Special Edition: Becoming Dumbledore's Army: Harry Potter Fans for Darfur Transcript

Part 1 (0:00 - 17:45)

Andrew Slack (AS): Hey, I'm Andrew Slack, and welcome to the Harry Potter Alliance Podcast, brought to you by the coolest people in the world at PotterCast. Today we're gonna be playing interviews with some of your favorite Wizard Rock bands, some hilarioso Harry Potter humor, and other awesome people in the HP community. And we ain't stopping there! The HP Alliance is dedicated to spreading our love and fighting the Dark Arts in the real world by using Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore as role models. And we're gonna be talking about ways today that we can be like Dumbledore's Army, who woke the world up to Voldemort's return, and wake our ministries, our businesses, and our world to ending the genocide in Darfur. But before we get into the show, let's just talk about some basic facts going on in Darfur. Darfur is a region in the country of Sudan, located in northeast Africa. As we speak, ordinary people like you and I, who live peaceful lives in Darfur, are being killed, tortured, and raped. Despite how often we say the words "never again" after a genocide, in the last four-and-a-half years, we have watched as over 400,000 innocent people have been killed, and over two-and-a-half million have been displaced. The government of Sudan has and continues to send their Janjaweed militia into Darfur to systematically burn down every village, systematically kill every man, systematically rape and sometimes kill every woman, and systematically kill and often rape the children. Those who survive are left homeless in the middle of the desert, often having just watched people that they love get brutally murdered. The real world Aurors we have on today, experts on this subject, will tell us that there are very real and mostly nonviolent ways to end this genocide. The main thing we need is a lot of people who care, are creative, committed, and active. And that's where we fit in. It sounds intimidating, but as Harry says in the most recent movie, "Every great wizard in history has started out as nothing more than we are now; if they can do it, why not us?" We have the numbers, we have the heart, and we have the inspiration of Harry's courage, of Hermione's commitment to justice, Ron's humor, and Dumbledore's wisdom. And what better way to send Harry off in his journey to destroy each Horcrux than in joining him in our global fight to destroy the Horcrux that is genocide once and for all, for the people of Darfur, and for the memories of all those who have been affected by genocide. Today we're gonna be talking about that, and we're going be talking to Wizard Rock bands, and do Harry Potter humor, and partying, and rocking out, and here we go! Let's begin! Nitwit, oddment, blubber, tweak, in loyalty to the spirit of Albus Dumbledore, together we are the Harry Potter Alliance! We are Dumbledore's Army!

("Dumbledore's Army" by Harry and the Potters plays)

Well I got these kids together
And it’s gonna be so great
We’re going down to Hogsmeade to plan to
Educate ourselves

Let’s stick it to Dolores!
We’ll do it for ourselves
I don’t care what the Ministry tells us
We won’t be left defenseless

We don’t care what the Ministry tells us
We won’t be left defenseless
We don’t care what the Ministry tells us
We won’t be left defenseless

We’re in command
We’re taking a stand
We’re gonna learn this year
We’re gonna get ready
We’ve got to prepare to face our biggest fears
We’re gonna learn to fight
(music fades)


Alex Carpenter (AC):This is Alex from The Remus Lupins, here to talk to you about 1-800-Genocide. Now, whether you're at one of the many house parties across the country, or you're simply listening to this podcast because you're concerned about the situation in Darfur like I am, you need to call 1-800-Genocide. This anti-genocide hotline will provide you with important facts and current legislation, and connect you directly to your elected leaders' offices for free. Call right now, even if it's a weekend. Call every day until you've called your governor, called both of your senators, and each of your representatives. And you can keep calling every day, even after that. A lot of times, I feel like I'm not doing enough, and I bet you feel the same way, but this is our opportunity. We can make a real, tangible difference here, and the first step towards solving this crisis is just a phone call away. 1-800-Genocide. You can check them out on the web at 1800Genocide.com for more information.

Harry and the Potters:
If you’re not gonna teach us to fight,
The future won’t be very bright

I don’t care what the Ministry tells us
I don’t care what Umbridge says
I don’t care what the Ministry tells us
I don’t care what Umbridge says
I don’t care what the Ministry tells us
I don’t care what Umbridge says

AS: I had some really awesome conversations with many members of the HP community about their feelings on Harry Potter, and their speculation for the next book. Here are some highlights. We'll start with Brian from Draco and the Malfoys. Can you make a sound to describe the way Voldemort will feel when he finds out that Harry has been destroying his Horcruxes?

Brian Ross (BR): (screams)

AS: Here's Lauren from The Moaning Myrtles on dating. If you could date anyone in Harry Potter, who would it be?

Lauren Fairweather (LF): Fred or George Weasley. Fred and/or George Weasley. (laughs)

AS: Here's The Remus Lupins on dating. If you were Harry, on a date with Cho Chang, how would you have responded when she started to cry?

AC: Everything that Harry did? The exact opposite. (AS laughs) I can't imagine two characters that are worse with girls than Ron and Harry.

AS: Now back to Draco and the Malfoys, with their thoughts on dating. If you could be any age you wanted, and date anyone in Harry Potter, who would it be?

BR: Oh, I have to say Pansy Parkinson, don't I?

AS: Oh, that's right! (laughs)

BR: Pureblood, it's gotta be at least a pureblood.

AS: Right. And another, from The Remus Lupins. If you could date anyone in Harry Potter, who would it be?

AC: Lily Evans, before she dies.

AS: Here's Matt from The Whomping Willows. Can you make a sound to describe the way Voldemort will feel when he finds out that Harry has been destroying his Horcruxes?

Matt Maggiacomo: Wah wah!

AS: Here's two more questions with that wonderful band, The Moaning Myrtles. Ideally for you, where would the last fight scene between Harry and Voldemort take place?

LF: Myrtle's bathroom, of course!

AS: Myrtle's bathroom. Can you make a sound to describe the way Voldemort will feel when he finds out that Harry has been destroying his Horcruxes? (LF screams) (laughs) Can you make a sound to describe the way Voldemort will feel if he finds out if he finds out that Snape is a traitor?

LF: What?

AS: And lastly, here are some shipping questions with Jennifer Vineyard, from MTV News. Who does Harry end up with?

Jennifer Vineyard (JV): Well I think we all hope he ends up with Ginny, because they love each other, (AS: And Ron?) but I don't think he ends up with anyone because I think he's gonna die.

AS: Ooh, God, you're killing me!

JV: No, I'm killing Harry!

AS: You're killing Harry, yeah! How about Ron?

JV: I think Ron and Hermione get to have their walk off into the sunset together.

AS: Although Matt, from The Whomping Willows, I'll add, put out a minority opinion that Ron's gonna get killed, so...

JV: Well, I don't think she would kill just because he's the best friend, although that is something everybody is worried about, I think she's pretty much said that she wouldn't be that cruel.

AS: And how about Neville, who's he gonna end up with?

JV: I don't necessarily think Neville's going to end up with someone, I think he's just finally going to come into him own and be a strong person, (AS: Yes!) and I think the relationship he has with himself is more important.

AS: Madam Pince, who's she gonna end up with?

JV: Filch. (AS: Filch. Hagrid?) They both love their roles way too much.

AS: (laughs) How 'bout Hagrid?

JV: I think if he got his way he would be with Madame Maxime, but I think having a satisfying relationship with his brother, where they can actually talk to each other, might be more important for him.

AS: I had an awesome time talking with Jennifer Vineyard, who you just heard, and Jennifer has a lot of cool stories about her interviews with everyone from Paul and Joe DeGeorge, who play Harry Potter in a rock band, to Daniel Radcliffe who plays Harry Potter in the movies. Here's a short excerpt from our conversation where Jennifer is discussing one of the favorite topics of the HP Alliance, which is taking allegories from Harry Potter and putting them into action.

JV: Whatever interpretation it is that you have, to then try to encourage people who are familiar with that world, who love that world, to take the beliefs and the items of that world and apply them to their real life; maybe that's something that Hermione would be very proud of you doing.

AS: So Harry Potter fans can change the world.

JV: If Harry Potter can, why can't his fans?

AS: Of course, the HP Alliance believes that we Harry Potter fans, who understand that the weapon we have is love, can make a difference in a world that needs love so very much. And that message has been incredibly supported by one of the most amazing things that I know of, which is the Wizard Rock community, in particularly, Harry and the Potters, The Whomping Willows, Draco and the Malfoys, and The Remus Lupins. Okay, we're here with Alex Carpenter from The Remus Lupins. How you doin' Alex?

AC: I'm doing really, really well man. It's an amazing summer so I'm doing really well every day.

AS: What drew you in to getting involved with the HP Alliance?

AC: Well I feel really strongly about a lot of the same issues that the H.P.A. does, and it's really cool that in the Wizard Rock world that people already sort of shared a lot of values, not just the sort of the idea of independent music and the way that should be handled, but also a lot of political feelings; a lot of us are on the same page about problems in the world that need attention that aren't getting them, and we're not politicians, we're not activists as much as we could be, but we do have a little bit of a megaphone and I think it's our responsibility to use that megaphone to educate people who may not have been exposed to these issues, so when something comes up and comes to our attention like Darfur for instance, that's something that people need to know about, and somehow people still don't even know about what's going on let alone have they started taking action. So, I think it's important that we use the lessons we've learned from Harry Potter and apply them to the real world.

AS: And so Alex reminds us to bring this conversation back to ending the genocide in Darfur. Our next guest is what I call an Auror for the real world, John Prendergast. John is a senior advisor to the International Crisis Group, and a former official in the Clinton White House. He has lived, worked, and traveled throughout Africa for over twenty years. Recently he co-authored the New York Times bestselling book, with his close friend actor Don Cheadle, called Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond. The book devotes a page to the Harry Potter Alliance, as a creative an effective organizing tool, to bring people together toward ending the genocide in Darfur. Recently John granted the HP Alliance an exclusive interview conducted by Lisa Rogoff for this podcast. So without further ado, one of the most brilliant, and perhaps coolest international activists in the world, John Prendergast.

Lisa Rogoff (LR): John, the Harry Potter Alliance's audience is primarily fans of the Harry Potter series, who've been inspired by Harry Potter. How have you been influenced by stories?

John Prendergast (JP): I think from my earliest recollection, when I used to read comic books and science fiction books- where there is always inevitably some kind of hero that saves the day- in general terms, I'm attracted to that storyline, so- and it's usually the guy- the person who's the unsuspecting hero, the person who rises up from mediocrity or from personal demons and overcomes them or rises above them to then undertake the kinds of actions necessary to win whatever the issue is. I've always been attracted to that, so that I think in the end, from my earliest memory, from The Lord of the Rings to all the stories of my childhood, those were the ones that ring the loudest in my memory.

LR: Over the past few years, a great deal of your focus has been on the genocide in Darfur. Many of today's listeners are sort of new to the topic of Darfur and to genocides. So could you give a bit of a background about what's going on today in Darfur?

JP: Sure. In Sudan, in the country where Darfur is placed- the western part of Sudan is called Darfur- you have a series, a history of conflict between a group in the center of the country that controls most of the power and wealth- the ruling party, the National Congress Party- and divisions between that and most of the peripheral parts of the country. The south was at war with the government for twenty years and east has been at war at times. Now Darfur. And Darfur rose up in rebellion in 2003 and rather then just fight a conventional war between the rebels and the government, the government decided to conduct basically a genocidal counter-insurgency campaign against the rebels by driving them out of their homes through a year-and-a-half period of scorched earth where they used aerial bombardment and they armed travel-based militias to attack communities and it ended up killing hundreds of thousands of people and displacing millions. And so what we have today is the repercussions of that decision by the government of Sudan to commit genocide in order to destroy the rebellion in Darfur.

AS: We're going to return to the interview with John throughout the show, but now that we've gone over the background in Darfur, here's Sarah, from the HP Alliance.

Sarah: Nothing is more powerful then hearing first hand accounts from victims in Sudan. The following story is taken from EyesOnDarfur.org, a website where you can see the destruction in Sudan for yourself through stories, video, and satellites images. "People were in the village when the Janjaweed arrived at 10am. They were more then 300 and they were divided in three columns which were heading in different directions. They were shouting, 'We come to kill the black slaves!' They came in the houses and ran after those who were trying to flee. I was running away next to the imam, who was very old. He was shot four times in the back and in the leg. They then burned the village. Only ten out of a hundred houses remained intact."

AS: We return to John Prendergast.

JP: So there's a solution to these things. It's all applied differently in different countries, we just now have to convince our elected officials to put the requisite diplomacy and resources behind those solutions. And that's were we all come in. Because if our politicians, if our elected officials hear from us that in fact we care about what they do, whether they take a stand or not on these issues and they realize that in fact there's a political cost-to inaction, then we're going to get somewhere. We've got to create this movement, this small movement of people who care about these issues that are willing- each time they hear and each time they learn about particular issues- that they're willing to call their member of Congress or write to him or her, or send an email, get some of the friends together, family members together to do the same, and work on this thing, on these issues throughout the coming years. And I think, as time goes on, if our elected officials see that it is become an issue that matters to the American people or people beyond these borders that they will then be more pro-active in their response. And again, we don't need to send in American troops, we don't need to send billions of dollars, there are solutions and answers all within our means that we could, if promoted robustly and if applied quickly, could prevent the deaths of millions of people in the coming decade.

Joe DeGeorge: Hi, I'm Harry Potter from Harry and the Potters, here to talk about 24 Hours For Darfur. 24HoursForDarfur.org is a website that was started by students asking people from all over the world to make video voicing their concerns for the people of Darfur. The goal is to get twenty-four hours of videos and to play those twenty-four hours outside the UN building as well as ministry buildings throughout the world. This is a fun and creative way to join people from all over the world in voicing your concerns about the people of Darfur. If you have a video camera, make a video where you talk about how much ending the genocide in Darfur means to you. And feel free to be really creative. You can dress wizardly, you can sing, you can rap, you can do anything you want. Have fun, express yourself, and post it at 24 Hours for Darfur. Thanks a lot! Remember, the weapon we have is love.