Yet another KONY2012 post…

By now, there’s probably a million different posts from different people about KONY2012 either advocating it in righteous anger at LRA or criticising it as yet another publicity stunt for the IC. I didn’t really want to add yet another post to the mix but I figure since the only people who read this are my friends, it shouldn’t really matter so much.

What’s my opinion of the whole thing?

Well I’m quite liking how this campaign is evolving with regards to raising awareness, and whether you approach this campaign with enthusiasm, stoic cynicism or criticism, it’s definitely a very interesting case study for the topic of International Aid.

For me, what makes it such a interesting campaign is not so much the brilliant film making and marketing (and yes it’s amazingly well done, it’s so easy to get caught in the hype.) Rather it is the numerous arguments that have been raised pointing the finger at how fundamentally wrong it is. I don’t think I need to repeat it here, if you don’t know what it is then you can take at these sites:

http://projectdiaspora.org/2009/04/16/celebrity-stunts-of-altruistism-are-killing-livelihoods-in-africa/

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble

I think that the critics make very valid points and I heard many of the same criticisms when I was in Tanzania, but let’s remember that criticisms are only the one side of the story and to give IC credit, they’ve acknowledged these and responded (although there’s a lot of buzz words and talk about standards and the financials section doesn’t really help their case)

http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html

There’s no doubt it’s a huge publicity stunt by IC to raise awareness, but that doesn’t make it any less praiseworthy. What’s even more important is that it’s given critics and advocates a public platform to discuss and raise awareness of the greater issues around Africa and International Aid.

I doubt that this hijacking of IC’s campaign by the vocal critics of Aid was something they intended when they launched the campaign but it’s something of a win-win situation when you think about it. Critics can use the publicity of the campaign to voice their concerns, and IC becomes more prominent in the public arena.

So, whether you want to donate your life savings to this cause, put up posters and protest loudly on the street corner, go for it. Just consider carefully what you’re doing it for. Is it just because you want to feel like you’re doing something to help or because you really want to be making a difference? There’s quite a distinction. Don’t let the propaganda and glamour fool you into taking action without considering the consequences. (it’s ok to be fooled initially, even I was tempted to jump onto the bandwagon after watching that video! )

As for KONY2012, I think that as long as people don’t just take the film at face value and do their own research and thinking about it, then it’s been a very successful campaign – from the perspective of advocates and critics alike. There’s no doubt it’s raised a lot of awareness and surely, that can only be a good thing.

The question of whether it will actually help to catch Kony or if catching him will actually make a significant difference in the lives of Ugandans. Well, that is something you have to decide for yourself.