OUR VIEW: Students can help stop even genocide

On Thursday students gave Paul Rusesabagina a standing ovation simply for walking through the door. Students understood what he has done for the world even before he started talking. He is touring campuses across the country, trying to enlist the help of people the world over in the cause of saving his country and others from the horrors of genocide and dictatorships.

After the Holocaust and WWII, we swore we would “never again” allow something like that to happen. But it is happening and now we need to decide if we can allow this to continue. Rusesabagina’s dismay and utter disappointment in the West’s abandonment of his country was clear. It was his plea to help a country in current distress that caught our attention.

The world has turned a seemingly blind eye on the crisis in the Sudan. We can no longer sit back and hope it will blow over.

But nothing will happen unless we, as university students and voters, step up and tell our representatives that we want something done. And as students, we have a special political and social pull on the world unique to youth and activism.

President Bush has declared a war on terror. Whether or not Iraq, Iran or South Korea are where the United States should focus its efforts on the war on terror is debatable, with convincing arguments on both sides. However, terror is occurring right now in the Sudan – and other parts of Africa – people are being slaughtered. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell declared the crisis in the area a genocide.

The African Union has forces there, but they aren’t enough. If we want to see this terrorism stopped, we need to help.

Rusesabagina said education was the key to stop the conflicts in Africa. But it isn’t just about educating the people involved. It’s educating everybody around the world about the horrors that can and will occur if this conflict continues the way it is.

For those interested in taking Rusesabagina’s challenge to take action, we recommend the following Web sites (just a few of those available) to become more educated about conflict in the Sudan: www.genocideinterventionfund.org, www.beawitness.org, and www.darfurgenocide.org. These sites not only offer information, but ideas and strategies for getting involved.