Farrow splits her time between her spacious SoHo Loft in NYC's Greenwich Village and her estate/farm in Roxbury, Connecticut near the Town of New Milford.
Posted on 02/23/2008 4:56:09 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Actress Mia Farrow may not have achieved her childhood dream of becoming a pediatrician in Africa, but she is fiercely determined to help the victims of genocide in Darfur.
In a passionate speech drawn from firsthand experiences during multiple trips to the ruined villages and rough refugee camps in the no-man's land between African nations Chad and Sudan, Farrow drew a standing ovation in Madison from hundreds of teachers with tears in their eyes Friday as she described the plight of what are arguably the most desperate people in the world.
The occasion was the 117th annual Southern Wisconsin Educational Inservice Organization teachers' convention at the Monona Terrace Convention Center. Farrow was the latest in a long line of inspirational speakers, including Coretta Scott King, Frank McCourt and Reggie White, who have spoken at past conventions.
Born into a Hollywood family, Farrow grew up in Beverly Hills, became a teenage star in the television classic "Peyton Place" and earned fame and recognition as an actress in more than 40 movies, including "Rosemary's Baby." She was married at 21 to Frank Sinatra and later to noted composer-pianist Andre Previn. After that, she had a long personal and professional relationship with filmmaker Woody Allen.
Still slight and luminously beautiful at 63, she has become known in recent years for her passionate humanitarian work. A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, she has undertaken eight risky trips to the Darfur region of Sudan, which shares its eastern border with Chad and the Central African Republic.
There she has become a witness to genocide, where she says the government of Sudan, largely financed by Chinese oil money and armed with Chinese-made weapons, has declared war on the rural, agrarian tribal people of Darfur.
According to Farrow, China buys about 70 percent of its oil from Sudan.
"I first heard of Darfur in 2004, that there was something terrible happening in this remote part of Africa," she said.
She told the teachers that 2.5 million people are refugees in the area and that probably more than 400,000 have been killed in ethnic violence.
"We don't really know how many have died. The United Nations count stopped at 200,000 because there is now no one to count the bodies," she said.
According to an Associated Press report Friday, the already difficult situation in Darfur has worsened recently as the result of new fighting, including aerial bombing and increased banditry of humanitarian aid.
'Villages in ashes'
With knowledge of the desperate conditions in Sudan and on the Chadian border has come the responsibility to act, Farrow said. She added that she has been horrified by the world's willingness to avert its eyes from the killing going on in Darfur.
Using photographs she has taken herself and stories told to her firsthand by survivors, Farrow described the desperate and terrifying plight of mostly women and children who have been displaced from their villages, first by attacks from government helicopters armed with bombs and then by militias known as janjaweed, who ride horses and camels and slaughter the fleeing people with guns and machetes. She said many of the boys and men of Darfur are simply gone or dead or have disappeared.
"Eastern Chad is an inferno, and 90 percent of Darfur's villages are in ashes," she said.
As Farrow showed pictures of desperate children carrying their siblings, scarred mothers cradling their dying babies and a 13-year-old boy who died trying to defend his family with a bow and arrow against janjaweed machine guns in the face, there was profound silence in the auditorium.
"I've seen the worst of what humans can do to one another, but I've also met women of astonishing courage, humor and generosity in the midst of this suffering," she said.
And, she said, the upcoming Olympics in Beijing provide an opportunity for both individuals and the world to apply pressure to stop the killing.
The Chinese, she said, are very interested in presenting an impressive view of their country and culture through the Olympic spectacle.
"How can the Chinese host the Olympics with the slogan 'One World, One Dream?'" Farrow asked. "They are sweeping a nightmare or three under the rug."
"Now is the time," she urged.
"Boycott the opening of the Olympics. Contact the sponsors. Tell Coca-Cola you're switching to Pepsi, or tell McDonald's you're going to eat at Burger King," she said. Other sponsors she cited included Budweiser and UPS.
But U.S. Olympic Committee chair Peter Ueberroth said in Atlanta recently that he wants American athletes to focus on being good guests, not outspoken reformers, according to an Associated Press story.
Farrow noted that famed director Steven Spielberg recently backed out of his role as artistic director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics because of China's role in the suffering in Darfur.
In addition, according to the AP, American speedskating gold medalist Joey Cheek has co-founded the Team Darfur athletes coalition to bring attention to the cause.
"Make a call. Become involved. These are things as individuals that we can do," Farrow told the teachers as they rose to their feet, clapping.
This is the protracted, endless war, that I’ve long seen Obama or Hillary getting us into. Talk about a quagmire. No U.S. interest whatsoever. God help us.
On;y one thisng to say —— “Shut UP and act!”
they aren’t anti-war. Just anti-bush
From what I read recently, and I could be wrong, is that the Arab muslims who run Sudan are killing black muslims in Darfur. IN that sense, yes, it appears to be racially motivated genocide. Previously, the Arab muslims had been slaughtering black Christians and “animists” in the southern part of the country. In addition to racial genocide, it was also religious genocide, the type of genocide one normally associates with muslims. However, the MSM didn’t care about that because the victims were Christian.
You find fault with her statements in what way...?
The Arab Muslims were killing black Christians in the 2nd Sudanese war from 1983-2005, now the Islamic militias are killing just about anyone they disagree with. You never hear that in the media or from dopey celebrities.
AIDS, starvation, rape, torture, religious violence, kidnapping, death squads, child soldiers, etc.... are all tools of which to be governed by on that big chunk of dirt.
Can't change the nature of those animals.
It is fine in so far as the sentiment goes.
However, she wants you and I to fund it; not use her $$$$$$ to help ease the plight of hunger, cold, etc. She,.. and she won’t say it,.. wants our troops to do the job and not inconvienance her and her Hollywood friends or rich liberal friends clucking their tounges in fiegned faux supperiority of morals.
She wants another Clinton Somalia program and we know how well that worked out.
mia is still around?
On;y one thisng to say —— “Shut UP and act!””
She should just SHUT UP.......
She couldn’t even keep her husband from diddling a foster child. WTF does she know about the world?
Dardur is an unholy mess, but I cannot think of one thing Mia Farrow can contribute to the solution.
Hear! Hear! Typical limousine liberal! When she gets off her self-righteous a$$ and goes over there herself to DO something about it, I just might be inclined to follow her. Of course, I’d have to think about it...for a year...maybe two...
I think I’ll drink more Coke and use UPS more often.
I’m sick of being told what I should do by so-called “stars”.
Perhaps she should have proposed this to then President Clinton when this problem first arose.
Surely Mia is not suggesting we intervene in the affairs of a sovereign nation is she? Obama has voiced his opposition to going into Iraq. What does he have to say about Darfur?
Not a word all those years as Muslims butchered and enslaved over 2 million Southern Sudanese Christians and animists.
And now that muzzies are doing it to their own because they are not “arab” enough...Mia the do gooder pops up.
The only real solution to the genocode in Darfur is to kill all of the bad guys. There is no ‘political solution’ there because the problem isn’t political. But this would mean military intervention in a sovereign nation, something liberals are against. So liberals are stuck... intervene and save these people, or stay out to avoid ‘endless war’?
Personally, I beleive ONLY Africans can solve this problem. If they don’t then it’s on them.
Farrow splits her time between her spacious SoHo Loft in NYC's Greenwich Village and her estate/farm in Roxbury, Connecticut near the Town of New Milford.
How about just "shut up" - she could not act her way out of a paper bag.
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