Small Letters & Postcards

Perhaps these help make a difference if they come in great numbers to a Congressmen's doorstep. Or perhaps they simply make you feel better about what you've done that day to help support your causes.

Either way, sometimes the small things count. Opportunities to send a simple postcard are endless. Find a fun one, add your own personal touch, stamp, write your address in a fun font or eye-catching handwritting style.

Send her off.

Banning Cluster Munitions

BAN CLUSTER MUNITIONS by 2008.

So Far: 75 Countries have signed the Treaty.

Is your country one of them?


To get in on the action: Visit the Human Rights Watch Website (Click the Link above or visit) http://hrw.org/campaigns/clusters/index.htm

Follow up needed.

Signing off. Our president is a 5 year old. Click for Link to a Reuters Op-ed.

I'm taking a small vacation to go see something new.. preferably without having any ability to check my email, the internet or listen to the radio.

Our president has reverted in age to that of a 5 year old. Name calling and pointing fingers at anyone but himself and his administration. And I'm so frustrated that there is nothing I can do to rectify his idiocy.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1555266720080216?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10010

In particular: Mr. Bush, aka the man running out country made these quotes:

"Because Congress failed to act, it will be harder for our government to keep you safe from terrorist attack," Bush said.

That's about as anti-productive as saying the Darfur conflict would end if Al-Bashir would just hold up his end of the bargain. Even in context, it makes no sense what so ever to make a comment such as this... We learned about "constructive critism" in 4th grade... and if you didn't go to school, your parents, mentors, employers.. someone would have taught you to say nothing all at if you couldn't say something nice.

And his second blasphemous comment:

Bush had offered to delay his Africa trip if House Democratic leaders would stay to enact "a good bill."

Instead, he [Bush] said, "House leaders chose politics over protecting the country -- and our country is at greater risk as a result."

Really? I'd prefer if he doesn't go to Africa, he'll just draw attention to the fact that the United States is a country of talk and no action filled more with lies and unkept promises of foreign aid.

However
There is something we can do. We can advocate. Write letters to our senators, to the president, to anyone who will listen and let the people who run this country know that it's citizens want action, not empty promises.

To the Future President of the United States. I hope.

In Progress.
Letter re: Darfur, Keep up your efforts and continue to pursue them strongly.

As the front runner for the Presidential Election. I find it incredibly important that someone of this nature has the power to stop the genocide in Darfur.

If you would like to write to HRC, the more pressure she recieves, the more important she'll realize that the United States does in fact have a moral and ethical obligation to stop this type of mass atrocity from continuing in a countries like Sudan and Chad. (Among many others, of course)


The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
United States Senate
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3203

Senators writing back। Read their letters here.

Click on the letters to enlarge them on your screen for easier reading.
It is interesting to note that only the senators responded to my letter. None of the House of Reps did. Of course, there may be a reason for this as one of the things that activists are warned against is sending the same letter to multiple people. Now I understand why.









Responses to my letter re: Darfur.

Two Responses, One from each of our current WA State Senators. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray. I thank them for their consideration in writing a return letter regarding my concerns.

United States Senate and House of Representatives.

The greatest country of them all. The United States of America and our faithful representatives that we elect in the freedom of our own democratic nation. Eh hem. Now back to the truth.

If it were only that simple. Our congressmen and women need our input. They are our representatives, not our dictators and thus they need to know the public opinion on all issues relating to legislation that is going through the congress in order to accurately place their votes. It is unfortunate that the American people have become so intertwined in their own lives that they fail to see the enormous void they have created between the people and its governing body.

Because of this reason, I felt it was necessary to put forth a very strongly worded example of the conditions that most Americans have never even imagined.

As I look back at this letter. I realize I have so much to learn! Getting angry and writing a letter are two things that generally should not be done at the exact same time.. perhaps learning to take a breather first before writing would be more benefitial. :) Live and learn.
Written: April 4, 2007

The Honorable Brian Baird
United States House of Representatives
2443 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4703

The Honorable Maria Cantwell
United States Senate
511 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4704

The Honorable Norman D. Dicks
United States House of Representatives
2467 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4706

The Honorable Richard (Doc) Hastings
United States House of Representatives
1214 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4704

The Honorable Jay Inslee
United States House of Representatives
403 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4701

The Honorable Rick R. Larsen
United States House of Representatives
107 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4702

The Honorable Jim McDermott
United States House of Representatives
1035 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4707

The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers
United States House of Representatives
1708 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4705

The Honorable Patty Murray
United States Senate
173 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4701

The Honorable Dave Reichert
United States House of Representatives
1223 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4708

The Honorable Adam Smith
United States House of Representatives
2402 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4709

RE: Darfur and Other Genocide Atrocities.

Dear Representative/Senator:

Paul Rusesabagina recently told me that words were the most powerful of abilities that are within each reach of every individual. As he has spoken in many lectures across the world, these words can save lives. They can also kill lives. Nothing is better suited to describe the situation that has arisen in the Sudan due to the catastrophic failure of the United Nations, the United States and the world’s supposed leaders.

You are given a choice. Your children are to be slashed apart by a machete or shot in the head with a Kalashnikov, which all the while is being waved in front of you and your family. You first instinct upon reading this murderous sentence is undoubtedly, “How does this help the people of Sudan, and how could it possibly better my understanding of what is happening in Africa?” This is a letter formed with no intent to rouse grief, but rather guilt. There is no comparison in the American culture for such atrocities that occur on a daily basis in the Sudan and surrounding countries. The answer to the sentence above is simple. You have three choices, whether willing or unwilling, you will do one of these three actions. One, to not speak at all due to the inability to comprehend the situation you are facing and your children are massacred in front of your eyes, or two, you attempt to garble words out of your mouth, a plea perhaps, or a desperate conversation that would attempt to distract the rebels/militia murders from their task. At best, the distraction lasts a few agonizing moments, your children look you in the eyes and then are shot due to a loss of interest on part of the demander.
The third reaction, probably the most common to this hypothetical question by a post-colonial reader in the modern paradigm with no true understanding of genocide would be to fight back. It sounds like a strategy, a plan C in the case of all other options failing to provide security for your family. Ultimately, you are powerless to defend yourself and your hand is stopped before it rises above your head to strike due to the lack of strength from malnutrition in your body and you are forced to watch your children slashed apart piece by piece, their screams inaudible through the pain, and your wife then raped as a bonus, because of your inability to answer a simply question.
This and other situations even more incomprehensible are occurring or have occurred on a daily basis in more places than one around the world... The list below has been added to remind yourselves of these atrocities, or perhaps to educate you on the places where this has occurred resulting in the deaths of billions of human lives.

Genocides or Alleged Genocides from 1500 to 1915

The Americas. Argentina. Native American Populations. Canada. Native American Populations. United States. Native American Populations. Native Hawaiian Populations. Armenia. Australia. Congo. German “South-West” Africa. Ireland. Tokugawa, Japan. Philippians. Russia. Genocides or Alleged Genocides from 1915 to 1950. Croatia. Nazi Germany. Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. Soviet Union.

Genocides or Alleged Genocides from 1951 to TODAY.

Communist China. Bangladesh. Burundi. Rwanda. Cambodia. East Timor under Indonesian Control. Shabra-Shatila. Afghanistan under Soviet Control. Iraq. Tibet. West New Guinea, West Papua. Turkish Kurdistan

DARFUR.

And there are MORE: The list continues for pages.

Yamomani
Guatemala
Kashimir
Genocide of the Deaf
Genocide of the White Man
Norfolk Islanders
Azeri
Tamil
Khojali
Bosnia
Mongol
Nuba
Transylvania
Genocide of the Christians
Herero
Assyria
Nanking

Our current administration has been described as a dictatorship, a perfect example of what can be done with power when it has fallen in the wrong hands. My family and friends, coworkers, bosses and professors have all in some form or another made the comment that “I just hope we can survive this administration…” A helpless comment made by people who can no longer expect their country’s representatives to accurately represent the people’s interests.

I prefer the description of power being controlled by idiocy and his disgruntled administration. A president who will now, because of the prior sentence, probably tap my phone and dictate people’s time and thus my tax dollars towards investigating a crime that prior to 6 years ago in November would have been considered a healthy investigation of our administrative’s activities.

Financially, I have no ability to help the organizations that risk their lives every day to bring food, support and simple medical supplies to the people who have fled their homes to avoid such horrific genocidal situations as the one described above. The lucky ones walk hundreds of miles on foot to live in refugee camps with nothing more than the torn clothes on their backs with no hope of their few animals surviving neither the trip nor the harsh conditions of the place they have traveled to. Some have shoes, some do not. When you walk on the hot sand of a beach during your employee vacation days, do you ever begin to feel the burn in your feet? Do you put shoes on or go barefoot until the blisters force you to collapse. Do you ever just have a cold? No medicine, no aspirin, no Bayer once a day pill to save your bleating heart from dying. A simple game of patty cake with a foreigner who came to help a refugee camp would be more stimulating to a child than a trust fund baby finding her keys replaced with those of a Ferrari.
There is simply no excuse for the neglect the United States government has shown to the people of Sudan and other countries around the world that suffer from genocide and other human rights violations. What are laws and peace agreements if we fail to uphold them? Why are we wasting billions of dollars to create and ultimately sustain a war that no one supports when we could use that money to save hundreds of millions of lives? What possible explanation can you give to the organizations like UNICEF for your neglect when you fail to put a stop to our president’s war time dictatorship powers?

I find it difficult to write such words because it deters my time from my college studies. The sooner I graduate, the sooner I will be able to join an organization like the UNCHR, UNICEF, Amnesty International, A Student’s Anti-Genocide Movement, Student Movement for Real Change, or one of the hundreds of NGO’s that provide the much needed attention to villagers, civilians and innocents around the world suffering from such neglect and human rights violations on massive scale.

When will you do something about the tragedies we have caused and supported by allowing the genocide in Sudan to continue unscathed? The ignorance of the American people is no excuse for the neglect our country’s government has shown to these human lives. It is our responsibility to fight for the people who cannot fight for themselves, and by not fighting for the rights we hold in such high regard, what better are we than the militias who are actively defying the world without consequence?

I sincerely hope you are able to take away from this letter a message of urgency and the need for action to begin immediately. It is heartbreaking to know that I can speak my mind as a citizen of this country, but that as my elected representative, you will more than likely throw this letter on a pile on your desk and forget about it.

You can forget, you can be ignorant, but it will only give power to those who kill and death to those who cannot fight.

Regards,



Sara Lori Cartwright
1440 10th Street #207
Bellingham, WA 98225
United States of America

Western Washington University Student Activist