Actress Mia Farrow urges US Madison teachers to help Darfur

February 23, 2008 (MADISON, Wis.) — Actress Mia Farrow urged a group of teachers to help pressure China to exert political leverage on Sudan’s government to help end the crisis in Darfur.

“How can the Chinese host the Olympics with the slogan ’One World, One Dream?”’ the 63-year-old told the 117th annual Southern Wisconsin Educational Inservice Organization teachers’ convention at the Monona Terrace Convention Center. “They are sweeping a nightmare or three under the rug.”

The Chinese are interested in presenting an impressive view of their country and culture through the Olympic spectacle, Farrow said.

“Boycott the opening of the Olympics. Contact the sponsors. Tell Coca-Cola you’re switching to Pepsi, or tell McDonald’s you’re going to eat at Burger King,” she said.

Other sponsors she cited included Budweiser and UPS.

A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, she has taken eight trips to the Darfur region of Sudan, which shares its eastern border with Chad and the Central African Republic.

Farrow has become a witness to genocide, where she says Sudan’s government, largely financed by Chinese oil money and armed with Chinese-made weapons, has declared war on the rural, agrarian tribal people of Darfur.

According to Farrow, China buys about 70 percent of its oil from Sudan.

She said 2.5 million people are refugees in the area and that probably more than 400,000 have been killed in ethnic violence.

“We don’t really know how many have died. The United Nations count stopped at 200,000 because there is now no one to count the bodies,” she said.

Farrow noted that director Steven Spielberg recently backed out of his role as artistic director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics because of China’s role in the suffering in Darfur.

“Make a call. Become involved. These are things as individuals that we can do,” Farrow said.

(AP)