This morning I rolled out of bed, grabbed my coffee and went to my one and only lecture of the day: International Security, Interdependence and Organisation (A mouthful I know, we call it ISIO for short).
Today’s lecture was about Peacekeeping and International Conflict Management
- The UN’s focus on keeping peace
- Monitoring terrorism
- Monitoring lots of stuff that has to do with collective security
- Observing and stabilising of post-conflict environments
And the list of monitoring goes on
On Monday in International Relations Theory and history we talked about how Humanitarian Intervention is difficult because we are not supposed to intervene inside other states. They have their sovereignty and we have to respect that. But because of a shift in attention from collective security to: every, single individual person on this planet matters, we don’t really know what to do.
Is it OK to attack another state by military force to protect individuals living there? It kinda goes against international law. And if we are: where is the line that decides when we can intervene or not?
And questions like: Why is it just 5 permanent members in the UN Security Council that should have the final words on this? Doesn’t Everyone matter? Africa is not represented at all. Neither is South America or Oceania. Or for that matter the rest of Asia or us in Scandinavia. Or the Middle East.
It is simply embarrassing that the organisation that is the closest we have to a world governing body that is supposed to speak on the behalf of everyone on the planet is so discriminating!
Right, I’ll have to make a separate post for that later. (I am way too passionate about it!)
Back to this morning’s lecture:
I walked out of it feeling… I don’t know. Maybe like there is no hope for human kind? We are such evil animals. And all we can do as an international community together is… Monitor!? And then when some countries say no, we just don’t do anything with situations like Syria? I felt so powerless. How can we change human minds so that we don’t only see others as the enemy: the ones with a different religion, background, culture, language etc.
And then I got home and turned on the computer and there it was:
And it made me feel so happyJ Human beings are awesome!! I didn’t even have to watch Doctor Who and listen to David Tennant’s epic speeches about humans and how amazing we actually are (that is always my backup when humans let me down). No, this was much better! SO much better!
These were humans taking action against the most disgusting crime there is: crime against children.
Humans in groups trying to get the world to listen – to be aware!
I don’t want to live in a world where Joseph Kony is allowed to run around in freedom. And as I like to live and find life and this planet amazing (most of the time – I have issues with it – Like… Kony), I’d rather we stop him.
I suggest you read this thought-provoking article too:
http://justiceinconflict.org/2012/03/07/taking-kony-2012-down-a-notch/
A quote I want to comment on :
‘But a campaign in 2012, premised on Joseph Kony not being famous enough is just folly.’
– Oh, how I disagree!! Ok. No offence, mate, but politicians in democratic-like societies are weird beings. They only respond to money and strong public demands.
The fact that they might know who he is from before is one thing. That doesn’t mean that they’ll do something about it.
The Internet managed to stop SOPA/PIPA just by signing petitions and #twitter. Which is amazing!
There are lots of problems in the world and how popular the issues become amongst the public determines which ones there will be a response to.
Politicians have to pick their battles and because their jobs are dependent on whether people like them or not, it is only natural that they will pick battles where they might win votes.
Also, the article assumes that we all knew about Joseph Kony already. I remember learning all the things they were doing to kids in ‘Africa’ (I was a kid), at school. That kids were kidnapped, had to kill their parents and become warriors in jihad (Holy war) or similar.
But I have to say – how much it pains me – that I did not know the name Kony. I did not know about him as a person. I was blissfully ignorant of what was going on. Heck, we’re talking about theories about Cold War and China as an economic superpower. And International crime as Concepts. As part of the collective security strategy. Why hasn’t my lecturers mentioned this?
Saying that everyone knows about him already is not good enough. I’ve had friends who have never heard about Sherlock Holmes. Many people can’t sing a Wagner tune. Some people don’t know about Plato’s theories. Or who Paul McCartney is. Doctor Who has been running for nearly 50 years now, but it’s not until now that the world outside of the UK is starting to notice the show.
– what I am trying to say is: People have a variety of knowledge. Some know everything about the private life of Justin Bieber, others know the life story of Søren Kirkegaard. We’re different. And we need to spread the knowledge that is important!
However, sending in American troops and getting the “Osama Bin Laden” incident all over again is not something I want to see happen.
And questions like:
What happens to the members of LRA afterwards?
Still, I believe Kony’s actions should be stopped. We can’t just not do anything just because the Ugandan Government has major issues. Or because it’s not in our own country. We are a planet full of individual, but similar human beings and if someone was taking your child or sibling, you would not be happy to be alone and helpless.
So thank you, amazing people, for caring and spreading the word!
JRL
Ps. I’ll be in London on 20 April 2012, which was a total coincidence. I thought I would be in Norway, or back home in Durham so: Londoners I have a request, please be as awesome as I hope you’ll be! 🙂
The Vast Intricacies of Life 