Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Mia Farrow Goes on Darfur Hunger Strike, Posts Daily on YouTube

by Lee Bains on May 5, 2009 at 12:54 PM


Actress, activist and former Woody Allen flame Mia Farrow is in the ninth day of her hunger strike for Darfur, which she has been chronicling on her own YouTube channel, the L.A. Times reports.

According to the Times, the 64-year-old, noticeably gaunt Farrow has committed to a three-week hunger strike, during which she will consume only water, in order to raise the public's awareness of the estimated 2.7 million refugees in Darfur (a cause she has long championed in her well-known blog). Late last month, according to the AP, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir banished 16 humanitarian aid groups, 13 of which had come from the international community to aid the impoverished, sickly and malnourished refugee communities. On April 21st, the AP reported that the U.N. estimated 300,000 had died since 2003. To put that in perspective, these tragic numbers are tantamount to the entire population of Chicago being left homeless and dying, or the entire city of Pittsburgh being put to death.

In a YouTube video posted on April 24th, Farrow discussed her preparation for and intentions with the then-forthcoming hunger strike.In the video, Farrow -- who apparently spent time in Darfur this February -- vowed to support "the 16 aid agencies that are sustaining more than 4 million people." Although she humbly and realistically admitted that her hunger strike couldn't do much on its own, Farrow did say, "If it provides a news hook for a newspaper so that they can talk about what's really important, then it would be worth it."

Well, we're talking about it, Ms. Farrow. Now there's nobody but ourselves to blame if we don't do something about it. [From: AP and L.A. Times]

Anti-Corporate Protests and Boycotts

    Motrin Ad Pulled Due to Online Protests
    In November of last year, mothers took to the Twitter-streets in protest of a Motrin video advertisement that, they claimed, belittled young mothers. In no time, Johnson and Johnson took down the ad, posting a letter of apology.

    Apple Pulls "You Can't Be Too Thin" Ads
    In 2007, after airing an ill-advised ad campaign for their new line of iMacs that featured the tag line "You Can't Be Too Thin," Apple received innumerable complaints, including one from the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness. The ads were promptly pulled.

    Boycotting Sellers Dent eBay's Business
    In February of last year, eBay sellers banded in a boycott after the Web site laid claim to higher commissions on sold goods and eliminated sellers' ability to give negative feedback to buyers. In just one week, eBay's listings dropped by 13 percent.

    Students Stage Virtual Protest on Facebook
    Disturbed by HSBC's suspension of their free overdraft protection, collegiate customers of the bank launched a Facebook protest in 2007. Backed by the National Union of Students, the online protest won out as HSBC decided to maintain the policy.

    Facebook Lactivists Take Protests to the Street Over Breastfeeding Pictures
    Last month, self-described "lactivists" set up shop outside Facebook's headquarters to protest the site's removal of all images containing breastfeeding mothers.

Tags: activism, darfur, humanitarian, mia farrow, MiaFarrow, sudan, top, united nations, UnitedNations, video, web video, WebVideo, youtube

Comments

161

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular