Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Why should Americans care about human suffering in Africa? Why should you or I care?


Why should Americans care about human suffering in Africa? Why should you or I care?


I could give you a speech about how hard it is and how much we need to do but I'm just going to give you 3 good reasons why.

1) Preventing, suppressing and punishing genocide is moral. As a Nation and as individuals we cannot just sit by as innocent people are being killed, disfigured and forced out of their homes by acts of violence.

2)We made a promise to "Save Darfur"! It's not just a slogan or a cute button it's our commitment that we made . Even if other countries have decided to turn their backs or look away from the violence that's happening in places such as Dafur it doesn't allow us to walk away from what we said we would do.

3) Getting rid of genocide will make Americans and others safer. This is about creating a safer world for all the children and adults. Hate breeds hate. United together in the struggle for truth, justice and basic human rights we can win. We have done it before!

The voices are getting louder and stronger calling for action. These voices come from different sexes, races, religions, children, adults and many more. For us and for our future, to right the wrong we will not give up.

Despite what you hear/see on the news there are signs of progress. Even with all the heart break and tragedy there is good news coming from Africa each day. There has been movement away from dictatorship, towards democracy in some countries. Peace agreements have been made in countries that just a few years ago had been ripped apart. Liberia, Angloa, Rwanda and Burundi are just a few to be named that have made this movement.

The decisions we need to make to protect those who are suffering are clear, the sooner done more lives will be saved.

1 comment:

  1. Great post, Andrea! Americans do not even realize they fuel this war...

    For over a century, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been plagued by regional conflict and a deadly scramble for its vast natural resources. The greed for Congo’s wealth has been a principal driver of atrocities and conflict throughout Congo’s tortured history. In eastern Congo today, resources are financing multiple armed groups, many of whom use mass rape as a deliberate strategy to intimidate and drive the local population away from mines and other areas that they wish to control.

    Specifically, the conflict in eastern Congo - the deadliest since World War II - is fueled in significant part by a multi-million dollar trade in minerals. Armed groups generate an estimated $144 million each year[i] by trading four main minerals: the ores that produce the metals tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. This money enables the armed groups to purchase large numbers of weapons and continue their campaign of brutal violence against civilians, with some of the worst abuses occurring in mining areas. These materials eventually wind up in electronic devices, such as cell phones, portable music players, and computers, including those sold here in the United States.

    Given the lack of a transparent minerals supply chain, American consumers continue to indirectly finance armed groups that regularly commit atrocities and mass rape.

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