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Farrow slams Olympics sponsors
02/05/2008 12:25 - (SA)
Hong Kong - US actress and activist Mia Farrow Friday accused sponsors of the Beijing Olympics of bowing to "greed and fear" in failing to pressure China on its role in the conflict in Darfur.
Of 19 major corporate Games sponsors, only three had responded to her call to use their influence to persuade the Chinese government to help bring an end to violence and suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The remaining 16 - who she said included Coca-Cola, Visa, General Electric, Volkswagen and Samsung - had "flunked" a report card issued by the pressure group she leads called Dream for Darfur.
"History will note their silence," she said. "I'm disgusted."
"It's about fear and greed of the sponsors," she said, adding only three companies came in for praise - McDonald's, Adidas and Kodak - for writing to the UN, urging it to enforce Resolution 1769 authorising a 26 000-strong peacekeeping force for the region.
The resolution has yet to be implemented.
'Genocide'
Farrow, star of Rosemary's Baby and The Great Gatsby, was speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong as part of an international tour to highlight what she calls "genocide" in Darfur, where the UN estimates 300 000 people have died in five years of war, famine and disease.
She accused the Chinese government of underwriting the violence through oil purchases from Sudan, money then used to purchase Chinese arms deployed in attacks on Darfur.
"I said they should take their business elsewhere," she said of the "flunked" corporations.
"They all said it's something for the UN to do, not us. We said OK, why not then get together and write a letter to the UN?
"They couldn't even do that. Cowards," she said. "It's about fear and greed of the sponsors."
Describing Darfur as "low-hanging fruit for China compared to other issues," Farrow said her organisation wanted Beijing to pressure the Sudanese authorities to "stop attacking civilians" and accept the peacekeeping force mandated by the UN resolution.
"It's a do-able thing for the People's Republic of China, a powerful nation," she said.
- AFP
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South Africa
