You might want to look at this post about this organization: http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to
They support the Ugandan military, which rapes and loots as much as Kony does. Plus this not-for-profit spends more than 60% of donations on salaries, travel and internal expenses - only 32% goes to actually help anyone.
You should read: Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits by Heike Behrend, Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo, and A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (some questions of accuracy on that one, and it is a child soldier's story in Sierra Leone, but I think it illustrates how both sides can use the same tactics very well)
I was an African Studies Minor (they didn't have a major :( ) at UVA and aid and what not came up a lot, and was very hotly debated. I do think videos like this do the important task of raising awareness, but so many people don't look further into it. I personally was never involved with Invisible Children. A friend who had become disillusioned with it told me about how they did a event to represent the plight of child soldiers by having people voluntarily "kidnapped" and held in gymnasiums until various celebrity sponsors came to "rescue" them. So I didn't want to do IC after that, because I dunno, that just struck me as minimizing something horrible.
Africa is a fascinating place, and unfortunately it and the various peoples of Africa tend to get simplified. You should also check out allafrica.com it's a good day to day news source. I'm glad to see you posting this video (even if it didn't seem like it in my above paragraphs haha I don't really support IC, but people should be more aware of the world we live in, and if their video does that, then good.) I hope you get interested and want to learn more about it.
You might want to look at this post about this organization: http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to
ReplyDeleteThey support the Ugandan military, which rapes and loots as much as Kony does. Plus this not-for-profit spends more than 60% of donations on salaries, travel and internal expenses - only 32% goes to actually help anyone.
You should read: Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits by Heike Behrend, Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo, and A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (some questions of accuracy on that one, and it is a child soldier's story in Sierra Leone, but I think it illustrates how both sides can use the same tactics very well)
ReplyDeleteI was an African Studies Minor (they didn't have a major :( ) at UVA and aid and what not came up a lot, and was very hotly debated. I do think videos like this do the important task of raising awareness, but so many people don't look further into it. I personally was never involved with Invisible Children. A friend who had become disillusioned with it told me about how they did a event to represent the plight of child soldiers by having people voluntarily "kidnapped" and held in gymnasiums until various celebrity sponsors came to "rescue" them. So I didn't want to do IC after that, because I dunno, that just struck me as minimizing something horrible.
Africa is a fascinating place, and unfortunately it and the various peoples of Africa tend to get simplified. You should also check out allafrica.com it's a good day to day news source. I'm glad to see you posting this video (even if it didn't seem like it in my above paragraphs haha I don't really support IC, but people should be more aware of the world we live in, and if their video does that, then good.) I hope you get interested and want to learn more about it.