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There are many organizations out there actively taking a stand.

The Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of 167 faith-based, advocacy, and humanitarian organizations pressing for a stronger, more effective international peacekeeping force to stop the genocide that already has claimed more than 200,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million people.

"During his first year in the White House, President bush wrote in the margins of a report on the Rwandan genocide, 'Not on my watch.'

At a recent ceremony, the Rev. Gloria E. White-Hammond, chairwoman of the Million Voices for Darfur campaign, noted, "A million Americans have joined in declaring 'Not On Our Watch.' It is imperative the president understand what these million Americans do: that a United Nations peacekeeping force will be the only true protection for the refugees of Darfur. The president should answer these million calls for action by using his leverage on the Security Council.

But what can you do, right now, without having to go to the camps, without having to spend much money or invest much time, that will still make a difference?

Go to savedarfur.org and sign the International Petition online demanding a stop to the genocide.At that same site, send a message to President Bush.http://www.savedarfur.org
Send a message to President Bush. Just enter your name, email address, and zip code and click the button. That easily you can demand that the President:
Strengthen the understaffed and overwhelmed African Union peackeeping force already in Darfur.
Push for the deployment of a strong UN peacekeeping force.
Increase humanitarian aid and ensure access for aid delivery.
Establish a no-fly zone.

Visit the UUSC Legislative Center to send online messages to your congressmen and representatives to demand implementation of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (DPAA). Last year, Congress passed and President Bush signed this act, but nothing has been done to implement it. The law would:
Freeze the assets of perpetrators of the genocide.
Deny entry into U.S. ports of oil tankers that are doing business with Sudan.

The act was supposed to go into effect in November 2006. The message online states truely that there is no point in passing legislation without implementing it. Although the law is nonbinding, it should still be implemented to increase the pressure on Sudan's genocidal government.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans 62 percent support the use of asset freezes against Sudanese leaders guilty of organizing and executing the genocide, according to a poll by the Genocide Intervention Network. It's up to us to impress this fact on those people who are supposed to represent us, and demand that they act!

Buy a limited edition Rock for Darfur t-shirt for $15 at myspace.com/rockfordarfur.com. The money goes to Oxfam.

Keep your eyes open, and you will find many ways and opportunities to help.

We MUST stand up and say stop the genocide NOW!

Learn more about this author, Rhetta Akamatsu.
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