tell your politicians.

Politics is the process of making decisions on behalf of groups of people.  In the most ideal manifestation of  it, politicians serve the people.  They get paid to represent our interests, and are responsible to us for their successes or failures at it.  Too often people can feel that government is something that happens to them instead of because of them.   Less true in places like Canada, or the United States, more true in some places like Sudan.

Another dangerous idea is that our elected representatives know better than we do what is best for us, and the world.  Many times they do not.  They need a dialogue with us that goes beyond public opinion polls, and spans a longer time than the weeks around election day.

In other words, they need our help.  For those who believe that the issue of Sudan is a pressing one, that focused attention on peaceful solutions would  alleviate suffering for large groups of innocent people, write your politicians, and tell them.

Australia

Canada

United Kingdom

United States of America

These four are a modest list.  There are other countries to be added, and if one of them is yours, and you have the information, post it.

Dialogue with our politicians is too infrequent.  For instance, I didn’t know that sending a letter to my MP was free, requires no postage.  There are a few simple rules to writing lettes to one’s politicians, and you can browse them online.  The most important are these:

• face-to-face is better than a handwritten letter is better than a typed letter is better than email

• be brief and focused (less than one page)

• use your own words about why the issue is important and what clear action you are hoping for

• ask for a response.

If you want to focus somewhere, one place might be informing your politician of the recent expulsions of NGO’s from Sudan, and asking them to clarify their position on how to reestablish aid to the affected areas.  A second tack would be to draw attention to Sudan’s parlimentary elections, scheduled for 2010, and Abyei’s referendum in 2011, and ask them how they represent your interest in free and fair elections, and avoid violence.

Political solutions are slow, but if we can get Sudan to be mentioned by our politicians, turn their bright minds from domestic matters outwards, even for a short time, then we might find a peaceful solution that would otherwise remain hidden.