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The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond
by Don Cheadle, John Prendergast
Book Reviewed by:An Academy Award-nominated actor and a renowned human rights activist team up to change the tragic course of history in the Sudan -- with readers' help.
While Don Cheadle was filming Hotel Rwanda, a new crisis had already erupted in Darfur, in nearby Sudan. In September 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell termed the atrocities being committed there "genocide" -- and yet two years later things have only gotten worse. 3.5 million Sudanese are going hungry, 2.5 million have been displaced by violence, and 400,000 have died in Darfur to date.
Both shocked and energized by this ongoing tragedy, Cheadle teamed up with leading activist John Prendergast to focus the world's attention. Not on Our Watch, their empowering book, offers six strategies readers themselves can implement: Raise Awareness, Raise Funds, Write a Letter, Call for Divestment, Start an Organization, and Lobby the Government. Each of these small actions can make a huge difference in the fate of a nation, and a people -- not only in Darfur, but in other crisis zones such as Somalia, Congo, and northern Uganda.
Not On Our Watch's combination of practical information and instructions blended with memoir, history and tales of success from past activism should provide inspiration whether the reader is taking his or her first baby steps towards getting involved in any form of activism (or simply picked up the book because it's cowritten by a movie star), or is already convinced that the pen truly can be mightier than the sword and is looking for specifics on this particular conflict...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
About the authors: Don Cheadle has appeared in a number of movies including Rosewood,
The Family Man, Boogie Nights, Out of Sight, Traffic,
and Ocean's Eleven. In 2005 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his
portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda. John Prendergast is
Senior Advisor to the International Crisis Group and Co-Founder of the ENOUGH
Campaign. Previously he worked at the White House and State Department during
the Clinton administration, where he was involved in a number of peace processes
throughout Africa.
Also recently published: The Devil Came in On Horseback
(website): A memoir by former U.S. Marine Brian Steidle who began work in Sudan in
2004 as a military contractor and ...
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If you liked Not on Our Watch, try these:
by Alexis Okeowo
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In the tradition of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, this is a masterful, humane work of literary journalism by New Yorker staff writer Alexis Okeowo - a vivid narrative of Africans who are courageously resisting their continent's wave of fundamentalism.
by Naomi Benaron
Published 2012
Running the Rift follows Jean Patrick Nkuba, a gifted Rwandan boy, from the day he knows that running will be his life to the moment he must run to save his life, a ten-year span in which his country is undone by the Hutu-Tutsi tensions.
George Clooney
Don and John are two of the great champions of ending this genocide. With this book they remind us that the individual can change the world for the better. And they also remind us that we all bear responsibility in this crime against humanity. I'm proud to call them my friends.
