Today was the London marathon. But at just after midday, before the streets started to fill with hundreds of shivering, traumatized-looking people cloaked in silver foil, the area around Pall Mall got busy anyway. Because today was also the fifth Global Day for Darfur. As I walked towards the Sudanese Embassy on Cleveland Row, I had no idea how many people would be there; it had been raining when I set off and somehow Sunday lunchtime didn’t seem prime-protest time. Getting closer, a hum of noise became audible, and on turning the corner I was pleased to note my cynicism had been misplaced: approximately 3,000 people had gathered outside the Sudanese Embassy, and would protest for two hours despite sporadic bursts of torrential rain, a slightly dodgy sound system and not even being allowed to move around much to keep warm (we were penned in to allow the road itself to still be used as a thoroughfare).
Jonathan Freedland, the quite brilliant Guardian columnist, stood at the front to introduce a range of speakers including Nick Clegg (“I would not want to denigrate the rhetorical efforts of Gordon Brown, but I am afraid people want to see action rather than more rhetoric”), two Rwandan survivors, a Holocaust survivor and three religious leaders: Henry Grunwald QC (Chair of the Jewish Leadership Council), a Muslim Imam and Giles Fraser, Vicar of Putney.
I spoke to some of the protestors.
This is Aisha, a 29 year old Darfurian refugee: “I have come today to put pressure on our government to stop killing the children of Darfur. I fled from the war three years ago. I saw many children dying, many people living in refugee camps, completely dependent on aid organisations, starvation everywhere.
“We want a ceasefire and we want stability so that those people who are in the refugee camps can go back to their villages and start rebuilding society.”
I also spoke to Mushmt and his 12-year-old nephew Sharif, who came to Britain two years ago. Mushmt said he was protesting because: “Too many people have already died. I want the government to stop the killing”. Sharif added: “I am safe here but my family, my cousins are still in Sudan and I worry about them.”
Henry Grunwald reminded the crowds that by failing to act in the Sudan the world had betrayed its “never again” postwar promise: “We, as Jews, feel a particular affinity for what is happening in Darfur. Why? Because sixty years ago there was a genocide in Europe and the rest of the world stood by and allowed it to happen. We must make sure the world doesn’t stand by now. We must write to our MPs, and ask them to put pressure on the government to make sure the UN peacekeeping force happens.”
The BBC have a good summary of the situation in Darfur if you want more info. And if you’d like to write to your MP, you can do it here.
In the meantime, here’s some good news. Maybe Gordon Brown had a premonition of Clegg’s line of attack; maybe he just rediscovered the moral compass we’ve heard so much about. The important thing is, he’s offered to host peace talks for Darfur here in Britain.
[...] understanding and knowledge?” It’s a poignant line to hear in our own age, the age of Darfur and Iraq and mass rape in the [...]