Are Activists to Blame for Darfur?

Recently, the Enough Project and the Center for American Progress held a dialogue session on activism, intervention, and Sudan.

The question of the night was whether US activists are making it harder, not easier, to resolve the conflict in Darfur. Does citizen advocacy on Darfur policy do more harm than good? Can it positively influence decisions made regarding foreign affairs?

Click here to watch the full event video – quite a provocative discussion.

This dialogue session came to be because there are people who believe that the US mass movement surrounding Darfur has oversimplified the conflict, directed funds toward advocacy rather than relief, and ultimately, came too late. They argue that so much energy is going into advocacy efforts for Darfur here in the US – however, that energy has yet to translate into concrete changes on the ground.

Is Washington really listening to the public outcry on Darfur or are they just trying to “manage” or “keep the lid on” what they view as “noise”? We declared Darfur a genocide in 2004 – why hasn’t more been done since then?

How can we best use our power as citizens to make a difference?