Ante Up for Africa -- Chat with an Activist for Change: John Prendergast

The Full Tilt Suite that served as the green room at the Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament was packed with a collection of famous actors, athletes, and poker players an hour before the event on July 2, 2009. The two hosts, Don Cheadle and Annie Duke, were greeting everyone and thanking them for their participation. Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Cedric the Entertainer were hanging out in one corner of the room, while Montel Williams, Dean Cain, and Herschel Walker sat around a table in another corner. The biggest stir was created when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck arrived a few minutes before the tournament began…and in the middle of all this commotion was John Prendergast, who was chatting with a few NBA players.

Mr. Prendergast wasn’t going to win any popularity contest in the green room that day, but he probably has a better chance than anyone that was in the room at eventually winning a Nobel Peace Prize. Prendergast has been an activist for humanitarian causes for the majority of his adult life. He has worked, lived, and traveled in Africa for more than 20 years. He is a senior advisor to the International Crises Group, and was a former official in the Clinton White House. He co-founded the Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Prendergast also co-wrote the book Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond, a New York Times bestseller, with Cheadle. It was also very fitting that day that Prendergast was chatting with many of the NBA players in the room; he also helped found the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program along with Tracy McGrady, Baron Davis, and Derek Fisher. The programs goals are to provide a quality education to children in Darfur refugee camps, while connecting schools in the U.S. with schools that are located in the refugee camps to promote mutual understanding.

To help raise further awareness for the displaced refugees that directly benefit from the Ante Up for Africa charity poker event, Card Player sat down with Prendergast to discuss strategies to bring about change in the world where it is really needed. You don’t have to commit your entire life to the cause as Prendergrast has, but just listening to his advice might inspire you to help when you can. A charity poker tournament is a good thing, but raising money is only one step in the process, read on to see what else is needed to make lasting changes.

Ryan Lucchesi: What’s the most important thing that people can do to in the U.S. to help the millions of African refugees that have been displaced in Sudan and other parts of the continent? What can be done to stop the genocide that is allowed to continue there?

John Prendergast: We are building a people’s movement against genocide, and joining the movement is the most important thing first and foremost. Join up with one of these organizations and then go on to the Ante Up for Africa website, go on the Enough Project website and the Refugees International website and you can access information that’s outside of the traditional media that’s not going to cover this. The second thing is that if the issues that you learn about affect you in any way or moves you, let other people know. An incredible thing that didn’t exist when I was growing up is the internet and its capacity for social networking. Being able to take your interest in the issue and share it with your friends and family members to say this matters to me, can you help me bring about some change here. Grassroots activism is key. The third thing would be to write letters to your members of Congress, their job is to listen to what their voters want them to do. If you and some of your friends in the district say to your Congress person that it matters to you that we do more to end the suffering in Sudan then they’re going to respond to that. So I think that rooting yourself in the issue, using technology to get the word out to people you know, and then asking them to join you in getting word to the influential people in government is the key thing that you can do.

RL: Why do you think the average American doesn’t think that they can be an active participant in democracy?

JP: One of the neat things is that people actually do go in and meet with their member of Congress, either in their home district or in Washington D.C., and when they do that they see that these people are human and they are malleable. It’s a lot easier than people think it can be. And once you have established that relationship with a member of Congress then you can go back three months later and say, “Did you do what you said you were going to do during our meeting.” And the key is getting good allies where you live to go with you, whether its family members, or friends, people at your places of worship, or people back at your school, because numbers matter to these members of Congress, and diversity matters to these members of Congress. What people can learn from jumping in and participating is that they can actually have some influence.

RL: You and Don Cheadle were able to talk to some very influential senators on Capitol Hill. What is the progress of the strategies you discussed with those politicians to affect change?

JP: One of the first things on the foreign policy front that Barack Obama did when he took office was decided that he was going to have a special envoy like he has for Afghanistan, and like he has for Middle East Peace, in Sudan. He named Air Force Major General, Scott Gration, to be that envoy. Because of the political constituencies and citizens all over the country that have been pounding on Congress, this issue matters and Obama has taken it very seriously. They’re currently in the middle of finalizing their policy review. So we’re hoping that there will be a real strong push. We have already seen the United States invite the government of Sudan and the leading entity from the south of the country to talk about peace. It’s a start.

RL: One thing that is clear is that the Sudanese government is responsive to pressure from the U.S. government when it is issued full heartedly. Is there going to be a problem garnering African Union support for the International Criminal Court’s warrant out for Omar al-Bashir? Or is the larger challenge that the conflict between Northern and Southern Sudan is on the brink of another civil war?

JP: I don’t think anyone expected the African Union to be supportive of the ICC warrant, they don’t like the idea of prosecuting a head of state, and that’s basically their problem. The same thing with the Arab League, they just don’t want this kind of meddling. They oppose this action in Sudan because they don’t have to deal with it down the road in their country.

RL: Is that why it is so important for the U.S. and other powerful nations in the international community to step in and apply pressure in Africa through diplomatic and economic avenues?

JP: The need for U.S. leadership is greater than it has ever been. The U.S. needs to step up and support the peace and the accountability. Part of it is the U.S. leading the peace process, but part of it also is for us to say that there has to be some level of punishment for the commission of genocide. That’s what the genocide convention asked us to do, is to punish these crimes, and that’s what we need to do. I think supporting the warrant for al-Bashir is important, and finding a way to push that forward is very, very crucial.

RL: You have spent a lot of time on the ground in Africa and you have seen the suffering with your own eyes. You have also seen what kind of difference is made in the daily lives of these refugees thanks to humanitarian aid. What can $20 provide for these refugees during the course of a week?

JP: It’s utterly crucial to do two things. One is to keep people alive. These are some of the most hellish conditions on the face of the earth, and relieving someone’s suffering is a critical intervention that we can make as individuals in the U.S. and around the world. But it’s also important to work just as hard for an end to the war; we don’t want to keep putting band aids on the situation. Combining the two is important, and that’s what Ante Up for Africa does. It provides the direct immediate aid with support for long-term changes in the situation to bring about peace. That’s our objective.

RL: Is there one story of suffering in Africa that has really struck with you and inspired you to make this your life’s work? Or is it the fact that there are so many stories of suffering that inspires you?

JP: On a recent trip I just returned from, I was searching for people that had actually survived great trauma, whether it was mass rape or child soldier hood. I was not just looking for people who had survived it, but people who had survived and gone on to help their communities after being inspired by their own suffering. I was hoping to find just one or two, but there were so many. There are remarkable stories of people who have suffered some of the greatest indignities known to human history and have come through to become teachers and counselors. They’re doing community work because they really don’t want their suffering to be replicated with other people. So they’re willing to do all that they can from where they sit, given their experience, to try to change things. That is very inspiring to me, just to find so many people who are willing to do that.