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.