action.
If we are to believe (representative’s name) at their word, they are a person of conscience and ingenuity and I expect them to find room in various budget discussions, negotiations and emergency actions to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance in the name of our country’s commitment to security and human dignity. My future support depends on their action in this regard.
Best,
(Your name)”
Social media comment(s):
“How do you plan to help the over 25.6 million people starving to death in #Sudan and when will you take action?”
“Please increase our support for the UN #Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, which is only 1/3 funded. Tens of millions of lives depend on it.”
