Translate
ACTOR, UN ADVOCATE GEORGE CLOONEY URGES GREATER RESOURCES FOR DARFUR FORCE;
AllAfrica 01-31-2008
Actor, UN Advocate George Clooney Urges Greater Resources for Darfur Force
Jan 31, 2008 (UN News Service/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) — United Nations Messenger of Peace and award-winning actor George Clooney, just back from the war-wracked Darfur region of Sudan, today urged countries to provide peacekeepers serving with the hybrid United Nations-African Union force there enough resources to do their job - “or have the decency to just bring them all home.”
George Clooney travels to Chad for U.N. trip
KHARTOUM, Jan 22 (Reuters) - George Clooney travelled to Chad on Tuesday as a U.N. “messenger of peace” after spending time in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, U.N. sources said.
Clooney heads back to Darfur;
After he’s done with the dentist, Clooney heads back to Darfur; Actor continues to use his celebrity to raise awareness about famine and warfare;
William Keck
USA Today
In January, George Clooney will make his second trip to Darfur in hopes of bringing back video footage of the land ravaged by famine, disease and warfare. He’s been globetrotting, appearing recently at the Dubai Film Festival and being honoured last week (with Don Cheadle) by the Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome.
But not even a root canal could stop the Oscar winner, 46, from calling in with an update on his commitment to the troubled locale.
Q: First, how did your dental appointment fare?
A: Here’s the funny part. I got a redo of a root canal, and I thought, “Well, that’s bad.” And then (the dentist) goes, “Let’s go to work on this other tooth.” I was going to get an implant, and all of a sudden he’s in with a hammer and I lost a tooth, so I’ve got a hole in the side of my head. It’s really fun. It’s not just pain, it’s got a pulse.
Q: But you’ll be well enough by January to make your second trip to Darfur. What’s the plan?
A: I’m not a politician, so the reason I go is to (focus) attention there. So we’re going to try to get deeper into Darfur; try to get some cameras in to the tougher camps and have conversations. That’s basically all I can do. If you put famous people in front of very ugly sites, people will watch.
Q: I’m amazed you’re even allowed in.
A: If you’re the head of a country who is denying that all these things are happening, then you might welcome me in to say, “Show me all these bad things.”
Q: Is there one familiar face from your last trip whom you’re hoping to see again?
A: There was a little girl in a tiny camp in south Sudan who was holding my hand while I was throwing up from eating bad goat who didn’t look like she was going to last a year and a half. It would be nice if I saw her doing well.
Q: What has been accomplished since you and your father (Nick) spoke about Darfur on the National Mall in April 2006?
A: You want the truth? Absolutely nothing. People can march and pat each other on the back, and concerts will happen, and the simple truth is there’s still the exact same issues going on.
Q: Whom have you met with among the presidential candidates to discuss Darfur?
A: Barack (Obama) and I are very good friends, and we’ve spoken at length. I’ve also spoken to Joe Biden, but it’s an easy subject for all of them to be behind. No one’s for genocide. No one’s for people being killed because of their race or religion.
Q: If the U.S. government were to ask you to take on a more official role, would you?
A: Sure, (but) our government really isn’t in a position to fix things. What we need, and where I’m working the hardest, is to try to get more involvement from other Arab/Muslim countries.
Q: Have you been following your pal Brad Pitt’s crusade in New Orleans?
A: It’s a life choice for him and a big part of his life. Matt (Damon) does that, too. Don (Cheadle). A lot of the guys who are good friends of mine spend a good portion of their life doing this. In some ways, it’s easier for us because we have some financial security, so we can say, “OK, let’s stop worrying about ourselves and look out for other people.” What should you do with all this kind of attention? Should you get out of a car without wearing underwear?
Q: No, George. Please. Never.
A: You’ve never seen me. I look fantastic.
Q: How will you be spending the holidays?
A: I don’t do a big Christmas thing. I think Christmas at some point is for having a bunch of kids, so I just get through the holidays. I have a lot of work to do.
Q: Has being so involved with the heartache in Darfur affected your own level of joy?
A: It certainly reminds you to be ridiculously happy with your life. Once you see people suffering in the way these people are suffering, you feel very guilty about not suffering at all.
Q: Except for your root canal.
A: Yeah, I got to go to a dentist. You realize how of little importance the things that trouble you are.
George scolds the media after Ocean’s two awarded peace prize
George Clooney scolded the media for lavishing attention on a white British teacher who faced a whipping and prison in Sudan while largely ignoring the suffering of millions of refugees in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.
Actors win peace award
George Clooney and Don Cheadle brought their Darfur campaign to Rome yesterday, where they received a peace award for their efforts to raise awareness on the humanitarian crisis in the region.
Clooney’s star power illuminates Darfur
Actor travels the globe to help build awareness
Section: Life, Pg. 04d
In January, George Clooney will make his second trip to Darfur in hopes of bringing back video footage of the land ravaged by famine, disease and warfare. He’s globetrotting, appearing over the weekend at the Dubai Film Festival and being honored this week (with Don Cheadle) by the Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome. But not even a root canal could stop the Oscar winner, 46, from calling in with an update on his commitment to the troubled locale.
Q: First, how did your dental appointment fare?
A: Here’s the funny part. I got a redo of a root canal, and I thought, “Well, that’s bad.” And then (the dentist) goes, “Let’s go to work on this other tooth.” I was going to get an implant, and all of a sudden he’s in with a hammer and I lost a tooth, so I’ve got a hole in the side of my head. It’s really fun. It’s not just pain, it’s got a pulse.
New Video Clips
Here are several clips in one file covering yesterday’s events. Extra interviewed George about Darfur and Dailies did a nice rundown on the GG Awards. Both clips and a few others are included.
You are welcome to link directly to the clip (using this link) or use it on your site as long as you provide a link back to Clooney Network. Please provide the link back under each and every clip you use from this site. If you post it to YouTube be sure and credit clooneynetwork.com with a link back. Thanks.
George Clooney tells… Nobel laureates Darfur efforts have failed
Note: Photos can be viewed here.
The actor and Don Cheadle are honored for their work to raise awareness about the war-torn region.
ROME — THE dinner at a chic rambling apartment along the grounds of the Villa Borghese (the Eternal City’s eternal equivalent of Beverly Hills) started at 9:45 p.m., early by Italian standards. The hosts — two Californians spending a year in Rome — knew their guests had a busy day ahead.There was George Clooney and his lithely beautiful girlfriend, Sarah Larson (sorry, ladies, he’s quite fond of her), actor Don Cheadle, renegade African activist John Prendergast, Nobel Peace Prize winners Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Betty Williams and — of course — the mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni (no respectable Italian gathering is complete without the popular sindaco, Italian for “mayorâ€). Like similar events on L.A.’s Westside, the setting may have been beautiful, but the business at hand was serious: What can the world do to stop the killings in Darfur?
The dinner, hosted by Stockton real estate guru Anthony Barkett and his wife, Rima, a chef, was the opening gathering in a three-day annual summit that brings together Nobel Peace Prize laureates from around the world. Each year, the group founded by former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev meets in Rome. For several years now, it has honored artists who work to “spread the message of peace.†Previous recipients of the Peace Summit Award include Bob Geldof, Peter Gabriel and Yusuf Islam (the former Cat Stevens). This year, Clooney and Cheadle were chosen to be honored for their efforts to raise awareness about human rights and the war raging in the Sudan’s Darfur region. The actors have spent the last two years lobbying the United Nations, Washington, China, Egypt and Hollywood to take action on the killing there. And now, it seems all roads lead to Rome.
“What they’ve done is remarkable,†said Veltroni.
It was a dinner for 40, most of them Romans and Californians, an eclectic mix of peace and human rights activists. Photographer Michael Collopy was there. He’s doing a coffee-table book on Quincy Jones at the moment, but he’s also doing portraits of all the living Nobel Peace laureates.
Also there was peace activist Father Giulio Albanese (who has a great sense of humor and was the life of the party) and Napa resident Mary Wald, who has been painstakingly doing a video about all the laureates. She organized this year’s summit with the peace organization she founded, TheCommunity.com, which is producing a series of televisions messages featuring Paul Simon, Bono, Michael Douglas and other artists.
In a way, the gathering was a tribute to the style of political activism that has developed over the last few decades, in which the rich and powerful — as star-struck as everybody else — gather in private homes to discuss causes with Hollywood luminaries. As it turns out, Hollywood’s political style is as much an international commodity as its films.
The mayor of Rome, who provided the voice-over for Mayor Turkey Lurkey in the Italian version of the animated “Chicken Little,†wanted to discuss presidential politics. He’s been wowed by Democratic contender Barack Obama. “He’s so charismatic,†he declared. And he’s friends with Bill Clinton. “He’s the greatest.â€
But he’s not sure about Hillary. Perhaps she seems chilly, especially by Italian standards. “Do you think she has a chance?†he asked veteran Hollywood publicist Stan Rosenfield, who went on the trip with Clooney. (Clooney awoke the next day to learn he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in “Michael Clayton,†which was itself nominated.)
The mayor, a former Communist and an atheist member of Italy’s new left-wing Democratic Party, said, “We’re in trouble if the Democrat doesn’t win.â€
Rosenfield didn’t miss a beat: “So are we.â€
Veltroni, whose favorite Clooney film is “Good Night, and Good Luck,†about journalist Edward R. Murrow, is hoping to visit Los Angeles soon and was curious about how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is doing. “I like him very much, but he did get into some trouble recently, no?†(That’s the problem with being the mayor of Tinsel Town — everyone knows your business).
While Veltroni and Rosenfield chatted, Clooney — who was nursing a badly infected root canal — Cheadle, who was wearing a maroon suit, and Prendergast clearly were conspiring on Darfur: “You could go in through Chad,†Pendergast suggested. It’s obvious that all three want to get back into the ravaged province as quickly as possible but are uncertain on how to convince the government in Khartoum, which couldn’t have been pleased by the powerful documentary “Darfur Now.â€
Despite the pain, Clooney spent most of the day before the dinner working on the somber statement he gave Thursday to an assembly of Nobel Peace laureates that included Gorbachev and the Dalai Lama.
“Don and I . . . stand here before you as failures,†Clooney said. “The simple truth is that when it comes to the atrocities in Darfur, those people are not better off now than they were years ago. The murders continue, the rapes continue and some 2 1/2 million refugees are yet to go home.
“Some day this will all end, and whether all of us succeed or not it will end someday. And when they write about this, the question will be asked: Where was the rest of the world? And the answer will be: It just wasn’t a priority.â€
From a distance, Larson kept a watchful eye on her ailing beau. She’s tall and lovely, and at the dinner she wore a long cashmere sweater, Hermes belt, black leggings and tall black boots (the red soles give them away as Christian Louboutin). “Does he look like I need to save him?†she asked as guests swarmed around him after dinner.
Clooney was busy working the crowd, and she decided not to interfere.
Clooney, who had spent most of the two previous days in bed coping with the infection, joined in a group shot with the dinner guests.
Someone shouted, “Saluda!â€
It was nearly midnight and time to go home. Even in Rome the party has to end sometime.
Clooney on peace prize list;
Byline: SENAN HOGAN
MOVIE star George Clooney has been nominated for the Tipperary Peace Prize for his work on Darfur, it emerged yesterday.
Other names put forward by members of the public include Ian Paisley, Cardinal Sean Brady, former Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald and Niall Mellon who is behind a township trust. The Tipperary Peace Convention committee will select the winner in early 2008.
Oasis in a Desert Of News Coverage;
Oasis in a Desert Of News Coverage
Byline: Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer
“Sand and Sorrow,” the new HBO documentary about the ongoing tragedy in Darfur, is prefaced with a quotation from Albert Camus: “When there is
no hope, one must invent hope.” Easy for him to have said, perhaps; what
is shown in the powerful and important film that follows might lead many
viewers to ask whether they could invent even a hint of hope in such a
manifestly desperate situation. Read more
-
Custom Search