I am not going to bother reposting the Kony documentary, since everyone with access to Youtube and their dogs have seen it by now. What I will be doing is utilising my substantial, though not always substantive, intellectual capabilities to weigh in on the significant Kony trending happening of late. I figured exactly what the three people who decide to read this need, is an overprivileged white Westerner to express more ill informed reactionary opinion on the latest internet thingy. So here goes.
Seeeeemmmmsss to meeeee.............. in the first instance that while this Kony character appears to be quite a foul human being, he is at present not posing as significant a threat as he may once have done to children and families in Uganda. I found it interesting to note the filmmakers tagline, from Victor Hugo, is; "There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come". I found this interesting for the plain fact that it seems the idea whose time has come is approximately, being conservative, five years too late, and being liberal twenty five years too late. Ugandans themselves appear not to be placing Kony high upon their list of problems just now, given the fact that he is reckoned not to have entered the country for the last five or so years. What does appear to be of far greater and more recent concern within the country is the horrific nodding disease epidemic. It would perhaps speak louder and greater things of the West if they decided not to arm groups of men to hunt another man, or sent in a commando troop years too late to assassinate someone who is surely guilty of quite heinous crimes, but is at present of little or no concern. Instead of doing that "the powers that be" could put a significant intellectual and technological effort into helping people with something that is affecting them in the here and now. While Kony may live to see many more years even with a group of heavily armed men hunting him, there are thousands of others, who actually deserve a life, that might too see many more years if there is a concerted effort to wipe out the awful disease that is tearing through Uganda, and wider parts of Africa also.
There are however some significant upshots to this documentary, which for me exist on a slightly different plane of thought than might come from the immediacy of calls to get Kony. It is without doubt important that the murderers and rapists of the world be made aware of the fact that, if there is a will on the part of significantly large enough groups of people then pressure can be brought to bare. I would certainly hope that some time soon Mr. Assad in Syria might take note of this. Furthermore to shine a light on certain situations can be helpful in exposing to the world that there still is people like Kony out there, and they are far more numerous and active than we might ever wish to believe.
The West however, particularly the United States, has proven time and time again that the political will to extricate a Kony, a Qaddaffi or a Hussein is prone to fluctuation given particular contexts. I won't bore all three of you readers out there with a history of American human rights infringements, but will simply assure you that it makes for less than comfortable reading. An awkward question regarding certain deeply ingrained Western hypocrisies arises when one asks the question is this and idea whose time has come or is it in fact a person whose time has come? On the level of the post-colonial one can always ask is it any of the business of Western nations to implant themselves in these regional situations without internal requests; beyond the obvious moralistic arrogance this has often worked out poorly for the locals.
As far as history goes one should always be sceptical of pronouncements from and actions of "leadership". One might say I am being cynical here with regard to the seemingly grassroots and fantastically successful nature of the campaign to bring Kony to the world's attention. There is however always the uncomfortable character of historical reality to be faced. It is in this context that one might look at the campaign to hunt down Kony as one where leadership may conduct a simple cost-benefit analysis. Something along the lines of: Kony is unpopular with the electorate, Kony is insignificant to any long term military or political objectives. Getting Kony will not hurt us and will be popular with the electorate. Answer: GET KONY (or at least appear to make a significant effort to). With this view one is not casting aspersions on the work of many people to bring an international hoodlum to justice, but can accurately reflect the cynical nature of political and historical realities. For example if a movement such as this had emerged in the 1980s against Osama bin Laden, not only would it probably have found itself tarred with the "Red" brush but may also have been confronted by significant police and riot squad presence at its rallies. Thirty years on however there was a shift that need not be highlighted. My point here being, that politicians far from always caring about the bin Ladens, Qaddaffis or Husseins of this world sometimes actively endorse their activities, if the ends are "justified". Furthermore if a grassroots campaign finds itself achieving the results the Invisible Children campaign has then they know they have chosen a viable target for their efforts. Choosing the wrong target especially when attempting to rouse the might of the American political and military machine can be hazardous to one's health. If several million people tomorrow decided that Netanyahu should be brought to justice for his crimes what would "political will" resemble then?
To surmise I hope that Kony dies of the foulest most hideous disease his Christian God can create. My hopes for this marking a sea-change in the way large groups of people interact with their "democracies", particularly on the level of foreign policy, remains significantly tempered by historical reality. While this Kony awareness campaign has certainly been a triumph for the influence large numbers of people can have and the power of the internet and social media the burden of history is a heavy one to bare. Furthermore while the light has been firmly shone on Uganda and Africa as a whole, and the precipitous nature of its hopes for a future of peace and prosperity, I hope that many of the efforts currently being expended on bringing this about can focus on issues of more pressing concern. As well as this they might offer a peaceful solution to some of its many problems. I am aware that this could be difficult since all of the cool shit that we rely on to talk about such things, iPhones, laptops, tablets are provided by crucial raw materials being extracted from a system of horrendous warlords currently operating in the Congo. Life is full of ironies such as this, and when life might cease to be so damn ironic may the ironies be replaced by a consistent moral turpitude. A morality of course not gleaned from a book, like Kony's morality, but one of consistency brought about by those niggling voices in our head that made us all despise the man so much in the first instance. They're called conscience and logic and while they can get confusing sometimes they generally won't steer you far wrong from the right path.
