KONY 2012

[KoKo]

25. A Letter From Uganda on #Kony2012--From "Truth Dig" (Good Read)

(This is a five page read....so, these snips only give a little of her perspective. BTW, Truth Dig has other articles up about KONY at the link)

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A Letter From Uganda on #Kony2012
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_letter_from_uganda_on_kony2012_20120315/
Posted on Mar 14, 2012

By Sara Weschler

Editor’s note: Sara Weschler lives in Gulu town, not far from where Joseph Kony was born. She has been involved with northern Uganda and LRA advocacy since 2005, and moved to the region after college. She works as a communications officer for Information for Youth Empowerment Programme (www.IYEPuganda.org)—a small local NGO founded by LRA returnees and other war-affected youth to promote peace and post-conflict recovery. After a video about the Lord’s Resistance Army became an international phenomenon, Weschler wrote this letter to share her perspective and set the record straight.


The Illusion of Military Intervention as Panacea

I may, however, be getting a bit sidetracked. A number of bloggers have in recent days made the case that the greatest flaw in the #KONY2012 video is that the narration leads viewers to believe the war is ongoing in Uganda itself. To be honest, I find this film less misleading on that particular point than many of IC’s earlier productions. And regardless of whether or not the movie distorts the realities of the LRA’s current location, the fact remains that the rebel group does continue to subject civilians in South Sudan, DRC and CAR to horrific dangers and brutality. My problem with the campaign lies much more with the “solution” it advocates, with its claim that all we need to end these atrocities is a military intervention under the guidance of U.S. forces.

The video seems to suggest that no action of this sort has ever before been taken. It quietly sidesteps the fact that prior to the deployment of the 100 U.S. special forces last autumn, the American government has had an unspecified number of troops from U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) stationed in Uganda for years. More significantly, a military strike of the sort that Invisible Children is advocating has already taken place.

For a number of reasons (not least of all because the operation was vociferously and boastfully discussed in the preceding weeks), Kony and his troops were aware of the attack well before it started. By the time airstrikes began, the LRA had almost entirely evacuated its bases in Garamba. In the month that followed, the rebels retaliated in spectacular fashion—not against the armies that launched Lightning Thunder, but against the civilians living in the areas affected by the operation. Over the course of four weeks, in a series of attacks loosely referred to as the Christmas Massacres, the Lord’s Resistance Army slaughtered more than 900 villagers in northeastern districts of the DRC. In addition, it abducted an estimated 700 civilians—about 500 of who are believed to have been children.

In light of this, the #StopKony campaign’s Dec. 31 deadline for military action is both utterly arbitrary and potentially dangerous. The U.S. is in an election season—a period when candidates running for office feel the greatest need to pander to voters. And while I would hope that politicians would put sound policy ahead of popular appeal, it is not inconceivable to me that, given enough (well-meaning but misguided) pressure from constituents, certain people in government may push for attacks without truly gauging all facets of the situation. Were this to happen, were a strike to occur before all the necessary preparations are in place, we may well find ourselves facing a repeat of 2008’s botched operation and ensuing loss of civilian lives.

Even putting all this aside, though, there is a fundamental flaw in the assumption that catching Kony would in and of itself bring an end to this conflict. At present, the LRA is scattered across three nations, with its highest-ranking officers strategically divided among the army’s various subgroups. If Kony were to be taken out of the equation, it is entirely likely that another senior commander—say, for example, Dominic Ongwen—could step into the void and fill his leadership position.
Moreover, the entire Kony-centric premise of this campaign ignores the fact that the history of extremist militant opposition in northern Uganda does not begin and end with Joseph Kony.

The Fallacy of the Senseless Rebellion

The #StopKony campaign plays into the all-too-popular and compelling myth that this is an utterly senseless war, that it has been waged for all these years by a band of madmen fighting without rhyme or reason. While it is true that the LRA of today fights primarily for its own survival, this was not always the case. The movement is horrendously violent and appallingly cruel, but it did not come out of nowhere. Any genuine understanding of the LRA conflict requires an analysis of Acholi marginalization throughout Ugandan history. While I will spare you the intricacies of British colonial policy in Acholiland, and the details of the Acholi ethnic group’s plight under Idi Amin, I do feel it necessary to give you an overview of the Acholi experience in recent times.

MUCH MORE at...........
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_letter_from_uganda_on_kony2012_20120315/