Mara Gordon | Activism: YouTube-Style

Right now on the Internet, there's a video of me, and there's a video of John Edwards, right next to each other.

I made my video by propping my digital camera on my desk in my bedroom. The lighting is bad, and you can see my posters from high school on the walls behind me. But there I am, right next to the presidential candidate's famous hairdo.

My video is featured near some other famous names: New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is on the Web site, as is Dave Eggers, one of my favorite authors.

Even Amy Gutmann's husband, former UN advisor Michael Doyle, is there, looking dignified in his office.

I made the video for a project called 24 Hours for Darfur, an online activist movement that is making it possible for regular people like me to make a difference right alongside famous ones.

The project is part of a new breed of online activism, perfect for our so-called "YouTube generation." It's easy, it's tech-savvy, and it's bringing together a whole lot of people you'd probably never see on the same Web site.

The organization is trying to get 24 hours of video appeals from people all over the world, sharing their ideas or feelings about the genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Just visit 24hoursfordarfur.org, make a video with your webcam or digital camera, upload it, and you're part of the movement.

The videos all have one goal: ending the genocide, and fast. The conflict in the western region of Sudan has gone on since 2003, when Arab militia groups known as the Janjaweed began systematic, large-scale attacks on farmers from African tribes in the area.

You can also send your video to your political representatives. Organizers are hoping to flood the inboxes of everyone on Capitol Hill with the faces of Americans who think action in Sudan - whether it be by means of troops, treaties, or divestment from companies that support militias - should be a priority.

"It's new and different and more personal and more direct," said Ben Eidelson, the organization's technical director. "We want this to be a democratizing, participatory thing."

Judging by the range of videos on the site, it certainly is.

There are policymakers and activists, Americans and Darfuris, college students and grandmothers. There's a "learn more" section that features longer, educational videos from experts. One guy who says he's affiliated with an organization called Magic for Darfur jumps into a pool on camera, yelling, "I care!"

Not all of the videos are eloquent. There are teenagers in homes of obvious privilege, giving melodramatic speeches about horrors they don't understand. There are self-important activists and scholars lost in technical terms.

Some videos are so low-quality you can't even hear the speaker - a pitfall of such a "democratic" movement, I guess.

And then there are videos like mine: short appeals to my elected officials asking that they consider this issue, because I simply don't know enough to ask for anything more.

The project made me think of a recent op-ed in the Washington Post by Nigerian American author Uzodinma Iweala, who wrote, "I hope people will realize Africa doesn't want to be saved. . We ourselves are capable of unprecedented growth." I didn't want to be another ignorant American who thinks buying Gap's (Red) products means I'm changing the world.

But 24 Hours for Darfur isn't asking us to save Africa.

Their philosophy is that simply being a concerned citizen is legitimate enough reason for getting involved. This is about strength in numbers and conviction, showing videos of real people who care enough to speak out about it.

My little video helped push the count to eight hours, one minute, and 16 seconds of concern about Darfur - and that just might help us get that much closer to peace.

Mara Gordon is a College senior from Washington, D.C. Her e-mail address is gordon@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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