ANC-WR TO PARTICIPATE IN ï~^"SONGS FOR DARFURï~^" GENOCIDE RELIEF BENEFIT CONCERT

armradio.am
14.09.2007 16:29

On September 15, 2007 the Armenian National Committee-Western Region
(ANC-WR) will host an information and activism booth at the ï~^"Songs
for Darfurï~^" benefit concert. Supported by a coalition of grassroots
organizations such as the Save Darfur Coalition and Stop Genocide
Now, the benefit concert will be held at the Topanga Community House
Fairgrounds located at 1440 N. Topanga Cyn. Blvd., Topanga, CA.

The concert will feature live music, guest speakers, poets, literature,
art, and dancers. Concert goers will also be able to partake in the
Camp Darfur interactive experience. Camp Darfur is a mock refugee camp
intended to humanize the suffering of Darfurï~^’s genocide victims.

All Proceeds from the concert will benefit the United Nations High
Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) refugee camps at Kounoungo and Mile in
Chad in order to provide much needed relief to thousands of survivors
of the genocide in Darfur.

In harmony with the purpose of ï~^"Songs for Darfurï~^" and in an
effort to combat genocide denial, the ANC-WR will be hosting a booth to
help raise awareness about community efforts and will provide concert
goers with opportunities to promote justice for the Armenian Genocide
and stand up against the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

ï~^"Although the United States government has publicly acknowledged
that what is going on in Darfur is genocide, more can be done to put
an end to it,ï~^" said Allen Yekikan, an ANC activist who will be
coordinating the ANC-WR booth at the event. ï~^"As Armenian-Americans
fighting for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, we cannot
stand idly by while millions of people suffer the same fate.ï~^"

Darfur is a western region within Sudan, a northeastern African
nation. Since 2003, the Janjaweed, a Sudanese government sponsored
militia, has been carrying out a genocide in Darfur, Sudan. So far,
the genocide in Darfur has claimed over 400,000 lives and has resulted
in the brutal displacement of millions of people, who face the scourge
of death on a daily basis and are in desperate need of foreign aid
to ensure their survival.

Earlier this year the Armenian National Committee and the Genocide
Intervention Network organized a national advocacy day in Washington
D.C. urging members of congress to support pending Armenian and Darfur
Genocide-related legislation. While more recently, the ANC-WR joined
Jewish World Watch, the Olympic Dream for Darfur, and the Save Darfur
coalition outside the Los Angeles Consulate of the Peopleï~^’s Republic
of China to urge China to use its relationship with Khartoum to help
end the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

ï~^"When it comes to confronting genocide, itï~^’s not just important
for us to speak the truth but to act on it as well,ï~^" said ANC-WR
Community Relations Director Haig Hovsepian. ï~^"We look forward to our
community joining us at ï~^’Songs for Darfurï~^’ and becoming active
participants this effort to confront the specter of genocide today.ï~^"

–Boundary_(ID_YiMi/wFNdpL5y BDL3ajV5Q)–