'Darfur Is Low-Hanging Fruit for Beijing'

Hundreds of America's top Olympic athletes gathered in Chicago this week to meet with the media that will report on their triumphs and disappointments from Beijing this August. At the same time human rights activists were ratcheting up the pressure on China on a host of issues. Darfur is at the forefront, as China finds itself under attack for selling arms to Sudan and for acquiescing to policies that jeopardize the survival of the refugees. As a result many of the U.S. athletes found themselves being asked—beyond the usual questions of hopes and dreams, training regimens and doping controversies—about Darfur and whether athletes should use the Olympic platform to speak out in protest.

Only a block away the "Dream for Darfur" campaign, with actress Mia Farrow its most prominent face, had set up camp, trying to use the gathering to educate both the media and the athletes on the crisis. Over a glass of wine at the University of Chicago Club, Farrow, who has made eight trips to the Darfur region, told me, "People can read the realities and the statistics, but there's another level of knowing when you see the human faces." She and I talked about the two dreams: the Beijing Olympics and the Darfur campaign. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: All our Olympic athletes are suddenly being asked about Darfur. What can we reasonably expect of them?
Mia Farrow: This has been a difficult moment for the athletes. We're very connected with Team Darfur, our counterpart with the athletes headed by [speed skater] Joey Cheek. It is a matter of conscience—how far they can go and still be within the constraints of their positions as athletes on the American team.

Their individual consciences?
Like the woman runner from India who refused to carry the torch. We would never have asked that of her, but it was her conscience.

It's quite different when these athletes have trained all their lives to compete in the Olympics.
And we understand and respect that. No one is calling for a boycott of the Olympic Games, at least not in my group. We are calling for a boycott of the opening ceremonies, and we're not alone in doing so.

By the athletes, too?
I don't advise the athletes at all. But we're calling for responsible world leaders not to attend the opening ceremonies, beginning with President Bush. We don't care what he does next year, but this year he represents us. Yes, support our athletes, but no, not the propaganda. We understand there is a larger Monopoly game going on here in which China is a huge player. But does it come down to the billions being worth more than the human beings? This is a moment when we have to show that the ideals and values upon which this nation was founded and which we all want to believe are still realities for us as a nation—that it still means something.