I am going to start now what I am sure will be a continuing trend on this blog: wading into a particularly discussed piece of news, late. I need time to think things over, okay?
I’m finding it difficult to form all of my jumbled thoughts about KONY 2012 into a cohesive statement, let alone any kind of explanation.
If you haven’t watched the video yet, do it. While I can’t really call myself a supporter of Invisible Children it is undeniable that they have done something extraordinary.
To summarise, earlier this week, Invisible Children, a non-profit organisation, posted a 30 minute film on the internet, KONY 2012. The video became an instant hit and has had so many millions of views there is little point in my stating the number here. The idea of the video is to campaign for the arrest of Joseph Kony, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army. The Lord’s Resistance Army are a rebel group operating in Africa with the intention of spreading and eventually dominating with laws based on the Ten Commandments. I’m thinking it’s not the Ten Commandments as we would recognise them though, because this guy has killed, like, a lot. In order to fight towards his goal, Joseph Kony kidnaps children and forces them to fight and kill for him. He is a truly terrible man, and I don’t think anyone is debating his arrest. That needs to happen, obviously.
The overall aim of KONY 2012 is to make Joseph Kony so famous that American forces will have no choice but to step up their efforts to find and arrest him. Invisible children believe that this goal can be achieved by supporting the Ugandan military.
The video has been viewed millions of times. People immediately tweet it, retweet it, share it on Facebook. This should be a good thing, right? After (a lot) of reading around I’m beginning to realise it maybe isn’t.
The massively viewed KONY 2012 video is not a proper presentation of the facts. Contrary to what Jason Russel and his cute kid would have you believe, Joseph Kony is not in Uganda. He hasn’t been there since 2006, and the time in which he held any power there is long since passed. The Lord’s Resistance Army is not the group it once was. From what I’ve read, it sounds as though the LRA moving from Uganda to the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo was not so much an expansion as them running away, fast. That’s not to say they aren’t causing hell where they are now. The people of the Congo (a place I thought must be so awesome as a kid) are absolutely suffering because of them, just not on the scale that Invisible Children have presented. The Lord’s Resistance Army are few now, in their hundreds at most.
Then there is the issue of their support for the Ugandan army. They, along with the military of the Congo and Central African Republic have on many occasions themselves been accused of flagrant disregard for human rights laws. These armies, the so-called protectors have been the cause of suffering themselves. The huge publicity that now exists around the crimes of Jospeh Kony should not mean that suffering caused by others is forgotten. That is not acceptable.
The extensive and complicated issues within Uganda suggest that Invisible Children have perhaps ploughed all their resources in the wrong direction. While it is still obviously a problem, the amount of children being kidnapped is now relatively small. The ex child soldiers however, still need help. It seems to me that part of Invisible Children’s proposal is more likely to hurt the children they are calling on us to help protect. They want us to support an attack on Joseph Kony. An attack that will more than likely cause a violent response. Who do they think is protecting him? The children, of course.
So many people have thrown themselves behind this campaign now without really looking into it. They’ve retweeted and taken 2 minutes to sign a pledge, maybe even brought a bracelet. But are they really helping? I can't even pretend to understand the complexities of the political situation in Uganda. I know that people work hard for most of their lives to gain enough expertise to help without causing harm. Surely the millions of ignorant, if caring individuals now swarming around the subject could make the problem worse?
This is the point at which I become even more confused, because despite everything that is wrong with KONY 2012 I can’t think of it as an entirely bad thing. It has us all talking about something important for once. We have learnt about suffering not directly affecting ourselves that we would have perhaps never have known about otherwise. I know I have learnt a hell of a lot through all the research I’ve done over the last couple of days. We are opening our minds to a problem and caring about it, deeply if, in some cases, fleetingly. We are looking beyond the cute and the gossip that dominates the internet to the potential of what it could actually do, if we gave it a chance.
I’m sorry for any mistakes I may have made. I’m new at this.
Recommended Reading (I.e People Who Know Far More Than I Do):
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