As Westerns from a developed country, there is often the feeling that passion about a cause places the passionate individual above all others. While I cannot fault the Save Darfur campaign for raising awareness about the crisis in Sudan, it cannot be forgotten that much of the work to “save Darfur” is being done by Africans. The African Union has sent troops and aid, and it is mostly Africans on the ground helping the people of Darfur. And while raising awareness is very important, if the campaign will not push the U.S. government to get involved in the crisis (which I doubt will happen), then it is only Africans providing material assistance on the ground. In a Washington Post column today, Uzodinma Iweala writes:

News reports constantly focus on the continent’s corrupt leaders, warlords, “tribal” conflicts, child laborers, and women disfigured by abuse and genital mutilation. These descriptions run under headlines like “Can Bono Save Africa?” or “Will Brangelina Save Africa?” The relationship between the West and Africa is no longer based on openly racist beliefs, but such articles are reminiscent of reports from the heyday of European colonialism, when missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce us to education, Jesus Christ and “civilization.”…There is no African, myself included, who does not appreciate the help of the wider world, but we do question whether aid is genuine or given in the spirit of affirming one’s cultural superiority. My mood is dampened every time I attend a benefit whose host runs through a litany of African disasters before presenting a (usually) wealthy, white person, who often proceeds to list the things he or she has done for the poor, starving Africans… Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western protagonist, I shake my head — because Africans, real people though we may be, are used as props in the West’s fantasy of itself. And not only do such depictions tend to ignore the West’s prominent role in creating many of the unfortunate situations on the continent, they also ignore the incredible work Africans have done and continue to do to fix those problems… How is it that a former mid-level U.S. diplomat receives more attention for his cowboy antics in Sudan than do the numerous African Union countries that have sent food and troops and spent countless hours trying to negotiate a settlement among all parties in that crisis?

I could not agree more with the author’s sentiments. We not only need to better understand the dynamics of conflict evolution/de-evolution and humanitarian assistance in Africa, but we need to give credit where credit is due; not to the Bonos and Angelinas of the world, but to the Wangari Maathais and Dr. Cynthia Muangs. As activists, we must remember what we are doing and why we are doing it. It is to enrich your own ego? Or is it to enrich the lives of others? We need to start looking toward the creation of a new kind of issue-based campaigning — with goals of enabling people who live in and with conflict daily to continue to help themselves. As the old adage goes, “Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day…”