This is my Sunday column for the Nation. Joseph Kony is the LOLcat of terrorism now, but may not have reached people that read the physical. So this is a sorta briefer for that audience. It’s called Who Is Joseph Kony?.
If you’re on Facebook or the Internet in general, you can’t have missed Joseph Kony. An NGO called Invisible Children has mounted a campaign to make the African warlord/rapist/child enslaver as famous as George Clooney, and in a matter of days they’ve come pretty close. Just as fast, however, they were hit with a backlash against their pretension, advocacy for US military intervention abroad, and the general hordes of ignoramuses they’ve unleashed. So what’s really going on?
Joseph Kony
Joseph Kony is pseudo-Christian warlord and mass murderer, originally from Uganda. He’s an armed rebel looking to implement the ten commandments, mainly by breaking as many of them as possible. This messianic leader has gathered an army of psychotics, capturing children, forcing them to kill their parents, mutilate their families and neighbors, serve as sex slaves, etc. He’s a generally horrid individual, but also hard to kill or find, namely because he’s surrounded by psychotics and zombified children that also serve as human shields. So basically he’s like Prabhakaran without the redeeming characteristics.
Invisible Children
Invisible Children is an American NGO which is most visible through its film productions, but also does awareness building and work on the ground in Uganda. They have recently produced an extremely polished if also rather self-indulgent documentary. It’s thrust is that the Facebook generation can change the world by influencing celebrities and billionaires to influence to US government to give military support to Uganda. For them this leads to the arrest and trial by the ICC, but warlords rarely go out that way, and they rarely go out alone.
The power of Invisible Children is that they’ve made this issue huge, but the trouble is that they’ve also made it about themselves. The video is largely preoccupied with the white co-founder and his cute son and how people can changing the world by liking and forwarding stuff online. This has led to a digital army of idiots rallying around a simplified presentation of a complex issue, and now IC has gotten some serious blowback from rather reasonable people online.
Criticism
IC has been criticized for their finances, their disconnect from actual Africans on the ground, and emphasis on American militarism as a solution. At the least, their list of people they’re trying to lobby is rather silly. It includes Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, toxic radio host Rush Limbaugh, George W. Bush, Taylor Swift and a bunch of American politicians. For an African issue, they’re not targeting African stakeholders, at least not at the top.
Their solution for the problem is also extremely controversial. They are raising money for awareness (which essentially funds them) and to lobby the US government to deploy military advisers and send military equipment to the Ugandan government (itself a weak democracy with human rights issues). While this may be a pragmatic solution, it is hardly the feel-good experience that most Facebook likers have signed onto.
IC has also taken criticism from within Africa for presuming to speak for and save them. There are plenty of human rights campaigners and people in Africa making a difference and an army of largely ignorant and self-righteous westerners has not been entirely welcome. IC has been said to have been taking up the ‘white man’s burden’ to save Africa, an experiment that has gone disastrously in the past.
So What?
So where should you stand? I don’t know. I’d recommend watching the video (http://youtu.be/Y4MnpzG5Sqc) to start. Then read some of the criticisms gathered by Al Jazeera’s The Stream (http://bit.ly/waHZ8h). Then read IC’s response (http://bit.ly/xBaa8v). Then do a bit of reading about Joseph Kony and the situation in Uganda. It’s a bit of a reading list, but this is an active debate, so it’s actually quite interesting. I heard about it directly from Facebook friends and even got a physical Kony 2012 sticker last night.
My initial reaction to the Kony 2012 video was something vaguely akin to nausea, but that sensation has evolved. To me, Invisible Children came off as incredibly patronizing, self-promoting and dumb. After seeing the debate play out, however, I have a bit more respect for what they’ve done. Not that I agree with what they propose, but they’ve started a debate, engaged with their critics, and are making a difference in the world.
For every person that couldn’t find Uganda on a map, there are a few people that have looked (myself included). For every criticism that IC has gotten, they have tried their best to respond. So you have a discussion going on – one about Africa, about American power and about right and wrong in a complex world. Which is actually a very interesting and important conversation to have. I can’t tell you what the answer is cause I don’t know yet, but I can tell you that it’s out there. So have a watch, have a read, and then have your say.
this psycho is similar to Prabhakaran.
Movie “Blood Diamond” is a must watch for anyone trying to understand the situation in Africa at large.
Awareness is fine, though I too wish that people wouldn’t allow their opinion on such a nuanced issue to be formed on the basis of a single 30 minute video.
Also, I found this video to be a good primer on what led to the present situation in Uganda.
Joseph Kony = Prabhakaran — it’s amazing how the Tamil diaspora worship/ed Prabhakaran with fervour.
Sympathy through film. It’s what keeps America running. Those lamenting Kony and forming Sri Lanka anti-Kony facebook groups would do well to read this link before giving themselves a coronary:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/07/guest_post_joseph_kony_is_not_in_uganda_and_other_complicated_things
Am curious… just what were Prabakharan’s redeeming characteristics?
@Angel: I was wondering the same thing. Kony has more redeeming characteristics, I think, than Prabhakaran.
He didn’t mutilate the faces of his child soldiers? Only abduct children, kill their parents, assassinate Tamils who opposed him, use pregnant suicide bombers, but didn’t cut off the kids’ lips for example.
Laugh Out Loud!
Seriously! At least the roots of Prabha and the LTTE started with a cause that made sense! In search of certain civil liberties for a minority and all that. Joseph Kony’s cause makes no sense. Sure, the LTTE ended up getting all messed up along the way! Sure I certainly don’t support the LTTE.
But if you never faced the post ’83 oppression and didn’t have your houses burnt down, or have to become a refugee, your families and women molested then making such comments seems like a laugh. For some of us it is somewhat offensive.
@OMR — “it’s amazing how the Tamil diaspora worship/ed Prabhakaran with fervour.”
WTF? How is this related to anything?
I think the point is that they were mostly supporters of the underlying cause. And if you tell me that tamils and sinhalese and everyone else face the same circumstances right now, in 2012, that’s laughable! It’s like saying African Americans do not face racial inequality post civil rights movement!
Diaspora kept supporting prabahkaran despite knowledge about the suicide bombs & the kiddie brigade. They also knew that prabahkaran’s evicted the entire sinhala & muslim population from the jaffna district. They knew all these things, yet continued & continue to support the LTTE.
Yes there is discrimination against the Tamil population but that doesn’t excuse supporting the apartheid the LTTE was out to create.
None, I’m afraid and Kony was worse.
Don’t need to go off the deep end and froth at the mouth.
Can you imagine people worshiping and screaming the glories of someone like Joseph Kony? But that is exactly what many folks in the Tamil diaspora did (and continue to do) with Prabhakaran. They called him “Surya Devan” (Sun God), popped his photos on the walls in their homes, garlanded it and watched spell bound as he gave his speeches. It’s absolutely disgusting and akin to those German people who were in bed with the Nazis and Hitler. Meanwhile, like Jospeh Kony Prabhakaran was directly responsible for brutal atrocities not only on non-Tamils but Tamils themselves. Give your Tamil sob stories a rest, please. Other people have problems too.
WTF??
Ok, firstly, I am well aware that there are Tamils who support VP, which I don’t really care for. My point is something else, there is no need to compare VP to Kony or every other tyrant at every turn.
Secondly, those were not sob stories, that’s quite possibly one of the only times I have eluded to my own circumstances, it is merely to say that a lot of people’s identification with the LTTE comes from an identification for the cause. When there is a lot of hurt that is unjustified there is a lot of hurt and it’s difficult to remove. Plain and simple. Kony and the LRA’s underlying cause is ‘purification’ as was Hitler’s! The tamil cause was a claim for a separate state due to unjust treatment of minorities. Pray tell, what problems do you have?
@dodo, I think there was an existing apartheid against Tamil people, and not vice versa, that was the root of the problem. How about the mass evictions of Tamils from Sri Lanka (not just the district)?
Want to talk solutions? How about generic national ID cards to begin with or some other numeric identification system? Not the ones where if you are Tamil yours is written in tamil etc…..that sounds a lot like apartheid to me.
Sorry, should not have said that, it is a pretty good movie. I suppose much more would be needed to understand the vastly complex political, social,and historical background of Africa at large. The across country differences are vast. I would start with Things fall apart, white man’s burden -easterly, the civilizations of africa, long walk to freedom etc etc –i.e. both narrow and wide perspectives…
It’s like saying watch ‘hotel Rwanda’ to understand the Hutu-Tutsi conflict…..
I am not going argue with you about the level of discrimination that pervades in sri lankan society. Given my background i am certainly not in position to comment about that. But my point is whatever sinhala society was/is like cannot be used as an excuse to support whatever the LTTE was out to create. If you feel that tamils should get an autonomous region in the north of the country that is a perfectly acceptable position. But anyone is willing condone & promote prabhakaran’s in order to achieve this end has crossed a line, IMHO.
What a laugh. The so-called “Tamil cause” is all about “ethnic purity” and ‘cleansing’ the north and the east of all non-Tamils and claiming it as Tamil-only land (Tamil Eelam). Just go back and read Prabhakaran’s speeches, or have a look at how all the Tamil-speaking Muslims were ethnically cleansed from the north and Sinhalese villagers were slaughtered in the east of the country in order to create this “pure Tamil” state. Look at how many Tamils screamed like banshees because Sinhalese civilians were visiting Jaffna after the end of the war! Goes to show how much racism and hatred there is within the Tamil community towards others. Not much different from the Nazis. It’s the south of the country that has always been multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious where even LTTE-supporting Tamils lived and worked during the war. The Tamils, under the LTTE have for too long run an apartheid state in the north of the country and parts of the east where all non-Tamils were unwelcome and killed for simply being non-Tamil.
Tamils worshiping the Tamil Joseph Kony – Prabhakaran:
http://tinyurl.com/7j2eooo
“King Prabhakaran is alive!”
http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/gTiSkCxY3wU/0.jpg
@Omr : I don’t think it’s fair to say Tamils were screaming like banshees. I visited Jaffna in 2010 and was treated with quiet courtesy or genuine friendliness by a lot of random people such as waiters, staff at the public library, devotees at a kovil, families at the beach etc. There were also genuine grievances about littering and consuming alcohol and meat in the kovil premises, sanitation issues (because not enough public toilets were available) etc.
@dodo, I agree with you. I think the initial point here was the comparison between VP and Kony. While on the surface a lot of what both ‘evil’ fellows did was very similar, there are a lot of differences between the structures of the two systems. First is the root cause. Second, from what I can tell one uses absolute force where as the other, has a lot of voluntary participation. Many of these, actually believed that they were fighting for a cause. Do I agree with it? NO. Do I empathise? Yes. I think given the circumstances a lot of people were put in, the blind patriotism is expected…..This is where we fail, to understand. Do we expect a difference between behavior of the government and a terrorist group? Yes.
I don’t think however, that such complete multicultural acceptance exists, as seems to be suggested on this blog. I think it is increasing, and the end of the war has helped that, which is great! On the other hand, when it comes down to key issues like employment, marriage, there is still a huge, uncomfortable gap.
In any case, @OMR, what you say, is…..gaah, what’s the point.
Well said! I faced the same situ.
AS, i don’t it’s fair to compare VP to Kony. Kony seems ape shit crazy.
here’s a little excerpt form wiki:
” He reportedly made annual trips to the Ato Hills in Uganda. He would allegedly ascend to the highest of the hills and lie down in the hot sun for days. He would be covered by a blanket of red termites that bit deeply into his skin. Oil from the Yao plant was spread over his body. Then he would enter a cave and stay in seclusion for weeks.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kony
What’s that AS, lost for words? For close to two decades the Tamils ran an apartheid/hitleresque state in parts of the north and the east from which all non-Tamils had been ethnically cleansed. This was the “Tamil cause” that many supported and still continue to do so. Nothing to be proud of.
It’s funny how you seem to have a bee in your bonnet because Prabhakaran was compared to Joseph Kony. Obviously it’s because you have a soft spot for the Tamil pol pot. Well, there is one BIG difference between the two – Prabhakaran is dead as a dodo while Joseph Kony is still alive.
Really,the way of the dodo?
“Simultaneously, as the 70’s produced the first pangs of militancy, Pirabaharan began preparing for the battles that he perceived lay ahead. he would tie himself up, get into a sack and lie under the sun the whole day. He would also go and spread himself on chilli bags. He even inserted pins into his nails.”
— M.R.Narayan Swamy’s “Tigers of Lanka From Boys to Guerrillas”
Yes both Joseph Kony and Prabhakaran are/were bat shit crazy.
That may have happened to you, Angel. However, there were (and are) many Tamils who were screaming like banshees just because Sinhalese civilians were/are visiting the north and Jaffna, parts of their own country from which they had been locked out because of the horrible crime of not being a Tamil. Many of these racist scumbags howling in agony were those in the Tamil diaspora and those who, as AS says “supported the cause.” Apparently to them only the Tamils should have freedom of movement and the right to move and live in any part of the country.
Didn’t you see what Dodo did there? He already knew of VP’s extreme stunts. Even I had heard about that one.
Actually I can understand that Jaffna folk wouldn’t have been entirely comfortable with a sudden influx of southern tourists after the war. It must have been humiliating. After being told repeatedly what monsters the southerners were and given how it all ended, they would naturally feel a little peeved.
The ending of the war should be quite enough for now. Cant expect them to immediately welcome us with open arms. We need to be a little magnanimous.
Shammi, i had no clue about that, it was pure coincidence.
Lol. That was too good. So i guess there is nothing separating the two in the loony front. Now the real question is trying to figure out who was the better mass murderer.
Ahem. I’m a Sri Lankan. I have also lived in rural Uganda for close to 8 months (as an independent traveler). I have direct experience of the war in Sri Lanka (as a child) . And I have talked at length to Ugandans about the portrayal of their country in the media outside Uganda.
My suggestion? Go visit Uganda! It’s one of the safest, friendliest countries you would ever visit (yes, they rival Sri Lanka in this category!). It certainly was for me – especially as a single woman travelling alone. Most visitors I spoke to felt that way too. Northern Uganda where Kony used to be active is safe too!
Eat millet porridge for breakfast, some matooke (plantains) with g-nut (peanut) sauce (all organically grown and picked fresh from a family farm), or malewa (a dish made from bamboo shoots picked from the slopes of Mount Elgon) for lunch, and finish the evening off drinking the local brew enjoying the incredible hospitality of the Ugandans (English is widely spoken – even in rural areas).
Ride the public transport and hop on a boda-boda (motorbike or bicycle “taxis”). Visit a club in Kampala, talk to the young laptop toting IT guys and gals in the coffee shops. Drop in at a school. Along the way, you will find out much more than you would by ever reading or watching anything. And you would come away feeling like most of the people who wrote or made the videos you had seen, have somehow betrayed you.
PS: one night, I happened to share a taxi ride with a couple of young, good looking Americans from California who had come to Uganda for a couple of weeks to work on a project for Invisible Children. They were well meaning, full of energy and enthusiasm. But, it soon became clear that they knew nothing about the country or where exactly they were even headed (their itinerary had been planned for them). They didn’t even know that the war was no longer taking place in Uganda. So, I spent the better part of the taxi ride giving them a bit of a primer.
So, I’m not surprised that the organisation has produced a video that has stirred up the kind of debate that is brings a lot of attention (and profit?) to those outside Uganda and has the potential to actually harm Uganda.
Who wants to invest in a country or even travel there when there is a war going on? Except that there is no war going on in Uganda. It’s challenges are entirely different.
@OMR, I have a million responses to you about all this, but what’s the point? You are accusing me of being a supporter of VP when I’m not. It is very difficult to have open discourse, when there are bullies like you, accusing others of supporting causes that they don’t. I do after all want to live in Sri Lanka…..for you such accusations may seem simple, but think about the implications it has on non puritan Sinhalese like me (fyi, am tamil, sinhalese and a mixed masala of everything else), there is no such this as free speech for some of us!
Refering to the Tamil population as screaming banshees and etc, is very derogatory and completely false. Clearly your perspective is one sided, try to step back and see both perspectives. Having open discourse about one way or another should be done with an eye towards solutions, not name calling. If this population on the blog is anything representative of our actual population then it’s clear how warped things are. It’s a waste of time, totally unproductive to comment.
What a cop out Ashwini. Go back and look at all the responses – you totally freaked out simply because Prabhakaran was compared to Joseph Kony and seem to insist that they can’t be compared. Why would anyone go off the deep end like you did if they did not have a soft spot for Prabhakaran and had an image of him as some golden boy? Did you watch the Kony video and come away feeling totally disgusted and appalled and then couldn’t handle the fact that large sections of the Tamil population supported/support such a mass murderer in Prabhakaran and his “cause”? And now you come off accusing people of bullying you when they call out your charade? I mean seriously? Yes, that’s it… cry victim at the drop of hat.
Whether you like it or not, there were many in the Tamil community who DID scream like banshees and who continue to have a heart attack over non-Tamils (read Sinhalese) daring to step foot in the north of the country. This while Tamils freely move about, live in, build their religious edifices, have their Tamil language schools etc in the south of the country. They can’t hack the fact that today, non-Tamils are free to move about from Dondra Head to Point Pedro and visit parts of their own country that have been out of bounds because of Tamil racism and violence. The Tamil extremist dream of creating a mono-ethnic Tamil-only country out of Sri Lankan territory has been shattered and it certainly must be agonizing for those who supported the “Tamil cause.”
Before preaching to others, you should practice what you preach. You want an “open discussion” and to “see both persepctives.” Well, why don’t you go back and look at your first response in this thread and honestly ask yourself whether you should fix yourself first.
Please do go back and read my initial comment about understanding the root cause. Your post above is completely irrational and several claims could be easily refuted. Honestly, it’s just an utter waste of time. Go ahead and have your tuppence worth, or continue to badger me. That is fine….I think you are the one ‘freaking out’…LOL, you do realize this is a blog? I shiver at the thought of you turning your ideology from this interface into any sort of reality.
i’d like to shoot Jason Russell in his stupid self-important prick face
Israel is like Joseph Kony
Oops, everyone else is irrational and you’re the only sane, rational person Ashwini? How amusing. If it’s an “utter waste of time” why do you keep commenting? Despite what you want to believe and claim, Joseph Kony and Prabhakaran CAN be compared and the similarities between the two mass murderers are palpable. If you look at the original image at the top of this blog post, Prabhakaran’s mug would fit in perfectly with Joseph Kony, Osama Bin Laden and Hitler.