Darfur Now Lesson Two: Responding to the Violence in Darfur
As students learn about horrific events in the past or the present, including the genocide in Darfur, it is important that they grasp the human costs of genocide and other acts of violence. Lesson One helps students comprehend the scale and the depth of personal tragedy that has been inflicted on the people of Darfur for years. It is important, however, to balance a focus on the crimes with a focus on resistance and prevention. Learning about people who are trying to make a positive difference turns a story about victims and perpetrators into a story that also involves upstanders and bystanders, heroes, rescuers, and resisters. This more inclusive narrative provides greater opportunities for students to find a place for themselves.
In this lesson, students will continue to watch Darfur Now. (If you do not have time to view the entire film, students can read excerpts from the film transcript.) This film tells the stories of six individuals as they try to help the people of Darfur. Though they are all responding to the same conflict, they take action in different ways and with different goals in mind. For example, Hejewa Adam's goal is to protect her people from Janjaweed attacks; she joins the rebel army. Luis Moreno-Ocampo's goal is to punish the perpetrators of these crimes, and in doing so to deter future perpetrators of genocide. In telling their stories, the activists reveal what inspires their work and sustains their commitment to helping the people of Darfur. Adam Sterling is motivated by his own family's history as survivors and victims of the Holocaust. He equates silence in response to events in Darfur to a sort of collusion, asserting that "Indifference is complicity." Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Pablo Recalde also talk about how their personal histories inspire their work. As the stories of these six individuals unfold, we learn that they are using different strategies to achieve their goals. While Adam Sterling uses grassroots organization and legislation, Don Cheadle uses diplomacy. Ahmed Mohammed Abakar strives to make life sustainable for refugees, while Luis Moreno-Ocampo's strategy is justice and punishment.
To enable students to understand activism in Darfur, and activism in general, this lesson will help them to identify the component parts of activism as exemplified by the six individuals profiled in Darfur Now. Activism is not just a single action; it is a series of actions based on a strategy that targets a specific goal. And the work of activism-the courage, the hours, the sacrifices-is often motivated by something personal, such as a family connection, a feeling, a value, or an experience.
In Lesson Three, students will analyze the work of one of these activists. In preparation for this task, students need to come away from Lesson Two familiar with the work of their assigned activist. This teaching guide offers two options for achieving this goal. In option one the students watch the entire film; in option two they read excerpts from the film transcript (Handout 8: Activist Profiles). Both options include note-taking templates, in addition to a "Viewing Guide" for option one and an "Activist Profile Chart" for option two, which are designed to help students take focused notes on their activist. The focused note-taking required in this lesson holds students accountable for active viewing and reading.
Another important learning goal for this lesson is for students to be able to distinguish between a strategy and a tactic. While the tactics used in responding to the violence in Darfur may be unique to this specific situation, the strategies the activists employ can be applied to address almost any problem, whether local, national, or global in nature. In Lesson Four, students will imagine how some of the same strategies used by Darfur Now activists might be applied to resolve problems in their communities.
The purpose of this lesson is to help students:
- Distinguish between the terms strategy and tactic.
- Identify the motivations, strategies, and tactics of at least one activist who is responding to violence in Darfur.
- Identify important information when watching a film or reading a text.
Darfur Now DVD
The following materials are optional
- Handout 7: Activist Profile Chart
- Handout 8: Activist Profiles (transcript excerpts from Darfur Now)
- Handout 9: Darfur Now Viewing Guides
- Handout 10: Not on Our Watch Excerpt 2
- Darfur Now discussion guide
Warm up
- Ask a student to review briefly what he or she learned from the first six minutes of the film viewed earlier. Once this student finishes, other students can fill in any gaps.
- Have students respond to the following prompt: What are some things people are doing in response to the violence in Darfur? If you do not know how people are responding to the genocide in Darfur, brainstorm ideas of what people could be doing in response to those events.
- Show minutes 6:10-7:15 of Darfur Now. This short excerpt introduces the six activists profiled in the film and begins to provide some answers to the questions that the students addressed in this warm-up exercise.
Main activity (Option one: Whole film viewing)
- Divide students into six groups and assign to each group one of the following activists: Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Adam Sterling, Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, Don Cheadle, Pablo Recalde, or Hejewa Adam.
- Distribute Handout 9: Darfur Now Viewing Guides and give students a few minutes to read over the questions they will be required to answer about their activist. Depending on the strengths of your students, you can also require that they record at least five interesting quotations made by their activist. We suggest pausing the film every 20 to 30 minutes to give students the opportunity to complete their viewing guides.
- The "Darfur Now Discussion Guide" highlights some particularly poignant moments when you might pause the film and facilitate a class discussion. You could also use the questions on the viewing guide to structure a discussion after students have watched the film.
Main activity (Option two: Film transcript reading)
- Divide students into six groups and assign to each group one of the following activists: Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Adam Sterling, Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, Don Cheadle, Pablo Recalde, or Hejewa Adam. Give students the appropriate "Activist Profile" for their group.
- Distribute Handout 8: Activist Profile Chart. Prompt the students, working individually or in groups, to use the information from the "Activist Profile" to complete this chart.
Note: In order to successfully complete the "Activist Profile Chart," students need to understand the terms goal, strategy, and tactic. You might provide them with the definitions and examples provided below. To assess students' understanding of these terms, ask them to come up with an example from history or their own lives.
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Definitions
Example: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Follow-through
- After students finish watching the film, give them a few minutes of quiet writing time to think about what they just viewed. Questions that might promote reflection include: What moment in the film stands out for you? Why do you think this film was made? What message does it send?
- Have
students talk with a partner about the film. Each pair might be
responsible for turning in an "exit card" on which they record the
following:
- One moment from the film that stands out for them
- One message expressed by the film
- One question they have about the film or the situation in Darfur
- Students can share an idea from their exit card with the larger class, or you can use the ideas from the exit cards to begin the next lesson.
Homework:
- Assign Not on Our Watch Excerpt 2: "The three Ps of ending genocide."
- Select several questions from the "Darfur Now Discussion Guide" and ask students to respond to at least one of these questions in their journals.
