Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

MySpace hosts Rock for Darfur concert
By Fiza Najeeb
The Poly Post (Cal Poly-Pomona)
10/17/2006

(U-WIRE) POMONA, Calif. — On Oct. 21, 20 different bands all across the United States will be participating in the Rock for Darfur benefit concert. The concert, which is being put on by popular social networking Web site MySpace, features many bands promoted by MySpace such as Ziggy Marley, Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, Atreyu, and Alice in Chains.

A portion of the proceeds will go toward the Oxfam America's Sudan Crisis Relief and Rehabilitation Fund. According to their Web site's description, Oxfam America is "an international relief and development organization that works to end poverty, hunger and injustice."

"Millions of people look at MySpace and [Rock for Darfur] will definitely raise awareness [among the general public], even if they do not go to the event," said Jennifer Roecklein, a third-year political science student at Cal Poly.

They are working to bring the people of Sudan who have been affected by the crisis in Darfur clean water, buckets and other external aid.

"The crisis in Darfur is a global concern and as a global community, we have a responsibility to take action," said Chris DeWolfe, the chief executive of MySpace in a USA Today article. "MySpace gives us an extraordinary opportunity to spread the word and empower individuals to help address the horrors in Darfur."

According to an article printed in USA Today, about 2.5 million people have been made homeless during three years of fighting between the rebels and the Sudanese government, and at least 400,000 people have been killed.

"It is not in the interests of Sudan, nor in the interests of Africa, nor indeed in the interest of the world, for all of us to stand by and see genocide being developed in Darfur," said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in a speech to diplomats and United Nations officials.

At least 18,000 people have fled from the fighting in North Darfur in this past month, according to the United Nations.

According to MySpace, the U.N. calls the crisis in Sudan "the world's greatest humanitarian crisis."

MySpace has also taken the liberty to post information on their Web site to increase awareness of the situation that has been occurring: "Fighting has reduced villages to ashes, crops to barren fields. The humanitarian crisis is only getting worse: 2,500 people die each week, the camps are full far beyond their capacity, and the U.N. peacekeepers have been prohibited from intervening."

MySpace is planning a public service announcement featuring Samuel L. Jackson, which will be posted on its Web site and shown on television and in movie theaters. The public service announcement will include footage from George Clooney's upcoming documentary "The Devil Came on Horseback."

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