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Erika: It was held in a small soccer stadium in Gulu. To get in, we had to weave through a massive crowd standing in anticipation of the event. I read a few articles about how many attended—some said 6,000, others said 10,000. Either way, it was an incredible turnout of people waiting to see what the rest of the world thought of them.Some have taken issue with how it was promoted.
Erika: The “event” was advertised on the local radio as not just a film screening, but rather a “production” with musicians, whiteface comedy, and a supposed “movie.” There was no accurate depiction of what the film really was—no mention that it was about them.
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Abby: Despite my isolated location in Africa, I did have internet access and saw the video during the initial wave facilitated by Facebook. My first reaction was less than positive, but watching that same video in the context of Gulu, surrounded by thousands of people who had lived through this, painted a very different image for me.I watched as the words of Jason Russell and his son were translated, as if they had any constructive or enlightening commentary to add, while the comments of the white politicians remained in English. I felt the colonialist undertones were exponentially more jarring at that moment, as if a white college student who has the power to post some bumper stickers and write to my white congressman, can fix their problems. I felt presumptuous and, more than anything, embarrassed.Erika: I was shocked to see the disconnect between the way Gulu was depicted in the film and the reality of modern-day Gulu, years after the war. Other than the film being only partially translated, it was also cut short. The differences between what I saw on YouTube and what I saw in Gulu pose important and difficult questions for IC’s execution of advocacy and its role as an NGO in the community.In the reports I’ve read, it seems like the audience was initially open-minded but grew more and more upset as the event went on. Is this what you witnessed?
Abby: The reaction was hard to gage initially. I think people were generally more confused than anything, and perhaps even a bit annoyed that the movie they had been promised was no Hunger Games. I glanced at their faces as they watched a three-year-old grapple with the Kony-is-a-bad-guy distinction on the screen, trying, I assume, to understand what any of this had to do with them at all. More than anything, the reactions reflected to me the vast divide between the people at IC, Westerners like myself, and the locals. Much of the debate seems to have been centered on whether the video portrays an accurate depiction and its necessity. But people had more of a problem understanding the point the KONY 2012 campaign wanted to make in the first place. To recount some reactions which I heard second-hand, it seems that people were more than anything disappointed in the fact that no mention was given to the extensive amount of progress they had made in the process of reconstruction, and the reminder of precisely the trauma they wanted to move on from was less than helpful.
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Erika: It would be a lie to say that US troops are not in Uganda, but it would be presumptuous to argue that US intervention was because of IC’s pressure. This is certainly not to say IC’s campaign for Americans did not create a new political focus on Kony and the threat of the LRA, because it did. The number of views alone proves something. But to oversimplify: The conflict in the north [of Uganda], the aftermath, and the current state of Uganda in IC’s advocacy work leaves a lot of room for misunderstandings.Catch up on Kony:Should I Donate Money to Kony 2012 or Not?Beating the Kony BaloneyKony 2012: An Apology