Awareness versus Action

It's OK people of blogland, I haven't disappeared. I just haven't had the focus and interest to write a complete post. So I'm back with some hot topic thinking....

Over the past two weeks unless you live under a rock, you will have heard of the Kony 2012 campaign arranged by the American based charity Invisible Children to raise awareness of the issue of child soldiers and to encourage people to campaign to get Joseph Kony charged with war crimes. Someone may have shared it on our facebook or emailed it to you or tweeted it at you.

A few years ago there was another charity campaign that got similar attention and the 2012 event for it is fast approaching. That event is of course WWF's Earth Hour which started in Sydney five years ago and is now a global event.

So you may be asking yourself, aside from the fact that both of these campaigns are run by not for profits, what do they have in common? Why even mention them in the same post?

The reason is simple both the Kony 2012 campaign and Earth Hour are primarily about awareness. As has been plastered across the media since about a week from the original appearance of the Kony 2012 campaign, Invisible Children's focus is not on the ground action. Their focus is on awareness. At the same time, though WWF does brilliant actual environmental activist work around the world, their Earth Hour isn't activism, it is symbolism- an hour of darkness will do little to actual slow the impact of climate change.

In both cases, especially the Kony 2012 campaign, this has lead to criticism from various sources about their effectiveness at fixing the real issue.

Since I know everyone is waiting for them, I have a few thoughts on the usefulness of awareness campaigning as opposed to activism.

Like many people, I have been aware of the issue of the use of child soldiers in several African nations for many years. This horrendous practice has been going on for decades across Africa and has been employed by governments and rebel groups. There is likely no-one in the Western world who is not horrified by it. Unfortunately however the issue has often been overshadowed by other more "pressing" matters in the eyes of the international media and the complexity of the issue has meant that international governments and groups such the UN have found it difficult to address- yes we all agree using children to fight wars is profoundly wrong but active international intervention of any kind in that region could act to further destabilise a fractured place and has the potential to lead to human rights abuses, displacement of communities and even genocide on a colossal scale, and to add to this we are often looking at situations where all sides in a war are using these tactics (not Western forces but by this I mean both government and rebel forces in many countries). This combination of low media attention and complexity of direct international intervention has meant that many people actually don't know muh about it and in the case particularly of many younger people (sorry to my generation) they may actually be completely ignorant of the scale and the history of it.

I have to confess that as yet I have not watched the Kony 2012 video- my internet is too slow at home and 29 minutes is a big chunk of the work day to use on it- though I do plan to watch it in the next few days. I have however been aware of the work of Invisible Children since 2009 when I first saw an episode of Veronica Mars entitled "I Know What You'll Do Next Summer". It seems a trival way to find out about a charity that is working on such a big issue but one of the actor was a supporter (Ryan Hansen who played Dick Casablancas if you're curious) and bought the charity to the attention of the show's creative team.  Next to the West Wing's episode "Isaac and Ishmael" (nothing compares to that really), this episode of Veronica Mars is the finest charity call I've seen from a fictional TV show and if you can track down a copy have a watch. After watching it I looked into Invisible Children and found, as many people have in recent weeks, that the majority of their work is in advocacy and awareness, and has been since their 2006 foundation. My next question at the time was this worth it? Did this charity merit my donation, especially since much of their work is based in the US?

Another confession is that I decided then not to give money to Invisible Children and to this day I haven't. However I would not rule out giving them money or calling people to support them in the future, and here is why. Advocacy and awareness of ongoing issues in our fast paced world of three second memories is important, and campaigning by Invisible Children has had impacts on raising awareness of the general population in the States and has assisted making sure that the US government still has a eye on this issue.

When we turn to climate change and environmental issues, the kind of attention that is given through viral marketing to Earth Hour raises similar questions. Will turning the lights off for an hour once a year change the world? Of course it won't but it will be a great show of support for the need for environmental activism and change. Support for positive action on an issue like cimate change is an important thing. Unlike Invisible Children, I should say I have given money to WWF in the past and almost certainly will again in the future but hasten to add that it wasn't Earth Hour which provoked me to so.

This is the point unfortunately where we face the bigger issue that awareness of the base viral marketing kind will never solve a problem. Many people will have "liked" a video on facebook or youtube and many have shared it on facebook or tweeted it or emailed it to friends, but this is where we hit the true issue of our social media age. It is never sufficient! We can advocate for the issue and we can raise awareness but if this new found awareness does not lead to action we are lost. Sharing something on facebook or twitter or sticking posters up over the places or giving to advocacy groups is great but you need to also think of what concrete action you can take. My advice (such as it is) when you receive notification about an issue via social media is this:

• Before you pass the issue onto other people, research it. Look up what legitimate sources have to say and look at the history it- even just look at the wikipedia page and following the reference links can be a good start.
• The same holds true of the organisation asking for your support. Look at their website- who do they say they are and what do they say they do- and then look at the wider information available on them.
• Only then share the issue in whatever format with others.
• Be prepared for others to ask you questions and remember they may have done their research too.
• If you discover that the group asking for your support is an advocacy only group don't let this stop you supporting them but do ask yourself what else can I do on this issue that will actively help, and if the answer is give to a group involved directly in the issue, give that group more money then you gave the advocacy group.
• Talk to people about the issue and actually engage- don't just share and forget but get talking and kept talking so that the purpose of the awareness/advocacy is served and the topic is getting airplay in your conversations.

When it comes to child soldiers, the complexity of the issue means that actual action can be quite hard to get at. Most charity organisations on the ground in Africa are dealing with poverty, warfare, famine, AIDS and myriad other concerns, so you may not able to find one completely devoted to the assistance of child soldiers- I'm not aware of one but I may well be wrong. If you are concerned with issue, you should look at supporting one of the charities active in central Africa- all of these will be working on the effects of children being recruited to fight wars- these include issues such a support of children and families, assisting with the aid required in a war torn area, and refugee issues to mention but a few. The other thing you can do is get political involved- if people are campaigning or marching on the issue get involved, and also write to members of parliament who might be involved in setting pace on this issue- your local member who is supposed to speak for your concerns or the  foreign affairs minister (now that we have one again) or even the PM. It may not sound like much but if enough people get politically involved in an issue that the government is more likely to sit up and notice especially if that issue is not controversial and likely to get support from both sides of politics.

I have a whole other post on environmental action that I could post for those for whom environmental action is just Earth Hour.

So don't feel bad about supporting Invisible Children as long as you do something with your new awareness and turn your lights off on 31 March (I will be).