What You Need to Know - KONY 2012
KONY2012 has gotten a lot of attention over the past few days and gathered immediate supporters and critics. Now that some time has passed and some research is being done, more balanced opinions on Invisible Children, Joseph Kony and the campaign for his arrest are finally being publicized. I did not want to hastily and without justification support or criticize this movement. Those who were quick to rally against the movement without doing any research are just as guilty as those who hastily supported it . The end result is the same in both cases: the continued circulation of misinformation and misguided opinions. Fortunately a professor here at Laurier, Dr. Edgar, who is also employed by ACUNS has significant experience in the fields of international relations, global governance and transitional government. He has worked extensively in Africa including in Uganda and has a wealth of knowledge on the subject of Joseph Kony and Uganda in general. The following is a passing on of what he shared today with the class combined with my own insights.
When looking at Uganda on a map, to its north is the Sudan and to its west is the Congo. The top half (Northern Uganda) is populated largely by the Acholi people while the bottom half (Southern Uganda) is full of other denominations and led by Yoweri Museveni, Uganda's president. Museveni was once a guerrilla fighter and popular leader in the 1980s but in recent years has increasingly resembled a dictator. Nowadays his political opponents tend to disappear and some of his supporters recognize that its best for the future of Uganda if he step down. However, recently he has made clear that he intends to be president for life.
Critics of Museveni claim he could have caught Kony over a decade ago on numerous occasions but has never really been serious about catching him. As long as Kony exists and chaos exists in the North it gives Museveni reason for his forces to exert authority in the north and prevents a political opposition from emerging from the north as well. Essentially, finding Kony or disabling the LRA is not in the best interest of Museveni politically. Museveni used to have an alliance with the Suden People's Liberation Army (SPLA) which fought against Omar al-Bashir in the Sudan. And as long as the Ugandan government supported the SPLA, Bashir supported the LRA (Kony) which combats the Ugandan army, the Ugandan People's Defence Force (UPDF). As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. However, in 2003 a CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) was signed between the north and south Sudanese parties. When the CPA was signed part of the agreement unofficially was that Bashir would cease support of the LRA because he was no longer at war with the SPLA and thus would have no reason to support the LRA against Museveni. Without Bashir's backing, the LRA could not get funding for necessary equipment. Since the LRA was not permitted to enter the Sudan, they went to the DRC which is largely ungoverned and features highly dense jungle. Kony has not been back in Uganda since this point. The LRA no longer operates in Uganda and the children at risk featured in the KONY2012 video, have not been at risk from Kony and his child soldiers since 2008.
What Invisible Children is proposing is flawed at best and recklessly dangerous at worst. The basic idea is we, as in you and me, donate money which goes towards supporting the UPDF (Ugandan army). In turn the army must then invade the Congo to pursue and arrest Kony. Our donations are supporting an invasion on a sovereign nation and the inevitable conflict it will cause. The real kicker is that the UPDF takes on child soldiers and uses rape and murder as a method of warfare. Museveni is a known human rights violator. We are sending our money to support a corrupt, murderous army that employs children to invade a neighboring country and locate a notorious warlord that has not been a threat in Uganda for over four years. There have been instances where LRA child soldiers will surrender to government forces (UPDF) and instead of being rehabilitated or at least set free are employed by the government forces because they are well trained bush fighters. The murder, rape and use of child soldiers is not on the same scale as Kony, but certainly cannot be overlooked.
A separate but related issue is the Juba Peace Accords which were conducted in 2005. The agreement would have Kony and his forces come out of the bush, sign the agreement and move towards peace. Kony's ambition exceeds a life condemned to the jungle with a group of armed children. Despite what the video might claim, he has an agenda. He wants to be a legitimate political threat to Museveni and the the LRA did have and still has some support in the north among the Acholi population. Jubda called for a multi-party state where there would be a chance of political progress. LM Ocampo, the ICC lawyer featured in the video issued an indictment for Kony and his top commanders in 2005 and made him the ICC's number one target. Kony is a bad guy and is well worth arresting to be sure, but that was not why he was indicted. Ocampo had to promote the ICC and show the world that it was worth supporting. There are institutional and political reasons why Kony is number one on that list featured in the video. Kony is universally accepted as a criminal and there is no debate. He is not a leader of a sovereign nation like Hussein or Gaddafi. Kony is an easily agreed upon, lowest common denominator target. Now, why would Kony come out of the bush to sign a peace agreement just to be arrested and thrown in jail for life? He would not and he did not. By indicting him, the ICC let him go, and prevented peace. Ocampo then foolishly took a photo op with Museveni which destroyed the neutrality of the supposedly neutral ICC. Consequently, the Acholi people resent the ICC for its siding with the government. Every major human rights organization in the world has enough evidence to indict Museveni along with Kony but the ICC has no institutional or political reason to do so. And so, without a peace agreement signed, the LRA operated in Uganda for several more years and thousands of more lives were needlessly lost.
In regards to the American military, the IC video portrays a false reality. Solely based on the thirty minute documentary, it would seem that the 100 US military personnel were the first American troops on the ground there. In reality there has been an American military presence in the region for decades and there will continue to be so. Those 100 advisers were there in addition to the troops already on the ground. The United States has been in Africa for its own reasons and will continue to be there for its own reasons with or without Invisible Children.
There has also been much discussion about Invisible Children. They have undeniably done good work with school building and improvements to infrastructure. However this Kony campaign is several years too late and more than slightly misguided. Furthermore, a very high percentage of donations cover their overhead instead of the actual cause which is disproportional with comparable well recognized NGOs.
In the video the young boy is presented with two pictures, one of a good man, and one of a bad man. In his world the sensible thing to do is stop the bad man. And the entire video and the campaign are based upon that black and white, good versus evil analysis. The world and especially Africa is not broken down into good and bad. There are complexities that the KONY2012 campaign has not even begun to address. If you want to give money to this campaign then by all means that is fine but at least do it with an understanding of the facts and not with an elementary school analysis of Uganda and its politics.
Education is power. Be responsible and neither support or disregard a campaign based on a quick glance but instead make an informed thought out decision. Look past catchy language like “cover the night” and see through marketing ploys at the social media generation. Instead of covering the night, let us all uncover some truth about this issue and other global issues as well. Instead of sticking up posters on one night in April we can take that time to really learn about something going on in the world. This is not about skepticism or over analysis. This is about responsible, educated decision making. . This year let us all become a little more educated, a little more investigative, and let us all understand that its about more than one year or one man. #EDUCATION2012
KONY2012 has gotten a lot of attention over the past few days and gathered immediate supporters and critics. Now that some time has passed and some research is being done, more balanced opinions on Invisible Children, Joseph Kony and the campaign for his arrest are finally being publicized. I did not want to hastily and without justification support or criticize this movement. Those who were quick to rally against the movement without doing any research are just as guilty as those who hastily supported it . The end result is the same in both cases: the continued circulation of misinformation and misguided opinions. Fortunately a professor here at Laurier, Dr. Edgar, who is also employed by ACUNS has significant experience in the fields of international relations, global governance and transitional government. He has worked extensively in Africa including in Uganda and has a wealth of knowledge on the subject of Joseph Kony and Uganda in general. The following is a passing on of what he shared today with the class combined with my own insights.
When looking at Uganda on a map, to its north is the Sudan and to its west is the Congo. The top half (Northern Uganda) is populated largely by the Acholi people while the bottom half (Southern Uganda) is full of other denominations and led by Yoweri Museveni, Uganda's president. Museveni was once a guerrilla fighter and popular leader in the 1980s but in recent years has increasingly resembled a dictator. Nowadays his political opponents tend to disappear and some of his supporters recognize that its best for the future of Uganda if he step down. However, recently he has made clear that he intends to be president for life.
Critics of Museveni claim he could have caught Kony over a decade ago on numerous occasions but has never really been serious about catching him. As long as Kony exists and chaos exists in the North it gives Museveni reason for his forces to exert authority in the north and prevents a political opposition from emerging from the north as well. Essentially, finding Kony or disabling the LRA is not in the best interest of Museveni politically. Museveni used to have an alliance with the Suden People's Liberation Army (SPLA) which fought against Omar al-Bashir in the Sudan. And as long as the Ugandan government supported the SPLA, Bashir supported the LRA (Kony) which combats the Ugandan army, the Ugandan People's Defence Force (UPDF). As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. However, in 2003 a CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) was signed between the north and south Sudanese parties. When the CPA was signed part of the agreement unofficially was that Bashir would cease support of the LRA because he was no longer at war with the SPLA and thus would have no reason to support the LRA against Museveni. Without Bashir's backing, the LRA could not get funding for necessary equipment. Since the LRA was not permitted to enter the Sudan, they went to the DRC which is largely ungoverned and features highly dense jungle. Kony has not been back in Uganda since this point. The LRA no longer operates in Uganda and the children at risk featured in the KONY2012 video, have not been at risk from Kony and his child soldiers since 2008.
What Invisible Children is proposing is flawed at best and recklessly dangerous at worst. The basic idea is we, as in you and me, donate money which goes towards supporting the UPDF (Ugandan army). In turn the army must then invade the Congo to pursue and arrest Kony. Our donations are supporting an invasion on a sovereign nation and the inevitable conflict it will cause. The real kicker is that the UPDF takes on child soldiers and uses rape and murder as a method of warfare. Museveni is a known human rights violator. We are sending our money to support a corrupt, murderous army that employs children to invade a neighboring country and locate a notorious warlord that has not been a threat in Uganda for over four years. There have been instances where LRA child soldiers will surrender to government forces (UPDF) and instead of being rehabilitated or at least set free are employed by the government forces because they are well trained bush fighters. The murder, rape and use of child soldiers is not on the same scale as Kony, but certainly cannot be overlooked.
A separate but related issue is the Juba Peace Accords which were conducted in 2005. The agreement would have Kony and his forces come out of the bush, sign the agreement and move towards peace. Kony's ambition exceeds a life condemned to the jungle with a group of armed children. Despite what the video might claim, he has an agenda. He wants to be a legitimate political threat to Museveni and the the LRA did have and still has some support in the north among the Acholi population. Jubda called for a multi-party state where there would be a chance of political progress. LM Ocampo, the ICC lawyer featured in the video issued an indictment for Kony and his top commanders in 2005 and made him the ICC's number one target. Kony is a bad guy and is well worth arresting to be sure, but that was not why he was indicted. Ocampo had to promote the ICC and show the world that it was worth supporting. There are institutional and political reasons why Kony is number one on that list featured in the video. Kony is universally accepted as a criminal and there is no debate. He is not a leader of a sovereign nation like Hussein or Gaddafi. Kony is an easily agreed upon, lowest common denominator target. Now, why would Kony come out of the bush to sign a peace agreement just to be arrested and thrown in jail for life? He would not and he did not. By indicting him, the ICC let him go, and prevented peace. Ocampo then foolishly took a photo op with Museveni which destroyed the neutrality of the supposedly neutral ICC. Consequently, the Acholi people resent the ICC for its siding with the government. Every major human rights organization in the world has enough evidence to indict Museveni along with Kony but the ICC has no institutional or political reason to do so. And so, without a peace agreement signed, the LRA operated in Uganda for several more years and thousands of more lives were needlessly lost.
In regards to the American military, the IC video portrays a false reality. Solely based on the thirty minute documentary, it would seem that the 100 US military personnel were the first American troops on the ground there. In reality there has been an American military presence in the region for decades and there will continue to be so. Those 100 advisers were there in addition to the troops already on the ground. The United States has been in Africa for its own reasons and will continue to be there for its own reasons with or without Invisible Children.
There has also been much discussion about Invisible Children. They have undeniably done good work with school building and improvements to infrastructure. However this Kony campaign is several years too late and more than slightly misguided. Furthermore, a very high percentage of donations cover their overhead instead of the actual cause which is disproportional with comparable well recognized NGOs.
In the video the young boy is presented with two pictures, one of a good man, and one of a bad man. In his world the sensible thing to do is stop the bad man. And the entire video and the campaign are based upon that black and white, good versus evil analysis. The world and especially Africa is not broken down into good and bad. There are complexities that the KONY2012 campaign has not even begun to address. If you want to give money to this campaign then by all means that is fine but at least do it with an understanding of the facts and not with an elementary school analysis of Uganda and its politics.
Education is power. Be responsible and neither support or disregard a campaign based on a quick glance but instead make an informed thought out decision. Look past catchy language like “cover the night” and see through marketing ploys at the social media generation. Instead of covering the night, let us all uncover some truth about this issue and other global issues as well. Instead of sticking up posters on one night in April we can take that time to really learn about something going on in the world. This is not about skepticism or over analysis. This is about responsible, educated decision making. . This year let us all become a little more educated, a little more investigative, and let us all understand that its about more than one year or one man. #EDUCATION2012
No comments:
Post a Comment