Brian Stewart, in his column “Never say never” (Feb. 27), joked that the fact that there are “scant people left to kill” in Darfur would make “the weak-kneed pacifists in the ‘anti-genocide’ movement very happy.”\nAs a member of STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) on campus, I would like to assure Stewart that the deaths of 400,000 civilians do not, in fact, make us happy. I am more concerned, however, by the larger implication that the anti-genocide movement is a group of naive do-gooders who do nothing but bemoan atrocities and express hollow solidarity with the victims.\nRather, our group and similar groups are sincerely trying to translate our horror over Darfur into pragmatic, policy-based solutions. Mr. Stewart says that he is “unnerved by flippant denunciations without a corresponding call for troops,” but the primary priority of virtually every major Darfur advocacy group is to push for the deployment of U.N. peacekeeping troops. This is admittedly a difficult task politically, but there have been some excellent initiatives to help U.S. citizens effectively use their political and economic influence to work toward this goal. No, we have not “saved Darfur,” but the U.S. government has become more engaged as a direct result of widespread grass-roots action, and this engagement has led to some tangible and positive results on the ground.\nFinally, I would like to note that Mr. Stewart’s claim that “there are scant people left to kill” is both unbelievably callous and utterly incorrect. In fact, there are about 4 million people in Sudan who are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. Due to continued violence on the ground and increasing attacks against aid workers themselves, the stability of this aid is in dire jeopardy and so, therefore, are 4 million lives. There are a number of practical measures that can be taken to help save these lives, and STAND is committed to discussing and implementing these measures. If Mr. Stewart has any ideas, he’s welcome to join us at 8 p.m. Thursdays in Ballantine 015. Otherwise, I’d appreciate it if he kept his assertions about our knees to himself.
Rebecca Burns\nCo-president of STAND
