Mia's
drinking water right
Darfur drinking water left
Without the participation
of celebrities such as Mia
Farrow, Michael Douglas and Trudie Styler (Gordon
Sumner's better half), it's highly unlikely that the 2007 Millennium
Summit-Montreal, which dedicates itself especially to eliminating
child poverty, would be able to concentrate the efforts and
financing required to bring, for example, clean water and medicine
to the Darfur region that has been systematically 'ravaged and
plundered' (code for ethnic cleansing) by Sudan's Janjaweed
militia units. 
But despite Mia,
Mike and Trudie's dedication to humanitarian causes and the
spectacular results they are uniquely able to obtain, there
are many in the media who take it upon themselves to question
their motivation, thoughtlessly ascribing to their efforts the
Vanity Fair mentality. Leon Wieseltier, the eloquent and wonderfully
articulate literary editor of The New Republic, has
major problems with Brad Pitt, whom he accuses of being more
interested in his own shine than shining light on the problems
he is allegedly preoccupied with.
Even in the worst
case scenario, where celebrities raise money for purely selfish
reasons, they must be judged by the effects of their deeds,
which is to bring life and hope to the planet's most vulnerable
who would otherwise perish. 
Yes,
Mike Dougles talks a lot about his accomplishments as an actor
and producer, but for the mother who will preside over her child's
graduation instead of funeral, she only has to know that Mike
Douglas is the person responsible for getting thousands of guns
out of the hands of street kids and kid soldiers in Sierra Leone.
Trudie Styler is
taking Texaco to court for its crimes against the environment
and the Ecuadorian people. Texaco thought it could get away
with dumping billions of gallons of toxic-laden waste water
into 1,700 square miles of once-pristine jungle -- now deemed
to be among the globe's worst contaminated sites. Thanks to
Trudie and her team, Texaco will be made to pay big-time at
the pump.
Ask Mia Farrow what
constitutes an abuse of celebrity power, and she'll answer,
"when celebrities do nothing, or spend their enormous capital
on self-gratification."
So may the celebrities
mentioned above multiply like rabbits. My personal star power
is such that it would take two hours of panhandling to raise
enough money for the purchase of a bus ticket. Trudie Styler,
as gifted and committed a speaker as you'll find on the real
issues of our times, can raise a million dollars in two hours.
How dare anyone asperse the motives of celebrities since reasons
count for absolutely nothing beside the enormous results they
produce.
What
makes humanitarian celebrities truly exceptional is that even
though they have been touched by spectacular wealth and access
(once the sole preserve of conquerors and men of political might),
they still remain unfullfilled; and of all the options at their
disposal with which they could address that unfulfillingness,
they choose the one that brings them face to face with man's
inhumanity to man -- at considerable personal risk. This is
their art, their gift, where the reward is nothing less than
being there for those in need. Trudie Styler, in describing
her work during her Millennium Summit appearance, said that
taking responsibility -- without any distinction -- for all
human life has been the supreme privilege of her life: a message
that should be included in every bottle.
Power and influence
notwithstanding, the challenge celebrities face is a formidable
one, especially if you believe that it is human nature not to
care. It seems that human beings are remarkably indifferent
to suffering that doesn't register on or upset the senses. The
money that I'm comfortable spending on a flat screen television
would strike me as criminal if I were in the midst of Darfur's
squalor, disease, hunger, extreme violence and ubiquitous presence
of death. But most of us do not have the means nor the will
to physically involve ourselves in the world's suffering. Thanks
to celebrities, who come back to report on what they have seen
and what needs to be done, some of us can no longer remain idle
or indifferent. By making a difference, they show us how we
can make a difference, which is why Millennium Summits are indispensable.
To Mia, Trudie,
Mike, Cherie Blair, the esteemed Bishop Tutu, Daniel Germain
(the Summit's founding father), and the many other humanitarians
that converged on Montreal because they want to make a difference
-- may your tribe increase.
Photo Credits:
© Marcel Dubois
Let
it be said for all time that as it concerns the starving child
for whom $35 a year is the difference between life and death,
there is no such thing as wrong reasons -- only wrong-headed
journalism for which Wieseltier and his ilk must be held accountable.
