Taking the Reins

This semester's volunteer work with Weber State STAND has been exceptional.  I've lobbied twice, participated in a hunger strike, and spoken at a banquet.  I've helped with movie screenings, Amnesty International events, and gone to a national conference in Washington D.C.

This semester has been a very successful one, but it also has a sad note.  Cameron Morgan, the student activist and great friend who started Weber State STAND from the ground up, has stepped down from his Presidential position.  He is stepping down because he has a lot of other work to move on to, and a lot of work to do in order to finish his degree.  His energy, passion, and optimism is what has made STAND what it is today- and that in my opinion is the most active volunteer group on campus.  He is passing on the Presidency to me, and now it is up to me to attempt to fill the void his absence will make.

I'm not going to pretend this isn't a difficult task- the work that Weber State STAND does is arduous and difficult.  It will put a lot of pressure on me to balance the job with my classes, work, and social life, but I believe I am ready for this task.  Cameron has set an excellent precedent and tradition for hard work and determination.  I fully intend to take those same qualities with me into my Presidency.  I would like to promise here that though I certainly won't be a flawless leader the one thing I can give with all my heart is my knowledge, dedication, and passion to this organization.  Cameron never gave it any less, and it deserves no less.

With this in mind, I would like to mention a few things for the future of STAND.  Next semester's events are not set in stone, but I do have an idea that I need to flesh out with Cameron, because it requires his help and information from his December trip to Kenya.  In addition to this, I would like to continue the STAND "Art of Peace" exhibit as well.  Beyond these ideas, I am going to try to organize events with organizations with interests and goals similar to STAND, so we can form a sort of group coalition to raise money together and double our manpower.  These are a few of my basic ideas, but I am definitely open to any other ideas, comments, or criticism, provided they are honest and constructive.

I am looking forward to the coming semester and all the ones ahead.  I know STAND will continue to be a powerful tool of advocacy and volunteerism at Weber State for a long time and I hope that throughout the course of my Presidency I will be able to help and inspire fellow activists as much as Cameron did.  If I can do these two things, I will consider my time as President extremely successful.

Again, I look forward to working with all of you and making some noise at Weber State!  Let's keep the momentum rolling!

Washington D.C. Day 4: Successful Lobbying, Unsuccessful Air-Lining

Our final day in D.C. went very quickly- minus the flight at the end of course.  We started the day by walking to one of the Senate office buildings with over 800 other activists.  We took a quick picture together, and then it was time to go our separate ways.  Hundreds of students lobbying virtually every Senator in the United States- and at the same time too!  We did our share by going to a meeting with Senator Bennett's aid Kami Capner.  Our meeting was pretty quick- about 20 minutes in all, but during that time we showed Kami a short film made by STAND's national organization, pressed the importance of pending legislation, including the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery act as well as the Congo Conflict Minerals act.  In addition, we expressed our concern for future legislation not yet brought to congress, encouraging the Senator to spearhead a project to create genocide-prevention legislation.  After we spoke, we gave Kami the video, some summary sheets, and a full report by the Genocide Prevention Task Force to pass on to the Senator.  Overall, the meeting went very smoothly and was definitely another success for STAND.

Our trip back home, however, has been very difficult!  We were supposed to be back in Salt Lake City at about 11:30 Monday night, but as I write this it is about 8:45 am on Tuesday and we are waiting for a plane in Phoenix! 

In order to get to Phoenix in the first place, we had to get to the Baltimore Airport.  Don't ask me why we couldn't just take a plane from D.C's Reagan airport- Baltimore was for some reason much cheaper.  But anyway, in order to get to Baltimore we had to ride the Metro subway for about 30 minutes and then catch a bus to Baltimore.  This travel was for the most part uneventful, though at one point Jo Anne tried to throw away some paper from a distance and missed the trash can.  Some guy then said "NBA Star, you aren't."  He was right, but I'm fairly certain he wasn't an NBA star either.  If he was, I would have asked him to come with us to Utah so he could remind my Utah Jazz that they still have to play in the 4th quarter.

Anyway, we got to the airport and boarded the plane.  The plane then taxied out near the runway, but they then found out that the cockpit door wouldn't close.  So we idled there for about 30 minutes until they discovered a mechanism for door-closery.  But by then we had idled for so long that the plane didn't have the fuel to get to Phoenix, so we taxied back to the terminal, refueled, and headed back out- delaying us about an hour.  We then flew what seemed like the longest flight in the history of man.  During the flight I finished reading two books, Memoirs of a Geisha and The Stranger.  I also started reading Gandhi's Autobiography, but I decided I didn't want to read any more.  So instead I looked out my window.  It was too dark to see anything; except when the lights of the plane flashed and I could see the wingtips like some really lame mid-air strobe-light rave-party.  In truth I wasn't watching the wingtips though, I was staring at the inside of the window which was frosting over from the cold.  I've never watched frost appear on anything before, but I can say that it takes a long time.  Long time, luckily, was something I had, so I watched frost appear on the window.  In a way it was kind of beautiful, how slowly it accumulated there, but before long I realized that I was watching frost appear on a window, so I took out my journal and started writing.

Jo Anne was asleep this whole time, and the woman sitting next to her was reading a Nicholas Sparks novel, though either she wasn't very interested or wasn't a very fast reader because throughout the course of the flight she only read about 20 pages.  I never asked her about the book though. 

Anyway, after all that junk we finally arrived in Phoenix and, of course, we missed the flight to Salt Lake City.  They gave us a hotel voucher and told us to wait for a van to come from the hotel they had assigned us.  The van didn't come for about 45 minutes.  While we waited for it we were surrounded by a bunch of old people and army veterans smoking cigarettes and we were often talked to by the guy that sat next to Rollin, who was kind of crazy. 

We made it to the hotel though, and they actually had a good breakfast for us this morning.  In good spirits now, I am very much ready to come home.  I need to get caught up in school and sleep in a comfortable bed.  I don't know why I said those things in that order- those are just the things on my mind right now.  That and going on facebook, which I think I'll do right now.  Thanks for reading eh, and um...  Don't fly US Airways?

Washington D.C. Day 3: Museum Visits and Preparation for Lobbying

Our third day in Washington has been another excellent one- we started off early with some more meetings, including a more detailed explanation of the crimes in Burma.  We heard firsthand from Myra Dahgaypaw, an ethnic Karen who was born in Burma and fled with her family at the age of 7.  She told us the story of how her brother and his wife were shot and killed, and how her uncle was forced to watch his wife raped in front of him before he too was killed by Than Shwe's soldiers.  Despite the trauma she clearly and rightfully felt from her experiences, Myra told us what many victims of the Burmese regime have told us.  She asked that we do not feel sorry for her, but instead we learn from what has happened to her and too many others and that we take our knowledge to its logical end- to the halls of our congress and the hearts of our people so we can bring an end to the atrocities in Burma.  Maya finished her moving speech with a call to action first stated by Aung San Suu Kyi, the only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate and rightful President of Burma: "Please use your liberty to promote ours."  The request is simple- that we take the moral action and blessing of liberty we have in the United States and all other free nations and use that power on behalf of others who strive for it, and die for it, daily.

For more information on the genocide in Burma, please visit www.uscampaignforburma.org

Beyond the Burma Plenary, our day was basically empty, which gave us a long awaited opportunity to visit a few of the museums around the National Mall.  We visited the Smithsonian Castle, the Museum of American History, and the Museum of Natural History.  But by far the most moving visit we had today was our visit of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  The main focus of the museum was of course the efforts Nazi Germany took against the Jews- including a sad exhibit on the children of concentration camps, the Nazi propaganda machine, and others.  What impressed me the most, though, was the exhibit asking visitors to remember what they saw in the museum and to take action against future crimes against humanity.  This including vast information on the crisis in Darfur, pictures from the genocide in Rwanda, and a table where visitors could sign a pledge to spread the word about genocide and to fight it in all its forms.

While in the museum, I recalled Saturday's trip to the Vietnam memorial- a huge wall with 60,000 names of American soldiers who lost their lives in that war.  I realized how we toss numbers around as though we can fathom them, but in all reality the numbers of the dead in these conflicts is really insurmountable.  During the Vietnam War, "only" 58,195 men died, whereas during World War II 55 Million died from all the countries participating in that war.  If you've seen the Vietnam Memorial, you know that those 58,195 names create a massive structure- imagine a wall dedicated to the 55 million of World War II, or even the 6 million Jews murdered!  Imagine the 58,195 stories of those men that died, or the 6 million, or 55 million.  We really can't even fathom these numbers, let alone the stories of the people behind the numbers who really matter.  We need to take action to prevent genocide and war whenever possible, and use violent conflict only as a last resort.  Refusing to use violence isn't a weakness- it is a moral strength and a universal value that appeals to the conscience of humanity.  I encourage all of you to take this movement to heart, because its strength lies in solidarity.

Tomorrow we head to lobby the staff of Senators Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch.  I for one am going to take the stories I have learned this weekend and the strength and support of everyone back home with me to this session.  I pledge to protect the lives of my fellow man to the best of my ability and to represent the anti-genocide and anti-violence movements in good faith, and to use my liberty and my freedom as a means to diffuse justice throughout the world.  I thank everyone supporting Jo Anne, Rollin, and myself yet again and I hope you will stand for these efforts in the future!

Much love to all-

Zach

Washington D.C. Day 2: Ideas for Activism and Optimism

Just now rounding up what has been a busy, busy day!  Don't get me wrong- I'm not at all upset at the busyness, especially when this is exactly the reason that Jo Anne, Rollin, and myself are here. 

Here's a brief rundown of our day:

8am-9am was our breakfast time.  The hotel served the breakfast, which to say the least was extremely lavish.  We enjoyed a slice of bread and a glass of water.  Literally, that was it.  To be fair the bread had either blueberries or poppy seeds in them, and were rather good tasting, but the fact remains that it wasn't terribly filling.  After this, we listened to various speakers during the Sudan Plenary, including Jerry Fowler, the President of the Save Darfur Coalition, Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah, a Physician and Professor of Medicine at el-Fasher University in Darfur, and others.  After this we attended various breakout sessions, including a "Congo 101" session which described the various dynamics of the conflict minerals of the Congo, a "Burma and the Pursuit of International Justice" session which detailed the campaign to establish a Security Council Commission of Inquiry into the Burmese regime's crimes against humanity, a Congo Plenary featuring John Prendergast, a "Peacemaking in Sudan" session, and an "ICC" session.

I would love to go into detail for all of these sessions, but I think to fit everything in a reasonable amount of space here would be very difficult!  But I would like to point out a few of the statistics from my notes that I thought were rather striking.

One of these statistics was brought up in a recent World Health Organization report, which stated that of the roughly 8 million people in Southern Sudan, there are 10 qualified nurses.  If this doesn't show the discrepancy from what the elite in Khartoum receive and what they give to those in Darfur and South Sudan, I don't know what will.  The conditions these people live in are appalling and often unbearable- we can't let apathy keep us down!  We may be tired of reading the same stories in the papers about what is going wrong in the places we are trying to help, but this should really just be a call that we should try to do more and reach out to others who will help us.  Humanitarian efforts are a difficult process, sometimes they may even frustrate us or make us feel hopeless, but when we feel like we aren't making a difference we need to remind ourselves of the persistence that has helped those who came before us.  Continued, energetic, and creative effort will yield positive results.

Some other interesting information that was brought up had to do with the various "proxy wars" throughout Africa.  Without getting too into the details, this topic essentially pointed out the relationships between multiple conflicts throughout Africa; how they spill over into each other and also how African governments will support rebel groups to gain leverage over neighboring countries.  These facts pointed out to me the importance of not only focusing on humanitarian aid, but also on creating alliances and agreements between these African nations as well.  If these governments keep acting solely in their own interest, our efforts will never be able to prevail.  These governments need to realize that peace and stability in their neighboring countries is beneficial for everyone and will lead to better and more legitimate trade, security for civilians, and stability in all governments.  We cannot afford to have everyone pushing their own agenda without looking at the big picture- we need to push for multilateral efforts from the governments dealing with these issues on the ground.

Alright, this blog is getting a bit longer than normal- but I do think I'll go into the specifics of these conflicts at a later time.  If you have any questions about these issues or anything like that, feel free to let me know!  Tomorrow is our last day of learning sessions and training, and then on Monday we will lobby for 3 different bills, which I will explain tomorrow night.  Thanks for reading and thanks again for your continued support and strength!

Washington D.C. Day 1: Welcome to the Land of No Free Internet Access

Hey everybody!  Before I begin talking about our adventures/misadventures in the short hours we've been here, let me extend another thanks to everyone who made this trip possible.  My parents, Bill Stickney and Belinda Nickle, my brothers, Shane and Joshua Stickney, my Aunt Wendy, and my friends, Amber Hunter, Brody Carpenter, Omar Flores, Teddy Steinhorst, and anyone who has chipped in to any STAND activities prior to this one!  Your support has been invaluable, especially considering we apparently have to pay 10 dollars a day to use internet here- aka the amount of money it would take to feed 10 starving children- aka students at Weber State University.

But beyond mild complaints about exorbitant fees, this place is actually really awesome!  Our hotel is very nice and very huge, and we're only a few blocks away from the national mall, which I'm sure we'll explore extensively as soon as we get some free time.  The people running the conference also gave us some free books and a free ticket to the Holocaust museum!  Needless to say, we're pretty excited to get started.

Coming in here on Friday, though, there wasn't a lot we could do.  We came in a bit late due to a layover in Dallas, so when we got here it was already pretty dark outside.  We were all very hungry, so we went to the restaurant in the Hyatt to see what they had.  The cheapest thing on the menu was a kid's meal priced at about 17.50, so we decided that whatever that restaurant had to offer wasn't exactly what we were looking for.  We wanted to pay about that much for, well, all three of us!  So after that we wandered around looking for food, finding only a few cool looking monuments (but too hungry to check them out) and running in to people muttering to themselves on the street (I imagine every big city needs one, or fifty thousand).  So after we tried and failed to find food for 40 minutes, we came to the hotel to use the internet, which as mentioned costs ten dollars for a freakin' day!  Hungry as we were, we purchased said internet and found a place to buy some really delicious burgers.  All in all, a great success.

Friday night we only had one conference-related event, which was a bit of a mingling period which regional schools.  We met some interesting people and talked about our ideas, our successes, and what we could work on.  This was a good time to get a few ideas going, but the greatest thing I took from that session was inspiration.  In Utah, we don't have a lot of really active human rights groups, so I think sometimes it's easy to get demoralized or to feel like we're alone.  But from this meeting, which was only a few groups from Western states, was more than enough to make me realize how universal our cause really is.  We had people from Missouri to Alaska, and even a man from Costa Rica and another man from Sri Lanka.  This is in a room with only a handful of the people at the conference! 

Anyway, I need to get going to breakfast, but I will post some more updates and with any luck some pictures tonight.  Thanks again for your support!

-Zach

Solidarity, Not Sanctions

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated that the United States would pursue “crippling” sanctions against Iran if diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program fails. The only crippling that will occur should the United States pursue these sanctions is the crippling of the Iranian people and the crippling of the United States’ standing among them. Despite the hype surrounding the idea of sanctions, the civic strategy of solidarity with the Iranian people is the only strategy which will result in positive concessions from the Islamic Republic.


Since the hostage crisis of 1979 the United States has imposed multiple sanctions against Iran. The goal of these sanctions was to create dire economic conditions to pressure Iran’s fundamentalist leaders. But economic pressures do not always result in political changes. The ultimate goal of the sanctions- undermining support for Iran’s theocratic regime- has failed. In fact, the sanctions backfired and gave Iran’s ayatollahs more ammunition to justify their monopoly on Iranian politics and power. They also allowed the Iranian regime to fuel the Islamic Republic’s greatest myth- the myth that depicts the United States as the “Great Satan” and the American people as enemies of Islam.

Despite these past failings, many of our government officials are convinced that sanctions will prevail this time around. During a hearing of the Senate committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Senator Charles Schumer described economic sanctions as “the preferred method of choking Iran’s nukes.” This myth of sanctions as a demoralizing agent needs to be debunked. Sanctions will choke ordinary people in Iran, not nuclear ambitions.

Regardless, the United States is in the process of developing multilateral sanctions against Iran. Two powerful allies, the United Kingdom and France, have voiced their support for the strategy if Tehran does not make acceptable concessions on its nuclear program. Yet two equally powerful countries, Russia and China, are much less enthusiastic. Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently stated that sanctions “would not be creating favorable conditions” for resolving the nuclear issue. Similarly Jiang Yu, a Chinese foreign policy spokesperson, has voiced Chinese opposition as well: “We believe that sanctions and exerting pressure are not the way to solve problems and are not conducive to the current diplomatic efforts on the Iran issue.” With both China and Russia holding veto power in the United Nations Security Council, it seems unlikely that sanctions will work. But suppose we do come to an agreement and Russia and China back the sanctions fully. Wouldn’t that make the plan successful?

Successful sanctions, though uncommon, are not outside the realm of possibility. But the result that is more likely is a continuation of failures that could potentially escalate into something nobody desires: a war with Iran. As with the “Oil for Food” sanctions against Iraq a decade ago, sanctions against Iran will reward smugglers, enrich those in power, and stifle civil society. With the Revolutionary Guard already in control of the majority of the Iranian economy, small businesses will be undercut and the average Iranian will suffer. With these conditions in place, Iran’s hard-liners will frame the sanctions as “proof” that Americans are using the hardship of the Iranian people for the furtherance of their own interests. Uncontested control over Iran means Ahmadinejad will remain the Middle East’s provocateur and could feasibly trigger a war with the United States or Israel. It is precisely this endgame that we should try to avoid.

Instead of playing its regular tough guy role, the United States should pursue a different strategy. America shouldn’t feel the need to de-legitimize Ahmadinejad even further- he can take care of that himself. America should instead use a power that has always been its major advantage over dictatorial regimes everywhere. This isn’t our power to kill or cause harm- this is our power to offer a brighter future to the Iranian people. President Obama has already extended the hand of friendship to Iran and promised that changes in our relationship will be “grounded in mutual respect” –not threats. Promoting human rights in Iran isn’t just doing what is best for the Iranian people; it is also the best security strategy the United States can invest in.