How do you get a long-suffering but little-known slice of Africa on the White House agenda and onto American TV screens? George Clooney knows how.
Humble, self-effacing and dressed for safari, the Hollywood star and former Sexiest Man Alive was in the scruffy, straw-hut capital of Southern Sudan on Saturday to draw attention to the region's week-long independence referendum.
The vote, which began yesterday, is likely to create the world's newest nation. Clooney is working to help the region avoid a backslide toward war.
In picking a cause and roughing it in a developing country, Clooney is hardly alone. Celebrities are shining their star power on the poor, the war-weary and the disaster-prone more than ever.
"Our job is trying to keep this on the front burner of the news," Clooney said. "I'm the son of [a] newsman. I understand how hard it is to keep stories on the front of news, and sometimes entertainment and news can be meshed together if you do it properly."
Clooney has had two meetings with US President Barack Obama on Sudan and has persuaded reporters from outlets like NBC, CNN and Newsweek to focus on the country. He says he doesn't know how much his efforts help, but that every bit counts.
"It's important as any other individual in the country or in the world to engage in life and in the world," he continued. "You know, a celebrity is absolutely no different. I wasn't a celebrity my whole life. I was an individual citizen for most of it, an unemployed citizen for a lot of it. I don't forfeit that just because I've happened to get lucky in my career."
Hollywood helping
Whether it's Sean Penn in Haiti, Ben Affleck in Congo, or Angelina Jolie's work in more than a dozen countries, stars are bringing attention to those in need. Bono, U2's lead singer, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his aid work in Africa.
There's even a website dedicated to the merger between Hollywood and helping. Look To The Stars lists more than 2,300 celebrities and 1,600 charities they support. Myrlia Purcell, who along with her husband began looktothestars.org in 2006, said stars bring recognition to a cause, which can be a boon for non-profits with tight budgets.
The aid organisation World Vision has gotten celebrity endorsements from Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, actor Hugh Jackman and former US first lady Laura Bush. The group's Rachel Wolff said dramatic disasters like earthquakes can bring in quick donations, but that slowburn crises — like in Sudan — need help from celebrities like Clooney.
Affleck began going to Congo in 2007 and directed a short film called Gimme Shelter about the crisis. The director and actor said after a trip there last year that he was insecure about getting involved at first because of how little he initially knew. He's since studied up, and in November appeared on a panel on Congo alongside US Senator John Kerry and the US State Department's top official on Africa.
Clooney and Sudan activist John Prendergast helped launched the Satellite Sentinel Project, which will track troop movements in real time in Abyei, a north-south border region where the biggest threat of a return to conflict exists. The two wrote that they want to cast a spotlight on the hot spots on the border to help prevent Darfur-like atrocities.
‘Constant drumbeat'
"We are the anti-genocide paparazzi," Clooney told Time magazine last week in another attention-grabbing interview.
Clooney's meetings with Obama were a way for the actor to get Sudan on the front pages and for the White House — which has been deeply engaged on the independence referendum — to show it is active on the issue. And the 49-year-old actor hinted that he'll be back to Sudan.
He said there are two tricks to bringing attention to a cause. The first is to pick one.
"And the second thing is to create a constant drumbeat, to keep doing it," Clooney said. "You can't just dip your toe in it and get out, you have to constantly come back and do it.
"Bono sort of led the way in terms of really being informed on the specific issue. Brad [Pitt] and Angie do it well, Matt Damon, I have a lot of friends who do it pretty well and really get involved. I see Ben Affleck doing it in the Congo now more and more. I find that people who pick a cause and stick to it, get to know something about it."
