#Kony2012: The Truth According To Jane Bussmann
Back in 2009 Jane Bussmann wrote a book about Joseph Kony called ‘Worst Date Ever’. So who better to ask about #Kony2012? Robbie consults Jane for answers..
http://www.live-magazine.co.uk/2012/03/kony2012-the-truth-according-to-jane-bussmann/
The Kony film has had a huge impact worldwide. How do you think it’s going to affect the crisis in Uganda?
The Kony2012 documentary has engaged 26 million people. 26 million intelligent people can hit the search button and find out whatever they like. When you talk about whose job it is to stop Kony, there’s only one answer: Museveni, the elected leader of Uganda. Museveni never started out as a dictator, but he’s become one because he’s given free cash by muppets like David Cameron. The next step for us lot is to ask just one word. Why? If you can’t catch a man in 26 years when he’s abducted 30,000 kids. Why? The greatest thing that can happen is people will start asking questions and googling these things.
I think the story we hear from Africa over here is a distorted picture of poverty and warzones.
The media very rarely pay attention to the incredibly successful booming economy; it means people like me can invest in Africa first and become immensely wealthy. The problem at the moment is aid. It’s a bunch of desperate politicians who have to make budget cuts at home funding actually very cheap aid programs to make themselves look good in their own countries. It’s the middlemen that get the money. And this is why Joseph Kony has been able to run amok for 26 years. Politicians give the money directly to the bent government like Kibaki’s in Kenya or Museveni’s in Uganda, but time and again it’s half-inched by crooks. It’s almost as corrupt as the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.
“Cut off Museveni’s money tomorrow, bang, you’ll have him by Friday.”
So, the only person that can influence Uganda is Museveni. But is putting armed forces into the country the answer?
Well, let’s look at the next step. Museveni hasn’t done that. Why didn’t he do it? It’s for one simple reason, that he is getting a shitload of cash. If you want to know why someone does something, follow the money. And essentially, Invisible Children has asked 27 million people to tell their government. Museveni is up there with Invisible Children as a marketing genius – and the reason he’s getting no flack for having taken all this money and not catching Kony is because he’s sent troops to Somalia. America needs them there, but if you create something bigger than Somalia on the international news scale, which Invisible Children has done, you create an opportunity for politicians to stop arguing and actually get something done.
So your outset is one of positivity. But how do you see all this Kony stuff? Is it a positive or negative development?
Kony2012 was an act of fucking genius. People are going to forever doubt it and say it doesn’t do a number of things. But of course it doesn’t, it’s only half an hour. The film’s so pertinent that people might actually hear it. Kony2012 is advocacy to get political change. No-one stopped Kony for 26 years. That is an astonishing story. This is the greatest story ever told, once you actually realise what IC are saying is true, who cares who’s saying it? It’s a fucking mental story.
But surely, putting the US military into an already hostile area of Africa is no good thing?
Well, you say that. But there is no-one else there who has any clue what the Ugandan military are doing. If we, the British taxpayer, are essentially paying for the Ugandan military by funding their boss and paying his bills, we have no means of finding out what is actually happening because we’re not there with them. No-one really knows who’s telling the truth. On another, more peaceful note, kids trying to defect from the LRA can only physically do so if they know where to go. The radio system paid for by Invisible Children has helped do that.
“There’ll always be another Kony, but the biggest enemy is the person who knows about it and does nothing.”
So, how do we capture Kony?
Cut off Museveni’s money tomorrow, bang, you’ll have him by Friday. I predict if we stopped the international aid going to the Ugandan government, within seven days we’d have Kony in the ICC.
Then, this is all the fault of politicians and international aid, and the solution is public pressure? This is far past Kony, it’s a much deeper story…
The story is if you give large quantities of cash to bent people they will carry on being bent. Some will build ridiculous palaces while others will let Joseph Kony carry on. It’s the same old story. It happens everywhere, its just harder to get the story out in Africa because thanks to Band Aid, people think any story coming out of Africa will be depressing.
I’m one of those people who through the KONY2012 film, wants to make a change. What should I do?
Go to a website called theyworkforyou.com, type in your postcode and you’ll get the details of your local MP, whose wages are paid from your tax bill, and ask them what they’re doing to help.
So who’s the real enemy here? The one killing kids, or the one letting Kony do that?
There’ll always be another Kony, but the biggest enemy is the person who knows about it and does nothing.
