Last week when I first posted about Kony 2012 one of my friends asked me about how Northern Ugandans felt about the movie. At the time I didn't know, very few Northern Ugandans have consistent access to the internet so it was slow to make waves.
That changed yesterday when an organization called AIYNET held a public showing of Kony 2012 in Lira, where I recently conducted field work. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the screening since I'm currently in Nebbi, but I was able to convince my colleagues in Lira.
When I spoke to my friend and colleague Mike Kitara (with permission) over the phone about it this morning, he said in is usual friendly tone that the film provoked a lot of debate in Lira. He indicated that the film included out of date facts, including the suggestion that Kony was still in Uganda and that the situation remained dangerous, and that many of the people who attended the screening saw the film as a cash grab.
More importantly people both questioned the timing of the release of the film since the attrocities it describes ended in 2006 and people even went as far as to question the decision to show the film at all in Lira.
You might also be interested to know that over the weekend New Vision, one of Uganda's leading national newspapers ran an article indicating that while the government appreciated the renewed attention on catching Kony, that no one should misinterpret the campaign to signify that the Lord's Resistance Army remains active in Northern Uganda.
Even if the increased awareness of the LRA does bring about Kony's demise it must not entitle anyone to feel justice in participating in the Kony 2012 campaign. The world sat by while 65,000 children were kidnapped and hundreds of thousands of Northern Ugandans were murdered, maimed, displaced and raped including some of my friends and people I've met through work. A trial at the ICC will bring little peace to those who've lost loved ones and have otherwise been affected by the LRA.
What we can learn from this is that in the future we need to act quickly and in unison to stop mass violation of human rights and the laws of war. Before 65,000 more children are kidnapped.
Let's work together and stop the use of child soldiers.
http://childsoldiersinitiative.org/
Well Put
ReplyDeleteIt would be impossible to find justice for everyone who lived through this... but isn't the point of the ICC trail to hold him accountable and prevent atrocities like this from happening in the future?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you try to inform as well as criticize. I think it's sad that so many academics don't concentrate on informing all their newly interested readers, rather than shooting the messenger that brought them there.
I'm glad that it was shown in Lira. Few people would be able to better understand and criticize than the people most affected previously by the LRA. Thanks for sharing and passing along their views. And thanks for letting us know more effective means of acting.
ReplyDeletePS - is this the same screening? http://blogs.aljazeera.com/africa/2012/03/14/ugandans-react-anger-kony-video
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