Humanity United

Dream for Darfur was a 16-month advocacy and media campaign that leveraged the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to urge China to use its influence with Sudan and bring security to Darfur. The campaign linked China to the Darfur crisis, and called for intervention by the Chinese government.

China is a key financial and diplomatic supporter of Sudan’s national government, which continues to attack Darfuri villages and refugees. Using the Games as an opportunity to engage with China, Dream for Darfur urged Beijing to pressure the Sudanese regime to allow a robust civilian protection force into Darfur. The campaign did not promote or support a boycott of any of the sporting events of the Olympic Games.

A central part of Dream for Darfur’s strategy was to engage with all Olympic stakeholders and events. For example, the campaign staged its own worldwide symbolic Olympic Torch Relay from August 2007 to January 2008, visiting sites of modern-day genocides and mass atrocities. The campaign also followed the official Olympic Torch Relay around the globe and held demonstrations at key locations, increasing scrutiny on China. The campaign pressured Olympic sponsors to discontinue support for the Games and urge China to take action in Darfur. The campaign’s chair, Mia Farrow, publicly called on corporate sponsors – including former Beijing Games artistic adviser Steven Spielberg – to urge China to take action on the Darfur crisis. Finally, the campaign allied with athletes, particularly Team Darfur, to call for an Olympic Truce for the western region of Sudan.

As its final protest, during the Beijing Olympics, Dream for Darfur launched the “Darfur Olympics,” a weeklong, online demonstration to make sure the people of Darfur were not forgotten during the Games. In a partnership with i-ACT, Dream for Darfur presented a daily Webcast report from Mia Farrow, who was at a refugee camp in eastern Chad. Farrow’s report showed camp conditions in real time, and offered viewers opportunities to take action for Darfur.

About This Photo

Board Chair Mia Farrow lights the torch at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin in November 2007, part of Dream for Darfur’s symbolic torch relay through six countries that have experienced genocide. (Dream for Darfur)

http://www.dreamfordarfur.org