Mia Farrow is a hero.
She has single-handedly done more for the victims of Sudanese genocide than all the governments of the world combined. She has effected what all these governments have not by targetting the biggest enabler of the genocide in Darfur: China.
She has shamed China into pressuring Sudan into stopping the genocide for the first time; she even initiated a China trip to Darfur itself:
She has shamed China into pressuring Sudan into stopping the genocide for the first time; she even initiated a trip to Darfur itself by Chinese officials.
But in the past week, strange things have happened. A senior Chinese official, Zhai Jun, traveled to Sudan to push the Sudanese government to accept a United Nations peacekeeping force. Mr. Zhai even went all the way to Darfur and toured three refugee camps, a rare event for a high-ranking official from China, which has extensive business and oil ties to Sudan and generally avoids telling other countries how to conduct their internal affairs.
Ms. Farrow, a good-will ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund, has played a crucial role, starting a campaign last month to label the Games in Beijing the "Genocide Olympics" and calling on corporate sponsors and even Mr. Spielberg, who is an artistic adviser to China for the Games, to publicly exhort China to do something about Darfur. In a March 28 op-ed article in The Wall Street Journal, she warned Mr. Spielberg that he could "go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games," a reference to a German filmmaker who made Nazi propaganda films.
Four days later, Mr. Spielberg sent a letter to President Hu Jintao of China, condemning the killings in Darfur and asking the Chinese government to use its influence in the region "to bring an end to the human suffering there," according to Mr. Spielberg’s spokesman, Marvin Levy.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Tens of thousands have died in Tibet at the hands of China and China has kidnapped the Panchen Lama, the future leader of Tibet so the 2008 Olympics should be boycotted for China's own genocide in Tibet. So be aware: China may be playing a game of distraction here with the Sudan genocide but anything that stops the genocide in Darfur is helpful despite the motivations.
God bless you Mia Farrow and good for you Steven Spielberg for taking action as well.