I posit that we start an organization called the UNATCO.
No. SAVAGE.
In all seriousness, you stop one man and maybe some of his army. Some of the children have known nothing but this their whole lives and are now adults. When he goes down I genuinely wonder what the plan is to prevent someone else who has been there and known only violence from stepping up to take his place : /
I posit that we start an organization called the UNATCO.
No. SAVAGE.
In all seriousness, you stop one man and maybe some of his army. Some of the children have known nothing but this their whole lives and are now adults. When he goes down I genuinely wonder what the plan is to prevent someone else who has been there and known only violence from stepping up to take his place : /
i feel like this situation is even tougher to predict than those involving other militias since it's more of a cult of personality based around kony. would his defeat break them or would they just splinter off into several small militias? who knows
Via Chris Blattman, we learned that Invisible Children (brief background of the organization: 3 kids go to Africa, make movie about child soldiers, show it to every college student on the planet) has launched a new film and campaign: “Abduct Yourself to Free the Abducted.” Um.
Chris posts a letter he wrote to Invisible Children’s Mission Director explaining his discomfort with the project. He makes the point that their work is (a) kind of obsessed with glorifying the filmmakers, (b) based on a creepy, White Man’s Burden-y savior complex, and (c) taking up resources that could be occupied by “intelligent advocacy.”
We completely agree and offer this photo of the three founders of Invisible Children in support of the “who is this about anyway?” critique:
We also have a couple of related concerns:
First, organizations like Invisible Children not only take up resources that could be used to fund more intelligent advocacy, they take up rhetorical space that could be used to develop more intelligent advocacy. And yeah, this may seem like an absurdly academic point to raise when talking about a problem that is clearly crying out for pragmatic solutions, but, uh, the way we define problems is important. Really, really important. Choosing to simplistically define Congolese women as “The Raped” and Ugandan children as “The Abducted” constrains our ability to think creatively about the problems they face, and work with them to combat these problems.
Second, treating their problems as one-dimensional issues that can be solved by a handful of plucky college students armed only with the strength of their convictions and a video camera doesn’t help anyone. These gets back to something very simple and very smart that Alanna Shaikh wrote a few months ago:
“Bad development work is based on the idea that poor people have nothing. Something is better than nothing, right? So anything you give these poor people will be better than what they had before.”
By the same token, any old awareness advocacy you dream up doesn’t necessarily constitute “helping.” And while we’re on the subject of what does and doesn’t help, maybe don’t get photographed fondling big (former) rebel guns. Just saying.
*Photo taken by photographer and total rockstar Glenna Gordon on the Sudan-Congo border in April 2008. Team not-so-invisible-children poses with the SPLA… and their weapons.
My mother’s family are members of the Acholi tribe, and they hail from Gulu, a town in Northern Uganda. Northern Uganda is a place which has experienced significant ups and downs in recent decades, but all the same I was very surprised to come home last night to find talk of it all over Twitter. And the hashtags continued this morning – #stopkony, #Kony2012, #stopKony2012, #InvisibleChildren, #MakeKonyFamous, #CoverTheNight, #LRA, #Uganda. All of a sudden, my family’s region was famous – or, at least, trending on Twitter. What was all this about?
My mother’s family are members of the Acholi tribe, and they hail from Gulu, a town in Northern Uganda. Northern Uganda is a place which has experienced significant ups and downs in recent decades, but all the same I was very surprised to come home last night to find talk of it all over Twitter. And the hashtags continued this morning – #stopkony, #Kony2012, #stopKony2012, #InvisibleChildren, #MakeKonyFamous, #CoverTheNight, #LRA, #Uganda. All of a sudden, my family’s region was famous – or, at least, trending on Twitter. What was all this about?
it was all about
White people suddenly discover Uganda & LRA: Twitter Edition.
White man...white woman...white baby.
White man...BLACK woman...black baby.
BLACK man...white woman...black baby.
0
Options
Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Black man...black man...white baby
0
Options
Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I noticed people putting up these Kony 2012 pics on their Facebook and it looks like they are supporting him. I guess the idea is awareness and that will get people to google him and find out what is going on but the pics are misleading.
My mother’s family are members of the Acholi tribe, and they hail from Gulu, a town in Northern Uganda. Northern Uganda is a place which has experienced significant ups and downs in recent decades, but all the same I was very surprised to come home last night to find talk of it all over Twitter. And the hashtags continued this morning – #stopkony, #Kony2012, #stopKony2012, #InvisibleChildren, #MakeKonyFamous, #CoverTheNight, #LRA, #Uganda. All of a sudden, my family’s region was famous – or, at least, trending on Twitter. What was all this about?
it was all about
White people suddenly discover Uganda & LRA: Twitter Edition.
You don't understand. A bunch of celebrities saw a youtube video. Nothing could be more important.
I mean good on them but this shit has been going on for years.
Look guys, it's totally cool. We don't need to understand the region or the problem. We'll just push for military intervention and get Kony arrested/killed and then we can pretend we've solved the problem, celebrate what we've accomplished, and go back to ignoring a region that has some deep seated problems that we don't really care about while feeling smug about helping the world.
I really don't understand the backlash here. Raising awareness is bad now?
Because people are doing nothing but raising awareness and thinking they've "done their bit" when in reality they've done fuck all except pat themselves on the back.
Posts
The international police organisation, that is
not the terrible band
No. SAVAGE.
In all seriousness, you stop one man and maybe some of his army. Some of the children have known nothing but this their whole lives and are now adults. When he goes down I genuinely wonder what the plan is to prevent someone else who has been there and known only violence from stepping up to take his place : /
Chico was making a joke about a different terrible band.
Faygo for all!
i feel like this situation is even tougher to predict than those involving other militias since it's more of a cult of personality based around kony. would his defeat break them or would they just splinter off into several small militias? who knows
this characterization of LRA is not true. they are not on their last legs. they may be committing fewer acts of violence in uganda, i can't say for sure, but they're in several countries: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Thousands-Flee-LRA-Attacks-in-Congo-141575123.html
I mean, its not like they are dirty muslins. Why shouldn't we let them continue to do God's work?
Stop Kony, yes. But don’t stop asking questions
it was all about
it strikes me as terribly hypocritical sometimes
Its all white people, all the way down.
White man...BLACK woman...black baby.
BLACK man...white woman...black baby.
brofist
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
I don't have to read up on what's going on in Syria anymore right? All Kony this week.
You don't understand. A bunch of celebrities saw a youtube video. Nothing could be more important.
I mean good on them but this shit has been going on for years.
(seriously, this Invisible Children outfit is pretty disgusting in its approach.)
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
man, I wish something would change for the better in Syria. it positively infuriates me how useless the UN is sometimes.
Every time this page loads and this image scrolls past, all I can think of is the Icy Hot Stuntaz...
how so?
Because people are doing nothing but raising awareness and thinking they've "done their bit" when in reality they've done fuck all except pat themselves on the back.