Yellowcard Concert for Darfur at Berkeley University
By Jake Sexton
You may have heard about Darfur in the past year on a quick report on the evening news. It's a large region on the western side of Sudan, home to millions. But it's likely that you never would have heard of the place at all, if it weren't for the colossal violence tearing it apart.
The humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur is almost incomprehensible. Attacks by Sudanese militias against unarmed civilians have turned Darfur into a living nightmare. Since 2003, over 300,000 people have been killed. 2.5 million driven from their homes. 4.5 million at risk of starvation at this very moment. The US government has declared the onslaught to be genocide, and yet the chaos rumbles on.
Despite these towering numbers, don't forget what these numbers represent: real people, real lives. Each death means a grieving family, an orphaned child, or a widowed spouse. Each refugee means a family on the run, fleeing everything they know, striving to stick together in the face of terror and despair.
While the extent of the horror is overwhelming, it's not inevitable, people must step up to help. Citizens, humanitarian groups, churches, activist organizations, people from all walks of life, around the world, are working together and taking action to end the crisis.
A collaboration of this type recently took place on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley, uniting a diverse group of rock stars, activists, students, rappers, organizers and philanthropists, to present for a single event on behalf of the people of Darfur.
Political action is nothing new to Berkeley students, but in recent months, they have been concentrating their efforts to educate, raise awareness, and raise money to help the victims of the crisis. In mid-April, students from UC Berkeley put together a benefit concert that would entertain, while also encouraging the audience members to take action themselves. The concert featured several acts from wildly diverse musical styles, ending with a performance by famed rock band and Amnesty International supporter Yellowcard.
The benefit concert came at the end of a "national call-in" week, where Americans were urged to contact their Congressmen and urge them to take action on Darfur. Two weeks previous, an Amnesty-organized National Student Action Week had thousands protesting outside of Chinese consulates, pressuring the Chinese government to use its special relationship with the Sudan to encourage the acceptance of UN peacekeepers into Darfur. And at the month's end, Amnesty and others will again try to raise international awareness and action with the third Global Day for Darfur on April 29th.
Designed to reach as many students as possible, concert organizers Superb Productions and the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) recruited bands from a wide variety of musical styles: the catchy alt-rock of Yellowcard, the quirky indie-pop of Mates of State, and the laid-back hip hop grooves of Aesop Rock. While Mates of State and Aesop Rock have a devoted fan following, a large part of the success of this event was the participation of widely popular Yellowcard. The band's albums have sold millions, they headlined the Warped Tour in 2004, their videos have hit the top of the MTV charts, and their songs have been featured in best-selling movies and video games.
Superb Productions said that they reached out to Yellowcard both for their broad appeal, and because of their ties to Amnesty International and Darfur activism. Earlier this year, Yellowcard recorded a song for Amnesty International "Instant Karma Save Darfur" project, a series of covers of John Lennon songs, which will be sold via albums and downloads to raise money and awareness for Amnesty International's work on Darfur.
Thousands showed up for the concert, some standing in line for hours, in the rain. Before headliners Yellowcard came on, Keith Brown, of UC Berkeley's Amnesty International chapter, gave a moving speech from the stage, telling his fellow students that the concert was part of an opportunity to learn more about the causes of the Darfur crisis, and to start working towards solving those problems. At the end of the night, the concert had raised $15,000. Half of the profits from this event will go towards Amnesty International's efforts to end the Darfur violence, and half will go towards Jewish World Watch's work to provide direct aid to Darfur's refugees.
As successful as this concert was, the event's organizers have grander goals than a simple night of music and fundraising. "We don't want this benefit concert to stop with us. We really hope to inspire other schools to take charge and put on a show that has the potential to really make a difference," says Superb Productions. They credit the student government with helping raise the necessary money, and a professional production company with helping in the planning, but acknowledge that such events are still very difficult. "It's a lot of work and you really have to know what your doing at this scale," they say. "But any show small or big can raise money, and every little bit helps. Despite all the emails, calls, hours of lost sleep it all makes it worthwhile when you look into that crowd of fans and see them jumping, and then you do the math in your head and see how many people you are helping."
The actions of the Berkeley students, Amnesty International, conscious musicians, and the millions of concerned citizens around the world are beginning to have an impact. Just days after the Berkeley concert, the Sudanese government has agreed to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur to quell the violence. But we must keep the pressure on if we want these agreements to become reality, and for the people of Darfur to again know peace.