The Story of Darfurnica

Nadia Plesner is a concerned citizen of the world as well as an artist, and she’s deeply troubled by what has been happening in Darfur. She’s also frustrated with the lack of media coverage the topic recieves, while showbiz news has no such shortage of attention.  In her painting “Darfurnica” as well as her other work, Nadia has been depicting images of  the horrors that people live in Darfur, the political maneuvering that goes on, and images of what makes major media headlines instead of Darfur.  In part of Darfurnica, there appears the infamous photo of the ghastly thin Sudanese child, adorned in Paris Hilton style with a chiwawa in one hand and a Louis Vuitton bag in the other.

This is the story of how the painting came together, and how LV would file a lawsuit against Nadia. Demanding that she not show her artwork which contains images of their bag, and calling for her to pay an expensive penalty (€5,000 per each day the painting is shown) if she doesn’t take down her work.  The case is pending a decision in early May. In this podcast interview, we discuss the case as well as Nadia’s work in relation to Darfur.

Darfurnica
Darfurnica

Nadia’s website which includes info on her Darfur initiatives which you can be a part of,  as well updates about the case.

China Given the Red Carpet

Anyone who is paying any attention knows a bit about how China is bankrolling the ballooning US debt, on a government and individual citizen level. If this somehow shocks you I can recommend a dose of Karmabanque Radio, who cleverly titled their recent program Mao-santo… hahah.

Then of course we hear about China’s role, bankrolling the genocide in Darfur in their mad rush to buy up enough oil for their newborn hyper consumer economy.

Yesterday I noticed the Chinese state’s latest push to control Europe’s money, buying a chunk of shares in Barclays Bank in order to get in on its acquisition of ABN-AMRO. (Stay with me here)

ABN is a huge bank in Europe, owning lots of little ones under different names in different countries. My money is in that dam bank, all be it probably the tiniest account they’ve got. And so now I see how the world works, my money is now funding a genocide in Darfur, the stealing of organs from prisoners in China, the murder of Falun Gong, the raping of the environment around the world. All with the help of my checking account. And soon.. yours too.

Obviously my money has gone to evil before. Things I’ve consumed and probably still consume, but this is one of those I hope to avoid… as long as possible. Though I know it would have no effect, I should write a letter to the European Trade Commissioner urging him, as my respresentative and a HUMAN that respects the rights of people to live a proper life and not be exterminated-en-masse, to NOT allow China to take control of European banks… and my little bank account.

Darfur Awareness Followup

Staying with the issue of Darfur, on the heels of yesterday’s podcast, I noticed an interesting study on public opinion of the Darfur situation in the US, published on the PEW center’s site. (love PEW center because I have the patience and the time to read through their numbers and reports)

My attention was particularly sparked by the survey of how the public feels the media is covering the crisis in Darfur as compared to Iraq or Iran. As you can see in this image, not only do 49% feel it receives too little coverage, but if you look at the “don’t know” category.. 14% don’t know. Which makes me wonder if they really don’t know anything on the topic, which is still very possible considering the lack of coverage, or if they simply don’t care.. which is unfortunately also possible.

One statistic that represents exactly why I do the work that I do on this blog: 75% of those who had heard a lot about the situation believed that the US had a responsibility to take action to stop the genocide. The less that people had heard about Darfur the more they didn’t want the US to do anything.

Might sound simple enough, but for me it reminds me of an important relationship – the more you hear about a topic, learn about it, talk about it, argue about it; the greater the chance you will get involved and be concerned.

bm209 Olympic Boycotts and China’s Role in Darfur

Using a wide range of strategies, human rights activists around the world are calling on China to stop funding the genocide in Darfur. Their most important tool- the Olympic Games in 2008. While some experts and activists call for a boycott in the tradition of boycotting olympics to make a political statement, others are proposing different strategies.

My Guest is Jonathan Zimmerman, Director of the History of Education Program, Steinhardt School of Education, NYU.
(you can read some of his op-eds on China and Darfur, here and here)

We Discuss:
-China’s role in Darfur
-Resources and the need for resources
-Historical olympic boycotts
-Leading public figures who won’t take a stand against China
-Beyond Boycott

In the second part of the program you hear excerpts from a press conference launching the Olympic Dream for Darfur campaign. Audio includes Mia Farrow, Eric Reeves and Jill Savitt

Nicest Populations Get Murdered

Sitting in the heart of the Jordaan this evening, as boats sailed by, bikes rattled past, and drunken teenagers hobbled from bar to bar, I spent some quality time with a very special girl. She graduated, as did I, from the U of Amsterdam, and during her studies went off to Darfur to do field work related to displaced people and the genocide that happened and is beginning to happen again.

She’s been travelling alot lately, and so I updated her on things like Spike Lee’s documentary, conspiracy theories, and who’s been on Bill Maar’s show lately. As we sat there talking about all the death and destruction in the world, she began to go into detail about her experience in Darfur and how everything is unfolding with the world’s full knowledge and yet nothing is done.

Among the things she talked about was the hospitality she received there, how people were so unbelievably welcoming to an American girl from Georgia. They even knew I was Jewish, she said, to further emphasize how kind the people of Darfur are. We went on to speak about the oil deals and other interests, especially those of China and Russia, that further help to halt any and all efforts to intervene in the mass murders.

At some point, she puts her empty glass on the table and says something like

“It is almost like, the nicer a culture or a population, the more likely they are to be victims of mass murder.”

I thought about that as I rode home. I thought about her travels and how eventually, she’ll likely end up back in Sudan, trying to do whatever she can, her small part in the face of so much complacency. As sad as the conversation sometimes seemed, it is inspiring to spend time and share ideas with someone of such intelligence and understanding of the world around us.