US activists urge Chinese action on Darfur
June 13, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — US activists on Wednesday launched a fresh campaign aimed at pressuring key Sudanese ally China to take concrete action on the conflict in Darfur ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
The Olympic Dream for Darfur movement is countering China’s slogan, “One World, One Dream,” with its own motto: “China, Please,” and adding its voice to a growing number of global activists who want to see improvements on the ground in war-torn Darfur ahead of the world sporting event.
“‘One World, One Dream’ has been China’s slogan, but clearly there is one nightmare that China cannot be allowed to sweep under the rug,” said actress Mia Farrow, who chairs the group’s advisory committee.
“I think most people know by now that China is underwriting the tragedy in Darfur,” she said. “So it falls to us now to ask China … to use its unique point of leverage to end the slaughter.”
The group is not calling for a boycott of the Olympics but has launched an online petition site, plans to hold symbolic Olympic torch relays, and is selling T-shirts and temporary tattoos that say: “China, Please. Bring the Olympic Dream to Darfur.”
“China is not only the premier supplier of weapons to Khartoum regime but is a primary investor in economy … and has provided unstinting support” to the Sudanese government, said Eric Reeves, an expert on Sudan and professor at Massachusetts’ Smith College.
While the movement welcomed Sudan’s acceptance of a hybrid force of joint UN and African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, where 200,000 people have died and millions have fled fighting since 2003, Reeves cautioned that activists want to see concrete action.
“There is no sign yet that this is an agreement of any meaning,” Reeves said, adding “there is nothing to date to suggest that China has reversed the disastrous security dynamic on the ground.
The Olympic Dream for Darfur movement will “decide if the campaign has succeeded when we see a tangible change in security conditions on the ground,” he said.
(AFP)