Stopping Kony, or stopping video activism?

NB: Latest updates marked (*)

The phenomenal success of the Stop Kony video has prompted a very good and useful debate about the role of civic action and internet-based activism in “Development”.

Judge for yourself:

The video, definitely worth watching:

http://vimeo.com/37119711

The reactions (grossly mis-represented here, for the sake of brevity):

Reactions from Africa:

• “Capturing Kony is not the only action required to end the LRA problem”
• NGO halts public screenings of the video in Uganda, because of public anger with the film 
• Al Jazeera use FrontlineSMS to hear from Ugandans on Kony 2012
• Kony is already famous. It wasn’t lack of fame that stopped him being arrested
• “African voices respond to hyper popular video”
• Resentment about paternalism
• “This can cause us more problems than help us”
• Good start for scrutiny of Ugandan governance
• Attacking the wrong problem
• Ugandans want an amnesty, not conflict
• This war is bigger than Kony, and Americans won’t end it
• Vlog: The danger of a single story
• “People have more pressing problems such as poverty and diseases”
• The most urgent challenge is Nodding Disease, not Kony

Critics:

• The issue is Ugandan governance
• ‘Kony 2012’ presents a misleading picture of the current situation in Uganda 
• Over-simplification
• Revival of the White Saviour
• Video’s solutions ignore Ugandan civil society
• Consequence: “A lot of dangerously ill-prepared young people embarking on missions to save the children of this or that war zone”

Question marks about Invisible Children as an organisation

• Five Questions for Invisible Children
• What do they do with the money?
• High overheads
• IC’s financial accounts

Others:

• “Lessons learned from the Kony 2012 campaign” (*)
• We have an “opportunity not to start something against Kony but to join something that’s already been around for years”
• Kony flops in Uganda (*)
• “Most critics from the expert community do themselves and their cause a disservice” 
• Kony video ” treated its audience like short-sighted, emotionally selfish children” and will not sustain interest
• Great teaching resources arising from the Kony2012 discussions
• “Bravo to the filmmakers!” – Shining a light can help resolve mass atrocities
• A rapper’s response to Kony2012 
• A round up of Western reactions
• Development progress is happening, and it comes when we are humble and support local organisations & individuals
• “If you want to help, your first duty is to make sure you don’t make things worse.” 
• The capture and trial of Joseph Kony may not stop the LRA and won’t bring justice to its many victims 
• (Tweet) “Responsible advocacy includes: don’t make yourself the hero; don’t lose the nuance that matters; respect agency of those you want to help” 
• Taking action is good, now read up on the facts
• Kony is not in Uganda
• Not the way to address conflict
• “ The awareness of American college students is NOT a necessary condition for conflict resolution in Africa.”

Advocacy:

• In advocacy, do simplify, but don’t distort
• “This is a principled campaign ad, and a very, very effective one.”
• The gulf in understanding between commentators and the people experiencing the problem first hand
• “What we need is not academics who ‘simplify better’ but activists who ‘complexify better’.”
• “The only useful response to the Kony 2012 campaign is conditional support”
• “We must educate ourselves to know the fuller story and the complexities of the situation”
• Celebrity tweets ramped up the viral spread

Jokers:

• Conspiracy
• Kony video drinking game

And much, much more via Brendan Rigby’s A Reader’s Digest of Kony 2012 and the Guardian blog, ‘What’s the real story?’

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What do YOU think?

• Sour grapes from people who didn’t come up with a successful video themselves?
• Clever use of 21^st century communications?
• Dangerous simplification?
• Misguided good intentions?
• Easy criticism of paternalism, to justify doing nothing?

Let’s have a debate!

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Further reading:

• How do we communicate Global Poverty?
• Development Education: From Awareness to Action
• Key questions to ask any charity
• Starvation Photography – The ethics of capturing human suffering

And also:

• Humanitarian Appeals: Messages and connotations
• Irish NGOs and social media
• Charities and financial transparency