Concert takes aim at genocide
By Rotem Ben-Shachar
May 29, 2008 11:41 p.m.
Hundreds of students eagerly waited for musical artists and speakers at Thursday’s night Mighty Mic Human Rights Awareness Concert, which educated the audience about the implications of genocide.
The second annual concert marks the end of Mighty Mic’s Genocide Awareness Week. The event focused on past genocides, but emphasized the current conflict in Darfur.
“Genocide is very complex. People are targeted based on their identity. I hope we can connect the dots for some people about the meaning of genocide,” said Flavia de la Fuente, a Mighty Mic staff member.
The money raised will by given to the nonprofit group US Doctors for Africa, to send a mobile health clinic to provide medical care to Darfuri refugee camps in Chad, and to STAND, a student anti-genocide coalition.
The concert included musical artists OK Go, Zion I, and Nico Vega and speeches by activists, religious leaders and a Darfuri refugee.
Last year, the event sold out and raised more than $15,000 for Doctors Without Borders and the Afghan Women’s Mission. Though the amount raised was not available at press time, more than $7,000 was raised through the sale of T-shirts for the concert alone.
“This year, Mighty Mic is bigger and better than ever,” said Azedah Ghafari, concert director.
Mighty Mic began last year with a committee of five people. This year, more than 50 people worked together to organize Genocide Awareness Week and the concert.
Ghafari said she hopes the concert makes people think about ways in which they can apply the skills they learned in class to real-life issues, and that the concert’s message impacts them to take action.
“I want students to feel empowered from the concert,” Ghafari said. “In general, I see a lot of apathy. I want people to get involved with whatever issue they find important. There’s nothing special about what I’m doing, anyone can do it.”
Speakers emphasized the impact students can have on the crisis in Darfur.
John Prendergast, human rights activist and former White House adviser, emphasized the power of a collective group. At age 21, Prendergast began working in Africa after he saw pictures of famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s.
“The problem was there wasn’t a movement of people then who were committed to change, so politicians could ignore issues with no political cost,” he said. “The student movement is crucial in building a constituency to work for peace.”
Speaker Adam Sterling, director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force and a UCLA alumnus, said the most important way for students to get involved in activism is to simply think creatively about what they can do to help.
“You can do more than give money or write letters to the government,” he said. “Be passionate and find your own way to help.”
Prendergast said students should get involved in a group.
“You can’t do much as an individual, but if you surround yourself with like-minded people, you can do much more collectively than on your own,” he said.
Students should not be afraid they do not know enough to become involved, Sterling said.
“By getting involved you can become your own expert,” he said. “I got a C in economics (at UCLA) but I just testified in front of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. You can do more than you think.”
Many students were motivated by the concert to take action.
“Everyone is so passionate here, it makes me want to join up and start working on (preventing genocide),” said Elizabeth Moran, a first-year economics student.
With reports from Max Schneider, Bruin contributor.
