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The association for human rights
ITALIANS FOR DARFUR ONLUS is an association for human rights, set in Rome, joined by journalists, artists, educators and humanitarian workers. In only one year, the constant care and the convinced participation to the cause soon let Italians for Darfur gain credit by Institutions and mass media. According to a report from Pavia Observatory on behalf of Medecins Sans Frontieres, thanks to the activity of Italians for Darfur, which in 2007 promoted two ‘Global Day’ and a concert at the Auditorium ‘Parco della Musica’, in Rome, the news about Darfur on national networks raised from 12 in 2006 to 54 in 2007. Still in 2007, thanks to the agreement to the association’s proposal by some members of the Parliament, two parliamentary resolutions about Darfur and one resolution by the ‘Commissione Vigilanza’ of RAI have been approved. Italians for Darfur represented the natural off-line transposition of this movement of bloggers. Some of them, in fact, felt the need to act also by institutions, schools and cities, to give more incisiveness to the campaign for human rights in Darfur and for a free information. The opportunity happened in Rome, April 2007, when some of the bloggers met in front of the Colosseo. They gave life to the event which, for the first time, let Italy join the Global Day for Darfur, which reached the third edition in the rest of the world. From its beginning, in fact, Italians for Darfur joined the Save Darfur Coalition, promoting in Italy, since May 2006, the international campaign for human rights in Darfur and making a plea to the main italian TV broadcasting stations in order to dedicate more time to information about the ongoing conflict in Darfur and the forgot humanitarian crisis. The movement, through the online campaign ‘Italian Blogs for Darfur’, is characterised by the preferred use of blogs and of the union places on the web as information and promotion means. The on-line movement (IB4D)
ITALIAN BLOGS FOR DARFUR (IB4D) was created in May 2006 as an on-line movement to promote human rights in Darfur, to fight the indifference of the traditional Italian media towards the tragic events taking place in Darfur , located in the northwestern region of Sudan, Africa, where, for over three years, there has been taking place one of the cruelest wars in the world. The purpose of IB4D is to create a movement of public opinion which can contribute to the resolution of the conflict in Darfur and the promotion and protection of human rights and democratic liberty in Sudan. To pursue this goal, the movement intends to put pressure on the Italian media through the participation of internauts, who by signing an on-line appeal to RAI, Mediaset and La7, ask the major Italian broadcasting stations to give more air space to information on Darfur.Only by guaranteeing the Italian citizens correct and complete information can we hope, in fact, that the Italian institutes work towards finding a political solution to the conflict and help start s new era of democracy and liberty in Sudan. IB4D is the first Italian initiative of this kind for Darfur. The movement also wishes for a greater mass media coverage of all the major humanitarian crises worldwide, like the tragedies in Somalia, Costa d' Avorio, Congo, Nepal, Vietnam, Cecenia etc.. Why IB4D?
IB4D is the first and only Italian initiative of its kind that attempts to mobilize public opinion in favour of Darfur and encourages an improved quality in Italian broadcasting, using the wide possibilities that internet offers for communicating. IB4D’s actions are direct and immediate, and aim to obtain major attention of the mass media to the tragic events in Darfur. Other associations for Darfur, in particular the Anglo Saxons, have been active for 2- 3 years in making known to a vaster public the conflicts in Darfur and collecting funds for humanitarian aide in the Sudan region. IB4D believes that international humanitarian help, even if important because the only means of support for the civil population, cures the symptoms but not the disease. IB4D believes instead that an amplification by the mass media of the crises, in particular through the explosive force of TV images, can efficiently push towards the creation of an international diplomatic front which, along with the African Union, can intervene between the conflicting parts and put an end to the terrible tragedy that has been going on for three years. As such the ONU Peace Corps could also guarantee the stability necessary to facilitate the diplomatic resolution of the conflict and increased security for the civil population and humanitarian workers in Darfur. |
