Genocide Watch Committee

Eric Kabera, director of Keepers of Memory, addresses students.

The Genocide Committee is a permanent committee with the purpose of alerting the Tufts community of genocide and related crimes against community and encouraging members of the community to act to avoid genocide around the world. In carrying out this mission, the committee has shown movies on genocide and invited guest speakers on the subject to Tufts. It has also allowed members of the Tufts community to influence policy makers through letter writing and pen sending campaigns.

During the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide organized for the showing of 3 films and discussions about the Rwandan genocide. The new film Keepers of Memory was screened and followed by a discussion with Eric Kabera, the film's producer and director. The film screening was accompanied by a photo exhibit on the pre-Gacaca trials after the Genocide by Cambridge photographer Michal Safdie.

Also see an article by Veronica Adamson, a member of the Genocide Committee, who helped lead the commemoration of the Rwandan genocide.

Students and a former slave from Sudan spoke at the vigil.

The Genocide Committee has also played an active role in informing the Tufts community of the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and encouraging action. In the fall of 2004 over 50 students approached the Genocide Committee with an interest to do something about the crisis. In October they organized transportation to attend demonstrations in front of the U.N. building in New York demanding action. As the crisis worsened, they organized a candlelight vigil to shed light on genocide in Sudan in the Tufts campus. Over 100 students attended.

Also see coverage of the vigil (Tufts Daily) and a Viewpoints article by Noah Trugman, member of the Genocide Committee who led the planning for the candlelight vigil.

Genocide Committee member Oleg Svet labels envelopes.

In November and December, the Genocide Committee in collaboration with the Peace and Justice Department and the University College of Citizenship and Public Service held a booth in front of the library with information on Sudan for 6 hours each day. At the booth a movie made by Tufts students was shown depicting the situation in Darfur and the urgent need to act. The community was asked to sign letters to Congressmen, the Secretary General of the United Nations and Permanent Representatives to the Security Council, expressing their concern about the situation. A pen was attached to each letter, and each letter asked the received to use the pen to write up a plan to halt genocide in Darfur . Over 700 letters were sent.

Also see coverage of the Pen Sending campaign.

For more information about the Genocide Committee, contact Sebastian Chaskel.