On Kony 2012

Preface: yes, Kony’s a bad guy. Duh.

1. Overall, it’s a pretty stupid idea. TO begin, while the LRA was once a sizable force and a threat to Uganda, it’s not that anymore. So let’s be clear. No need to belabour this point, as it has been pointed out by many people.

2. Get Kony? Ok… sure, but admit it. This is arbitrary. Kony is no better or worse than leaders of other rebel groups. He’s also not that much better than many of the guys who now “run” the legitimate governments of DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda.

3. The “White Man’s Burden” still awkwardly supports these “help Africa” ideas: this point does not need emphasis, as it has also been addressed thoroughly elsewhere.

4. The “means” to pursue Kony would invariability produce unintended consequences that might actually be worse than the threat itself. The Invisible Children people want an international effort. Consider the ramifications of an armed Western intervention in Central Africa, as unlikely as that sounds. More realistic options involve providing aid and military training to Central African governments. But in doing so, you basically aid “successful warlords”, who then deploy violence against their own people.

5. There is no “neutral” aid. Western interventions into Africa have not worked out very well, generally. We like to believe that we can rise above politics and just “do the right thing.” Think of “Live Aid” , the ultimate triumph of “the people” over politicians. Much of that aid went to poverty relief, but much of it went to through the Ethiopian military regime, which allowed it to finance a repressive, armed campaign, probably killing as many people as were saved through poverty relief. Massive “aid” inflows in the Nigerian (Biafra) war in the 1960s had a similar effect, strengthening the war economy.

Overall, what the Invisible Children people don’t understand is the nice “good guy/bad guy” narrative that has often justified western intervention breaks down in this context. Media reporting requires a simple dichotomous narrative that consists of good guys and bad guys. In this instance, the good guys are the “poor children”. But reality defies this format. In the case of Africa, the realities of “warlord” politics filter all western inputs. External resources are inevitably manipulated or appropriated by somebody or other, and these people are rarely “good guys.”