Damien Rice calls for support for Burma campaign

Damien Rice has called for his fans to back a 30-day video campaign which aims to educate people around the world about the military regime in Burma.

The goal of the campaign is to mobilise 1 million people to sign up as ‘voices’ calling for change. The organisers hope that the campaign will launch a peaceful global assault, similar to that which helped to free Nelson Mandela and saw the end of the apartheid in South Africa.

This latest campaign, ‘Burma, It Can’t Wait’ is an effort to help see freedom for Burma's imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma. Their struggle has been heightened in the face of a growing humanitarian crisis in the wake of a devastating cyclone earlier this month.

The campaign is now in its 27th day out of 30 and over 50,000 voices have already signed up. But as the aim is 1 million people, the campaign is falling short. Many high profile celebrities, including Jennifer Aniston, Will Ferrell, Ellen Page, Sylvester Stallone, Felicity Huffman have all made videos to publicise the campaign.

There is one for each day of the campaign, all are about two minutes in length and while getting the Burma message across they are also full of quips and manage to stay creative and funny.

One of the funnier clips is the Woody Haroldson and Jennifer Aniston Day 2 video, in which Woody is a diva-esque actor. The Ralph Fiennes video is another goody, in which he reverts back to his Shakespeare role, and writes the story of Burma as a great tragedy or Juno star Ellen Page highlights the similarities between Burma’s dictator, Than Shwe and Hitler in her message.

Each video takes a different angle on the situation in Burma, such as child soldiers, torture, censorship, systematic rape or the death squads.

This is a new way of reaching new people who will take an interest in Burma’s struggle. And while it has been slow to kick off, it may be what the Burma campaign has needed to reach the heights that the apartheid campaign did in the 1980s.

To sign up as a voice for Burma, and to view the videos, go to http://www.burmaitcantwait.org