The new campaign and video from Invisible Children ‘Kony2012′ has suddenly gone viral and ended up everywhere in social media land.
Uganda is suddenly a country trending on twitter and getting a huge amount of interest – Will this have a positive impact for other organisations working out there like S.A.L.V.E.? Will it help to draw the attention of the world to East Africa and to recognise all the amazing initiatives being run out there by the local communities and for the local communities?
So what do you think about Kony 2012?
We love the fact it has gone so viral and that people are getting so passionate about wanting to do something to help to end an often forgotten about war. If it is used as a starting point to learn more about the Lords resistance army and other often forgotten wars and human rights atrocities to find your own way to show support then it can only get two thumbs up from us.
Remember that the Lords Resistance Army is made up of more than one man – it was actually started by a woman named Alice who was its leader before Joseph Kony and has a leadership structure in place, that means someone else could potentially take over if Kony was removed.
There are lots of interesting books about the Lords Resistance army that you can read to learn in more depth about what has been going on – for example why not try Aboke girls?
The Lords resistance army and the war is no longer in Uganda – the army has a tradition of moving around into other less stable countries in the area such as Sudan (before it became South Sudan), the Congo and the Central African republic. The army hasnt been in Uganda for years now and therefore perhaps more attention should be going on countries like the Congo and the Central African republic.
Why not take this time to learn more about the forgotten wars going on across Eastern and Central Africa? Where practices of rape to win warfare are common by most armed groups – but where local people are still working hard and campaigning against these completely unacceptable practices.
The horrendous use of child soldiers is not only restricted to the LRA – This book from Sierra Leone ‘A Long Way Gone: The True story of a child soldier‘ might help you learn more from the perspective of a child forced to become a soldier. The terrible practice of child sacrifice is also on the rise in Uganda again – learn more here.
Question the idea of using violence to end violence and if that ever truely works? Question the idea of Americans needing to come in to ‘save the day’?
But DO show your support to end injustice in some way.
Read a book, research other wars, find out other names beside Kony who need to be brought to the world stage for the crimes against humanity they are commiting.
Give your money, your passion, or your time to an organisation that you believe in that’s working in the area and help them to expand and continue their work.
Talk about there issues on and offline and build a global community who is finally ready to say – enough is enough – that no war can be forgotten.
Support a strong legally binding international Arms Trade Treaty that will mean that the sale of guns will finally get more regulations than bananas.
Please DON’T let the questions you have about the Kony2012 campaign stop you from taking positive action to help to end these horrific human rights violations. Use it as a stepping stone to find out more …
Thank you. Exactly the points that are in my head but I have resisted getting caught up in this for one simple reason. I work with survivors of war, rape, torture and have very little time to get online and debate such matters. The Kony2012 campaign really disturbed me but I couldn’t help but be glad that a spotlight was shining in an area no one wants to look. My discomfort has been at some of the incorrect information and also the blatantly heart strung cash raising footage being shared around the world – plus conflicting information as to how much money Invisible children were raising for themselves etc. Anyway this is the first post I’ve read that I’ve felt has grasped so many of the key issues. Thanks you x
Hi Laura, Thanks for your response – glad you have enjoyed our article. We just felt it was something we couldn’t stay quiet about! Your work sounds interesting – perhaps you can post a link to the website for it under here in case people might like to find out more about it?
This is such a fantastic blog, thank you for sharing all of this information. I didn’t realise that Kony wasn’t even in Uganda anymore and that his terrible work has spread to other countries. We clearly need to focus on learning more about the awful wars that are going on in other African countries. But it seems like the work of S.A.L.V.E. International is needed more than ever if there are children living on the streets after Kony has left such an aftermath in Uganda. I hope that the campaign by Invisible Children, for all it’s flaws, will nevertheless have a positive effect on the amazing organisations like S.A.LV.E. working in the local communities.