December 2024 Newsletter

Issue #94

While much of the world's attention has been focused on other conflicts such as Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon, the war in Sudan has been raging for over 18 months.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Since April 2023, almost 15,000 people have been killed there, and more than 8.2 million have been displaced, giving rise to the worst displacement crisis in the world.

Global Conflict Tracker

About 25 million people – of whom over 14 million are children – need humanitarian assistance

and support.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Hunger

Over 17 million people – more than one-third of the country’s population – are facing acute food insecurity. Of these, 4.9 million people are on the brink of famine. 

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Housing

More than 8.6 million people – about 16% of the total population of the country – have fled their homes since the conflict started.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Children

With close to 4 million children displaced, Sudan is facing the largest child displacement crisis

in the world.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Over 700,000 children expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition. Nearly 14 million – 50% of the country’s children – now require humanitarian assistance, and around 900,000 of them have sought refuge in neighboring countries since the start of

the war.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Thousands of children have been killed or injured, and countless more exposed to grave protection risks including sexual violence and recruitment in

the conflict.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Education

With most schools shuttered or struggling to re-open across the country, 19 million school-aged children risk losing out on their education, with grave implications for their future prospects, for Sudan,

and beyond.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Health Care

About 65% of the population lacks access to healthcare and between 70 - 80% of hospitals in conflict-affected areas are no longer functional. Disease outbreaks are increasing and there have been over 11,000 suspected cholera cases.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

During the early days of the war, both sides launched airstrikes and artillery fire at hospitals while patients were still in the building and doctors have been singled out for attack. Both acts are potential

war crimes.

BBC

Economy

Even before the war started, Sudan was one the poorest countries in the world. Its 41 million people live on an average annual income of around $2,200 per person and 15% of its population lives on less than $2.00 a day.

World Bank

The conflict has halted production and destroyed human capital and state capacity causing the economy to contract by 12% in 2023.

World Bank

With livelihoods decimated by the war, Sudan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to be reduced by 18% in 2024.

The International Monetary Fund

International Response

The UN and other major humanitarian groups have issued several dire warnings about the situation in Sudan, saying the international community has "forgotten" the African country. The International Crisis Group has called diplomatic efforts to end the war "lackluster," while Amnesty International labeled the world's response "woefully inadequate."

BBC

For more on War, click here.

Sudan's Conflict Explained

A short video from Vox that helps put the current war into historical context and highlights the primary leaders and events that led up to the present crisis. Watch now.

For more on War, click here.

We've Got You Covered:

Rebooting American Health Care

By Liran Einav & Amy Finkelstein. A proposal for American health insurance reform. Argues that the US health care system was never deliberately designed, but rather pieced together to deal with issues as they became politically relevant. The result is a sprawling yet arbitrary and inadequate mess, leaving 30 million Americans without formal insurance. Many of the rest live in constant danger of losing their coverage if they lose their job, give birth, get older, get healthier, get richer, or move. The book proposes that it's time to start over and rebuild sensibly and deliberately. Using original research, insights from American history, and comparative analysis of what works and what doesn’t from systems around the world, argues for automatic, basic, and free universal coverage for everyone, along with the option to buy additional, supplemental coverage. Read more.

For more on Health Care, click here.

The Border Within: The Economics of Immigration in an Age of Fear

By Tara Watson & Kalee Thompson. An analysis of the costs and effects of immigration and immigration policy, both on American life and on new Americans. Examines the costs and ends of America’s interior enforcement—the policies and agencies, including ICE, aimed at removing immigrants already living in the country. Combines analysis with personal stories from immigrants and their families to assess immigration’s effects on American life, from the labor force to social welfare programs to tax revenue. What emerges is an examination of what non-native Americans bring to the country, including immigration’s tendency to elevate the wages and skills of those who are native-born. Opens a conversation of whether American immigration policies are effective. The authors dissect the policies that make up a broken, often cruel system, while illuminating the lives caught in the chaos. Read more.

For more on Immigration, click here.

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here:

The United States, Central America,

and the Making of a Crisis 

By Jonathan Blitzer. A well documented history and a look at the causes of the humanitarian crisis at the southern border told through the lives of the migrants forced to risk everything and the policymakers who determine their fate. Weaving the stories of Central Americans whose lives have been devastated by chronic political conflict and violence with those of American activists, government officials, and the politicians responsible for the country’s tragically tangled immigration policy, the book reveals the full, layered picture for the first time. Tells a story about the people whose lives ebb and flow across the border, and in doing so, delves into the heart of American life itself. Read more.

For more on Immigration, click here.

Critical Race Theology: White Supremacy, American Christianity, and the Ongoing Culture Wars

By Juan M. Floyd-Thomas. Examines the entangled roots of white supremacy, white Christian nationalism, and the raging culture wars in America and charts a path for a revitalized social gospel for the 21st century. Proposes “critical race theology” as a framework to confront racism, exclusion, and oppression within American Christianity and society. Challenging the self-righteous distortions of conservatives, calls on clergy and believers to truly embody the liberating spirit of Jesus's radical ethic of love, providing a hopeful vision of a future where human dignity, social equality, and spiritual renewal can flourish in a nation reborn. Read more.

For more on Racism, click here.

In Slavery's Wake:

Making Black Freedom in the World

A publication from the National Museum of African American Culture. This companion book to the exhibition on African American history and culture—with 150 powerful illustrations of people and objects -- investigates the intertwined legacies of slavery, freedom, and capitalism. Frames the history of slavery in a global context to show how it created systems of oppression that continue to shape the world today. Essays from historians and scholars trace not only the contemporary resonances of slavery but also the history of freedom-making, from abolitionism to enslaved and colonized people asserting their humanity to the Black Lives Matter movement. Read more.

For more on Racism, click here.

How to End Christian Nationalism

By Amanda Tyler. A guidebook for Christians alarmed by the rising tide of Christian nationalism yet unsure how to counter it. Distinguishes Christian nationalism from the teachings of Jesus and demonstrates how the former perpetuates white supremacy. Helps unpack key truths such as: patriotism is not the same as nationalism, religious freedom means little if it's not for everyone and Christians follow a gospel of love, not the idol

of power. Offers examples of what Christians are doing to resist Christian nationalism in their churches and communities, including strategies for faith-rooted organizing to guidance for holding hard conversations with loved ones. Provides arguments for the separation of church and state, a timely call to action, and an urgent case for countering a twisted, fearful version of faith. Read more.

For more on Racism, click here.

A Food System that Fights Climate Change — Instead of Causing It

A TED Talk, featuring farmer and UN climate champion Gonzalo Muñoz, who points out that nearly one-third of the world's food production goes to waste each year -- a major contributor to the climate crisis. He sheds light on the international negotiations aimed at turning the food system into a climate solution, rather than part of the problem — and shows the progress underway. Watch now.

For more on the Environment, click here.

The Need to Grow

A documentary from the Food Revolution Network. With an estimated 60 years of farmable soil left on Earth, offers a look into the hearts of activists and innovators in the food movement: an 8 year old girl challenges the ethics of a beloved organization - a renegade farmer struggles to keep his land as he revolutionizes resource efficient agriculture and an accomplished visionary inventor faces catastrophe in the midst of developing a game-changing technology. Offers evidence on the importance of healthy soil - revealing not only the potential of localized food production working with nature, but the opportunity as individuals to help regenerate the planet’s dying soils and participate in the restoration of the Earth. Watch now.

For more on the Environment, click here.

The Hidden Globe:

How Wealth Hacks the World

By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian. A journalist’s account of a parallel universe that has become a haven for the rich and powerful. Shows that beneath the world we think we know is another that been engineered into existence, consisting of thousands of extraterritorial zones that operate largely autonomously, and increasingly for the benefit of the wealthiest individuals and corporations. Traces the rise of this hidden globe to thirteenth-century Switzerland, where poor cantons marketed their only commodity: bodies, in the form of mercenary fighters. Over time, economists, theorists, statesmen, and consultants evolved ever more sophisticated ways of exporting and exploiting statelessness, in the form of free trade zones, flags of convenience, offshore detention centers, charter cities controlled by foreign corporations, and even into outer space. By mapping this counter-geography -- which decides who wins and who loses in the new global order—helps readers see how it might be otherwise. Read more.

For more on Economic Justice, click here.

Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty--and What to Do About It

By Sohrab Ahmari. The inside story of how our political class enabled an era of unaccountable corporate might that left ordinary Americans isolated and powerless—and how we can fight back. Drawing on original reporting and a growing chorus of experts who are sounding the alarm, chronicles how private tyranny has eroded America’s productive economy and the liberties we take for granted—from employment agreements that gag whistleblowers, to Big Finance’s takeover of local fire departments, to the rigging of corporate bankruptcy to deny justice to workers and consumers—illuminating how these and other developments have left millions feeling that our livelihoods are insecure. And shows how ordinary Americans can fight back, by restoring the economic democracy that empowered and uplifted millions of working-class people in the twentieth century.

Read more.

For more on Economic Justice, click here.

Framed: Astonishing True Stories

of Wrongful Convictions

By John Grisham & Jim McCloskey. Offers an inside look at the many injustices in the criminal justice system. Tells ten true stories of Americans who were innocent but found guilty and forced to sacrifice friends, families, and decades of their lives to prison while the guilty parties remained free. Takes a close look at what leads to wrongful convictions in the first place and the racism, misconduct, flawed testimony, and corruption in the court system that can make them so hard to reverse. Read more.

For more on the Criminal Justice System,

click here.

National Association of Blacks

in Criminal Justice

A non-profit organization that seeks to focus attention on relevant legislation, law enforcement, prosecution, and defense-related needs and practices, with emphasis on law enforcement, courts, corrections, and the prevention of crime. Learn more.

For more on the Criminal Justice System,

click here.

Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth

A national nonprofit that leads efforts to ban juvenile life without parole and other extreme sentences for children. The CFSY is an equity-driven organization that explicitly works to dismantle the racial disparities, social injustices, and residual harms caused by the legal system. Through partnerships with advocacy organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders, the CFSY supports survivors of youth violence, those incarcerated as children who are still serving or have been released, and their respective families and communities. Learn more.

For more on the Criminal Justice System,

click here.

The Message

By Ta-Nehisi Coates. The author journeys to three sites of conflict -- Senegal, South Carolina and Palestine -- to explore how the stories we tell—and the ones we don’t—shape our realities. Challenges readers to question conventional narratives that can be used to justify ethnic cleansing or camouflage racist policing. Encourages readers to untangle themselves from the destructive myths that shape our world and embrace the liberating power of even the most difficult truths. Read more.

For more Justice resources, click here.

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