What Next?
You all have probably heard about the Kony 2012 term by the advocacy group Invisible Children. Now that the year 2012 has come to a close, many wonder what will happen next and if Invisible Children has even done anything really…However, 2012 was a successful year to fight off Kony and his army of innocent child soldiers that were abducted from their homes throughout several years. Advocacy and leadership go hand in hand. Conversely, there are many that criticize Invisible Children for creating advocacy and apparently “not doing anything”. In my opinion these people aren’t educated enough of what happens to the donated money and what Invisible Children really does. Those who complain about the organization often or actually never check out the official Invisible Children’s website, where all the statistics of the donated money are listed and all the progress of the past years are shown. The first step of judging something is to actually do research and then an individual should critique it.
One of the many accomplishments that were achieved in the year of 2012, was that on May 12th, 2012 Caesar Achellam, the LRA’s top commander, was captured by the regional forces through the aid of awareness that Invisible Children and its chapters have created throughout the world. Also, there are currently 44 radio operators from CAR and DR Congo that were trained to facilitate the Early Warning Radio Network to protect its citizens from the LRA and its abduction strategies of recruiting young children to become child soldiers. Also, there 6 FM radio towers that broadcast “come home” messages over 26,801 square miles in the region where the LRA travels currently. 89% of escapees credit “come home” messaging as the reason they decided to attempt an escape in the first place. 30 rural communities in central Africa are linked into Invisible Children’s Early Warning Radio Network, which uses HF long-range radios to give advance warning of security threats.
This shows only a few things that show CHANGE, which started with a documentary of three inspired young men that created advocacy and awareness through the web. This truly shows how far Invisible Children has come and that it WILL NOT STOP HERE. So go out and create AWARENESS because no matter how small or big a step towards change is, it will create a domino effect. With today’s youth, anything is possible. Many students throughout the United States have formed smaller chapters to support Invisible Children’s mission to create awareness and change. Without their help, there would have been no real movement to make a difference. One great example of a student organization that wants to make a difference is our own George Mason University Invisible Children group that many of you are probably familiar with. They have recently hosted a Benefit Concert, where Branches and the Great Canyon Band performed, to gather as much donations as they could (Check out this article by Cameron Shuler). If you want to make a difference and be part of this great organization on campus, stop by the bi weekly meetings (GMU IC).
What do you think?
Do you believe that awareness is vital to create real change or should leaders only act immediately to create change?
Any comments are appreciated (:
February 19th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
What makes me uncomfortable about Invisible Children is that it’s the typical western savior complex. The campaign reinforces the idea that the African people are helpless and need to be saved by us Westerners. I totally agree that everyone should do research, and I find that the best thing to do with issues like this is listen directly to the people who are affected. You can read African responses to KONY2012 here: http://afripopmag.com/2012/03/african-reactions-to-the-kony-2012-campaign/ and here: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/african-critics-of-kony-campaign-hear-echoes-of-the-white-mans-burden/
While awareness is awesome, I think it’s important that the voices of the oppressed are heard; and through Invisible Children I believe that old, oppressive ideas are just reinforced and played out once more. In addition, it simplifies the issue and makes us believe that a bunch of Westerners can just come in and fix everything. It works FOR a community and not WITH it.
You can read more about IC and the problems with the Western Savior Complex here: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-soft-bigotry-of-kony-2012/254194/
February 19th, 2013 at 10:51 pm
I had no idea about the “come home” calls- fascinating. And apparently, effective to those in the area.
While I believe that awareness is vital to create change, I also believe that leaders have the ability to create astounding levels of awareness using their publicity and credibility.
Soof, additionally I’d like to tell you that I really like the way you set this article up: lots of content-oriented links (including ways to get involved), a picture, and using bolded font on stats. Job well done! =)
February 26th, 2013 at 4:43 pm
In high school, we often had Invisible Children campaigns that featured Africans who had escaped from the Army and now played a prime role in Invisible Children. I believe I was more inclined to participate being that these were actual survivors as opposed to just hearing a story about someone who had “rescued” one of the children or reading a story online. I think that awareness is important in global issue, and personally if I have the ability to help-I will!