Darfur: A Test Case for Web 2.0 Advocacy
Email and web-based technology have served as critical tools for advocates and activists to grow petitions, advertise rallies, and disseminate information etc. for a myriad of causes. And most people in the advocacy community have memories of both forwarding to friends particularly inspiring emails and trashing the particularly rote description of suffering half-a-world away. Yet what happens when web video, global online communities and advocacy meet? Welcome to the world of Web 2.0 Advocacy. Many online advocacy efforts for Darfur exist. Yet a few have stood out for me for their ingenuity, impact and their consistent efforts to engage global citizenry in weighing in on decision making at national and supranational levels. These tools allow us to bear witness, to be seen and be heard en masse and to provide what the Economist referred to as a deafening wake-up call to world leaders.
Witness for yourself
Google Earth has partnered with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to create The Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative which seeks to “collect, share and visually present to the world critical information on emerging crises that may lead to genocide or related crimes against humanity. Beginning with Darfur, [they] are building an interactive “global crisis map" that will provide citizens, aid workers and foreign policy professionals with a new tool to share and understand information quickly, to "see the situation", enabling more effective prevention and response.” Check it out for yourself at: http://www.ushmm.org/googleearth/projects/darfur/
This initiative is valuable not just because it gives us new access and a unique lens through which to understand the conflict in Darfur. It literally brings the conflict into our homes in living color and in more depth and visual detail than ever before. In doing so, it serves to shorten the real and perceived distance between us, the effects of the conflict and those who are bearing its brunt.
Be heard en masse
Online petitions are prevalent in Darfur advocacy. Of the many petition drives for Darfur a number have stood out. The Save Darfur Coalition launched the "Million Voices for Darfur" campaign on January 22, 2006, the 55th anniversary of the ratification of the U.N.'s Convention on Genocide. This was a national effort that sought to deliver one million hand-written and electronic postcards from Americans to President Bush demanding that he support a stronger multinational force to protect the people of Darfur. Postcards were collected from every state and on June 29, 2006, the millionth postcard was signed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D. (R-TN) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), just six months after the campaign was launched. For more information on this and other Save Darfur campaigns please see: www.savedarfur.org.
Another organization that has taken on the cause of seeking a fair and peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur is Avaaz.org. Avaaz is a global online community of over 1.2 million people in 192 countries that takes action on the major issues facing the world. Avaaz seeks to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people play a role in shaping global decisions at the national and supranational level. Its members act for a more just and peaceful world and a globalization with a human face. For more information on their current peace with justice for Darfur campaign please see: www.avaaz.org/en/darfur/
Also, the Genocide Intervention Network has launched a campaign to ask all the US presidential candidates to divest their personal holdings from certain companies whose business ventures in Sudan underwrite the regime’s attacks on the people of Darfur. http://askthecandidates.org/
Look into your webcam, be seen and be heard
Entrepreneurial students from Yale Law School have taken advantage of advances in web video technology to allow us to be heard and seen on Darfur. 24Hours for Darfur has tapped into the burgeoning market of web video to allow anyone to easily record an appeal and upload it to their website www.24hoursfordarfur.org. All appeals are displayed on their website and sent directly to participants' political representatives. They have urged politicians to respond to their constituents by posting videos articulating their Darfur policies. A number of politicians including John Edwards and Mark Malloch Brown have done so. On September 16, 24Hours for Darfur screened hours of rolling footage at a rally in front of the UN headquarters. That footage is available at: http://www.youtube.com/24hoursfordarfur.
More online tools
A couple other new online tools that you may find useful include a divestment screener and an educational video library. The divestment screener is a project of the Genocide Intervention Network and Invested Interests, a leader in socially responsible investing. Its simple enough; you enter your mutual fund company name or ticker symbol and the screener provides you a detailed report of your mutual fund’s record on Sudan investments. Making this information easily available online for free is another way that the web facilitates targeted action aimed at pressuring the regime in Khartoum. For more information about targeted divestment please see my earlier posts. To go directly to the divestment screener click here: http://www.sudandivestment.org/screener.asp
The second online tool is a web-based educational video library. This library was created by 24Hours for Darfur and seeks to make high quality knowledge about the complex situation in Darfur accessible to those looking for a concise introduction to the conflict and those looking for more in-depth analysis. The recent proliferation and the continued popularization of web video have made this kind of educational tool viable. As insightful and detailed as they often are, now one can simply plop down in front of his or her computer and with a few clicks watch some of the world’s experts on Darfur provide 5-15 minute analyses of the crisis. Currently, streaming educational videos from John Predergast, Nicholas Kristof, Alex de Waal and Harold Koh amongst others are accessible here: http://www.24hoursfordarfur.org/education.php
For full disclosure, and as noted in my bio, I work with both Avaaz.org and 24Hours for Darfur. Yet these tools and others are playing a growing role in keeping us interested, informed and engaged on Darfur. Please do post other e-advocacy efforts on Darfur that I may have missed.
It will be fascinating to see e-advocacy mature and the potential impact that text messaging, online video conferencing and other virtual tools will have on our advocacy efforts. We are certainly in a bull market for this kind of tech savvy advocacy and in the words of an Economist article about Avaaz; this type of e-advocacy is poised “to give the world leaders a deafening wake-up call.” To a limited degree, they’re already listening.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed participating in this Table for One. Now that I’m not writing posts everyday I’ll have more time to discuss these issues with all of you in the comments section. I very much look forward to those discussions.
Many thanks to all of you for reading and commenting on my posts and to TPMCafe for providing this forum.
All the best,
BNR
Sudan's telecommunications infrastructure is not too bad in the North, but seriously deficient in the South and in Darfur. There have been some wonderfully creative initiatives in the South, which, by sharply constraining functionality and recognizing it wouldn't be the equivalent of a First World implementation, got wireless (voice, text, and data) communications working in individual cities. The developer wrapped business centers around them. This is generally not yet accessible for Darfur itself, although it could be a very interesting project to provide small satellite gateways to the Internet. If it's running, there was a national optical fiber connection to Nyala.
Still, the question that many of us have is the priority given to Darfur when there are other areas in equal or worse trouble, but also more feasible to assist. I think it's fair to say that I don't understand what appears to be your position that the NCP/al-Bashir faction will potentially restart the civil war if the South has more economic development. Yes, I agree that the North has to give up some political power, and probably to Darfur, but it very well might have to do so, on a much larger scale, if the South votes to secede in the 2011 referendum.
I remain unconvinced that sanctions, divestiture, and ICC indictments will have the effect that different approaches might have. I am confused about how activists expect to establish the transportation and logistic infrastructure into, and in, Darfur that would be needed for major peace enforcement and humanitarian efforts.
One of the highest priorities has to be a plausible way to get sufficient vehicle (including aircraft) fuel into Darfur, and this very practical consideration is not getting much attention. With all the activist fervor in the world, being sure adequate transportation can operate in Darfur is a sine qua non for other assistance. I don't see how combined activism and music contributes to that unglamorous but very necessary function.
Sincerely, I would be delighted to hear proposals on how activism can produce infrastructure. I fear, however, that all the good intentions in the world, as with the UN-directed transition of UNITAF to UNISOM II in Somalia, may fail miserably because the support requirements are not met.
--
Howard
*equal opportunity offense to both extremes*
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" [George Santayana]
September 23, 2007 9:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks to Ivan at Genocide Intervention Network for these suggestions for web-based Darfur advocacy:
The 24 Hours for Darfur initiative is really brilliant and I'm glad that it's getting more exposure through your TPM posts! You had asked for other "web 2.0"-style campaigns, so here are a few we're involved in:
Darfur Scorecard - http://www.DarfurScores.org/
Grades each member of Congress on his or her record on ending the Darfur genocide and encourages visitors to make their views known to their legislators. Particularly effective in combination with...
1-800-GENOCIDE - http://www.1800Genocide.com/
Our toll-free hotline provides members of the growing anti-genocide constituency an easy way to contact their elected officials. Without being put on hold or having to look up the number, callers have the option of being connected directly with their members of Congress, governor or the president. Before being connected to the relevant office, callers hear an up-to-date briefing about the specific actions elected officials must take to stop genocide.
Our student division, STAND, has also done some pretty innovative things with their network of 800 high school and college chapters. Over the summer, for instance, they had their high school members collect photos of Darfur activism through Facebook, and then presented them to Congress at a briefing in July.
http://www.standnow.org/picture_a_world
http://flickr.com/photos/genocideintervention/sets/72157601478164502/
STAND also has a couple of blogs:
http://www.standnational.blogspot.com/
http://standleg.blogspot.com/
Also, it's not strictly web 2.0, but I think Amnesty's "Eyes on Darfur" campaign is really good. http://www.eyesondarfur.org
October 11, 2007 2:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Might I ask, again, about the relationship between activism and establishing infrastructure in Darfur? Further, what are activist organizations doing to establish the requirements for improving the situation, rather than simply talking to officials and students, and saying "stop genocide"?
I appreciate that people need to be made aware of the situation, but any efforts in Darfur, with the very limited transportation system to and it, will be complex. I don't think it's unfair to ask about how activists prioritize, or commit to working in multiple areas. For example, there is much slaughter happening in the DRC, which is not landlocked and where it might be easier to start immediate operations.
--
Howard
*equal opportunity offense to both extremes*
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" [George Santayana]
October 11, 2007 3:00 AM | Reply | Permalink