Genocide survivors and more than 500 people gathered at City Hall on Sunday to protest the mass killings taking place in Darfur and call on China — one of the largest financial supporters of the Sudanese government — to cut ties in the region.
Protesters met at City Hall Plaza, where they capped the daylong Massachusetts Dream for Darfur campaign, during which representatives from 16 communities across the state participated in an Olympic torch-style relay in a display of peace when torch carriers combined their flames.
China, which will host the 2008 Olympic Games, is Sudan’s primary trade partner, diplomatic sponsor and weapons provider, according to SaveDarfur.org.
“You cannot sponsor a genocide in Africa and the Olympics at home,” said Dream for Darfur Director Jill Savitt, who said it will take global intervention to end the violence in Darfur.
“It will take a long time,” Savitt said. “Governments around the world have to step in and apply pressure for peace . . . There must be representation for all people in Darfur, not just the government and the rebels.”
Eric Cohen, co-chairman of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur, said it is time for the United States and United Nations take action in the region.
“The UN must step up and deliver a force that actually has some kind of power,” Cohen said. “The current force has no power to disarm. . . There needs to be a protection force with a strong mandate to protect the people.”
Survivors from the six worst genocides in the 20th Century — the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, the Srebenica massacre in Bosnia, the Rwandan genocide and the genocide in southern Sudan — each recounted the horrors they experienced and urged crowd members to fight to end the atrocities in Darfur.
Tensions rose during the rally when dissenting groups criticized the protesters’ efforts. Co-chairwoman of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur Sifa Nsengimana tried to calm the crowd.
“Let’s wave to our friends up there,” Nsengimana said, referring to the counter protesters. “They have the right to say what they want, so let’s just let them say it and keep our focus on the stage.”
She also urged students and young adults to take action by contacting politicians and voicing their concerns.
“Talk about it, raise awareness,and just make as much noise as possible,” she said. “The only way the authorities and the government will take action is if their constituents force them to.”
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