An interactive refugee tent camp focusing on different genocides of the twentieth century from Armenia in 1915 to the Holocaust and finally to the modern day Darfur crisis in the Sudan rises on the Sonoma State University campus on Tuesday, Dec. 4 from noon to 6 p.m. in the Cooperage.
For one day SSU students and community members will be exposed to the effects of genocide at Camp Darfur, a traveling interactive awareness and education exhibit funded by the grassroots community Stop Genocide Now, "Camp Darfur" attempts to replicate the habitat of the 2.5 million displaced villagers from Darfur who call refugee camps in Chad home.
The event takes place for several hours allowing spectators to come and go as they please and spend as much or as little time as they like in each tent. This event is free to all and is sponsored by Associated Students Productions, Residential Life and the Peace Club.
The genocide in Darfur, Sudan has taken an estimated 400,000 lives while displacing over 2.5 million people in grave danger of continued violence and starvation.
"It is up to each and every person to act and speak out against these acts of violence and genocide. Camp Darfur gives people across the country the opportunity to send a message of peace and solidarity to the people of Darfur," says organizers of the event.
Stop Genocide Now is a grassroots community dedicated to working to protect populations in grave danger of violence, death and displacement resulting from genocide. Through active education, advocacy and policy change SGN resolves to change the way the world responds to genocide.
SGN is currently focused on creating awareness and action to stop the genocide in Darfur and deal appropriately with its aftermath. All of their projects focus on and utilize the strength and power in grassroots connectivity.
Their pioneering campaigns aim to break the silence surrounding the crime of genocide and pave the way for a new age that lives up to the refrain, "never again." Since their inception, SGN has stressed the importance of enabling interaction between supporters and genocide victims and continues to do so today.
For more information on this and other events, phone (707) 664-2382 or visit www.sonoma.edu/AS/ASP.
