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The Weblog at The View from the Core - Wednesday, April 27, 2005
   
   

"The Man Nobody Knows"

Coalition for Darfur VII

The Man Nobody Knows. (Brackets in original.)

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On February 24, 2004, an op-ed entitled "The Unnoticed Genocide" appeared in the pages of the Washington Post warning that without humanitarian intervention in Darfur "tens of thousands of civilians [would] die in the weeks and months ahead in what will be continuing genocidal destruction."

Written by Eric Reeves, a literature professor from Smith College, this op-ed was the catalyst that compelled many of us to start learning more about crisis in Darfur which, in turn, led directly to the creation of the Coalition for Darfur.

For over two years, Eric Reeves has been the driving force behind efforts to call attention to the genocide in Darfur by writing weekly updates and providing on-going analysis of the situation on the ground. As early as 2003, Reeves was calling the situation in Darfur a genocide, nine months before former Secretary of State Colin Powell made a similar declaration. In January of 2005, Reeves lashed out against "shamefully irresponsible" journalists who "contented themselves with a shockingly distorting mortality figure for Darfur's ongoing genocide." Reeves' analysis led to a series of news articles highlighting the limitations of the widely cited figure of 70,000 deaths and culminated in a recent Coalition for International Justice survey that concluded that death toll was nearly 400,000; an figure nearly identical to the one Reeves had calculated on his own.

Perhaps most presciently, on March 21st, Reeves warned that "Khartoum has ambitious plans for accelerating the obstruction of humanitarian access by means of orchestrated violence and insecurity, including the use of targeted violence against humanitarian aid workers." The following day it was reported that Marian Spivey-Estrada, a USAID worker in Sudan, had been shot in the face during an ambush while "traveling in a clearly marked humanitarian vehicle." The lack of security for aid workers has led some agencies to declare certain areas "No Go" zones or withdraw all together, leaving the internally displaced residents of Darfur without access to food, water or medical care.

And as the Boston Globe reported on Sunday, he has done it all while fighting his own battle with leukemia.

Were it not for Eric Reeves, it is quite possible that the genocide in Darfur would have gone largely unnoticed. We at the Coalition for Darfur offer him our prayers and support and express our heartfelt thanks for all that he has done to prick the nation's conscience on this vitally important issue. We hope that his courage and conviction will be an inspiration to others and that Darfur will soon begin to get the attention that it deserves.

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The Blog from the Core does not necessarily endorse every detail of the weekly Coalition for Darfur message.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 04/27/05 07:24:05 PM
Categorized as Coalition for Darfur.


   
   

"The Prism of Life"

Random Poetry List XXIX

The Prism of Life

All that began with God, in God must end:
   All lives are garnered in His final bliss:
   All wills hereafter shall be one with His:
   When in the sea we sought, our spirits blend.
Rays of pure light, which one frail prism may rend
   Into conflicting colours, meet and kiss
   With manifold attraction, yet still miss
   Contentment, while their kindred hues contend.
Break but that three-edged glass:—inviolate
   The sundered beams resume their primal state,
   Weaving pure light in flawless harmony.
Thus decomposed, subject to love and strife,
   God’s thought, made conscious through man’s mortal life,
   Resumes through death the eternal unity.

John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)

Originally e-mailed on Saturday, April 27, 2002 @ 6:58 AM.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 04/27/05 05:38:58 PM
Categorized as Literary & Random Poetry List.


   
   

Catholic Carnival XXVII

At The Curt Jester this week. Your Humble, Faithful Blogster has an entry in this week's Carnival.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 04/27/05 07:52:50 AM
Categorized as Catholic Carnival & Religious.


   
   

"The Last of April"

Random Poetry List XXVIII

The Last of April

Old April wanes, and her last dewy morn
   Her death-bed steeps in tears:—to hail the May
New blooming blossoms 'neath the sun are born,
   And all poor April's charms are swept away.
   The early primrose, peeping once so gay,
Is now choked up with many a mounting weed,
   And the poor violet we once admired
Creeps in the grass unsought for—flowers succeed,
   Gaudy and new, and more to be desired,
   And of the old the school-boy seemeth tired.
So with us all, poor April, as with thee!
   Each hath its day;—the future brings my fears:
Friends may grow weary, new flowers rising be,
   And my last end, like thine, be steeped in tears.

John Clare (American, 1793-1864)

Originally e-mailed on Thursday, April 27, 2000 @ 7:19 PM.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 04/27/05 07:41:35 AM
Categorized as Literary & Random Poetry List.


   
   

Blogworthies at Lead and Gold

Thanks to Craig Henry.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 04/27/05 07:39:43 AM
Categorized as Blogosphere Stuff.


   

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