In the wake of a renewed protest by Mia Farrow, the “E.T.” filmmaker says he is removing himself from any participation because China hasn’t done enough to end the genocide in Darfur

By Alex Ben Block

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 2/12/08 – Activist actress Mia Farrow had asked filmmaker Steve Spielberg if he wanted to go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, because of his role as an artistic advisor for the opening and closing ceremonies. Spielberg gave his final answer today when he said he would never sign the contract sent to him by the Chinese nearly a year ago, ending his participation.

Riefenstahl was a brilliant filmmaker who documented the achievements of the Nazis before and during World War II, without any sense of guilt for their crimes against humanity, earning her a place in cinema infamy.

Spielberg made it clear that he does have a conscious. “I have made repeated efforts to encourage the Chinese government to use its unique influence to bring safety and stability to the Darfur region of Sudan,” Spielberg wrote in his statement Monday. “Although some progress has been made …the situation continues to worsen and the violence continues to accelerate.”

“With this in mind, I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual. At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that will continue to be committed in Darfur.”

This is especially important because Spielberg is considered one of the most moral denizens of Hollywood, and someone to be looked up to, unlike so many other Hollywood players who have rightly earned a reputation for excess. He laid out his own story in a letter to the President of China last April, after Mia Farrow and her son had first published their letter to Spielberg in the Wall Str. Journal.

“There is now one thing that China may hold more dear than their unfettered access to Sudanese oil: their successful staging of the 2008 Summer Olympics,” wrote Farrow and her son Ronan. ”That desire may provide a lone point of leverage with a country that has otherwise been impervious to all criticism.

“Whether that opportunity goes unexploited lies in the hands of the high-profile supporters of these Olympic Games. Corporate sponsors like Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, General Electric and McDonalds, and key collaborators like Mr. Spielberg, should be put on notice. For there is another slogan afoot, one that is fast becoming viral amongst advocacy groups; rather than “One World, One Dream,” people are beginning to speak of the coming ‘Genocide Olympics.’”

“Does Mr. Spielberg really want to go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games? “adds the Farrows. “Do the various television sponsors around the world want to share in that shame? Because they will. Unless, of course, all of them add their singularly well-positioned voices to the growing calls for Chinese action to end the slaughter in Darfur.”

In his letter to Jintao, President of the People’s Republic Of China on April 2, 2007, Spielberg wrote: “As important as film is to me… there is another aspect of my life’s work that is both more personal and more significant….Among my proudest achievements has been the establishment of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education. The Institute has recorded the video testimonies of 52,000 survivors of the Holocaust from 56 countries in 32 languages. These remarkable documents have offered the world faces and voices of men and women who survived the genocide which, in Hebrew, we call the Shoah. These first-hand experiences have been preserved and made available for scholarship and education so that the genocide suffered by the Jews under the Nazis can never be forgotten.

“Even more important than the collection of the testimonies themselves is the mission of the Institute: to use those testimonies to overcome intolerance, prejudice, bigotry and the suffering they cause. We are doing that now in many countries around the world, and I hope that China will someday be one of them. I regard the creation of the Shoah Foundation Institute as the most important professional accomplishment of my life. It alerts me, and I hope others as well, to the importance of speaking out on behalf of those who are targeted by governments for murder.

“I believe there is no greater crime against humanity than genocide. I feel strongly that every member of the world community has a moral and ethical responsibility to act to prevent such crimes, to eliminate the conditions in which they are bred and to combat them wherever they exist. Therefore, I am writing this letter to you, not as one of the overseas artistic advisors to the Olympic Ceremonies, but as a private citizen who has made a personal commitment to do all I can to oppose genocide through the work of the Shoah Foundation Institute.

“For four years I have followed the reports of the chaos and human suffering of the civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan. There is no question in my mind that the government of Sudan is engaged in a policy which is best described as a genocide.

“I have only recently come to understand fully the extent of China’s involvement in the region and its strategic and supportive relationship with the Sudanese government. I share the concern of many around the world who believe that China should be a clear advocate for United Nations action to bring the genocide in Darfur to an end.”

Farrow had only recently renewed her efforts to get Spielberg to act. She told the New York Post “It has been nearly a year since Mr. Spielberg contacted President Hu about Beijing’s role in the Darfur genocide…Given the deteriorating situation on the ground, we hope that Mr. Spielberg will waste no more time – and officially distance himself from the Games.”

Farrow responded in a statement Monday with praise for the filmmaker. “In an extraordinary act of conscience, Steven Spielberg today announced the end of his involvement as an artistic directors of the 2008 Beijing Olympics,” wrote Farrow. “Let us hope that Mr. Spielberg’s decisive action will influence other participants, sponsors, and supporters of the Olympic Games. This is the time to increase pressure on Beijing, the of the Olympics, and tragically, the underwriter of the Darfur genocide.”