On Oct. 7, the Darfur Action Network's work to raise awareness about genocide in Sudan culminated with the Darfur Fast: a luxury fast through which hundreds showed their solidarity for the genocide victims. Despite the obvious benefits of increased awareness throughout campus and in the Providence community, more concrete action is vital. We need to focus on steps that will force the press to take this issue seriously and provoke the U.S. government to recognize its ability and responsibility to end the genocide. The University can help this effort by divesting its stocks from certain companies currently engaging in business with the Sudanese government.
Although I am only a first-year, I recognize the sticky connotations that the word divestment carries at Brown. This issue, however, is different from the Israel divestment campaign Anti-Ractist Action attempted last year. First of all, divestment from Sudan is not unprecedented. Incredible student campaigns convinced Harvard and Stanford universities and Dartmouth College to divest from Sudan last year. New Jersey, Oregon and Illinois all recently passed legislation to do the same, and the divestment movement is now in high gear in more than 20 universities throughout the country. As a liberal educational institution claiming to care deeply about moral and social issues, Brown must take the initiative to further this coast-to-coast movement and encourage other universities and state legislatures to do the same.
More importantly, divestment can prove to be crucial to ending the genocide. There is clear evidence that the Sudanese government is sponsoring the Darfur genocide, which has killed over 400,000 civilians. The government gives little aid to help the Darfurian problem. Divestment will not negatively affect the Darfurian people - it will deter the government's military proceedings.
Centralized in the capitol of Khartoum, the government is providing the rebel Janjaweed fighters with planes and bombs to use against the innocent civilians in the Darfur region. To do so, the Khartoum regime has been mobilizing resources in order to procure such weapons. The revenue to do so has not been secured through taxation, but rather through oil exports. According to the Sudanese transportation minister, approximately 80 percent of all money gained from oil exports has gone to weapon proliferation. Mass divestment from Sudan will severely hamper the Khartoum government's ability to manufacture weapons of civilian destruction.
Action has already taken place on campus to pull our investments from companies operating in Sudan. The student-, faculty- and alumni-run Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investing has made a recommendation to President Ruth Simmons concerning one company that engages in activities in Sudan. As students, we need to encourage Simmons to follow their recommendation to divest from this company. It is imperative that the University knows that its students care about the current situation and are committed to ending the atrocities in Darfur. Additionally, Brown may be invested in additional companies engaging in business in Sudan, and action must be taken to ensure that the University divests from these stocks as well.
The reality is that by divesting from Sudan, the University can make a difference toward ending the genocide. While many people think the killings have come to a close, the conflict has been dangerously escalating in recent weeks. Divesting will garner much-needed media attention to the situation. If Brown becomes the fourth elite university to divest, journalists will have no choice but to cover the situation. Additionally, other universities may follow Brown's lead, creating an unstoppable divestment movement throughout the country. This same precedent occurred throughout the country to end South Africa's apartheid. A comprehensive divestment campaign weakened the South African economy and forced the Reagan administration to change its policies and actively oppose apartheid.
The same can happen in Darfur. We can help further this divestment movement at Brown. We can help end the genocide. President Simmons and the investment committee must show they feel the same way.
Scott Warren '09 doesn't like money.
