[Peace] [Peace-discuss] Fwd: #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS RALLY

Wed May 7 12:35:52 EDT 2014

Vukoni and all

I'm not sure my response went out this morning, my apologies if I'm being repetitive. 

 Thank you for the below information. I will attend the rally. 
Pressure on the Nigerian government to find and return the abducted girls is certainly something I support and wish to participate, though I retain reservations regarding US military intervention.

 Look forward to seeing you there.

 Karen

Date: Wed, 7 May 2014 00:06:18 -0500
From: vukoni at afrikem.com
To: karenaram at hotmail.com
CC: peace-discuss at anti-war.net; peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net; sjp.uiuc at gmail.com; peace at lists.chambana.net
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] [Peace] Fwd: #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS RALLY

Dear Karen and all,
Greetings. Thanks for circulating the information about the rally and for raising concerns about the troubling role of the United States.
Please allow me to clarify. I was at the meeting where the members of the African Students Organization (ASO) at the University of Illinois took the decision to organize a rally in support of efforts to find and return the abducted girls. The main goal of this rally is to put pressure on the Nigerian government to act in securing the release of the abducted girls. But since this is very much a regionalized conflict with Boko Haram having rear bases or safe havens in Cameroon, Niger and possibly Chad. So, we added the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), and the UN and other international agencies. This is not a call for U.S. intervention, although there certainly are some of our ASO members and indeed elements among the elites in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa who are only too ready to abdicate their responsibilities to the United States.

I urge those of you who are able to come to this rally to do so. Your presence and support will be deeply appreciated. I will be there.
Thanks.
Vukoni

On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 7:27 PM, Karen Aram <karenaram at hotmail.com> wrote:

I can only imagine the pain and anguish of the families of these children, however I urge caution and restraint, in respect to action being taken by foreign nationals. 

Pressuring the Nigerian government, yes. But do we really want "international parties involved"? Nigerians are capable of solving their problems without the help of the US military. Nigeria is a very oil rich nation, one of the emerging economies with a government that was democratically elected, I have no idea whether they are a good or bad gov., but we've all seen this before.

The US is already in Nigeria, according to the news: 

"They are also pursuing efforts to help the Nigerian military improve its professional military education, to bolster its counter-IED (improvised explosive device) capacity and carry out responsible CT (counterterrorism) operations," said Carney."

The Boko Haram fundamentalist group was not a problem until the Nigerian government went in and massacred them in 2009, according to a former Nigerian journalist and colleague of Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. org.

Date: Tue, 6 May 2014 19:14:54 -0500
From: sjp.uiuc at gmail.com
To: 
Subject: [Peace] Fwd: #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS RALLY

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Yazen Affaneh <yaffan3 at illinois.edu>

Date: Tue, May 6, 2014 at 1:50 PM
Subject: Fwd: #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS RALLY
To: Sjp Uiuc <sjp.uiuc at gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Gershenfeld, Susan C <sgershen at illinois.edu>

Date: Tue, May 6, 2014 at 11:58 AM
Subject: #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS RALLY
To: 

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY

On April 14, 2014, over 200 girls were abducted from their boarding school in Nigeria by a terrorist group, Boko Haram, that may be selling
 them as brides for $12 each. This is really systematic rape and slavery. The abducted 200+ girls are victims of an ongoing conflict that they did not create, and their voices need to be heard.

Please sign & share the petition. This petition calls on the Nigerian government and all enabled international parties to immediately rescue
 them.
http://www.change.org/petitions/over-200-girls-are-missing-in-nigeria-please-help-find-them-bringbackourgirls?recruiter=2172591&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

RALLY WEDNESDAY MAY 7, 2014 ON THE QUAD AT THE UNION

4:30-6:00PM

We, the African Student Organization (ASO) at the University of Illinois, assembled here in Urbana-Champaign are
 conscious of our responsibilities to the problems facing our continent and demand immediate and swift pressure be brought to Nigeria’s government to provide safety and security to its citizens as well as Economic Community of West Africans (ECOWAS), the African
 Union, United Nations, and other Pan African and international organization to search for the 200+ abducted school girls.

We further assert and proclaim the unity among ourselves and our solidarity to mobilize collectively with Africans
 and friends in order to realize our common objective. We therefore affirm our dedication to the cause that we have proclaimed.

#BringBackOurGirls #SavingOurSelves #StopHumanSexTrafficking #UIUC

Ifeyinwa (Ife) Onyenekwu

Resident Director- Busey Evans Hall

UNIVERSITY HOUSING | University
 of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Mail: 105 Evans Hall, MC-040 | Office: 102 Evans Hall

1115 W. Nevada St | Urbana, IL 61801

Phone: (217) 300-5006 | Fax: (214)244-7952

onyenkw2 at illinois.edu|www.housing.illinois.edu

NOTE: Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), any written communication to or from University employees regarding University business is a public record and may be subject to
 public disclosure.

*Please consider the environment before printing this email.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Students for Justice in Palestine 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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