Zero to Sixty: The Rapid Evolution of the Movement to End Genocide
In just five years, Darfur—site of a genocide that has left hundreds of thousands dead—has been transformed from an obscure corner of Africa to the focus of an international spotlight of attention. The movement to end atrocities there, sparked in 2005 by a handful of college students, has since grown to a worldwide coalition of hundreds of organizations and millions of individuals. Using a combination of new media, social technology and old-fashioned grassroots organizing, Darfur activists were able to persuade world leaders to authorize the world’s largest UN peacekeeping force, pass state and federal legislation and channel millions of dollars in aid to the region. Along the way, they laid the groundwork for a larger movement to prevent future genocide and mass atrocities and made genocide prevention a policy priority for the incoming US administration. Hear from movement experts the story of how ordinary people and organizations used today’s tools to bring a “boutique issue” into political relevance for the first time.
Janessa directs Genocide Intervention Network’s national field strategy, online and offline. This includes managing grassroots legislative campaigns and two flagship leadership development programs for student and community activists - STAND and the Carl Wilkens Fellowship. With fellows in 30 states and more than 1,000 active STAND chapters around the world, GI-NET's grassroots activities have been recognized by UN Lt. General Romeo Dallaire, Samantha Power and President Barack Obama. Janessa has served a pivotal role in expanding GI-NET's activist base and has led training seminars for numerous organizations across the country on movement-building and leveraging technology to achieve social change -- including the Echoing Green Foundation, New Organizing Institute, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and National Student Partnerships. Janessa also serves as the National Expansion Director for New Leaders Council, an organization for young progressive political entrepreneurs.
Laura Heaton is a writer and editor at the Enough Project, a campaign of the Center for American Progress. As the editor-in-chief of Enough’s blog, Enough Said, Laura covers many of Africa’s hotspots, including Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, the roving Lord’s Resistance Army rebels, and Somalia, focusing her writing on politics, humanitarian conditions, human rights, U.S. foreign policy, and prevention of genocide and mass atrocities.
She is based in Washington, D.C., but regularly travels to central and east Africa. Before joining the Enough team, Laura worked on media-related projects in Rwanda and as a journalist, photographer, and health consultant in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Laura has also held editing and reporting positions at Agence France-Presse and United Press International in Washington, D.C. Laura serves on the board of the Akilah Institute for Women in Kigali, Rwanda.
Beginning in the fall of 2010, Laura will be based in Nairobi, Kenya to facilitate more frequent on-the-ground reporting from the conflict zones where the Enough Project’s work is focused.
Martha Heinemann Bixby is the Director of Campaigns & Outreach for the Save Darfur Coalition. Martha has also served as the Coalition's Campaign Manager and Outreach Coordinator. Leading up to the 2008 Olympics, Martha was the Executive Director of Team Darfur, a coalition of over 400 Olympic and professional athletes from around the world committed to raising awareness about and bringing an end to the genocide in Darfur. While at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Martha co-founded STAND, a student anti-genocide coalition, which has grown to include hundreds of chapters across the globe. Martha has also worked as a vocational ESOL teacher at the local immigration services agency Newcomers Community Service Center and studied at Georgetown University's Institute for International Law and Politics. Martha is a recipient of the Jewish Council on Public Affair's Tikkun Olam award, and is a Truman National Security Project Partner and an Alliance of Youth Movements 2010 Fellow. In her free time, Martha volunteers with the Sudanese-led organization Voices for Sudan, consults with tech startup EarthAid.net on social media, and takes photos of flowers around Washington, DC.
John Prendergast is an author and human rights activist who for over 25 years has worked for peace in Africa. He is Co-Founder of the Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity. During the Clinton administration, John was involved in peace processes in Africa while serving as Director of African Affairs at the National Security Council and Special Advisor to Susan Rice at the Department of State. John worked for two members of Congress, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has also been a youth counselor and a Big Brother for over 25 years.
He authored eight books on Africa, including Not on Our Watch, a New York Times bestseller and NAACP non-fiction book of the year that he co-authored with actor Don Cheadle. The Enough Moment, due out this fall and co-authored with Don Cheadle, focuses on building a popular movement against genocide and other human rights crimes.
John worked with a number of television shows to raise awareness about human rights issues in Africa. He appeared in four episodes of “60 Minutes” and consulted on two episodes of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”
He appeared in documentaries including: "Sand and Sorrow," "Darfur Now," "3 Points," and "War Child." He also co-produced "Journey into Sunset," about Northern Uganda, and partnered with Downtown Records and Mercer Street Records to create the compilation album “Raise Hope for Congo.”
John and Tracy McGrady co-founded the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program to fund schools in Darfurian refugee camps. He also helped create Raise Hope for Congo, a campaign highlighting conflict minerals. John serves as a Strategic Advisor to Not On Our Watch, the organization founded by George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Brad Pitt.
John has been a visiting professor at the University of San Diego, Eckerd College, St. Mary’s College, the University of Maryland, and the American University in Cairo, and will be at Columbia University and the University of Pittsburgh. He has been awarded six honorary doctorates.
Omer Ismail was born in the Darfur region of Sudan. He has spent over 20 years working both independently and with international organizations on relief efforts and human rights. Omer fled Sudan in 1989 as a result of his political views. He helped found the Sudan Democratic Forum, a think tank of Sudanese intellectuals working for the advancement of democracy in Sudan. In addition, he co-founded the Darfur Peace and Development organization to raise awareness about the crisis in his troubled region. He currently works as Policy Advisor to several agencies working in crisis management and conflict resolution in Africa. He was a Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.
