Ben Affleck Shares Thoughts On Kony 2012
In an essay for The Huffington Post, actor and activist Ben Affleck shared his thoughts on the situation in Northern Uganda and the Invisible Children charity, which has received a lot of backlash from the controversy surrounding how they are appropriating the donations made by millions. Affleck writes about Koney saying:
I believe there is no mission more urgent than to help children who are suffering and I applaud Invisible Children for raising the awareness of Kony (and the issue of child soldiers) to such an extraordinary level. The next step after awareness is action. There are many steps that we can take to end this nightmare. Among the most important is funding remarkable local organizations.
Westerners are not and will never be the ‘saviors’ of Africa. That idea has been tried and found wanting. It is ineffectual at best and deadly at worst. The organization I founded, Eastern Congo Initiative, funds Congolese-led organizations that rescue child soldiers from the bush and provides them with education, medical assistance, job training, and counseling. We support the work being done by highly capable and determined Congolese, to make their communities a better place.
Yet, Kony isn’t the whole story. The lack of state security in Congo has made room not only for the LRA, but for dozens of militia groups (including those responsible for the Rwandan genocide — the FDLR — and the Al-Shabab affiliated, ADF) who commit violence with impunity, steal from the population, and extract minerals from the earth -effectively robbing the entire country.
Affleck continues:
I urge Invisible Children to embrace the opportunity before them and influence the million + who have been exposed to this important issue by pointing advocates to the eye of the storm where war and abducting children is still happening: Congo.
Affleck has long been a supporter of the Congo, in fact just several weeks ago he finally took to Facebook with his personal profile focuses almost solely on exposing injustices in the region.
To read the rest of the essay visit The Huffington Post.
