Since 2003, the Government of Sudan and rebel groups have been engaged in a bitter civil war in the Darfur region of the East African nation in a conflict that is estimated to have claimed over 300,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million people. During this conflict the government backed ‘Janjaweed’ militias, who identify as Arabs, have conducted a systematic program of ethnic cleansing in the region of the indigenous African communities through murder, rape and the destruction or theft of property. While the United Nations announced this week that the government of Sudan has accepted a plan to deploy 3,000 UN and African peacekeepers to the area the atrocities in Darfur are still ongoing and a permanent solution far from certain. In 2004 the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (‘USHMM’) declared Darfur a genocide emergency in an attempt to highlight the need for immediate action in the region and have carried on a campaign designed to draw awareness to the unfolding tragedy.
The USHMM opened in 1993 with a focus on providing an enduring memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and to encourage visitors to reflect on the moral and spiritual questions raised by World War II. In keeping with its mission to highlight the issues raised by genocide, the USHMM has also taken on a contemporary dimension that includes advocacy concerning current global crises such as Sudan.
As an aspect of its ongoing campaign to highlight the atrocities in Darfur, USHMM unveiled a new project last week, an ambitious collaboration with Google Earth, called Crisis in Darfur. Google Earth is a program from search engine gurus Google that allows users to explore an interactive globe of the world that features satellite photography of the whole planet, regional maps and advanced community features.
The project Crisis in Darfur encourages us to witness the destruction of Darfur through use of high resolution satellite imagery. Google Earth’s technology allows users to zoom into a globe of the world from their own homes right down to the actual location of towns and refugee camps. As the viewer zooms down on a satellite view of Sudan, the site uses flame icons to indicate towns which have been destroyed or damaged in Darfur giving details about the amount of structures destroyed and how many still remain.
The technology allows users to explore the region as they choose and view other layers including 3D columns that highlight the number of people displaced from a particular area and photographs of the region. The crisis is effectively illustrated with photographs and video footage taken by a mixture of professional photographers, members of the USHMM and observers such as actor Mia Farrow. First person accounts and statistics drawn from testimonials taken by Amnesty International in refugee camps between 2003 and 2006 add a further detail to the experience.
With over 200 million users, Google Earth and USHMM hope to reach a larger audience with the collaboration. Crisis in Darfur uses cutting edge Web 2.0 technology to harness and make sense of the vast amount of information available about events in Sudan as they continue to unfold. In explaining its involvement in Crisis in Darfur, the Vice President of Google, Elliot Schrage, stated that this new initiative will “empower organisations like the museum to communicate, to educate and importantly to advocate in order to improve the world.”
With such an emotive subject matter as the current plight in Sudan, the USHMM believes that it is essential that exhibitions are not only up-to-date, engaging and accurate but also offer information on how the public can continue to be involved. As noted by the Director of the United States Holocaust Museum, Sara J Broomfield, Crisis in Darfur attempts to bridge the gap between “information and understanding – creating a community of conscience”. USHMM hopes that the project will allow people who download Google’s technology to access directly places and experiences they may not have considered before. The Google Earth technology will allow teachers to easily create tours and presentations of the region and allows users to link their experiences to other sites such as MySpace and YouTube, thereby actively encouraging people to spread the word.
To experience USHMM and Google’s Crisis in Darfur yourself go to ushmm.org/googleearth.
