I am sometimes amused when i read about my country, Nigeria from a foreigner’s perspective. Sometimes, the issues are seen in a different context. Issues are muddled up. Small challenges are overblown while sometimes international development agencies and non-profits tilt the information in their favour to appeal to an international audience. Most times, they gain global attention and ordinary people affected by these messages hardly have their say.
Things are changing. This is 2012. The recent #Stopkony media campaign by invisible children plays much on emotions and places a lot of emphasis on the role of western Government to solve African problems, this time Uganda.
KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.
The #stopkony video (above) immediately generated lots of attention on social media especially on twitter and facebook and lots of backlash from Ugandans who felt that the issues have been misrepresented, the efforts of local and National stakeholders in Uganda to solve the problem downplayed and that the current situation in Northern Uganda has not been properly captured.
There have been several responses. Including a video from an Ugandan Blogger
Maureen Agena, another Ugandan responded to the #stopkony campaign with a blogpost titled: I am a visible Child from Northern Uganda. Who are the invincible Children?
Albert, another IT enthusiast and blogger looks at the impact of the #stopkony campaign in his blogpost: random thoughts; #stopkony, a new ipad and the post-pc era
In all, the #stopkony video, which has gained more than 32million hits on youtube has grabbed global attention, as it has successfully brought the Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army to global attention.
Though the documentary used images that do not represent the current situation in Northern Uganda and failed to mention that the Kony led Lord’s Resistance Army are possibly out of Uganda, it has put the issues of children soilders, and the conflicts in the region on the global agenda and this might mean more would be done now and in the nearest future to solve the issues.
