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wait -- i'm having a thought

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I woke up at 7:28 this morning and said to myself, "~~Ari~~ Self, wasn't George supposed to be on Today this morning talking about Darfur? When does Today come on? Isn't it like 6-9? I'll never catch him -- but I should check anyway, right? RIGHT."

So, I turn on the telly, and -- "Our next segment is George Clooney and his father, journalist Nick Clooney, talking about their trip to Darfur, where mass genocide has displace 2 million of the nation's 6 million inhabitants. Where inhabitants have to decide who will go out to collect supplies, the men -- who will be killed -- or the women, who will be raped."

They didn't say that part in the teaser, but it was in the interview. It's in the papers that aren't US papers. It's been said a lot. Can you imagine making that sort of decision? Can you imagine HAVING to make that sort of decision? Be glad you don't. Be thankful that you don't live in Darfur. Be horrified, be angry, be mindful of those who do.

I try not to politicise in this journal, but I've talked about Darfur once before, about a year or two ago, and things haven't changed. They've gotten worse. If you can donate just a little, the price of a pack of cigarettes or that third beer at the bar, that helps. It helps a lot. If you don't have any money, then please, PLEASE, at least sign a postcard, just to let people know that you're not going to pretend that everything's okay when it's not.

It's easy to wake up in the morning and say I'm just one person; I can't change the world; I can't really do anything -- I can't even pay my bills! I know how easy it is to feel helpless or apathetic, or say that's not my problem, but it never hurts to try, just a little bit.

Maybe if we all try a little, we can make a little difference, and a little difference is a lot better than no difference at all.

ETA:

phaballa helpfully pointed out that for people in the D.C. Metro area Save Darfur is holding a rally this weekend at the Capitol, so going out there and showing your support would up your karma points to some infinite area. Also, George Clooney will be there, and he will be SPEAKING. I know how much you guys love George. Plus, good cause.

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One person can TOTALLY make a huge difference. If you keep at it and don't shut up and act like a total ass about it all the time when people just want to talk about porn.

Personal experience? *laughs*

George, George! He uses his power for good, and for that he might end up going down as the best celebrity ever.

I think the whole rape thing also needs to be clarified to indicate that in this case "rape" doesn't just mean a simple sexual assualt but gang rape by soldiers who also inflict as much pain and torture on the victims as possible, and the fact that the women are then ostracized by their own men.

Oi! You! Off my soapbox, Ari save me.

Also, did you see the interview, because George was sitting next to his dad, doing the thing that all kids -- no matter how old you are -- do when they're in awe of their parents and was just staring at him like OMGyouaresosmaht!

I'm allergic to mornings. Maybe it will be on youtube soon.

Actually, George and his dad normally don't get along. They must have made up.

It's on the Today site, which is linked to in my post.

And I think it should be clarified that this is GOVERNMENT SPONSORED rape and genocide. And that the US didn't bother to even call it genocide until very recently, completely ignored the situation until a few months ago, and has now decided it is too late. And the Sudanese government is also waging war on a neighboring country (Nigeria maybe? Can't remember). And last I heard, nearly all the blacks in Darfur had been murdered or displaced, so the genocide was sort of over.

OKAY. Right, so the issue of the "civil war" in Sudan is one of the myriad where the entire problem was created by the vacuum of post-colonialism combined with religious warfare. It's been going on for FOREVER, with child slavery, child conscription, systemized rape, displacement of peoples, and western indifference to the plight of Africians. In other words--snafu.

Thanks for the reminder and the links.

Every little bit helps.

I saw the interview this morning, too. It was the first I'd heard of it. thanks for the links.

I'm going to pretend like you didn't just say this was the first time you'd heard of the genocide in Darfur. *pauses* Did you really just say that?

AMERICANS.

That's cute, the pot calling other people names. At least I'm trying to move out the country, you want to move BACK. Also, stop harassing people in my LJ and read that goddamn section so I can finish Chapter IV!

I would like to point out that I am a Canadian citizen, so it is my Queen-granted right to insult Americans for being ignorant, self-obsessed people with no reliable mainstream news sources.

*sniff*

And you were born where? And you're moving back WHERE? Uh, huh, sell that to somebody who's buying.

I was born in Oz, now shut your trap.

Hey, the fornurs who live in the States get to badmouth it! How come not me? I wish I lived in Texas so I could give my nationality as Texan.

*pats*

It's okay. If I was being forced to watch One Tree Hill - and thereby exposing myself to large quantities of CMM's "acting" - I'd lash out, too.

Eksyoose meeeeeee. *flaps about* See above comment to Z. OMG, y'all think I'm totally stupid?? *cries*

Um, nooooo, I meant it was the first I'd heard of George Clooney going over there. Jeez, you think I live under a friggin' rock or something?

*pets* I knew that couldn't be what you meant, I was just checking.

heh. I re-read my comment, and I supPOSE it could've been confusing.

FOR SOMEONE WHO DIDN'T KNOW ME.

Aside from the fact that Katie Ugho-Couric did the interview, I was really impressed with both George and his dad going to the lengths they did to get over there and film this.

Ari was really proud too -- once George got home safely and Ari was able to go off his sedatives. He kinda freaked out when his meal ticket announced he was going to a war zone.

George wasn't really sympathetic, though, cause Ari did traipse around in India that one time and left George home all alone with nothing but gofugyourself.com to amuse himself.

Whatever, Ari had to get some ME time and evaluate the state of his relationship with George. It's a constantly evolving thing their relationship, despite the lack of sex.

Wow - it's so easy to forget that you don't live in a bubble. Thanks for reminding me. *clicks to donate*

*is full of love* YAYE.

There's also a rally this weekend at the capitol with Save Darfur (www.savedarfur.org) so you might want to mention if people live in the DC area, to go out and show their support. Clooney will be speaking AT the rally, so that might help get people out there.

Duly noted and pimped. :)

THANK you for the reminder. I got paid today, and can therefore afford to do something for once, so go you for mentioning it and good timing.

You guys make me so proud :)

thank you for the reminder - it's awfully easy to 'forget' the important stuff when there's never any coverage in US news.

I donated a bit, and hopefully can send more next month

Aw, rock on!

Save Darfur is holding a rally this weekend at the Capitol,

Well shit. If I'd known that I would have gotten a later ticket back to Philly.

also *heart*

I try, baby, I can't do anything else.

It's a horrible, sad, scary, frustrating situation.

In the article that I read on MSNBC which is linked here here it also stated that the US is the biggest contributor at $188 million and the only major contributor from Europe is Italy at $1.2 million. Of course I'm not sure of the veracity of that statement or these numbers, but that's shameful.

I hope people aren't only protesting and writing to their representatives in Washington DC, but protesting around the world, too.

It's shameful, but sadly, not surprising. Darfur has no oil. It has no gold, or diamonds, or nuclear weapons. It's not a leader in any field. It's just a country full of Africans, and apparently, that doesn't tend to rate highly anywhere else in the world. Apparently human life isn't really worth that much.

Okay, I will stop before I really start lashing out.

I couldn't possible love you more or think that you were more awesome than I do right now.

ThankyouThankyouThankyou for mentioning Darfur. I'm never quite sure about politics in LJWorld (It always ends up as kind of preachy and sanctimonious), but this sorta bypasses politics. It's merely a matter of humanity.

It's a bit like Rwanda, and the fact that it is happening in the continent of Africa shouldn't make it matter any the less to us who happen to live in a 'First World' environment.

I'm sorry if I seem a bit emotional on this subject - I read Fergal Keane's excepts on Africa and his book on the Rwandan Holocaust, and it just seems so callous and awful if we in this so-called 'civilised' West let it happen again and again and again, merely because it occurs in Africa. Thank you for bringing awareness to this horrendous situation.

I saw George on Oprah talking about this and immediately felt compelled to send a postcard and donate.

Lisa Ling also had a segment about the thousands of children of Uganda who walk miles to be voluntarily caged so that the LRA doesn't snatch them in the middle of the night and force them to join the rebel army, use them as sex slaves, or apparently eat them. It was horrifying to see children as young as toddler age packed into these spaces like sardines, and they make the trip alone every single night.

Invisible Children (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/)

Both are extraordinarily worthy causes.

Thank you for this. I was watching my dvr'd oprah's today during nap time and saw his appearance. I was stunned. As a SAHM that doesn't watch much news, I could just not believe it. Thank you for the link to donate. We went to dinner tonight and I could not, in all good conscience, have not given just the price of one dinner for my family. Thank you again.

I went to the rally. There's even a blurry, unflattering picture of me floating around the Washington Post website. I just got back from D.C. an hour or two ago. I didn't know George Clooney was going to speak until after I signed up to go, so that was a nice suprise.

My friend is a photographer for my school's newspaper, and she took some amazing pictures (including a close-up profile of George) of everything that was going on. I'll make sure to pass along a link once I get the them scanned into my computer.

Ok, I'm going to pass out now. All night bus rides are the best!

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