-Dr. Joanna R. Quinn
Conflict in Northern Uganda began in the
mid-1980s, and Joseph Kony and his armed militia group, the Lord’s Resistance
Army, were largely responsible for a series of horrible crimes perpetrated
against people living there.
These abuses are too horrific to name in a
paper being read by folks over breakfast, so suffice it to say that they are
the worst imaginable kinds of crimes. In
fact, in 2005, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Kony
and the other top LRA commanders for crimes against humanity and war
crimes. But even they got it wrong to a
certain extent.
Why? Because the Government of Uganda is
also responsible for much of the abuse perpetrated against the people of
Northern Uganda—in large part because of their systematic neglect of social and
economic conditions there, but also for refusing to quell the violence when it
was ongoing.
Yet, the rest of the world has, for the
most part, stood idly by and watched – or they have maintained a wilful ignorance of the
situation. This is even more the case
now. Kony and the LRA have moved on to
other countries, including the Central African Republic, where violence levels
are reportedly much the same as they once were in Northern Uganda, and he has
begun to fall off the radar.
Sending U.S. troops to Uganda is a
too-little, too-late measure that has largely allowed the world’s most powerful
state to assume a self-congratulatory stance, when much remains to be done.
In fact, a number of NGOs and academics
have been doggedly campaigning for more and better action on the Kony situation
for years. Groups like Resolve have been
working tirelessly for the capture and trial of Kony—but are conscious of the
fact that so much turns on the necessary awareness of key players, like the
United States. The sending of U.S.
troops came about directly as a result of Resolve’s campaign, in cooperation
with a number of other key groups, including Human Rights Watch and the
International Rescue Committee.
And so the KONY2012 brouhaha turns on an interesting series of debates.
Invisible Children has been producing
documentaries about the situation in Northern Uganda since 2005—I got my first
copy from one of the founders’ mothers, whom I met in an internet cafe in
Kampala in 2006. From the start, their
documentaries seem to have been about shaking people out of their complacency
and a lack of knowledge about the issues.
Do they encompass all sides of the complex issues? No. Do
they present a balanced perspective? Not
even close. But they should provoke
people to look more deeply at the issues.
And to encourage young people to engage in the world. And that’s a start.
Joanna R. Quinn is an Associate Professor at Western University, where she is Director of the Africa Institute. She has been researching in Uganda on post-conflict justice since 1998.
KONY 2012 is among the worst modern day manifestations of 'white man's burden'. I don't see a single African among the leadership of Invisible Children or any of these Western, neo-colonial NGOs.
ReplyDeleteVery true. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/uganda/9131469/Joseph-Kony-2012-growing-outrage-in-Uganda-over-film.html for reactions to the Kony 2012 video/campaign from the perspective of Ugandans, including academics and professionals...perspectives that I think are going largely ignored by Western activists when it comes to the interests of their own country.
DeleteIt’s hard not to be cynical about this movement because, let’s face it, the LRA has been active for many years, and news of this has just hit mainstream media. But I am not against it. Critical maybe, but not against. People need to be educated, and that’s exactly what IC did.
ReplyDeleteHowever, they painted an over simplified version of this ongoing conflict, excluding many important aspects. But that’s what drew so many people to this campaign: it’s simple, it’s dramatic, and it provides the public with a simple solution - the capture of Kony. Imagine if IC produced a two hour long documentary outlining this conflict from start to now. Who, especially young people, would want to endure through two hours of history class? Another key aspect of this campaign is that it provides the public with a simple solution – an important motivational factor. If the outlined solution wasn’t so clear, then that would actually require people to think, after weighting all the pros and cons, of something that they could do to help. Just making Kony known would not be enough, and just capturing him would definitely not suffice. Here’s a video about an evil man who abducts children and forces them to kill. Urge the policy makers to act. Pass this video along. Make him known. See how easy that was? It’s simple. Too oversimplified.
The fact that the video oversimplifies years of conflict is not only misleading, but almost offensive to the millions who have been deeply affected by this atrocity. The capture of Kony will result in causalities. Some children will most likely die in the process. They are his shield of armor. Thus, how will we capture him given the casualties? In extreme cases of genocides, military intervention must be deemed necessary to protect the lives of people, but this is not the case that calls for it. Also, the capture of Kony will most likely not end this conflict. There’s always this popular misconception that battles are won on the battlefield with weapons of mass destruction. This cannot be further from the truth. Rather, they’re won in the minds of the people, because they are always caused by psychological and political forces. Kony has been brain washing these children for years, stripping them of their innocence and forcing mentalities upon them that are simply not their own. They’re caught in, and are salves to a conflict that simply isn’t theirs. His death would only result in another leader taking on his role.
Adding onto it is the issue of the Ugandan government and the allegations against them. The government needs to be held accountable for its horrific acts against its people. With all of these factors (and many more), how do we come to a conclusion about what is supposed to be done here? Do I have a better solution? No. But I believe actions starts with awareness. I think this campaign can help motivate people to educate themselves, and not just base their conclusions on one source.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-campaign-oprah-and-bracelets
ReplyDeleteInteresting..."since Invisible Children as an organisation began with a few north Americans stumbling into a conflict they didn't know existed and then resolving to help the child victims by making a movie, the base level of great white saviourdom is already high. Implying that finally now, by getting the word out about Kony via celebrities, bracelets and social media, can the LRA be ended plays into this narrative of white rescuers coming to help poor Africans and totally ignores the efforts, good and bad, by Ugandans to fight the LRA for 25 years. I belong to a discussion group of hundreds of Ugandan journalists, and so far only one has been willing to stand up and say this campaign is a good thing (and mainly because it might help more people find Uganda on a map). Nearly everyone else finds Kony 2012 self-aggrandising, patronising and oversimplified."
I agree with the comments above, always important to remain critical. Also interesting to note that Thursday, March 8 was International Women's day, yet more attention was paid to the Kony 2012 campaign and the controversy it has spawned than to the progress of Ugandan women since the pinnacle of violence a decade ago.
ReplyDelete