If any of you have logged into your Facebook account or viewed a YouTube video, chances you have probably see (or heard) something about an EXTREMELY VIRAL video, Kony 2012. This 29 minute video is the brain child of the US NGO, Invisible Children who aims to raise awareness about the Ugandan war lord Joseph Kony. Over the past week not only has the video had 65+ million views, it has also caused a bit of a news frenzy both domestically and abroad. Back in the summer of 2007 I spent some time in Uganda, so I figured that I should check out the video for myself. As soon as I heard some of the Ugandan children speak I was immediately transported back to my village. I will readily admit that when I left I knew about the Invisible Children organization, had watched their documentary, and did a little research of my own, but nothing would prepare me for what I would see and hear once we headed north. Two other volunteers and I were able to actually visit Gulu (a place that has been hit the hardest by the LRA) under the guise as foreign aid workers. As we walked around the IDP camps, we listened to stories of children being taken in the night, of girls being used as sex slaves and children having to murder their own parents and disfigure others that disobeyed the LRA's orders (all of which was mentioned in the viral video). I had asked one man what he thought of the current situation and I can still hear his words today:
We are all just waiting for him to come back. Right now the government has been able to bring him to the table to talk about peace, but we know he is stalling so he can raise money and weapons and take children to serve in his army. We are just waiting ...
This was definitely a common theme. In 2007 there had been peace for about 10 years, but people were still afraid to return to their villages, especially to the ones which were further from town. Instead thousands lived on top of each other in camps (like the one above).
I will say that the video has rubbed me (and many other people) the wrong way. The intro has some great music, the director's kid is super cute and the personal stories of Ugandan children are definitely touching, but to me it misses the bigger picture. Many others also share the same sentiment and say that a campaign like this can actually do more harm than good. While I think this viral video will open up millions of people's eyes to the current conflict in Uganda, it does very little to tell the story of what has happened/what is going on. Did anyone else notice the quick animated map of how Kony has begun to move his efforts out of Northern Uganda and into more vulnerable countries like DRC, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic? No, I didn't think so. Also according to the most recent intelligence information, the LRA has numbers in the hundreds, not tens of thousands which the video leads viewers to believe. Now don't get me wrong, the LRA is still responsible for creating shear terror in villages, but the video makes it seem like there is an all out war currently going on, when in actuality things have been fairly peaceful over the last ten years.
Award-winning Ugandan journalist Angelo Izama is among those not thrilled:
"To call the campaign a misrepresentation is an understatement. While it draws attention to the fact that Kony, indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005, is still on the loose, its portrayal of his alleged crimes in Northern Uganda are from a bygone era. At the height of the war between especially 1999 and 2004, large hordes of children took refuge on the streets of Gulu town to escape the horrors of abduction and brutal conscription to the ranks of the LRA. Today most of these children are semi-adults. Many are still on the streets unemployed. Gulu has the highest numbers of child prostitutes in Uganda. It also has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis.
If six years ago children in Uganda would have feared the hell of being part of the LRA, a well documented reality already, today the real invisible children are those suffering from "Nodding Disease". Over 4000 children are victims of this incurable debilitating condition. It's a neurological disease that has baffled world scientists and attacks mainly children from the most war affected districts of Kitgum, Pader and Gulu."The Atlantic brings up a a good point, and it is definitely something that I have talked about before here on this blog:
"African solutions for African problems" isn't just a State Department slogan, and it isn't about promoting African leadership, although that's certainly important. Africans are already leaders. There are many reasons for Africa's amazing rise over the last ten years, but one of the biggest has been African leadership. It's not a coincidence that the 200 years of Western leadership in Africa were some of the continent's worst. Africans have proven time and again that they're better at fixing African problems. While helping is always good, and it's great that people care, what Kony 2012 ignores is that Africans are not "invisible" and the last thing they need is for a bunch of Westerners to parachute in and take over (again). We sometimes mistake our position at the top of the global food chain as evidence that we're more capable, that our power will extend into complicated and far-away societies, that we'll be better at fixing their problems than they are. This assumption, both well-meaning and self-glorifying, has led us into disaster after disaster after disaster.The summer I was in Uganda, I did have the opportunity to visit the Invisible Children's office and would have to agree with many of the organization's critics on the organization's operations. While the organization seemed to be having an impact on the lives of Ugandans working for the organization, I was shocked at the high amount of disorganization and also that a large percentage of the money was going to day to day operations (staff salaries, filmmaking costs and travel, PR, etc.), instead of on programs which would help to rebuild the lives of those most impacted by Kony's actions.
At the end of the movie there is a call to action which is trying to motivate individuals to make 2012 the year of Joseph Kony. While it asks participants to sign the petition and
It will be interesting to see what else evolves in the coming weeks. Will this be a fad that burns itself out in a few weeks and/or months, or will this be the start to some serious policy changes and bring the international community together to put this man in front of the International Court of Justice?
Have some time to kill? Why not do a little research of your own to find out what has truly been happening in Uganda over the past 26 years and make an INFORMED decision as to whether or not you would like to support the KONY 2012 cause. Check the other side of the argument:
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