Darfur Drawn:Through Children's Eyes

On mission along the border of Chad and Darfur, Human Rights Watch researchers gave children notebooks and crayons to keep them occupied while they spoke with the children’s parents. Without any instruction or guidance, the children drew scenes from their experiences of the war in Darfur: the attacks by the Janjaweed, the bombings by Sudanese government forces, the shootings, the burning of entire villages, and the flight to Chad.

Sudan: Investigating the Problem...Due Tuesday at the End of Class

1. What's happening in the Sudan?

Read the following story and interview explaining efforts to avert this growing crisis:

World Recognizes Refugee Crisis in Sudan
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec04/Sudan_7-05.html

Crisis in Sudan
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/Africa/jan-june04/Sudan_6-24.html

Answer the following questions:

1. How has the civil war affected the lives of the Sudanese?
2. Why is the area of Darfur of recent concern?
3. What hope is offered by the visit of Colin Powell and Kofi Annan to this region?

2. The crisis in more detail

Research the Web sites of the following agencies involved in monitoring events in this area. Answer the following questions on what you discover:

1. What has been the cause of the civil war in the Sudan?
2. What have been the conditions outlined in the cease-fire agreement and peace process?
3. What evidence has been presented for the charges of genocide being made?

Amnesty International: Sudan Crisis
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/sdn-index-eng

Human Rights Watch: Sudan: Darfur Destroyed
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/darfur/

Human Rights Watch: Too Little, Too Late: Sudanese Aid International Response 2004
http://hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0504/8.htm

United Nations: Annan stresses urgency of resolving crisis in Darfur, Sudan
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11105&Cr=Sudan&Cr1=

United States Agency for International Development: Darfur: Humanitarian Emergency Fact Sheet #11 (FY 2004)
http://www.reliefweb.int

3. Is this genocide? Why is the terminology significant?

As you've read, over the past several years efforts have been under way to broker a cease-fire and peace agreement among the various factions in this war. Others, who have been observing the fighting that has been going on, have identified the deliberate actions taking place as indications of genocide. They cite these actions as indicators of the "intent to destroy" definition found in the Genocide Convention [see entry below], and urge the international community to take action.

Parties to the genocide convention are obligated, under the terms of the convention, to prevent genocide when proof is presented, i.e. to mount a humanitarian intervention. This can include the taking of military action.

Genocide Convention Article 2
In the present convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The final text of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted on Dec. 9, 1948 by the 3rd General Assembly of the United Nations. The United States signed the Convention on Dec. 11, 1948 and ratified it on Nov. 25, 1988. On Dec. 13, 2002, Trinidad and Tobago became the 135th party to the Genocide Convention.

For additional information see:

Prevent Genocide International: Information on the Genocide Convention
http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/

Prevent Genocide International: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Action Plan to Prevent Genocide
http://www.preventgenocide.org/prevent/UNdocs/KofiAnnansActionPlantoPreventGenocide7Apr2004.htm

U.S. Institute for Peace: The Genocide Convention at 50
http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr990107.html

Using the definition and information about genocide above and the information you researched in part 2, come up with evidence as to whether you think genocide has occurred in Sudan. Present that evidence in an essay:

Should the United Nations declare that a state of genocide is occurring in Sudan and mount an increased humanitarian intervention to prevent further loss of life? What kind of action plan would you recommend if it is or is not a genocide? How should the United States be involved? Create a specific action plan for Sudan.

Extra Credit

What about those responsible?

The issue of impunity, not punishing those responsible for war crimes and genocidal acts, is of ongoing concern. Research the progress made with regard to these efforts for acts of genocide committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. How might the International Criminal Court be of use in this situation? Look at the Web sites below for more information.

Rwanda
Working in parallel with a Rwandan justice system that has prosecuted many people who committed acts of genocide, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has handed down landmark verdicts, which send a message to those who may be contemplating genocide in other countries. It was the first international court to convict anyone for this crime; the first court of any kind to hold a former head of government responsible for genocide; the first to determine that rape was used as an act of genocide; and the first to find that journalists who incite the population to genocide are themselves guilty of that crime.

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
http://www.ictr.org/

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
http://www.un.org/icty/

Extra Credit Essay: What measures might be taken against those considered responsible for the acts of genocide occurring in Sudan?

Extra Credit

Create a poster that highlights the genocidal conditions in Rwanda or Sudan.

Example:

Homework due Wednesday, 5/14

Read "What Can I Do?"
Answer the three question clusters on the last page.

Homework Due Tuesday, 6/13/06

1. Read Ben Okri's "In the Shadow of War"
2. Answer questions # 3-7 and complete the "Writing" assignment in the second column.

"Araby" Extra Credit--20 Points

Create an artistic rendering of the bazaar in “Araby” which shows the view the narrator creates through his infatuation with Mangan’s sister as well as the actual bazaar he attends.

Due Monday, 6/12

Classwork and Homework, Friday 6/9/06

Classwork:

A three paragraph essay answering the following prompt:
"Araby" and "An Encounter" came from a collection of short stories called The Dubliners. Both stories came from a section of this collection that Joyce entitled “Childhood.” Its central theme is the young protagonists’ dawning awareness of the paralysis of adulthood. Compare and contrast the epiphanies undergone by the narrators of the two stories. What enables each narrator to experience his epiphany?

Homework:

A three paragraph essay answering the following prompt:
Compare and contrast the dreams of the narrator in “An Encounter” to those of the narrator of “Araby.” What purpose do the dreams serve in illuminating Joyce’s opinion of everyday life in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland? How do the dreams lead to the boys’ understandings of the paralysis of adult life?

Classwork and Homework, Thursday 6/8/06

Classwork:

1. Answer the following prompt concerning "Araby" in a short essay (3 paragraphs) DUE AT THE END OF THE PERIOD:

• At the end of the story, the narrator sees himself "driven and derided by vanity." One meaning of vanity is "the state of being empty, idle, valueless." Another meaning is "exaggerated self love." Still another is "hunger for praise or admiration." In a 3 paragraph essay, explain how all these definitions could apply to the narrator. Use evidence from the story to support your claims.

Homework:

• Read the James Joyce story, “An Encounter.”
• Answer the following questions:

1. Why does Joe Dillon always prove victorious in the mock Indian battles? Why is this ironic in light of his chosen future?

2. Why do the pulp magazines appeal to the narrator?

3. What does the narrator plan to break up the “weariness of school-life?” What is ironic about Leo not showing up?

4. What does the “ragged troop” calling them “swaddlers” tell you about the religious make up of Dublin? 5. What is the lure of the docks to the boys?

6. What do the narrator’s ideas about sailors with green eyes tell us about his education?

7. How does the man try to ingratiate himself to the boys? How do their answers demonstrate differences in their personalities?

8. The man talks in “circles” around a few subjects. What do his speech patterns and the subjects he dwells on tell you about him?

9. Do you think the narrator’s fear of him is justified? Why or why not?

Extra Credit Options...DUE BY FRIDAY 6/16/06

50 Points--Podcast of your Playwright's Project Play

· To complete this assignment, you will need to put together a cast to perform the roles in your play. You and your cast will perform the play in front of a microphone for broadcast on my class website. Make an appointment with me to perform the play. Please make sure that your actors know their parts and are not looking at them for the first time as they perform in front of the microphone.

Classwork/Homework 5/31/06

During class today, you need to be working on one of two things:

1. Your senior presentation
2. Reading "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat," by Rudyard Kipling and writing an essay based on the following prompt:

• Write an essay in which you analyze the lifestyle and values chosen byPurun Dass when he becomes Purun Bhagat. What does he give up? What does he gain?

The essay is due tomorrow, June 1