As a parent, I can't imagine the horror of knowing the strong likelihood that any night my child could be abducted from my home and forced into a life of violence, rape and abuse; to send my child off every night kilometres away to a "safe" area to sleep with dozens upon dozens of other children in the hopes that safety in numbers will save him for one more day; to know if my child was taken that it would be likely that the next time I would see him he would be re-programmed by monsters to come and kill or mutilate me and the rest of my loved ones.
As a human being, I'm floored that this has been happening for decades and that decision makers the world over have continued to turn a blind eye because the horrors aren't happening to our people, or won't make an impact on our national security or economy, so it doesn't matter to us.
The impact of social media in the past year or so has proven to be extremely impactful in making change. Just watching the dictators around the globe being put out of power by masses of young people gathering together to make a change has been incredible. And while I'm not a big supporter of violence or military action, I know that both are a reality in making big changes most of the time.
The Kony 2012 movement is already making changes - I can only imagine what is going to happen if the goals of the movement continue to be reached as the year goes on. On Facebook and Twitter I am seeing "regular people" and celebrities alike making reference to the video and movement. It made me stop and pay attention.
While I'm not going to be participating on April 20th in plastering my city with posters, stickers and other paraphernalia to get the 'Kony 2012' message out (I'm not big on any political propaganda or signage littering neighbourhoods - 3Rs people!), I am blogging about it, I posted a link to the video on my Facebook page, and the video itself has caused me to go and do more research on the plight of children in Uganda and other surrounding African countries that Kony and his army are attacking in the hopes that by educating myself on some of the issues I can get a better understanding of what I can do to help or make a difference.
I don't claim to know much about this issue - yet. I know that both Kony's army and the Ugandan army (that Invisible Children Inc. is working with) have both done many things to hurt, injure and destroy children and their families. But I do know that knowledge is power - and only by movements like this are people going to become aware of global issues such as these and start making choices and changes to better the lives of our brothers and sisters around the globe.
My wish is that all children around the world, whether in Uganda or Canada, can go to bed knowing that they are safe. I hope that in Wee Man's lifetime he sees an end to suffering, wars, hunger and disease the world over. Invisible Children's video seems to be one more step in the right direction......
L.O.V.E
UPDATE:
After writing my blog last night, I couldn't stop thinking about this movement, the video and the issues at hand. I continued doing some reading online and found some interesting articles, websites and blog postings that further investigate the Kony 2012 movement and made me feel a little better about my initial feelings that while Kony is a horrible man - just getting his name out, plastering my city with signage and other mass-produced forms of graffiti, and wearing a red thong bracelet isn't necessarily going to make a change - and that the video really had a strong ethnocentric and imperialistic feel to it.
Some of the things I wondered about when I watched the video have become bigger concerns to me as I have continued to read some of the critiques of the Kony 2012 video:
- What is the money that people are donating going toward? They talk about schools, shelters, and help to the Ugandan army, but I wondered about the costs of the mass-production of posters & other print materials they plan on sweeping the globe with, 'action kits', and other overhead costs that are the reality of any non-profit. I now understand their admin/overhead/travel and production costs have been in excess of $3million. That seems a little intense, and makes me wonder about where money I might have donated would truly be going. I'm sure there are dozens of grass-roots organisations in Uganda and surrounding countries with less over-head, and run by locals who have a greater understanding of the issues surrounding the larger picture of Kony's army and the unrest in the area.
- Eeeek - so much of his son and his life is shown in the video hoping to reach millions of people around the globe! As a parent, I'm very protective of my son. You'll notice that this blog - in which I have little control of the privacy settings - never has an image of his face nor have I given his (or my) real name. Yes, on Facebook I do post video and pictures of him but my privacy settings are at the highest they can go and I have only friended people on there that are a part of my every-day life that I would happily invite into my home. I'm sure that using the cute little blond Gavin in the video is likely done to tug on the heart-strings of anyone watching and was done with much thought and consideration, but I can't imagine doing something so public with my own child. I don't agree with the people criticising the use of the child in the video in the sense that they think children should be shielded from these types of issues. I disagree. While I do believe that parents and educators need to be cognisant of the way they go about talking about issues such as these, it is important for us to be open and honest about things with our children. The father in this video has made it his life to push the Kony 2012 movement and so in their home I do believe Gavin needs to know about what is going on, even at his young age.
- Why support the Ugandan Army? Isn't there any peaceful way to put an end to Kony? What's happening at a local level? I'm not a supporter of guns, violence or armies. I understand the need and desire to protect and secure one's country and am thankful for the people that do give their lives for my country by joining our military. I just wish that there were peaceful ways to go about it. This is my issue with this whole Kony 2012 movement and the national security position of the U.S.A and other countries.....the Invisible Children are funding an army in a country where Kony is no longer operating. My curiousity - and again, I know very little on the issues at hand or Uganda and surrounding countries - surrounds the decision of supporting an army as opposed to other more peaceful organisations or methods. As I watched the video last night, and again this morning, dozens of questions came flooding into my mind: Will funding an army not ultimately result in more children being hurt or killed? Are they not fighting against an army of children brainwashed and reprogrammed by Kony to protect him and his cause? What happens when Kony is caught and tried - is money being put into aftercare programs and counselling for these children now? What are the locals doing - how corrupt is the local government - and what other methods could be used to stop him besides continued violence?
To read more, here are a few critiques I have found that I found interesting:
- "Think Twice Before Donating To Kony 2012, the Charitable Meme-du-Jour" by Katie J.M. Baker: http://jezebel.com/5891269/think-twice-before-donating-to-kony-2012-the-meme-du-jour
- Visible Children: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/
- A Cautionary Tale: Kony 2012 - The Backlash by Under the Banyan: http://underthebanyan.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/a-cautionary-tale-kony-2012-the-backlash/
- "Stop Kony, Yes, But Don't Stop Asking Questions" by Musa Okwonga: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/03/07/stop-kony-yes-but-dont-stop-asking-questions/?tw_p=twt
No comments:
Post a Comment