Mia Farrow, actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, appears live in the virtual 3-D on-line community Second Life, at the LCMedia sim, to discuss and answer questions about the crisis in Darfur.
The Second Life event was sponsored by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience, and was held in front of a virtual replica of the museum, which included a dramatic exhibit of photographs depicting the genocide emergency in Darfur.
Guest speakers include:
John Heffernan, Director of the Genocide Prevention Initiative of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience;
Ron Haviv, an award-winning photojournalist, whose images of Darfur are part of the virtual event;
Ronan Farrow, UNICEF Spokesperson for Youth in Sudan, Genocide Intervention Network representative, and author of numerous articles on the crisis in Darfur; and
Bill Lichtenstein, president of Lichtenstein Creative Media, who served as moderator.
The virtual photo exhibit, "Our Walls Bear Witness - Darfur: Who Will Survive Today?", is a virtual reproduction of the powerful, outdoor exhibition highlighting images of the Darfur crisis by leading photojournalists that were projected onto the exterior of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC during Thanksgiving Week 2006.
The event comes as the situation in Darfur continues to worsen dramatically. The conflict, now in its fourth year, has driven 2.5 million Darfuris from their homes, with an estimated death toll of 200,000. The world's largest humanitarian operation involving 14,000 humanitarian aid workers, is becoming increasingly threatened.
The event in Second Life was held at The Infinite Mind virtual broadcast center on the LCMedia sim, and was simultaneously broadcast in Second Life in Camp Darfur, and Global Kids, on the Second Life teen grid.
The event was sponsored by the Genocide Prevention Initiative for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience.
The Speakers:
Mia Farrow is an award-winning actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and has been a compelling, outspoken voice regarding the genocide in Darfur since she made the first of several visits to the region in 2004. Her op-ed articles on the crisis in newspapers nationwide have stirred the public's conscience, as have her photographs of the refugee camps. She has given close to 1,000 interviews on the subject, and returned to the region in February 2007.
John Heffernan is the Director of the Genocide Prevention Initiative for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience. John has nearly twenty years of experience with development, relief, human rights, and post-conflict reconstruction projects throughout the world, and has traveled extensively throughout Sudan and the region. John co-authored the 2006 report "Darfur: Assault on Survival" for Physicians for Human Rights.
Ronan Farrow is a human rights activist and freelance journalist. His writings on Darfur have appeared in Newsday, the International Herald Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal. Since 2001, Ronan Farrow has worked as a UNICEF Spokesperson for Youth in Nigeria, Angola, and Sudan and as a representative for the Genocide Intervention Network. He is currently attending Yale Law School.
Ron Haviv is an award-winning photojournalist, whose images of Darfur are part of the virtual event and the photo exhibit "Darfur/Darfur." In the decade plus that he has been covering international news events and winning a series of prestigious photo awards, 35-year-old Ron Haviv has ignored every mother's maxim: whatever you do, stay out of harm's way. In recording some of the most brutal events of the end of the 20th century, he has been put on a Serbian death list, captured by Iraqi soldiers and Serb militiamen, charged with being a spy, interrogated, and imprisoned. Ron has made one trip to Darfur and one to Chad.
Bill Lichtenstein (moderator) president of Lichtenstein Creative Media, a 16-year old Peabody Award-winning independent media production company with extensive multimedia production, distribution and educational/community outreach experience, particularly with regard to health, human rights and social justice issues. LCMedia’s productions include public radio and TV programs, documentary films, and work in the emerging area of 3-D virtual reality, including major development and media projects in the on-line community, Second Life.
The Crisis in Darfur:
More than 200,000 people are dead and 2-point-5 million others have been displaced since ethnic African tribesmen first took up arms in July 2003 against what they saw as decades of neglect and discrimination by the government in Khartoum. A peace agreement was signed in May of last year, but it's been ignored by the government, and the violence continues to escalate, now into neighboring Chad.
How bad has it gotten? "Hopeless," is how outgoing United Nations humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland described it in January, as the fighting spread from remote villages to the main towns, endangering 14,000 humanitarian aid workers.
Against that background, Mia Farrow, John Heffernan, Ronan Farrow, Ron Haviv and Bill Lichtenstein visited Second Life to talk about the crisis and the powerful images that make up the photographic exhibit, "Our Walls Bear Witness - Darfur: Who Will Survive Today?"
The photographs of "Darfur: Who Will Survive Today?" were taken in Darfur and neighboring Chad by former U.S. Marine Brian Steidle and photojournalists Lynsey Addario, Mark Brecke, Helene Caux, Ron Haviv/VII, Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, Ryan Spencer Reed/GroupM35, and Michal Safdie. The show will be held in 24 cities over 24 months. During the landmark program, wall-sized images depicting the escalating genocide in Darfur were projected onto the facade of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, during Thanksgiving week 2006. This represents the first time the national memorial's exterior has been used to highlight contemporary genocide.
At the same time, in Second Life, visitors from across the world are able to view the event, with its powerful, thought-provoking images, in 3-D virtual reality, as well as to view video of the actual installation in Washington, DC.
Event Sponsors:
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum honors the memory of the victims by teaching their story to each new generation; and stimulating citizens and leaders to confront hatred and anti-Semitism; prevent genocide; promote human dignity; and strengthen democracy. Nearly 24 million people -- including over 8 million schoolchildren -- have visited the Museum since it opened in 1993, and through its Web site, podcasts, traveling exhibitions, and educational programs the Museum reaches millions more from around the world. For more information on the museum, event, and how to become a member, visit The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at www.ushmm.org The Museum's Committee on Conscience works to raise public awareness and alert the national conscience to contemporary genocide and related crimes against humanity. In July 2004, the committee declared a "Genocide Emergency" for Darfur. Since then the Committee has been working to educate policy makers and the American public about the urgent need to take action to end the genocide there.
The Second Life event was produced and is being hosted by Lichtenstein Creative Media (LCMedia), on its The Infinite Mind broadcast complex in Second Life.
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To learn more about the crisis and how to make a difference you can visit:
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience: www.ushmm.org/conscience/
Darfur/Darfur photo exhibition: www.DarfurDarfur.org
Genocide Intervention Network: www.genocideintervention.net
Ten things you can do right now: http://www.genocideintervention.net/advocate/tenthings.php
US Congressional scorecard on Darfur: http://darfurscores.org
Global Kids: http://www.globalkids.org
Camp Darfur in Second Life:
Camp Darfur is an interactive awareness and education exhibit that brings attention to the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and gives individuals the opportunity to discover their own power to make a difference.
Stop Genocide Now!
As part of the Am I Not Human? campaign, the 27th of each month will be dedicated to providing the necessary tools in an effort to bring to the forefront the atrocities that continue to occur at the hands of the Chinese government in Darfur and Tibet.
I invite you to read my May, 2008 Am I Not Human post entitled “am i not human? wanted ahmad haran & ali kushayb for crimes against humanity”
http://sojournersplace.blogspot.com/2008/05/am-i-not-human-wanted-ahmad-haran-ali.html
SjP
Posted by: SjP | May 27, 2008 at 12:57 PM