I don't by any means agree with how Kony is going about trying to gain power. If he were an American citizen he would probably have a lot of support based on his beliefs. However in the country that he lives in, the situation better lends itself to "warlord" type leaders swallowing up villages and pillaging the land.
Now I don't think there is a very simple answer to this problem for a couple of reasons. First, these African nations can't be trusted with money and second, as Mrs. Garber said, there are sovereignty issues if we were to use military force.
On the first subject, Uganda, Congo and Sudan all have sketchy governments. If aid in the form of money were to be given to these countries, we could assume that it would be used elsewhere. So giving money is out of the question. NGOs however, they can spend their money however they want. If private citizens are silly enough to give money to an organization that will only spend 5% of the money given on the actual cause then that's their own fault.
On the subject of military force, we have sent "advisers" to help train the Ugandan Army. This is kind of a preventative measure you could say, since Kony isn't really in Uganda anymore, but if he were to return, we're hoping that they could defend the villages. We can't do much other than send advisers and help train because we have no business sending troops to this area to help catch him.
Please weigh in with any of your thoughts on the situation.
There's no doubt that the Kony 2012 video wasn't moving/inspiring. It filled (at least me personally) with an overwhelming sense of "OMG I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING" (that something buy the 30 dollar kit). But the next day when I had a better chance to think about it with a clear head I realized that sure the video was great, but everyone needs to find out on their own about the situation and not just rely on a video that may or may not be completely legitimate.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with Teresa. I guess I overall really support the video but maybe that's because I've done a lot of research on it before hand so I forget that everyone else hasn't done as much research as I have. But I feel like the Kony 2012 video was a set in the right direction towards awareness.
ReplyDeleteIn situations like these, it's very difficult to decide how to act as a nation. As individuals we can donate our time/money/resources, but what is that really going to do? Kony has been around for much longer than just since the video came out, and while it raised awareness, I'm not sure what might change because of it. I'm sorry I missed a good discussion in class, too!
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