A piece of Darfur comes to MU
The film was an attempt to draw attention to the regional problems.
Published Feb. 13, 2007
More than 400,000 civilians have died since 2003 and more than 2 million people have been displaced inside Darfur, according to the film Darfur Diaries.
Jen Marlowe, one of three creators of Darfur Diaries, spoke to students before and after a showing of the documentary on Monday.
"In the past few months, I am more worried than ever before about the people of Darfur," Marlowe said.
Marlowe said the problems are increasing and asked how long the international community will witness the tragedies in the region, which is about the size of Texas.
"How long will it take before healing may possibly occur?" she said.
Marlowe said the purpose of the documentary is to show the reality of the horrors in Darfur from a more personal perspective.
"We rarely hear from the people themselves, and when we do, we only see them in their suffering, which is a form of dehumanization," she said.
The documentary began with a short cartoon that showed children laughing and playing when a sudden combat scene occurred.
Marlowe and her partners, Aisha Bain and Adam Shapiro, interviewed a woman in Darfur named Hawa, who remembers the carnage firsthand.
"The planes came and broke my brother's leg," Hawa said in the documentary. "We left the others, and the bombs killed them."
The documentary continued to show the horror and destruction through examples of violence and the people describing their experiences.
After the video, Marlowe spoke more on Darfur and answered questions from the audience. She said people have exploited loopholes in the definition of genocide to get away with not becoming involved.
"The world's desire not to know is one of the biggest problems," Marlowe said.
She said there wasn't a set international policy to deal with genocide.
"The U.S. has had a very consistent policy when it comes to genocide," she said. "It has been a very consistent policy of doing nothing."
Marlowe went on to describe more horrible acts being committed in the region.
She said when people go out to get firewood from the camp where the displaced people live, either the women are raped or the men are killed.
MU has an organization on campus for students who want to make a difference in Darfur.
Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, a student anti-genocide coalition with more than 600 high school and college chapters, is dedicated to putting an end to genocide, specifically the ongoing genocide in Darfur and Sudan, according to the organization's Web site.
Julie VanMater, president and founder of the MU chapter, said the MU chapter is going well.
"About 200 students are currently in the school's chapter, and it's definitely growing," she said.
The group is planning a "die-in," for sometime in April at Speaker's Circle. The event will showcase people lying on the ground while holding up facts about the horrors of Darfur.
The film, which was sponsored by the Black Programming Committee under the Missouri Students Assocation/Graduate Professional Council, was shown in an attempt to draw more attention to the problems in the region.
During an interview after the lecture, Marlowe said there are two things that she hopes people will learn from watching Darfur Diaries. She said she hopes people examine the equal dignity of all human life and help people become engaged in their world.
Marlowe said if engagement ends when the film ends, nothing really has been done.
Marlow said a man from the Furawiya village, Mahdi, made a starting point: "We've lost this entire generation for an unknown number of years to come."