At first, Eric Reeves’ speech seemed like just another dull recounting of statistics that his audience of Darfur activists had heard many times before. He was speaking at the January 2007 Northeast Regional Conference for Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND), and the students present, weary of such speeches, had begun to ignore them. But just as the students’ eyes began to glaze over, Reeves, a Sudan expert and Smith College professor, began to discuss his plans for a “Genocide Olympics” campaign. The sudden urgency in his voice forced everyone in the room to come out of their stupor and listen, transfixed both by his frustration with activism and his ideas for changing it. Reeves had a new, concrete plan to combat the Chinese government’s actions in Sudan.  Energy returned swiftly and perceptibly to the conference and, later on, to the Darfur activism movement on college campuses.

After a few years of news about the genocide, the U.S. as a whole began to experience Darfur fatigue.  Following the initial flurry of donation-making and T-shirt buying, people tired of hearing that their concern had little actual effect on the genocide. The news continued to worsen, but the violence lost its shock value and began, sadly, to seem typical. The Genocide Olympics campaign, launched in the spring of 2007, has rejuvenated Darfur activism and demonstrated the merits of an international, cooperative effort for change.

The campaign’s goal is to shame the Chinese government into using its considerable influence in Sudan to push for improvements in Darfur. China has supported Khartoum economically by investing in oil, prevented efforts to enact UN Resolution 1706 authorizing a peacekeeping force in the region, and participated in arms deals with the Sudanese government which in turn arms Janjaweed militias. The slogan of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, “One World, One Dream,” is grossly hypocritical in light of the Chinese government’s compliance with murder and rape. The Genocide Olympics campaign has called attention to this hypocrisy and demanded that China uphold the Olympic standard of dignity for all humans. From the start, Reeves has emphasized the importance of international participation in the campaign by securing the cooperation of activists worldwide. The campaign began a torch relay mimicking the Olympic relay, but running through regions that have experienced genocide.

Over the summer of 2007, the campaign gained attention in the media as Reeves and other activists wrote opinion pieces about Darfur and China. The campaign also gained influence in the international diplomatic community. The UN, with the support of China, authorized a hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping force of 26,000, known as UNAMID, to enter Darfur by the end of the year. China sent a special envoy to Darfur for the first time and even contributed 300 troops to the UNAMID force.

The Genocide Olympics campaign does have flaws, however. It will not directly affect the lives of Darfuris until UNAMID deploys. Reeves acknowledges this fact and emphasizes that China must use its influence to actually change the situation on the ground, not just advocate such change. Also, the campaign must take care to shame the Chinese government but not the Chinese people, who do not condone their government’s actions in Sudan. Nonetheless, the campaign has already had success in changing the actions of the Chinese government and promises more successes in the immediate future.

The Genocide Olympics campaign has worked because it incorporates what others have not: an international focus and a concrete objective. Instead of asking people simply to care about Darfur, the campaign directs activist energy towards a specific, attainable goal. It exposes a facet of the genocide that many had not known about before: the role of the Chinese government. The genocide in Darfur is far from an easy problem to solve. With growing violence, few aid workers can stay and help. A functional peace agreement promises to be difficult to obtain given the difficulty of bringing rebel factions to the table and the lack of cooperation from Khartoum. The UN has announced a delay in the deployment of the UNAMID force due to conditions on the ground while militias continue to attack defenseless refugee camps. However, if activism can maintain the careful, concentrated spirit of the Genocide Olympics campaign, it may help solve these crises.

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