Clooney, Kony and Why Interfaith Matters

The Kony 2012 video has now amassed more than 83 million views on YouTube and triggered a response with which Invisible Children can't keep up. To make things worse, this viral phenomenon has triggered assertions that have called the non-profit's integrity into question on multiple levels. It sounds like a mess. But at least a significantly larger portion of the world's population knows something about the horrors taking place in Uganda, right?

While millions are getting behind the Kony 2012 movement, it has also garnered its fair share of critics. Included are those who have something to add to the discussion on western mentality in response to global crises. I'm referring to the superiority complex that tempts the well-resourced to see themselves as the rescuers of the under-resourced, saviors of the helpless, deliverers of the oppressed.

This mentality has been criticized -- as it should -- and this criticism often accompanies insults hurled at the sort of folks who use their celebrity to attract attention to humanitarian issues around the world, folks like Bono of U2 or innumerable Hollywood stars, including George Clooney. Clooney was arrested Friday outside of the Sudanese embassy in D.C. while trying to attract attention to another humanitarian crisis: the suffering of the Sudanese people living in the Nuba Mountains.

In some ways, when it comes to responding to humanitarian issues, ignorance and arrogance are the Scylla and Charybdis through which we must navigate. Some stick their heads in the sand while accusations of self-righteousness are dealt all too readily on those taking action to raise awareness, especially if it makes them look good in the process. If there is an approach immune to ridicule, it's a delicate one.

But of all things, I think George Clooney might be on to something slightly more than commendable. While reading about his arrest Friday afternoon, I came across an excerpt from an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network last week. Clooney was describing the importance of people of faith in drawing attention to crisis in Darfur. While he was elaborating on his partnership with blowhard evangelical Pat Robertson, Clooney said, "So I called him up, and I said, 'Listen, we're not going to agree on too many things, but there's no two sides to this issue, and you and I can work together on this.'"

I think Clooney offers a glimpse of the key to navigating these volatile waters. If oppression and genocide are going to end, if starving people are going to eat and sick people are going to receive care, if the disadvantaged are going to face opportunity, then it's going to be because of partnerships.

This is why the interfaith movement matters. It's teaching tomorrow's leaders the value of partnerships. Ironically enough, the same principle that brought interfaith leaders Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel together as they marched at Selma, Ala., in 1965 is bringing Clooney and Robertson together in front of the Sudan's D.C. embassy in 2012.

Yet common action for the common good is not only about activists; the relationship between the war-torn, disease-burdened or poverty-stricken community and the Good Samaritan who reaches out to help is exactly the same. It is one person saying to another: "I come from a different place, a different perspective, a different experience, but you and I can agree on one thing: We can work together to make things right."

So whether you feel that the Kony 2012 movement is insincere or revolutionary, whether you find George Clooney inspiring or melodramatic, perhaps we can agree on one thing: nothing is going to change if we don't choose to work together. And that means educating yourself about the suffering and oppression taking place in our world and choosing to move forward with humility -- in partnership with others.

 

Follow Greg Damhorst on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gregorydamhorst

Comments

[Ann Garrison]

12:50 PM on 03/24/2012

You write as though we all perceive what's happeing here in the same way, so it's just a matter of finding a way to work together. Uh-huh. I perceive it quite differently, as I reported on KPFA Radio last week: http://youtu.be/BCzLFnigMAk

[freemont27]

01:31 PM on 03/24/2012

Would you please fact check 75% of what Mr. Snow said in your interview. At some point he's just plucking ideas out of the air randomly and smashing them together incoherently. He does this because 99% of those listening will believe anything he says anyway. Prendergast is an "intelligence operative"? A policy wonk at the State Dept or even at DNI does not qualify as an "intelligence operative". Maybe Mr.Snow doesn't understand the word "operative" in this context. The Israeli military is responsible for what in the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda? As a "journalist" I hope you have reputable sources to back any of this up or it is just irresponsible and unprofessional.

[freemont27]

01:11 PM on 03/23/2012

"But at least a significantly larger portion of the world's population knows something about the horrors taking place in Uganda, right?"
What horrors? A developing nation who has seen economic growth and incredible improvements in stability over the last decade ? A nation that was named by Lonely Planet as the #1 tourist destination in 2012? This is exactly the problem. The LRA is not a danger to anyone in Uganda right now (the DRC, S.Sudan and the CAR yes) . This is what made an entire nation collectively put their heads in their hands and say "why would you do this to Uganda?". You just exemplified the dangers of Kony 2012 and how it has unintentionally misinformed millions.

As for Clooney, I respect him much more because of his partnership with the Enough Project and the research and scholarship they put into their work in Central Africa. However, they are inherently political (as most advocacy is) and it creates problems. Clooney hates Sudan and Bashir he openly admits it. Bashir belongs in jail but the problem is when you begin to take sides and paint everything in black and white. You give the other side a free pass and misinform because it supports your cause. It happened in Darfur and I hope it doesn't happen again in the Nuba Mountains.

[escholar]

01:50 AM on 03/22/2012

Beyond Kony -
The Kony 2012 video has indeed created awareness of the infamous Kony and his atrocities, but that awareness needs to go beyond Kony. Americans need to be aware of the overall situation in Uganda and the Central Africa region and become aware of the conditions or circumstances that produced Kony and other Konies.

- http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29800

- http://www.infowars.com/youth-movement-promotes-us-military-presence-in-central-africa/

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv4UwyGFKks

[Bruce Wilson]

05:10 PM on 03/21/2012

Well, Mr. Damhorst, I respectfully must disagree -- but let me explain. Of course, there are issues where all people, or most at least, will find common ground. That is not in question. The downfall of "common ground" approaches comes when parties in such efforts are less than honest about their intentions.

Thus, we have George Cloony's commendable efforts tied to organizations such as Invisible Children, which boasts leaders who function as "stealth" evangelists targeting the young, disparage homeless women, call homosexuality a "sin", and partner with dictators.

http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2012/03/23536/

[dnyal]

02:16 PM on 03/21/2012

Interfaith has always mattered. It's just sometimes spiritual leaders focus so much in the differences, that they often forget about their own message, which is more commonly love.

[arcticshade]

01:54 PM on 03/21/2012

The author left out the fact Uganda now has oil. So US interest sparks now in africa where by chance it's where US troops are deployed over there. Also the series of videos that point out Kony been dead for a while back as people from africa display video saying that. Also how his need to protect children seems less credible due to his weird actions of masterbaiting in public. Do not donate to this cause. We have revolution in our own country. Support the people and lets fix our country then we worry about others. We have a sex slave trade industry at home and many wrongs. We have political people given bribes by huge corporations which passed laws like NDAA,NDRP, ACTA, Corporate personhood(which allows the rich to bribe political people all they want) Removal of the glass steagal act, and the trespass bill. All this is showing a clear patern that the only time the dem's and republicans agree is when the idea is to remove our freedom. I believe in actions not words and clearly the action here is as i discrbed. The news is never going to show the revolution in good light. Research and hope we never get the martial law listed in the NDRP(draft,full control of food,water,energy, they don't have to pay you for work,anything to shut down a revolution.Look up NDRP at official white house page since it oddly recently been updated)

[Yulu PR]

01:54 PM on 03/21/2012

Thanks for this article. As a PR professional, it is undeniable that Jason Russell’s approach to captivating a mass audience was well executed in his #Kony2012 campaign. It's reached an extreme level of visibility and whether or not people think it was insincere or not, I think the movement is overall positive because people who may normally be indifferent have been moved one way or another. But, I also agree that everyone does need to work together to accomplish these huge tasks.

Yulu Communications provides a full breakdown from a public relations perspective of this social engagement launch in our Vancouver PR firm’s blog at www.yulupr.com in a post titled " The #Kony2012 Campaign’s Successful Tactics.” http://yulupr.com/kony2012/