Have you watched the KONY 2012 video yet? If not, get on it. It's a beautiful work of art. The graphics are quite impressive, and the soundtrack is positively delightful. Mumford and Sons is a highlight. But is the video factual, legitimate and accurate? Not so much.
When I first received an email from a friend imploring me to watch the video about the Ugandan guerilla leader, I was quite perplexed. Convinced the email was a few years old, I moved on. Five minutes later, I received a second email. "Have you heard of Joseph Kony? Let's make him (in)famous!" I finally decided to play along. With little more than gut-wrenching horror in the pit of my stomach, I watched the notorious video that almost 100 million people have viewed. The email wasn't a few years old, and the organization Invisible Children is on the scene again.
I was once quite involved in Invisible Children, from fundraising to spreading awareness to just worshiping its expertly designed website. I longed to join its "army of peace" and often went on hour-long rants about the Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony and the devastation they caused in northern Uganda. Those days were, needless to say, a few years back.
Flashback to 2005. Kony and the LRA are driven out of Uganda and into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the next couple years, they move around to the Central African Republic and South Sudan, managing to evade capture. Since then, the LRA has not been in northern Uganda for over six years.
"All this hoopla about Kony and his murderous activities is good in a sense that it helps inform those who didn't know the monster that Kony is. But of course, this is too late," Uganda's defense ministry spokesman Felix Kulayigye informed Reuters. While the LRA once numbered in the thousands, there are believed to be only about 300 members left, a fact conveniently left out of the video.
Their current threat is minimal.
The Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi released a response video to KONY 2012 saying that the video "gives [the] impression that Uganda is still at war, people are still displaced, those many children are still out sleeping on the streets in Gulu and of course this [is] not true."
By exaggerating the current state of Ugandan and general African affairs, Invisible Children has made a mockery of the physical and psychological healing process northern Uganda is currently attempting to undergo. While pursuing justice is a noble and important quest, Invisible Children's efforts are misdirected. If catching and stopping the "worst guy in the world," as the organization's video so eloquently explains, is its goal, Joseph Kony just doesn't cut it anymore. They are sensationalizing a dead horse. The capture of Kony is a necessary step for the international justice system in the coming years, but there are currently more pressing matters around which the international human rights community needs to mobilize.
If Invisible Children wants to stick to Uganda, by all means, stick to it. Don't create an international sensation that resuscitates a villain in order to keep your organization popular and relevant. The video is an unfortunate distraction from issues that are plaguing northern Uganda today the effect of the LRA a few years ago was absolutely devastating and now more than ever, infrastructure needs to be revitalized.
There are many worthwhile organizations doing incredible work on the ground to rebuild ravaged communities in Uganda. Google the organization "Women of Kireka," and your want of a cause will be more than satiated as you read about strong and courageous women from northern Uganda who work together to support themselves and their families.
Now that KONY 2012 has happened, let's take advantage of this internationally mobilized and passionate community. Spread the word about organizations other than Invisible Children that are actually rebuilding what Kony once destroyed in sustainable and thorough manners. Invisible Children is coming to the College on April 17 to promote KONY 2012. I will definitely be in the crowd, questioning the movement and holding the representatives accountable, and I encourage all of you to do the same. Don't run wild with a cause just because an adorable five-year-old told you a villain "made him sad."
Finding an enemy to mutually rally around in order to increase nationalism is an act commonly committed by leaders in wartime. It's no longer wartime in Uganda, just time to pick up the pieces. Stop pretending that it is, Invisible Children, and start helping to direct your millions of new minions toward actual worthwhile causes.
