THE INTERNATIONAL PEN

This article, by Connor Joseph Cavanagh examines the Kony 2012 campaign, and how advocacy Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), tow the line between selective portrayal of information and misrepresenting facts in their bid to raise funds and garner support. The article begins with a reiteration of the Kony 2012 campaign and its strengths, demonstrating its unprecedented reach. Cavanagh then delves into the criticisms leveled at the campaign. Finally, he explores how Kony 2012 uses the political economy of conflict misrepresentation in garnering a wider audience and thus raising more funds.

 

Cavanagh charts Kony 2012’s meteoric rise to public imminence and lucidly explains how it has managed to do so. The article very clearly states reasons for its success, such as its accessible material and its simple narrative. However, this segment seems to segway into mere examples of its success without exploring deeper occasionally. Examples of this include outlining Kony 2012’s ability to spark public debate, but failing to uncover the reasons how it managed to ignite such interests. Thus, Cavanagh correctly identifies the key causes but this segment is blotted by his lack of depth in explaining the factors.

 

The second segment gathers public criticism of the campaign and sieves out salient sentiment. The article nicely validates these critiques by showing how Ugandans themselves identify with such criticism and are unable to relate to the video. The juxtaposition of the criticism worldwide with the Ugandan reaction is apt and well used, in showing the coherence between the duo.

 

Last but most importantly, the article explores how Kony 2012 is misrepresentative, and the detrimental effects of this misrepresentation. Cavanagh identifies revenue generation as their key motive for misrepresentation. He supports this clearly by showing how the video revolves around the fact that by contributing, they can help defeat the LRA, and thus resolve Uganda’s problems, conveniently omitting the host of other problems Uganda faces, beyond the LRA. The article provides clarity in substantiating how Kony 2012 is misrepresentative and its key motive being fund generation. This segment is clear and concise, with well illustrated examples.

 

Finally, the concluding paragraph rounds up nicely how these problems are exemplary of problems faced in today’s social media world and advocacy NGOs use of it. It then moves on succinctly into what more can be done in light of these problems. Overall, the article uses Kony 2012 well, in illustrating such problems, by diving into the small picture, before zooming out gradually, revealing the problems faced by society in dealing with such advocacy NGOs today. Concisely written, while peppered with appropriate examples, Cavanagh is persuasive and clear in his precautionary call for greater discernment and care.

 

 

Reference: Connor Joseph Cavanagh. (2012). Kony 2012 and the Political Economy of Conflict Representation. Norwegian University of Life Sciences.