BY DAVID LAU

In print | Published November 30, 2006

This weekend, from Dec. 1 to 3, the STAND Time to Protect Conference: Mid-Atlantic Region will be held at Swarthmore. STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition is an organization with over 600 high school and college chapters dedicated to putting an end to genocide, particularly the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The conference, while a national event, will be hosted by STAND in conjunction with Swat Sudan and the Genocide Intervention Network. Students from other schools in the northeast will be staying with Swarthmore student hosts throughout the weekend.

“We are expecting about 150 students,” Erin Heaney ’09, organizer of the event and a member of Swat Sudan, said. “The student body has been great; almost everyone we asked agreed to host someone. Students are coming from schools throughout the mid-east: Georgetown, George Washington University, Howard, Delaware University, Ithaca College and over 12 different high schools.” In addition, approximately 20 students from Swarthmore have signed up, but Heaney said that the organizers are expecting more to register as the conference approaches.

While it is only a three-day event, the conference is packed with various activities. “Students coming to the conference will learn how to become more effective advocates for an end to this genocide,” Alexa Malishchak ’09, a member of Swat Sudan, said. “They will attend workshops on lobbying members of Congress, working with media outlets and running divestment campaigns. They will network with other students from around the mid-Atlantic region, learn who to approach and build coalitions with groups in the surrounding community and lots more.”

In addition to the conference at Swarthmore, five other regional conferences will be held throughout the country with similar objectives. “The goals of the conference are pretty extensive,” Heaney said. “We want to inform and educate students about the genocide in Darfur, train them and give them skills to become better advocates for Darfur and help students create plans for action for the upcoming semester. This conference, and the five others planned for throughout the country, are an important step in creating an image and establishing legitimacy as an organization.”

In addition to the many workshops, the conference will feature guest speakers enlisted to discuss a range of issues relating to Darfur. Featured guests include actress Mia Farrow, who has made several visits to the embattled region in her role as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Mark Hanis ’05, executive director of Genocide Intervention Network, Sam Bell ’05, director of advocacy of Genocide Intervention Network, Swarthmore Visiting Professor of Anthropology Niklas Hultin and Mohammed Yahya, a refugee from the Darfur region of Sudan and chairman of the Damanga Coalition.

“We wanted a diverse group of speakers to come to campus,” Heaney said. “We asked Mohammed Yahya because he has his own non-profit and is Sudanese, and we asked Eric Reeves [a Sudan scholar and English professor at Smith College] because Swarthmore Sudan members read him religiously. We invited them on a case-by-case basis, just by email, mostly.”

Professor Hultin, who teaches a first-year seminar on international human rights and local culture and another course on the role of human rights in African social conflicts, was enthusiastic about the opportunity to speak at the conference. “I was invited to speak at the conference by members of Swat Sudan who are taking my courses this year,” he said. “I will address the various international legal and quasi-legal options for stopping the genocide, bringing the perpetrators to justice and, hopefully, prevent future outbursts of violence in Darfur or Sudan. I will focus on the International Criminal Court and African Human Rights system, and I hope to bring something of an unusual perspective on these institutions and processes.”

Hultin was heartened by the quality of organizers’ work ethic in being able to bring about this event. “I have only been at Swarthmore for a couple of months, but I have to say I am very impressed by the drive, ambition and dedication of not just Swat Sudan but other student groups on campus concerned with social justice issues,” he said. “Clearly, the Swarthmore student body as a whole is willing to put its money where its mouth is. This is also testimony to the skill of the Swat Sudan members.”

Organizers were confident that the conference will generate greater awareness of genocide and train students to effectively advocate change. “I think it’ll be a big success,” Malishchak said. “There’s already been one conference [at Northwestern] and the feedback from students at Northwestern was great.”

Heaney agreed. “Swat Sudan members have been working since July to make this conference a reality,” she said. “We’ve got a great lineup of speakers and workshops. I am so excited to help build the student anti-genocide movement.”

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