FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Mark Hoerrner, Communications Manager
Darfur Urgent Action Coalition of Georgia
678.521.4399
mark@gadarfur.org
www.gadarfur.org
RALLY TO END THE GREATEST HUMANITARIAN
DISASTER OF THE 21st CENTURY
Star of “Darfur Now” Documentary
to Speak at Atlanta-Based Rally for Darfur
Atlanta, Ga. — The Darfur Urgent
Action Coalition of Georgia (DUACG) will host its annual
rally in support of justice for Darfur Jan. 27 at 3
p.m. Themed “Not On Our Watch, Not On Our Dime,”
the rally will focus on peace through economic justice.
The rally, held each year in conjunction
with the International Day of Commemoration in Memory
of the Victims of the Holocaust, has additional significance
this year– the Coalition is working with state
lawmakers to pass landmark targeted divestment legislation
to ensure that no Georgian’s funds are supporting
the slaughter in Darfur.
Speakers include Adam Sterling, who
starred with George Clooney and Don Cheadle in the new
documentary "Darfur Now," and founder the
Darfur Divestment Task Force; Tosia Schneider, Polish
Holocaust survivor and author of “Someone Must
Survive to Tell the World;" and Mohamed Yahya,
executive director of the Damanga Coalition for Freedom
and Democracy. Yahya is from West Darfur, and his village
came under the first attacks of the Janjaweed. Twenty-one
members of his family experienced the horrors of the
massacre directly. He now works tirelessly as an advocate
for the people of Darfur.
This year’s rally has moved
to Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta,
located at 201 Washington St., in order to accommodate
growing attendance levels. In 2007, the rally drew more
than 600 participants and more are expected this year.
When the rally concludes, the attendees will march over
to the Capitol to make clear the public message that
the citizens of the state of Georgia will not tolerate
the massacre of human beings in Darfur. Several state
legislators including Dist. 63 Rep. Tyrone Brooks will
speak briefly on the Capitol steps.
“We’ve had a lot of success
working with our federal legislators on targeted divestment
and funding bills to support aid and peacekeeping operations
for Darfur,” Lois Frank, DUACG Legislative and
Government Affairs chair, said. “We’re now
going to concentrate our lobbying at the state level
and work to keep more than $100 million in state funds
out of investments that benefit the Sudanese government’s
war machine. We’re also going to look at ways
to put pressure on corporations and foreign governments
to convince Sudan’s leadership that mass killing
is not a profitable enterprise.”
The rally is free and open to the
public. Central Presbyterian Church is accessible via
MARTA and also offers free parking.
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ABOUT THE DARFUR URGENT ACTION COALITION
OF GEORGIA: The Coalition is a bridging organization
that seeks to join its members into a single voice advocating
for peace and rebuilding in Darfur by effectively linking
needs with resources and people. The Coalition consists
of more than 100 faith-based, advocacy, aid and social
organizations throughout the state. For more information,
visit the Coalition web site at http://www.gadarfur.org.
African American Human Rights
Foundation -African Students Association of Spelman
College - Ahavath Achim Congregation - American Jewish
Committee - American Friends Service Committee, SE Regional
Office - American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims
Tracing Center - Amnesty International, Southern Regional
Office - Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith
- Atlanta Black-Jewish Coalition - Atlanta-Darfur Initiative
- Atlanta Friends Meeting - Atlanta Rabbinical Association
- Atlanta Urban League Young Professionals - Board for
Mission and Action of Central Congregation United Church
of Christ - Breman Museum - Catholic Campaign for Human
Development - Atlanta Archdiocese - Catholic Charities
of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Inc - Chabad Intown -
Church of the Good Shepard - Committee for Darfur &
Africa - Concerned Black Clergy - Congregation Bet Haverim
- Congregation Beth Shalom - Congregation B’nai
Torah - Congregation Children of Israel - Congregation
Dor Tamid - Congregation Etz Chaim - Congregation Shearith
Israel - Congregation Shema Yisrael - Congressman John
Lewis’s Youth Council - Consulate General of Israel
to the Southeast United States - The Interfaith Task
Force - Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
of North Georgia - Emory HillelCEmory University/Department
of Religion - Emory University/The Rabbi Donald A.Tam
Institute for Jewish Studies - Emory University NAACP
- Emory Women’s Center - Epstein School - Eternal
Life – Hemshech - Ethiopian Students Association
at Georgia State University - Faces of Feminism - Faith
and the City - Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta (FAMA)
? Fellowship of Reconciliation – Atlanta - First
Presbyterian Church of Atlanta - Friends Committee on
National Legislation & UN Atlanta - Georgia Municipal
Association - Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials
- Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda -
Georgia for Democracy - Georgia Rural Urban Summit -
Georgia Tech Hillel- the Jewish Student Union - Global
Rights Organization (GSU) - Global Watch - Greater Atlanta
Hadassah - Greenfield Hebrew Academy - Hillside Presbyterian
Church - Humanity Now - International Affairs Student
Organization (Georgia Tech) - International Rescue -
Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta - Jewish Federation
of Greater Atlanta - Kennesaw State University STAND
- Lillian & A.J. Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education
- Mason Murer Fine Arts Museum - Muslim Students Association
of Emory University - Muslim Students Association of
Georgia Institute of Technology - Muslim Students Association
of Georgia Perimeter College - Muslim Students Association
of Georgia State University - National Center for Human
Rights Education - National Coalition Building Institute
Atlanta (NCBI Atlanta) - National Council of Jewish
Women - New Baptist Missionary Church - Oakhurst Baptist
Church - Open Door Community - Paperclips for Peace
in Sudan - Piedmont Baptist Church - Presbytery of Greater
Atlanta - Promise Land Poets - Refugee Resettlement
& Immigrant Services of Atlanta - Regional Council
of Churches of Metro Atlanta - Sandy Springs Interfaith
Clergy Association - Save Darfur: UGA Chapter - Southern
Christian Leadership Conference - Southern Region of
the Rainbow Coalition - Southern Sudanese Voice for
Freedom - STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition -
Still Waters United Methodist Church - Student Progressive
Activists Network - Sudanese Refugee Children’s
Foundation - Synagogue Task Force of Metro Atlanta -
Temple Beth Tikvah - Temple Sinai - The Temple - The
Interdenominational Theological Center - Transfiguration
Catholic Church - Trinity Presbyterian Church - Unitarian
Universalist Clergy of Metro Atlanta - United Nations
Association, Atlanta Chapter - United States Social
Forum - University of Georgia Hillel: Campus Center
for Jewish Life - Weber School -Women In Need Of God’s
Strength (W.I.N.G.S.) ? Young Israel of Toco Hills ?
Young Judaea
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