Joseph Kony, the Invisible Children and the rest

Joseph Kony, the Invisible Children and the rest

A video exposing one of the most notorious contemporary criminals and awakens youth from their slumber has raised huge reactions and criticism. Non-Governmental Organisations are once again targeted.

On the 5^th of March a video was uploaded on youtube and immediately became viral – which means huge success. During only its first week it hit 70.000.000 views and became food for thought for hundreds of other videos, posts and comments. The video’s theme is: The last decades a basic problem in Uganda is the one regarding Joseph Kony’s actions. With his army, the so-called Lord’s Resistance Army, he kidnaps, mutilates, rapes and destroys. The video urges its viewers to support their organisation called the ‘The Invisible Children’. With the moto ‘Make Kony famous’ the organisation hopes that Politics (and more particularly the United States of America) will take action against Kony and save Uganda. The reactions and criticism raised are too big to be ignored. Each and every one contributes to this discussion by giving his/her opinion and more information. This article presents some of the criticism as well as some conclusions.

The common denominator of all the criticism is the following: the video and the information it provides are misleading since J.Kony actions have been halted in Uganda. Many mention that he currently resides out of the country – possibly at Congo – or even that he is dead. Others, maybe more extremes, support the view that the video predisposed the public’s positive reaction to an upcoming invasion to Uganda from the United States Army – serving in this way the politico-economic benefits of the country. Whatever the truth may be, the unfortunate realization was that it proved to be very easy to trick the wider public. Especially the youth appeared to be the most vulnerable. An HD video, some moving pictures and a persuasive commentary are enough to make the youth believe whatever Hollywood wants them to believe. Note that many celebrities such as Rihanna, J. Bieber or Oprah support the campaign. It is a shame that despite the good intentions of all those that shared this video on their social media, they proved to be easy to influence, even naïve. There is a need to filter and double check the information we get, and this is something we shouldn’t forget.

Other critics focused not on the video itself but more on those enthused and motivated by it. More specifically, many blamed those who ‘shared’ that video by saying that they have been led to believe that with this action they are contributing to saving Uganda and consequently the world. They are not wrong, but they are not right either. This is one of these situations where your opinion depends on whether you see the cup half empty or half full. Undoubtedly, sharing a video on Facebook does not change much. But it is a small change. People blame the MTV that it is creating lazy and insensitive youth or that the youth does not care about politics. But, isn’t the fact that someone dedicated some of his time to watch, share and discuss that video definitely an improvement? We shouldn’t be criticizing those who shared that video as this will only lead to their confiding in their micro world even more. Rather, we need to build upon the interest they showed for this tragic story, motivate them to engage with similar issues and give them more food for thought.

Finally, many focus on the way this organisation uses its earnings. The analysis of their financial statement reveals high salaries and the use of only a small percentage of funding to the ‘real’ aim of the organisation. This topic is part of a broader discussion about Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and their financial activities. Truly, many NGOs are not saviors and many are clearly profit-oriented. But we shouldn’t put all NGOs in the same basket as there are many worthy ones. The fact that some NGO employees earn good salaries need not be that highly critised. To put it simply, to a large extent an average NGO employee works more than a common public employee, is a scientist (with a Master degree, PhD or publications) and is a professional dedicated to his/her noble causes. However we should avoid dangerous generalizations: there is no reason for an NGO employee to be paid a low salary in order to fit in to the wrong and socially created profile of the activist.

Unfortunately the issue of J. Kony as well as the NGO’s is too complex to be fully analysed in this article, where we only managed to highlight some of the issues. In conclusion, in life there is no black and white, good and bad. There are many colors in between and it is up to each person to make up their own opinion on the topic – which will be respected as long as it is a well-informed one.

This is  my article – translated by me – as appears at http://www.popuppress.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=453:o-j-kony-mko&catid=110:2010-05-09-18-46-52&Itemid=221 - The online version of the POP UP magazine!

Written on the 12 March 2012 

Soup runs in London

On Saturday night I desperately wanted to go out. However, London decided to dress up in white and force me to stay home. After some months of bizarrely nice weather, it snowed. A lot. But that didn’t put me off. The mood for going out was still there and so, on Sunday morning I put on my snow boots and walked alone from Covent Garden to Westminster and then to Tate Modern Gallery (approximately 1 hour). I wouldn’t say it was a very cold day but the streets were empty. Keeping in mind it was Sunday in Central London, it looked like the middle of the Sahara desert. Two things grabbed my attention. By Thames River, which passes through the city, big transparent trash bags were left on the road. This was weird for two reasons: First, there is no trash in London. Second, the bags were full of clothes. These were obviously for the numerous homeless of the city. I don’t know who left them there, nor do I know why. I just know that some people tried to prevent more fatal incidents from happening because of the cold (as was the case recently in Eastern Europe). Further down the road, under Waterloo Bridge a van was giving away soups. Some of the homeless looked to be more in need than others. A distinctive figure was an Asian woman who had fended off the crowd and had dedicated all her attention (standing still) to her soup. At the same time, a man was collecting the thrown away paper soup cups (proof that there is no uncollected garbage in London).

In comparison to Greece, this situation is not at all original in London. On the contrary, these soup runs are so common that a lot of people complain. It is a fact that soup runs are a huge relief for this social group. But why is that?

To begin with, the number of these organisations is ever growing and the fact that they do not cooperate with each other makes the situation even harder. This means that in areas of Central London where the organisations gather attract more and more homeless creating ghettos. Complaints from the residents are numerous. Another problem is the fact that other social groups like ones outside of London are deprived of these benefits. At the same time, many of these organisations are based outside London and thus have to travel big distances. They could as well support their local social groups that are in need. Another criticism supports that soup runs help the maintenance of this situation instead of helping the homeless escape poverty. The Mayor of London has proposed the ban of soup runs, a fact that raised a lot of criticism.

The discussions on the topic have just started revolving around how these benefits are going to be organised so that: Everyone that is in need can benefit, avoid creating further reactions from the citizens and, finally, to get those in need to start using other similar benefits – such as those offered by churches and institutions. Time will show..

 
This is the article – translated by me – as appears at http://www.popuppress.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=432%3Asoup-runs-&catid=107%3A2010-05-07-15-34-56&Itemid=204 - The online version of the POP UP magazine!

Written on the 6^th of February 2011.