New International Grassroots Campaign for Darfur Launched

Denver firm to provide communications consulting

DENVER – Darfur advocate and actress Mia Farrow announced during a telephone press conference last week the launch of the Olympic Dream for Darfur campaign. RBI Strategies and Research, a Denver-based strategic communications firm, will be working with the campaign as the communications consultant. The campaign seeks to urge the Chinese government, host of the 2008 Olympics and enabling partner of the Khartoum regime, to persuade the regime in Sudan to allow a civilian protection force into Darfur and to engage in a good-faith peace process.

Olympic Dream for Darfur (www.dreamfordarfur.org) is an international grassroots and media campaign that will organize a number of high-profile actions, including a symbolic Olympic Torch Relay, which will start on August 8, 2007. The relay will begin on the Darfur-Chad border and travel through countries historically associated with genocide – Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia, Germany, and Cambodia. The goal of the Relay is to call attention to China’s role in the Darfur crisis and its inconsistency with its role as Olympic host.

The Torch Relay will end in Hong Kong and will coincide with mass rallies at Chinese Embassies around the world. In addition, Olympic Dream for Darfur is also organizing Torch Relays in a number of countries, including the United States, in partnership with the Save Darfur Coalition. The campaign will also conduct private advocacy with individuals associated with the Olympics.

“We are very pleased to be contributing to this effort. After five years of genocide in Darfur, it is time for real action, not just talk. The Chinese government is in a unique position to help bring an end to the greatest humanitarian crisis in a generation,” said Joannie Braden, co-founder and managing partner of RBI Strategies and Research. “We understand the dire importance of this campaign, and hope that our contributions will help the campaign reach its goals, resulting in a vastly improved situation in Darfur.”

RBI Strategies and Research is a consulting firm specializing in strategic and management consulting and research for political organizations, non-profits, governmental entities and corporations. Founded by Rick Ridder and Joannie Braden in 1985, RBI has produced a record of achievement in campaigns not only in the United States but around the world.