Video: 12/15/06 CNN Interview

December 15, 2006 by admin
Filed under News, videos

Thanks to Clooney Network here are the video clips from George’s CNN Interview.

George Clooney and Don Cheadle did an interview on the Dafur crisis with CNN Europe this morning. You can watch it at the following links. Part 1 Part 2

Transcript:

CLANCY: Actor and activist George Clooney has visited those refugee camps in Darfur, set down, talked with people, taken pictures. We’ve seen up close the desperate conditions.

GORANI: Well, he’s been campaigning for a while to raise awareness. This week, the Oscar-winning star visited China and Egypt to make a personal plea for help.

CLANCY: And fellow actor Don Cheadle, who has also been active on Darfur for some time, as well as many others, athletes and others, joined him on his mission. Today, they went to the United Nations and set down with the secretary-general.

They join us live.

GORANI: All right.

George Clooney and Don Cheadle, thanks very much.

I’m going to start with you, George Clooney.

You met with the outgoing secretary-general of the U.N., Kofi Annan, about the situation in Darfur. What was said in that conversation that struck you?

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: Well, he’s been a very strong advocate of this for quite some time. We were basically coming back to report what we had learned from our trips both to China and to Egypt. And also to express our concern with the new incoming secretary-general that Sudan stays high on the list of priorities here at the U.N.

CLANCY: Don, you know, a lot of people look at it and they say, why is it that nothing can be done? Why can’t Kofi Annan — why couldn’t he fix this problem? Why can’t the Security Council just send in troops?

What’s the answer?

DON CHEADLE, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: Well, I think there are many answers. And that’s really what we were doing on our trip to Egypt and China, to try and speak to players on the international stage that have great influence with the government of Sudan. And especially with the Olympics coming in 2008. We think China is going to want to appear to the world to be an agent of openness and good, and their slogan is “One world, one dream.”

CLANCY: Yes, but you were in China because they’ve got oil contracts with Sudan and also they’ve also got a veto on the Security Council.

CHEADLE: That’s what I’m saying.

CLANCY: And that’s why — that’s why you’re not getting any troops moved into Sudan. CHEADLE: Well, we think there are moves that can be taken before moving troops into Sudan that have to be looked at, first of all, because anything that is shoved down the government of Khartoum’s throat is going to have a - we believe a very negative effect on the citizenry there. Thought we do have to very clearly, very quickly start speaking about punitive measures.

We think that we want to impress upon them the urgency of the situation, that they’re well aware of. But as people who have the spotlight on us, we want them to know that we’re going to come back to the United States and speak when we have cameras in front of us and report and keep the story active and open. And while the Olympics are going to be there, they’re going to have the world looking at them. And we want them to be people who can support that idea of “One world, one dream.”

GORANI: Don Cheadle and George Clooney, you also went to Egyptian. And George Clooney, you spoke with the foreign minister of Egypt.

Were any promises made? And if not promises, at least what was said? How do you follow up talk with action in the situation like Darfur?

CLOONEY: Well, there are two things that we walked away with that I think were pretty extraordinary. One was, Her Excellency, the first lady, Mrs. Mubarrak, pledged the idea that she would hold some sort of a human rights forum for women and talk about the subject, and that she’s willing to go to the refugee camps in Chad to bring the attention back home to many of the Arab countries that don’t really see what’s going on.

And the foreign minister talked to us about supplying Egyptian doctors and humanitarian workers to help partially fill some of the void of the aid workers who are being forced to leave Darfur and Chad.

CLANCY: Gentlemen, you know, both of you are actors. And it’s got to be said, too, you’re both real people.

Very briefly, why have you decided to cast yourself into this role on Darfur? I mean, why do you pick this issue? Why do you get so active?

CHEADLE: Well, for — speaking for myself, after doing “Hotel Rwanda,” I was sort of drafted into this. I was approached by Congressman Ed Royce out of California, and he said that he believed the film had similar echoes and resonance to what was happening in Darfur. And they had been able to generate any sort of attention in any sort of press about it. And he said, “Perhaps you can come with us in an effort to continue shining a light on the area.”

And then once you’ve gone and once you’ve seen with your own eyes what’s happening, it’s very difficult to do anything but what we’re doing, continue to advocate for some peace and security for the citizens there.

CLANCY: What do you think — George, what do you think?

CLOONEY: Well, you know, I was reading the Nicholas Kristof articles in “The New York Times” while I was in New York last year, and I thought it seemed to be getting — it seemed to be a tremendous amount of information, and it didn’t seem to be getting much traction in the United States.

The one thing we’ve been able to do over the past few years, Don and I, particularly, is have cameras follow us. My father’s a journalist, and I thought maybe if he and I went there — not that we have anything to do with policy, not that we’re politicians — we’re citizens, but if cameras are going to follow us, perhaps we can help bring some attention to that.

CLANCY: Gentlemen, I’m going to ask you to stay right there where you are at the U.N. We’re going to have to take a short break.

We’re going to be back and continue this conversation.

GORANI: We’re also going to be asking about the potential impact of what celebrity endorsement or star power can have on solving some of the world’s humanitarian crises.

Stay with us. You’re with YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: Yes, what you can do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are the ones who demanded international attention. We are the ones who have led diplomatic efforts. We are the ones who have talked about having an effective military presence.

So, April, we share the frustration of anybody who deals with the region, and we continue to press allies to step up and take moves that are necessary to put an end to the genocide. . (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: When I look at the murder, rape, starvation to which the people of Darfur are being subjected, I fear that we have not got far beyond lip service.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: That was the secretary-general, Kofi Annan. His farewell address in Independence, Missouri, talking about one of the biggest disappointments of his tenure as U.N. secretary-general, Darfur, a region he says has undergone — is undergoing the worst humanitarian crisis gripping this planet.

GORANI: All right. And he said that in the past and it has been described as genocide by some countries and not as a genocide by others.

We’ve been talking to actor and activist George Clooney, Don Cheadle. They’ve both been campaigning to raise awareness on this situation.

CLANCY: They’re joining us once again live from the United Nations studio in New York.

GORANI: Right.

And I wanted to ask you two, how do you start measuring your own success in this department? In the last few months, the situation has not gotten better in Darfur and for those people who live in that region of Sudan. So how do you as activists measure your own achievement?

CLOONEY: Well, I don’t think — we’re not trying to hold a measuring stick to what it is — what we are doing. You know, a few months ago, I was here speaking to the U.N. and to the National Security Council and, of course, the argument then is that you’re just preaching to the converted.

Now we were — this week, yesterday, the day before yesterday, we were in Beijing and China, who have much more of a friendly ear to Darfur. So we were this time neither preaching, nor were they converted.

We’re having — we’re trying to just continually move the ball forward. Are we succeeding? I don’t know. We’re on television right now talking about it. And I think that’s the best step we can make.

GORANI: And Don Cheadle, the issue is also, if you weren’t shedding this light, I suppose, it would be even less — this message would come out even less. And so, therefore, who knows what might happen there in Sudan?

CHEADLE: And that’s one of the most grave realities we’re looking at is, as more aid workers are expelled and leaving for fear of their own safety, and the press is — what little press there already is, is going away, we threatened to have a media blackout and information blackout. And obviously once that happens — if that were to happen — people who are inflicting the horrible, you know, humanitarian crimes that they are can do it unchecked.

And we have to just make as much noise and — I mean, quite honestly, when you ask how far we’ve gotten and how do we measure it, the success will be when it’s done and you start thinking, what do we have to do, how dramatic of a movement needs to be undertaken to create and effect change there? And it remains to be seen.

CLANCY: You know, George, somebody’s watching this broadcast, they see the horrible pictures, and they say, all right, George, I get it. But what can I do about it?

CLOONEY: Well, it’s a good question. There’s a lot of things you can do. Obviously, the first thing you can do is in your own — talk to your own local congressman, talk to your own senator. You can write letters to the president. You can get online, you can get informed, you can become part of it.

The secret to this is each individual — this is a movement that requires each single person to have the same kind of outrage — to have — to have enough of an outrage to make a difference, and then it is a sea of people that will do it. It’s across the world, it’s not just here.

So what can you do? Don actually has always a good answer to that, which is, what can you do? What are you willing to do? What are you capable of?

Do you have a church group to speak at? Can you do it in business? Can you do it in local politics?

Whatever it is that you can do to continually — because what we really need is, the governments of a lot of these countries need to have the political capital of their people’s will to go in and make change.

CLANCY: Hey, guys, is there a movie in this?

CLOONEY: Let’s hope it’s not Hotel Darfur.

GORANI: How does it change you when you come back from Darfur, George? How do you see your world differently when you come back from a place like Darfur?

CLOONEY: Well, it’s on an individual basis. No one’s the same when you come back from there.

The point is that you can’t believe the cruelty. And the first thing that you’re struck with is that they are completely alone and have nothing and no voice. And you’re — you’re kept awake at night with the idea that you have to continue to have a voice.

CLANCY: Don Cheadle, you know, a final question. You know, as you look at the situation, you know, a child’s eyes, you know, the lives that are going to be lost here, do you have a sense of satisfaction that you’re standing up?

CHEADLE: I’m not satisfied at all. I’m very unsatisfied. And I am really crushed that, you know, someone told us today that the highest level of delegation that has made this sojourn to China and then to Egypt and then back here to attempt to bring some sort of connected tissue to this whole issue, the highest level delegation was Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Joey Cheek and Tegla Loroupe.

It’s, like, really? That’s the — that’s the highest importance that this thing has held?

So I’m not satisfied. I’m outraged. I’m pissed off. And I want — you know, I think I want to do something dramatic, and I’m looking for what that is.

So I’m making an appeal to anyone who has looked at these pictures and who is affected, maybe not as largely as we were because we were there and saw it and smelled it and touched it and felt it, but we want people to find however they can become a part of this and impact the situation. Because whether you want to argue if it’s a genocide or not, we know that if things go unchecked it will be.

There are 2.5 million people who are displaced and dying, and that is not going to change until people get mad and make something happen.

CLANCY: Gentlemen, we have to leave it there. And we hope it doesn’t leave it there.

We thank you for your efforts here with us and throughout as you press the case of the people stranded in Darfur.

GORANI: All right, Don Cheadle, George Clooney, thanks for joining us.

CHEADLE: Thank you.

CLOONEY: Thank you