Darfur Celebrities

With the recent advent of social media we are now more aware to the plights of the less fortunate. Former Vice Provost of Duke University Cathy Davidson, author of the essay “Project Classroom Makeover”, discusses the rise of our interconnected society through the use of social media in her essay. In tandem with Davidson is Maggie Nelson, whose essay “Great to Watch” explores the violence that is so entrenched in our society. The advent of the internet created social media platforms for previously unheard of connection. Giving everyone an equal voice, this platform was prime for being used for activism. However it is not that simple, being an activist for human rights will expose a complex world of parallel and sometimes contradictory ideas. Well used is social media for activism, and for good purpose, it is the most powerful tool for exposing the oft overlooked humanitarian issues of our world.

In Joe Piscatella’s documentary #chicagoGirl he focuses on the story of the young girl Ala’a Basatneh fighting injustice through the internet. Many times throughout the film there is a strong correlation to technology being used as a weapon. It shows how strong your voice can be used to reach those all around the world even though you are miles away like Ala’a Basatneh. She lived in chicago but was fighting against the syrian regime through a social media platform, Facebook. She stated that she felt very strong about doing what was right and how without social media it would have never been possible. In addition the essay “The Drowning Child and the Expanding Circle” by Peter Singer is based on his talk with his college students. He asks them ‘to imagine that their route to the university takes them past a shallow pond. One morning ... you notice a child has fallen in and appears to be drowning’’ and tells them how it would cause a loss to them. Then he asked if they were obligated to take action and they said yes. Now he challenged them to think of someone drowning all across the world and asked if they would still be able to help them. He opens their minds how being far away does not “ exempt” you from doing anything it's how you decide to take action. Singer stated that “ Instant communications... changed all

Today, people seem blinded by their outsized enthusiasm for social media. According to them, a few clicks can change the whole world and accomplish wonders such as curing cancer. Good intentions become sufficient on their own, as if there were no need for medicine and scientific researches anymore. Well, this is pure nonsense. Facebook’s likes cannot save African children from starvation, the same way Twitter’s 140 characters will not put an end to acts of terrorism. This notion is not even remotely debatable. For instance, the project Kony2012 had a perfect starting point; inspiring video, moving story and most importantly worldwide spread. Unfortunately, the terrorist is still at liberty, and the lack of thorough investigations is to blame. Instead of focusing on the real problems of war and kidnapping of children, the so-called activist related to the obvious and spent all of his money and energy on his movie. Ultimately, due to the predominance of weak-ties, the project was not successful. More importantly, certain tools of social networks, especially “likes” and “retweets”, encourage people to feel good about themselves, when actually they should incite them to put their efforts and means in the cause they supposedly defend. As Gladwell wrote, “[current] activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that

In recent times, the media has highlighted the genocide that has been occurring in Darfur, Sudan. Darfur, Sudan is a country roughly the size of the state of Texas (Darfur Scores, n.d.). Genocide is the systematic killing of an entire ethnic group of people from a national, ethnic, or religious group, or an attempt to do away with them all (Darfur Scores, n.d.). Beginning around 2003, according to Darfur Scores (n.d.), “the Sudanese government in Khartoum and the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia have used rape, displacement, organized starvation, threats against aid workers and mass murder. Violence, disease, and displacement continue to kill thousands of innocent Darfurians every month.”

Ever since 2003 there’s been a mass torturing of Darfur civilians. This is known as the Darfur genocide. It is still going on today. It’s been going on for over 13 years. Many times the Darfur Genocide has been called the first genocide of the 21st century. Many people i’ve been seeing question if it’s truly genocide. I have to say that I think it’s no doubt genocide. I say this because genocide is the deliberate extermination of a people or nation. To say the least it’s very deliberate what the Janjaweed has been doing to the Darfur citizens. It’s terrible the many gruesome acts the Janjaweed has been doing in Darfur. The Janjaweed has been murdering people in Darfur. The Janjaweed has been also raping young women in their own villages. These

the video of darfur is the best to show everything that is happening in darfur. the video interviewed people, showed images and video of their homes. the narrator even talking in a sad and depressing voice to give the viewer a feeling of how sad it is. The people they interviewed were mostly pregnant, and were raped to make the bitter feeling more appealing. the people talked about how they attacked at their homes, and how they are starving, and everything there going through. The video was able to show the dismal feeling that is going around in darfur.

“500,000 people have been slaughtered, in Darfur, Sudan, yet no one cares.” An anonymous quote that has spoken truth before, but now it will no longer be true. The Darfuri Genocide has been the cause of poverty, death, famine, etc. This is one of the worst humanitarian crisis that’s going on to this day. The Darfuri people have had to deal with slaughtering of their people, UN attempts, and past civil wars that led up to this major fighting.

About 2.3 million Darfurians have fled their homes and communities and now reside in displaced person camps in Darfur. It has started spilling over into neighboring countries such as Chad and the Central African Republic. There are still over 200,000 more Darfurians living in refugee camps in Chad. Immediately after the Janjaweed entered the conflict, the rape of women and young girls, often by multiple militiamen and often throughout entire nights, began to be reported at a staggering rate. Children as young as 2 years old were reported victims, while mothers were assaulted in front of their children.Young women were attacked so violently that they were unable to walk following the attack. “.. These refugees and IDPs are almost entirely dependent on the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations for their basic needs – food, water, shelter, and health care.”(The Genocide in Darfur). The Darfurians that are still living in their country are feeling as though they are under a constant threat or being tortured, raped and murdered. In October 2004, 7,400 troops and personnel were sent by the U.N peacekeeping forces to Darfur. In the summer of 2007, outbreaks of violence between some of the Arab tribes that worked together as part of the Janjaweed began to occur more frequently. The United Nations recently reported

We would never be able to obtain all the information and images we have of the genocide if it weren’t for the journalists who risked their lives by going out there and getting them. Unfortunately, the language barrier made it nearly impossible to do so. Thanks to a man named Daoud Hari, an English speaking native of Darfur, it became possible. The man risked his live every day knowing returning to Darfur could mean the end of his life but he did it just so the rest of the world a glimpse of the terror going. He documented his

Today the line between breaking news and paid advertisements has become quite blurry. Add to that the propensity for celebrities, and regular citizens, to comment on both through social media platforms, and reaching thousands, if not millions of people, it is no wonder we are losing our sense of individuality. The internet makes not only news stories easily accessible, but also allows people to follow and look into other people’s lives. “Advances within technology and information have enabled ordinary individuals’ to organized, spread their word and gain attention on an international scale” (Cooper 6). “The rise of social media has played a large role in propelling social consciousness, with celebrities posting their own impassioned PSA’s

Under the topic of Darfur, communicating through poetry, photography, music, and video has some advantages and some disadvantages. Some forms of communication are harder to understand than others, and this can be a problem. Some forms of communication can add music to make it sadder or happier, or change the color of the picture to make it mean something more. But sometimes the meaning of the picture, video, etc. can be misinterpreted. Video gives the best understanding of what is happening. video can show what people are doing and what they think, and make it more dramatic than any other form of communication

As technology develops rapidly in the modern society, the broad social influence it brings is also widely discussed, especially about its effects on social change. In the past, social movements were raised without the help of technology, specifically without social media, whereas social media has recently played a non-ignorable role. The connection between social media and social activisms concerned, here come some different voices. Few people maintain that social media now has no practical influence on social change, while others hold the opposite view, thinking social media is already a crucial factor in it. Personally speaking, I agree with the second kind of view: it is true that social media is not able to create social movements by itself in today’s world, but it plays an important and essential part in making real social change.

When most people talk about celebrities it is usually related to their latest fashion statement, the new movies they are starring in, or the new song they released. However, what is becoming increasingly more popular for celebrities to be associated with is humanitarian and development work. Through their use of songs, documentaries, and publicized field missions, the celebrities that partake in humanitarian work utilize their fame to attract people to support certain relief efforts and organizations. A movement first started by Jackie Coogan in the 1920s (Babkenian, 2011), celebrity humanitarianism is becoming increasingly more popular with names such as Bono, Oprah Winfrey, and Angelina Jolie serving as modern day examples of

Since we are given these incredible tools to communicate, we need to use them. An example of a time that social media was used for good was last year when the Stop Kony campaign was trending on twitter. At it’s most popular time, #StopKony was tweeted more 1200 times a minute. The Stop Kony marketing team created a video as an experiment, having no idea that they would change the

This use of social media is a method that is beyond the strategical scope of the people fighting ISIS, especially the many government agencies trying to combat ISIS. This use of newer technology also makes use of the role that technology plays in the lives of ISIS’ recruitment demographic. The young people that ISIS is focused on bringing in are the group that makes the most use of social media and are the ones for whom social media both is an integral part of their lives and their main source of information. Where in the past the news may have reached someone by a newspaper or the evening news on television, now information and current events are available and transmitted through the internet, and now increasingly, viewed on social media. The 24 hours news cycle has news being created constantly, however with the growth and expansion of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, internet users are increasingly getting their news from their Facebook Timelines and Twitter feeds rather than through news sites. This means that instead of just