Google Maps the Darfur Crisis

Great news! Now you can sit back in the comfort of your own home and actually see (provided you have access to high-speed internet) the physical results of genocide in Darfur! You don't even need to go to Washington D.C. to rally for the cause. The United States Holocaust Museum and Google.com have collaborated in adding satellite images and detailed information on 1,600 villages in the Darfur region to the already popular Google Earth program. Since the Sudanese government strictly controls access to the region, the new feature on Google Earth is thought by some to be a fascinating and groundbreaking tool "in terms of raising awareness and showing the scale and extent of what is happening in Darfur for people who are interested and who want to be involved," according to Bea Spadicini, a representative of an aid agency that works throughout Sudan. Others insist that the effects of the "cool" new images are nothing more than another way of "raising awareness" that will have no significant effect on the crisis. I think that Peter Kagwanja - a senior analyst at the Human Sciences Research Council in Tshwane, South Africa - sums up this argument, noting that "The problem in Darfur is not a lack of information, and it's not a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the problem,[The problem is] a lack of action by the international community." I know I am getting tired of the popularized catch-phrases from students and Amnesty International, among many others, to "Save Darfur" or "Make Some Noise For Darfur." The problem is no longer a lack of awareness, it is clearly lack of action on the part of the international community. The crisis has become such a mainstream rallying cry that while being able to view the catastrophic physical damages in Darfur will indeed be "cool," I doubt that any changes will come from it.