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Darfur charities deserve your money. A fashion show just isn’t the way to do it.
Birthdays, holidays, the end of exams, ethnic cleansing: Oxford
students will leap at any opportunity to throw a party. The Hands Up
for Darfur ‘fashion show’ in 1st Week can’t even keep our insularity
out of a good cause. Its goal of ‘using untried and untested
initiatives to engage students’ interest’ is thwarted by the same
blinkered attitudes it means to dispel.
The poster’s main attraction is an imposing pair of breasts. The
fine print bills the event as ‘one of the major events of Oxford
University’s annual calendar,’ with the usual purple prose – ‘delicious
days of dazzling decadence’ or whatever – and tales of Belshazzar-esque
feasting you’d expect from any old ball. Oh, and there’re links to the
charities at the end.
Untried and untested this sure ain’t. And let’s not forget the
‘models.’ I wonder what the in look is at the Abou Shouk refugee camp
this season. Bloodied rags? With the ‘endless flowing free drinks’ how
many people are even going to remember what the point of it was at all?
Surely something so horribly misjudged could only be done by
well-meaning folks who don’t see the problem with having an ‘exclusive
after party’ at a place called Thirst Lodge, in support of people who –
according to HUFD’s own website – risk rape or murder if they go too
far looking for water. Maybe not. Some committee members do boast
impressive activist resumes. Equal attention, however, is given to
qualifications such as having been college ball organisers, a gap year
English teacher for a couple months, and ‘Head of House,’ at school,
‘which meant organizing a lot of house events.’
I can’t help thinking how they’ll spend their summer; working for
humanitarian organizations in Darfur, or interning at KPMG? The whole
thing smacks of CV building. It gives an otherwise unremarkable
Brideshead Regurgitated party a moral veneer with one word – ‘Darfur.’
A hugely complicated incident that few people really understand is
reduced to a vehicle for selling ball tickets.
And HUFD market all their events in the same way. The last ‘awareness
forum’ was ‘chaired by a high profile figure to match the quality of
last year’s chair’, and offered ‘the chance to win free pre-debate
dinner with the speakers at an exclusive Oxford restaurant.’ If Darfur
didn’t exist would the fashion show be going ahead anyway, for whatever
the charity cause celebre of the moment happened to be?
Maybe we’ve become so inured, either to faraway genocides that only
seem to exist on TV, or the absurd Oxford ball scene, that it doesn’t
even seem an anomaly. Only last term the EAS threw a bash sponsored by
the Chinese government. Yep, the same guys that block UN sanctions
against Khartoum, heavily invest in the Sudanese oil industry, and have
sold over $100m’s worth of weapons to government militias, who use them
against innocent Darfuris. Entirely unconnected to HUFD, no doubt. But
how many people bought tickets for both?
The charities in question – MSF and Kids for Kids – work on the
ground helping displaced civilians. They really do deserve your money.
The fashion show just isn’t the way to do it. Decadence for Darfur
reinforces the rich/poor divide. As the ‘glamour and sophistication of
Milan and Paris’ is (apparently) recreated, the inhumane conditions in
Darfur HUFD are supposed to be alleviating seem even farther away. This
is all the more extreme in a demi-monde where lavishing money on
champagne salvoes at the Bridge is part of the conventional path to
social advancement. HUFD’s very name evokes horrid, wasted evenings
there face-raping to Fedde Le Grand.
‘Awareness,’ then, isn’t an answer on its own. By missing this, HUFD is
ruining all the good work of its own swill-free events. Perhaps they
think that encouraging students’ bacchanalian side is the only way to
get them to care about people who live in squalid refugee camps. That
might well be true. Isn’t that disgusting? Are we really that
self-absorbed? As long as we’re stuck with the absurd and disgusting
notion that self-indulgence is an acceptable way to help the
underprivileged, we’ll never get anywhere.
Links:
» 18 comments
1"Shocked"
on Tuesday, 15 April 2008 21:20
I am completely shocked by this appalling article. To attack an event whose sole purpose is to raise money for two fantastic charities, money which Oxford students would not be giving to them otherwise, is actually disgusting. There is nothing wrong with holding balls and having fashion shows in aid of charity, if it actually raises the money these charities desperately require. Hands up for Darfur's last ball, for example, raised £50000 by the end. And this is their one main fundraising event. The rest of the year is filled with showing documentaries, inviting knowledgeable speakers to Oxford to talk about the plight of the Darfuri peoples, running classes for international medical students, organising huge awareness events and attempting to convince big businesses to cough up the cash for charity. Grow up.
2"Tch. Journalists."
on Tuesday, 15 April 2008 22:03
Well well well. What a surprise. A student journalist saying something controversial. The fact of the matter is, very few people will entirely selflessly give money to charity. sad but true. Giving them an incentive is what is needed. Why that is a bad thing, I do not know. Why people have to feel guilty to give money also baffles me, as if somehow the money is worth more, or has more impact if it is donated with a heavy heart. Putting on events people want to go to gets results. They earn more money for the people who really do need our help.
If you cannot see that, then you are very ignorant, more concerned with your own arm-chair socialist principles than you are with the greater good. If putting on a fashion show is self indulgent, then you sir are guilty of the same crime, writing a sensationalist article just to see yourself in print.
3"What?!"
on Tuesday, 15 April 2008 22:43
This close-minded attempt at moral superiority smacks of a pseudo-intellectual rant; the arguments are as misguided as they are unecessary and cruel. If your complaint is truly against the Western indifference to humanitarian crises around the globe, why cheaply attack iniatives that try to address this? If anything is "blinkered" or "horribly misjudged" then it is this article. We hope it wasn't a "CV builder".
4"Finally someone's said it"
on Tuesday, 15 April 2008 23:21
Why on earth does the poster for a charity that fights against the rape of women in Africa consist of a photograph of a white, headless, naked woman?
Thank god someone has finally come out and said what many have been thinking for months. Well done, Max Seddon.
5"Shameful attack on HUFD"
on Wednesday, 16 April 2008 07:41
The shame of it. Hosting a charity event that appeals to the very generation that will grow to be the catalyst that effects and frames the way we deal with global attrition in the future. Disgraceful isn’t it.
Oh no, hang on. Yes, now I remember that ‘little’ pop concert. What was it called again? Live Aid - that was it! Yes, how dare they celebrate poverty with a concert? I mean, you are totally right, Max – let us ignore the fact that this ‘party’ raised over £150 million for famine relief, it was just plain tacky….right? Wrong.
Ask yourself this: Do you really think the suffering people of Darfur are going to care how monies are raised? Do you think Kids for Kids and MSF will get turned away at the gates of the camps by the disgruntled refugees claiming “A fashion show saved my child’s life! We can’t have that!”
Society must respond by to help those by whatever means possible
6"White, So?"
on Wednesday, 16 April 2008 11:31
If this article has one valid point other than arrogantly attacking a very worthwhile endeavour from a position of insufferable moral superiority, it is that the advertising posters were perhaps a little vulgar. But what possible difference does it make that the girl in them was white? Surely those who are offended by them would be equally angered by a black woman posing naked, being used for her sexual appeal. If it is a slightly distasteful poster campaign then by all means say so, but the skin colour of its participants is hardly relevant. The purpose of HUFD is to raise money and awareness for those suffering in Darfur, whether blue green or ochre.
Also you might like to find out a little more about what the actual event entails, sadly people are going to have a good time, but there is a strong awareness element to it which your polemical and ill-informed article has missed.
7"Offensive and wrong"
on Wednesday, 16 April 2008 11:41
Are you saying that one isn't allowed to raise money for Darfur and get a summer job? That only people who are spending their summer helping African orphans can raise money for charity? I suppose you are right, damn those boys and girls who are putting in months of work far beyond the value of having a fashion show on their cv. How dare they raise money for Darfur and want a job at the same time? The rest of us with summer jobs who aren't organising this event should feel reassured that we aren't betraying our corporate principles by helping others.
Honestly mate you should apologise to the organisers of this event and write something slightly less predictable next time, Brideshead regurgitated? Is that supposed to be funny? Utter crap.
8"Shameful"
on Wednesday, 16 April 2008 12:25
If you feel the burning desire, Max Seddon, to criticise the morals of HUFD for holding a fashion show to raise money for a perfectly good cause, that really is your own close-minded problem. However, to attack the committee who've organised this event as you do is quite frankly shameful. Perhaps you could do a little research before you brand all those involved as nothing more than CV hacks. It takes more than a desire to build up a fit resumé to have the conviction to set up ones own organisation and raise £50,000 to help the victims of a crisis not everyone has necessarily even heard of. I suggest you take the time to talk to those who actually set up HUFD before you continue to brandish such judgemental and unfounded views.
9"Plain Rude"
on Wednesday, 16 April 2008 13:17
You're description of the committee's qualifications is patronising to the point of being offensive. What exactly is wrong with teaching English on a gap year? I mean I know it is predictable and middle class and therefore disdained by pseudo-intellectual etonians like yourself, but really it is quite a nice thing to do and requires seveal skills that might be useful in organising a major fundraiser. Just sneering at people who are putting an enormous effort in isn't very nice, I'm sure you don't even bother having a resume, bravely setting forth and breaking down social barriers doesn't require a cv. Except you aren't doing that, you're just being a bit of a dick.
10"Eh?"
on Wednesday, 16 April 2008 13:19
I liked this at the beginning. I thought it was satire. Then I read the rest of it; I do still hope it's satire, but the hopes are fading. I hate siding with the whiny, opinionated types who comment on Cherwell articles - but bashing Darfur charities? Honestly? Either you're about eighty times more cynical than even me, or - if it is satire - an extra joke or five might've helped.
11"This"
on Wednesday, 16 April 2008 17:59
DECADENCE FOR DARFUR, revised advert
(now Seddon's showed us all the way)
DRINK murky water from an ill-placed well!!!!!
(Limited. In no way "free-flowing". One cup each.)
WEAR the tattered rags like wot genocide victims do!!!!!
WATCH your friends quiver with fear as they prepare to be massacred by a malevolent and emotionless oppressor!!!!
No after-party. You'll all go home, like Darfur people do.
Demoralising days of desecration and disaster!!!
Price: £40/ticket
Sales: 0. Money raised: 0. Actual help: Sweet FA.
12"Define Charity."
on Friday, 18 April 2008 16:48
This is a somewhat bombastic article, but if you look a little deeper, the man has a point. Attending Hands up for Darfur isn't charitable in my book; the motives are as selfish as those of the school boy giving money to wear his own clothes on a nominated day. Unfortunately, at the recieving end, I doubt anyone cares. This doesn't, however, take away from the irritation at the self-righteous smugness, which I do think is justified. Also, one must consider whether this is the most efficient way of getting money out of people.
Even more worrying are the knee-jerk reactions to this article which raises a fairly complicated problem, reactions which don't seem to reflect the intelligence which I would hope we have all been blessed with...
13comment
on Saturday, 19 April 2008 00:32
Max Seddon, you are very pathetic indeed.
14"Matthew 6:1-2"
on Saturday, 19 April 2008 10:43
"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou dost thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
15comment
on Saturday, 26 April 2008 17:22
Post number 11 made me laugh heartily. Max Seddon wrote this awful play for Edinburgh this summer (great actors though). He's also a bit funny looking. I think his article confused complaint about society with complaint about social actors.
The event was amazing by the way daaahhhhlings.
I love Oxford.
16"Ahem"
on Saturday, 03 May 2008 18:42
Would anybody have given the money if HUFD was just a charity appeal? No. It's another excuse for rahs to get lashed and parade about as fashionistas because they have bugger-all else to contribute to Oxford. How utterly middle class. Rah.
17comment
on Sunday, 04 May 2008 09:53
I completely agree with what the article is getting at - from someone who has been involved in lots of charity work HUFD Show smacked of insincerity. There was absolutely no reference to Darfur the whole night, it was rather like a "forget all your troubles, and hear have some Godiva chocolates. and have some more sangria. and G&D's icecream and sushi because being hedonistic will really help the people in Darfur and drive the message home. The sad part is, more and more people do 'charity' work as a CV builder, not because they actually care or understand why they are doing it. There's nothing wrong with a fashion show, but just the way they did it this year (and the last) really left no doubts as to whether this was a charity event or a socialite glam night.
18"This"
on Sunday, 04 May 2008 18:05
I love how comments 1 through 9 were written by either the people on the committee or some rabid fanboy. Made me laugh.
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