Darfur is Dying : Using games for political activism

Darfur, in Sudan, is in a pretty bad shape. Watching CNN over breakfast this morning on the news of the hacking of an African Union interpreter in a refugee camp in Darfur, one wonders why the international community, despite ample warning, did not respond to the humanitarian and political crises in this region earlier and more effectively. As the ICG states:

What we have seen in Darfur since early 2003 is slow motion ethnic cleansing taking place before the world’s eyes. More than 200,000 have died in the conflict, most from conflict-related disease and malnutrition. More than 2 million have been forced from their homes, and over 200,000 Sudanese are refugees in neighboring Chad. To put these awful figures into perspective, that’s as though half the population of Oslo (540,000) had died as a result of the conflict, and half the population of Norway (4.6m) had been driven from their homes.

What makes this all the more tragic is that policy-makers and leaders around the world know exactly what is happening there. They cannot plead ignorance. There has been no lack of warning about what is going on as it unfolded.

Thanks to the work of Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch and others such as Nick Kristof of The New York Times and the UN’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Juan Mendez, these atrocities are all too well documented. Yet despite all the evidence, the international community has utterly failed in its responsibility to protect the people of Darfur.

A BBC overview of the conflict offers some insight into the complexity of the problems facing peacebuilders in the country. A recently release online Flash based game, called Darfur is Dying, brings to light the complexities facing the country and the harsh realities of life as a refugee. As a game, the website follows a growing tradition of games for peacebuilding and political action in support of peace.

Whether this game is able to achieve what the larger international community has to date failed to is an open question. I’d argue however that those who are not keen followers of the situation in Darfur and aren’t vocal supporters of efforts to bring about a modicum of stability in Sudan may well take to a game based depiction of the conflict and the need for peace as opposed to methods such as rallies, speeches or other treatises calling for urgent intervention. Darfur is Dying allows several options to make one’s voice heard, including an email option to President Bush.

As tools for conflict transformation go, PC games have a long way to go. But initiatives like Dying for Darfur show the power of even a simple Flash based game to kindle voices of support for peace that may have otherwise being left out through our traditional modes of political activism.