j.kony
i finally had a chance to follow up on the kony 2012 movement thing today. i know, i know im like 5 months behind but whatever hahah
i watched both the kony 2012 part I and part II videos, read up on articles, watched other related videos, etc and i dunno how i feel about the kony 2012 movement.
where i fully support the prosecution of joseph kony for the inhumane atrocities he’s committed (not only in Uganda but now in the DR congo, central african republic and sudan), i can’t say i fully support the kony 2012 movement launched by jason russell. i am an advocate of invisible children and their mission statement however, i don’t fully agree with the some of the ways that kony 2012 is approaching the capturing of kony.
the ability of the movement to muster young supporters all over the world via social media was very clever and creative. but it totally disregarded the necessity of people to research and learn more about what is going on (or went on, more like) in uganda and rather had people jump on the band wagon.
”KONY has a movie-like black and white plot as Joseph Kony is the ultimate ‘bad guy’. In 29 minutes, the video hardly talks about the background of Kony and the LRA and asks us simply to commit to the idea that he must be stopped in all cause.” (from poxipa’s blog)
this is an article from the guardian. i bolded some stuff
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/20/kony-2012-cover-night-campaign
“This Invisible Children campaign hurts. It’s offensive,” says Victor Ochen, founder and director of the African Youth Initiative Network (Ayinet) that works to rehabilitate victims of violence perpetrated by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). “The people who have suffered at the hands of Kony don’t want to promote him or make him famous. They want to rebuild their lives.”
As supporters of Invisible Children’s campaign prepared for the its Cover the Night stunt on Friday night – putting up wanted posters in cities across the US and elsewhere – the organisation faced more criticism from LRA victims in northern Uganda for oversimplifying the complex history of conflict in the region, for failing to clearly state that the LRA are no longer a threat there and for advocating a military solution to the problem.
“We get the feeling that Invisible Children care more about their videos than about victims,” said Ochen, who was born and raised in Lira District, an area severely affected by the conflict. “Part of that comes from their choice of date for this event. Why 20 April? Don’t they know or care that this is the anniversary of one of the worst LRA massacres, when over 300 people were killed at Atiak in 1995?
“This is a day when communities are trying to heal broken hearts, but Invisible Children want to plaster Kony’s face everywhere,” he continued. “People in the affected areas find it very difficult when an organisation encourages people to wear T-shirts bearing Kony’s face. How do you think Americans would have reacted if people in another country wore Osama Bin Laden T-shirts? All of this just confirms to us that they do not care about the victims and ignore their suffering.”
Ochen is keen to point out that 20 April is also Hitler’s birthday. Hitler appears on some of Invisible Children’s Kony posters, along with Bin Laden, the implication being that Kony is in the same league as these notorious criminals. For Ochen, though, the coincidence of Hitler’s image and Cover the Night taking place on his birthday is just another insult, and it makes the campaign feel more like a celebration than a condemnation of these individuals.
“The other concern victims have is Invisible Children’s support for a military solution to the LRA problem,” says Ochen, whose brother was abducted by the LRA in 2003 and has not yet returned. “Many of the LRA are our abducted family members – a military offensive will kill lots of innocent people. A coherent policy of amnesty, reparations, truth telling and accountability is the way to rebuild this society. Invisible Children’s campaign just encourages young people in America to call for war – they’re inspiring a generation of warmongers. This must be rejected in the strongest possible terms.
“They also don’t seem to recognise that the more Kony feels threatened, the more he’s dangerous. This campaign will only worsen their violent acts.”
Ochen points out that Invisible Children’s own Crisis Tracker website shows that 109 people have been abducted in the last month. At that rate, 1308 would be abducted in one year. However, last year there were 588 abductions. The implication is that the abduction rate has increased since the video was released, although it is impossible to definitively state that the two are causally linked. Invisible Children declined to respond directly to a request for comment on Ochen’s critiques.
Invisible Children has not called for any actions in Uganda as part of their Cover the Night Campaign. Ogola Florence Anyango, public relations officer for the organisation in Uganda, said that this is because their advocacy work – of which Cover the Night is a part – focuses on the US and Europe, whereas their projects in Uganda are more grassroots.
“Invisible Children knew Cover the Night would be completely rejected in Uganda,” counters Ochen. “They imagine that if they promote it in the US no one in northern Uganda will know about it, but they’re wrong.”
There have been rumours in Kampala, the capital, and around towns in northern Uganda that protests and demonstrations would be organised tonight and tomorrow as a reaction to Cover the Night. However it seems that these will not go ahead as planned due to organisers’ fears for the safety of participants.
“Victims have appealed for Invisible Children to cancel Cover the Night, but they refused,” says Ochen. “Should we now be confrontational? No. A demonstration might provoke bad consequences. We want to respond immediately but people in these areas are very emotional – upset and angry – and it could create a dangerous atmosphere. It could get out of hand, especially when the police come to control the situation. We saw that last week at Gulu [where one person died during unrest following a screening of Kony 2012 and its sequel]. We do not want to endanger anyone.”
i dont hate on the advocates of kony 2012 as long as they actually researched and looked into the kony 2012 movement and its effects not in US or europe but in UGANDA (and other countries in east africa) and they agree with the movement still. i personally don’t fully agree with the movement’s tactics but support their intentions in shedding international light on the actions of j.kony. i just hope they’re smart about what they’re doing and their effects.
ps. kony isnt even IN uganda. they should gear the funds to rehabilitating the affected ugandans and helping prevention in congo, sudan and central african republic instead of making money off of the pains of the Ugandan people by making the Ugandans live through the horror again through the campaigns and showing their mutilated faces on videos
