More Pizaz for NYC Coalition for Darfur Needed

George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, among Hollywood’s Hottest Men, recently have been using their celebrity status to promote awareness for Darfur at the opening of their movie Ocean’s 13. Their message to the audiences was “Peace in Darfur.” In every article or news segment you did not just hear about the movie. Instead the actors used the film as a marketing strategy to build awareness in America for Darfur.

Mia Farrow is another celebrity advocate for peace in Darfur and a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. For many years she has supported movements to eradicate polio. Recently she has been drawing world wide attention with her heroic efforts in the Sudan region. I considered interviewing someone like her, someone who has been there and seen the devastation first hand, whom I can learn a lot more from. I tried to arrange an interview with Mia Farrow by contacting her publicist at UNICEF. However, after many attempts, I learned that she was going to be traveling to the Sudan region with her son Ronan in a couple of days and would not be available for an interview.

As I continued to research options, I came upon another possibility. An event hosted by the American Jewish World Service in New York on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 would be featuring Bill Clinton and NBC’s journalist Ann Curry. The theme was “Partners in Global Justice” and one of the main focuses was the current genocide in Darfur. After numerous attempts and phone calls with the main office of AJWS, I learned that a ticket to this event was $1000 far out of the range of a college student.

Because of these unfortunate circumstances I had to settle for a non-celebrity event. I researched the Save Darfur website and found the NYC Coalition for Darfur holds monthly meetings and one was being held Wednesday, June 13 at Church of St. Paul and St. Andrews, a local Church on the West Side. The NYC Coalition is a nationwide organization connected to Save Darfur with chapter meetings being held on the Upper West side of Manhattan.

The host of this particular meeting was Sharon Silber a staff member of the NYC Coalition for Darfur. Her goal was to educate (and to lecture) a crowd of about 15.She showed two segments from the video Million Voices for Darfur. The two segments gave an overview of the situation. The first segment portrayed an American Marine who was in Sudan recently and witnessed the violence first hand. One of his experiences was when he was passing a recently attacked village. He was accosted by many of the wounded villagers particularly one woman whose two year old daughter had a gunshot wound on her lower back. This young Marine has no medical experience whatsoever. He realized that because he was white, many of the people assumed he was a doctor.

The second video segment focused on a girl who attends Swarthmore University in Pennsylvania. She and two other students were selected to travel to the Darfur region. She is originally from the Congo and fled when the conflict began and moved to the United States. During her travels she visited many refugee camps. On one particular visit, she met a 15 year old girl who presents herself like a 25 year old because of the traumas forced upon her. Her return to the United States caused her to reflect on her recent visit. She began a Student Coalition for Darfur which has spread nationwide on college campuses.

In addition to the videos, Sharon Silbar had an agenda which the audience did not necessarily have a voice in. Nonetheless, some aspects of her agenda were educational and useful. The general public, including myself is probably unaware that New York State is soon to be the fourth state to pass Senate Bill 831, the Sudan Divestment Authorization Act. The Act states that the U.S. Government will not invest in companies who, inadvertently or not, fund the genocide in Darfur. Sudan’s main purchaser of petroleum is China and even if the United States puts Senate Bill 831 into action, I feel it will be difficult to enforce. Over 70% of oil revenue goes toward military expenditures. Our world economy is changing rapidly. China is the rising global power and it is difficult to avoid interacting in all business transactions with them. I don’t think these “actions” will really take place. It will prove impossible not to do business with China. Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu strongly urges “the international community to treat Sudan like it did apartheid South Africa” recently said in an interview with BBC.

Particular incidents are hard to imagine but at the same time I was not surprised when I learned of certain human rights violations. I was surprised to learn that the Janjaweed, known as “Devils on Horseback,” could watch their own countrymen burn alive inside mosques.

Among the humanitarian workers in the conflict zone are “Doctors Without Borders” who provide aid to the refugees and desperately needed medical assistance. When asked about their experiences in Darfur, they respond that it is not genocide. How can they say this? Evidently I was told if they say there is a genocide they will endanger the refugees lives as well as their own and be forced to leave the area.

While this meeting was informative, I had some issues with the way it was held. I assumed that this meeting would be an open discussion as well as being educational. I was wrong. Every time someone asked a question it was always Sharon Sibar who answered. If an audience member tried to respond to someone else’s question she always intervened. I tried to change this trend by wanting to go back to a person’s question about if the genocide would end. I said that I thought it is not going to end because the cycle keeps continuing in each of the countries. Denise Katman who used to work in the entertainment industry attended the meeting and her beliefs were similar as well. She was annoyed and disappointed as well. She asked a question about celebrities taking action, using Steven Spielberg as an example, and Ms. Sibar ended up moving to someone else’s question. She acknowledged celebrities had an influence in creating awareness but it was really the people (like herself) not celebrities who have been making a difference. I responded to her answer by saying although many people have been fighting for the end of genocide, it is really the celebrities who have kindled the public interest. Our country is pop-culture oriented and the way to get through to people is by using a celebrity.

My generation relies on You Tube and the internet for entertainment and information and we are used to people reaching out to us in innovative ways. Ms. Sibar said “she had a lot of respect for my generation” the way we have been using the internet and becoming more politically active. She feels that our actions have helped to stir the pot around the issues of Darfur.

According to Ms. Silbar we need to use “the power of the officials we have.” But aren’t some officials considered to have “celebrity status?” Barak Obama, Bill Clinton are celebrities and by them supporting action in Darfur the American Public will be more inclined to listen. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half. I would have preferred more open discussion. I would also try to enlist a celebrity spokesperson for Darfur which would help generate the recognition and action it deserves.

Hollywood and Darfur

The flag of Sudan has become infiltrated with the color red because of the genocide of 200,000 Darfurians. Hollywood is sporting this fashion today and is keeping this trend of political awareness alive. Before Hollywood became actively involved in this situation most Americans did not even know it existed. Through celebrity adoptions, humanitarian visits and public awareness campaigns Africa has become the latest fashion trend. Politics have become fashionable for many celebrities and this is influencing the American public. Hollywood has joined the political campaign to force other governments like China to evaluate their roles and actions in the Darfur conflict.

If you have not joined this trend yet, here is some background on the issue. In 2003, two rebel groups in Darfur formed an alliance; the SLA and JEM and they united to attack military bases. The Sudanese government responded by releasing the Janjaweed on the rebel groups including civilians. The term Janjaweed translates to “demons on horseback”, and they are armed nomadic Sudanese being paid by the government to attack rebels and innocent African villagers. When Sudanese planes fly over the soon to be attacked camps, Janjaweed warriors are the ones to follow the sound and kill the innocent. Sudan is now experiencing heightened political tensions with Chad because they allow these rebels to attack and set up bases. Chad has a similar point of view because Sudan allows rebels to base on their land. This hostility between the two countries has created a circuitous cycle of violence and bloodshed.

Recently, the United Nations has reduced their humanitarian staffing by about 50 percent because of the attacks against the international workers and facilities in both Sudan and Chad. According to a recent statement by the United States State Department and U.N., it is estimated that there are 230,000 Sudanese refugees and up to 140,000 internally dispersons currently residing in Chad. In the past five months these numbers have doubled. The increased number of Sudanese refugees in Chad is straining the already limited resources of the area, leading to more tension and competition for food and water, the source of many international emergencies. Chad is already having trouble feeding their own people and with the Sudanese refugees it has become even more difficult.

These atrocities occurring in Darfur challenge the 1949 Geneva Convention itself, which prohibits attacks on civilians. Sudan broke their agreement with the convention by sanctioning the Janjaweed militia to rape women and kill civilian men and children. Darfurians are supposed to be safe in the refugee camps. However, this is not the case for women when they collect firewood. The enraged Janjaweed are waiting for them; when the women leave the camps, they are met by men who will rape them. Sometimes when attacking a village the Janjaweed will rape women publicly to shame the female and her family. At all of the refugee camps there are significantly fewer men then women because most men have already been killed, while the camp is filled with women who have been raped. The Sudanese government sponsors the Janjaweed and is making it very difficult for the UN and other relief workers to help those in need. At this point, President Bashir hasn’t taken action to alleviate the situation.

The Janjaweed is also using a strategy of “organized starvation,” another main cause of death in Sudan. President Bashir said he would disarm the Janjaweed but as of now there is little evidence that this has happened. The latest peace agreement was signed by the Sudan Liberation Movement on May 5, 2006, but was soon to be broken. Despite the denials of President Bashir, Google maps show the region and the heavy destruction in the area.

This blood bath has been going on for too long and the U.S. and UN are finally implementing sanctions. Recently, President Bush placed sanctions on Sudan because of increased frustration at Sudan’s refusal to end the violence in Darfur. Sanctions include banning any business or communication with Sudan’s 31 companies who do business in the U.S. financial system. Bush wants the sanctions to prevent the transportation of weapons from these companies to the rebels and their government.

Sudan’s biggest buyer of oil is China, a newly industrialized nation. They are desperately in need of oil and petroleum suppliers in order to continue the process of industrialization. Thus they are not in a position to be particular about their trading partners or suppliers. While other developed or industrialized nations are placing sanctions on Sudan, China refuses to do so. Special Chinese government envoy, Liu Guijin, recently visited the region and reported that he witnessed no desperation in the refugee camps. He also claimed that he found international and Sudanese groups were working cooperatively to solve humanitarian problems in the villages and refugees camps. Gujin’s comments are hard to believe considering 50% of the UN relief workers have evacuated the area because of recent attacks on them. China wants to protect their economic interests, so they are deliberately being oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. The government of China is providing aircraft and weapons to the nation of Sudan as well as the Janjaweed. Recent pictures have been taken of Chinese made aircraft which are camouflaged to hide the identity. This breaks U.N. sanctions against selling arms or related goods to Sudan.

Hollywood has become an important ally in the Darfurian conflict. Recent movies such as Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond and The Last King of Scotland are bringing African political situations into our American pop culture. Washington D.C. has successfully combined forces with Hollywood using celebrity representatives. Political activist and actress Mia Farrow is responsible for getting China involved recently in the Darfurian conflict. She ignited the growing use of the term “Genocide Olympics” and its campaign. Farrow has encouraged other celebrities to get involved as well. In a March op-ed entry of the Wall Street Journal, Mia Farrow warned Steven Spielberg to get involved in this crisis. She shamed him, suggesting he could “go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games.” (She is referring to the Nazi propaganda filmmaker during World War II). Spielberg is an artistic adviser to China for the Olympic Games and since Mia Farrow’s warning, he sent a letter to the Chinese president asking him to stop participating in the suffering in Sudan and the surrounding area.

Hollywood has created a strong buzz by calling the 2008 Summer Olympics, “The Genocide Olympics.” This has finally sparked China’s attention. It seems the only reason China is taking actions, such as sending a special envoy to Darfur, is because of the pressure Hollywood and other nations are creating. China appointed Liu Gajjin as their representative and according to Mr. Gajjin, “China has provided $ 30 million dollars in development assistance to Sudan, and that investment by its oil companies has helped Sudan to develop more sophisticated oil exploration and refinery businesses.” While this assistance seems altruistic, it is not. Sudan is expanding its oil business, but the money is not being used to help the people of the nation as China claims it will be. Instead the money is being used to fuel the war.

China needs to be forced to take action in the Darfurian conflict. Hollywood is leading the campaign. The longer China waits, the more Darfurians will suffer. There are already 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million people displaced from their homes, numbers likely underreported. If China wants to gain the respect of other nations, they need to join others in the U.N. in pressuring Sudan to take action. China should place conditions on their oil purchases and clearly dictate the repercussions if the conditions are not met. This will encourage Sudan to take action and to become more economically responsible. Hopefully, Hollywood will continue to use their powerful influence to encourage citizen to take action and keep this new trend of political awareness a part of pop culture.